Sea Otter Wrap Up – Topeak, Hutchinson, Look, Velo, Panaracer, Wilier, milKit

With Sea Otter closing for 2018, here are some of the highlights from Topeak, Hutchinson, Look, Velo, Panaracer, Wilier, and milKit.

Topeak

For Topeak, there were a few pumps they were showing that caught our eye. The JoeBlow Twin Turbo and the Mountain TT Twin Turbo Hand Pump. Though they are completely different in their purpose, they both have something in common, faster inflation of your tires. For every stroke, the TT Twin Turbo pumps are working harder for you. For example, with the JoeBlow, when you pull the handle upward, it is compressing air into the chamber. When you push down, it is adding a higher amount of air into the tire. Topeak claims the JoeBlow Twin

Turbo will save you 40% of your time and effort over a conventional pump.

At $199.95 for the JoeBlow, you are also getting the new SmartHead DX1 all metal pump head, with an air release button to dial in air pressure, and extra long hose, and a large, easy to read 3″ pressure gauge mounted at the top of the pump. The Mountain TT Twin Turbo hand

pump retails for $32.95. Both are available on Topeak’s site now.

We have the JoeBlow Booster and Ratchet Rocket Lite NTX in for review currently, and will have an article up once we have had a chance to put them through their paces.

https://www.topeak.com

Hutchinson

 

French tire maker Hutchinson had their Skelton XC tire on hand, which was perfect for the dry, fast racing at Sea Otter. The tread uses their LinkPattern technology with three zones of tread blocks. Down the center is a mix of blocks running paralel with the tire and perpendicular blocks out the sides. This makes fora fast rolling tire, that still has some bite. The second zone adds blocks between the zone one perpendicular blocks for extra grip. Zone three covers the blocks on the shoulders to help keep grip when leaned over in the corners.

 

To help keep these tires fast, Hutchinson kept the weight down to a light 560g (claimed for a 29×2.15). They are tubeless ready, and use a 127 tpi casing to keep it soft and supple. We will update with pricing when we have it.

We have a few pair of their latest Fusion 5 tires in for review that we are getting miles on. We’ll have more on those soon.

http://www.hutchinsontires.com

Elite

Travel cases aren’t really a hot item, but they are critical if you travel with your bike. Elite had their soft-sided Borson case on display. This light and sturdy case was developed with the help of the pro teams Elite sponsors and should hold up for whatever travel plans you have.

To pack your road bike, just take off the wheels, pedals, and drop your seat post, and mount the bike using the fork mount, adjustable bottom bracket support, and adjustable rear dropout mount. From there, place the hub protectors over the wheel hubs, and slide them into the padded sleeve. That sleeve mounts on the non-driveside of the bike. Add some pads to the handlebars, and you are all set. You can even carry a second set of wheels that mount into a second wheel sleeve but slides in on the drive side. Mountain bikes also work with the

Borson, but you’ll have to take the bars off the stem.

When not in use, the Borson collapse into itself to take up a minimal amount of space when being stored.

MSRP on the Borson is $799, and should be available by the end of May.

We currently have the Direto interactive smart trainer, Cannibal XC bottle cages and Fly 750ml super light water bottles in for review. We’ve had a chance to try out the Cannibal XC and Fly bottles, and are pretty impressed with how light they are. The cages are not the lightest in the line, but they have held the bottles very securely over some bumpy gravel roads. We’ll have those reviews coming soon.

http://www.elite-it.com

Velo

You might not have heard of the brand, but there is a good chance that your saddle was made by them. Velo has been making saddles for other brands for years and more recently started to sell their own designs.

Based in Taiwan, the Chinese Zodiac is important to their culture, so they have released special edition saddles to celebrate. In the past, they did a white with red graphics version of their top of the line Angel saddle to celebrate the year of the rooster. This year, the year of the dog, they went with the Prevail Glide+ saddle. Unique treatments include a yellow lab stitched into the saddle cover, a gold chain around the back of the saddle, and a unique bag to protect the saddle during shipping that also doubles as a messenger bag.

The Prevail might not look all that similar to the Angel, it shares many features. The Y-shaped cutout on the Angel is used in the base of the saddle, but the cover lacks the cutout. The Prevail provides the same comfort, but in a wider base (143mm). Velo uses their AirFoam for the padding, which is more responsive than PU foam and isn’t affected by temperatures that can cause other foams to become hard. It is impressive that this special edition Prevail Glide+ is able to come in at a claimed 135g with the extra stitching and design work.

We don’t have pricing available yet. We were curious about the Angel a few months back and picked one up. I’m happy to say that for being a lightweight carbon saddle with minimal padding, it has been very comfortable and performed well so far. We’ll have a review posted later this summer once we have a chance to get more miles in on it.

http://www.velosaddles.com

Look

Another French brand in attendance was Look. They had their new X-Track En-Rage pedals on hand. Following the XC version, the X-Track Race, the X-Track En-Rage is targeted at trail riders and the En-Rage Plus at enduro. The new version adds a bit of a platform around the clipless system. This isn’t a matter of slapping on some extra parts though, Look redesigned the body of the pedal so it is one seamless piece with the clipless system mounted nicely inside. Additionally, you can install pins and it retains the textured sections to help provide additional grip when you are searching for the pedals. The En-Rage Plus features a larger platform made from cast aluminum with more room around the clipless system to shed mud and debris.

The X-Track pedals are SPD compatible, which will make replacing cleats a breeze. The beefy spindle and bearing set up has double seals to help keep water and contaminants out during the most demanding conditions. Claimed weights are 465g for the En-Rage with cleats, and

495g for the En-Rage Plus with cleats.

Pricing is $74.99 for the En-rage, and $129.99 for the En-Rage Plus.

http://www.lookcycle.com

milKit

milKit offers solutions for those that want to run tubeless, and their new milKit Booster offers a novel solution to help ease the frustrations of installing tubeless tires.

I’ll be the first to admit, I love tubeless, but I hate installing them. After you wrestle them onto the rim and add some sealant, I’m usually left pumping like crazy trying to get them to seat. We have the JoeBlow Booster in for review, along with a system from Birzman, but the milKit Booster could be one of the easiest tools to use. Once the tire is on, pump up the Booster using your floor pump, and push the Booster on the valve stem and watch the tire inflate. Since there are no hoses or anything else to hold the pressure back, it is similar to using a compressor at a

shop, but for a fraction of the price.

The Booster consists of an aluminum bottle, and comes with two different tops. Since the only thing the bottle is filled with is air, you can also use the bottle as a water bottle with the included lid. When it is time to seat a tire, just swap the top to the inflator top, and you are all set.

The Booster comes in two sizes, and works with both road/cx/gravel and mountain setups. The 1L Booster goes for $49.99, while the 0.6L goes for $47.99. milKit also offers a wide range of tubeless products, including valves and injectors for adding sealant through the valve stem.

https://milkit.bike/en

Panaracer

Another off-road tire, the Panaracer Romeo is a new addition to for All-Mountain and Enduro. We don’t have a ton of info on it yet, but it is a triple compound rubber to provide grip with a softer rubber down the center and harder rubber compounds for the outer knobs for support. The rugged casing is reinforced to the heavy trail.

The Romeo will be available in 27.5″ and 29″ diameters and 2.4″ and 2.6″ widths. Pricing is set at $59.99 with availability in June 2018.

Wilier

We caught this one a little while back in our Early April 2018 UCI Approved List Update and now we have a little more info. The Wilier Turbine is a new TT and Triathlon bike from the Italian maker. Frame wise, it looks pretty standard for today’s top of the line TT and Triathlon bikes, but the Turbine has some tricks up its sleeve.

First off, sections of the base bars can be pulled out from a center section to make the bike more compactable for traveling. There is also a ton of adjustability in the aerobar set up, from the height and tilt of the bars and pads, fore/aft and side to side adjustments of the pads, and three different setbacks for the saddle.

The Turbine is also a disc brake frame, which should help add some stopping power to a style of bike that has traditionally lacked quality brakes. Thru-axles front and rear will also help stiffen up the handling of the bike. There is also clearance for 28mm tires, which will help smooth out the ride.

For triathletes, the Turbine also has a nice integrated setup for a front hydration pod and a top tube mounted storage box. This makes for a very aerodynamic setup.

For the US, the Turbine will be available as a frameset only and retails at $6,000. Preorders are being taken now, with a planned delivery for late summer.

http://www.wilier.com