The best new road and gravel bikes from the 2024 Sea Otter Classic in California
The Sea Otter Classic has traditionally had a mountain bike focus and, while off-road riding still characterises the event, every two-wheeled discipline is now well represented in what has become North America’s biggest and most important cycling festival.
As a result, there was no shortage of new road tech for us to hunt out in California, including new and recently released bikes from Blackheart, FiftyOne, Haro, ENVE, Van Rysel, BMC, Ritchey, Parlee, Giant, Bridge Bike Works and Canyon.
From Blackheart’s new alloy frame to Parlee’s endurance bike, via Haro’s diversion into drop bars and FiftyOne’s addition of a stock road frame – as well as big-name bikes from BMC, Giant and more – there’s something for everyone here.
Blackheart’s all-new Road AL alloy race bike
The Road AL is Blackheart’s newest model, launched at Sea Otter 2024.
It’s based around the same geometry as the LA brand’s Road Ti, launched last year, with racy angles and eight stock sizes, from 46cm to 62cm. The geometry’s not too dissimilar from a Giant TCR in terms of stack and reach, and it has a steeper head tube angle.
The frame combines the modern and the classic, with relatively simple tube shapes, dropped stays, an integrated front end and clearance for 32mm tyres.
It’s made from double-butted 7005 aluminium, with a subtle Kammtail shape to the down tube and gentle curving seatstays. The frame is finished with Cerakote, a heat-cured ceramic paint.
Blackheart’s representative at Sea Otter said the frame is designed around common standards, with no proprietary parts. There’s a threaded T47 bottom bracket, a round 31.6mm seatpost, SRAM’s Univeral Derailleur Hanger, and compatibility with 1x and 2x drivetrains. There’s clearance for 32mm tyres.
The frame costs $1,999 and 10 build options are available through Blackheart, starting with a SRAM Rival AXS 1x version for $3,649, and rising to $7,449 with 1x Campagnolo Super Record Wireless. That’s with a set of DT Swiss A 1800 Alloy wheels – Blackheart also offers a range of Hunt, Zipp and ENVE wheel upgrades.
You can also upgrade the tyres, bottom bracket, rear derailleur cage and handlebar/stem, as well as adding a power meter or changing the handlebar width and stem length.
A fresh look at Blackheart’s Gravel AL
The Blackheart range also includes an all-road bike, with aluminium and titanium frame options and 40mm of tyre clearance, and this, the Gravel AL, launched in January.
The frame has clearance for 47mm tyres, but you’ll notice the relatively tight clearance at the rear of the bike. Blackheart wanted to combine a slightly slack angle (for stability) with a tight rear triangle to keep the handling relatively reactive.
This one also starts at $1,999 for the frameset, with SRAM and Shimano build options.
FiftyOne adds the Sika, a stock road frame with big tyre clearance
FiftyOne is best known for its custom bikes, as well as for producing hard-hitting bikes for the likes of UFC star Conor McGregor and heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua.
However, the Irish brand introduced a stock gravel bike, the FiftyOne Assassin, a couple of years ago and now has a production road bike, the FiftyOne Sika.
The 690g claimed frame weight (size medium) is the headline-grabber here. The frame also has clearance for 40mm tyres and is based around a ‘real-world’ geometry for everyday riders, not stretchy pros, according to FiftyOne’s founder, Aidan Duff.
Duff says FiftyOne’s experience in building more than 500 custom bikes has fed into the development of the Sika, including fit data and tube shapes.
The seatstays, in particular, are very distinctive, with a pencil-thin design that adopts FiftyOne’s now-trademark shape.
Other features include a 27.2mm seatpost with an external clamp, T47 bottom bracket, a Universal Derailleur Hanger and Sika’s own one-piece cockpit.
Haro drops into road bikes with the new Rivette
The Haro Rivette is a new aero-inspired race bike from a brand normally associated with BMXs and affordable mountain bikes.
The bike demonstrates many traits of the contemporary all-rounder aero bike – internal cable routing, truncated aerofoil tubing, lightly dropped chainstays and a beefy head tube are all present and correct.
Pictured is the top-spec Rivette, costing $7,999 with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9200.
Vision 45 SL wheels and a one-piece cockpit from BlkTec – which is better known for its wild star-shaped wheels – complete the build.
ENVE’s new Fray all-road bike – with a Classified hub
ENVE released the Fray a week before Sea Otter, with the Utah firm’s latest bike sitting between the Melee race bike and MOG gravel bike in an expanding line-up.
This is a genre-blurring bike that, with room for squishy 40mm tyres, some might call an all-road bike, and some might call an endurance bike, given how tyre clearance has ballooned in that sector over the past 12 months.
ENVE had a rather special, custom-painted Fray on its booth at Sea Otter, but we’ll save that for a separate round-up of some of our favourite custom bikes from the show. Watch this space.
However, Classified also had a Fray on display, thanks to a new partnership with ENVE.
Classified, if you’re not familiar, produces a rear hub – the Powershift – which replaces the front derailleur. The idea is that Powershift offers the range and versatility of a 2x drivetrain, but with a streamlined 1x configuration up front.
This new partnership means ENVE will be offering a range of wheels (the Foundation, G Series and SES Series lines) and Melee, MOG and Fray builds with Classified Powershift.
Van Rysel’s RCR aero race bike is finally available
Okay, this one broke cover at last year’s Sea Otter – and was one of the standout highlights of the show – but now, a year later, the Van Rysel RCR is finally available to the public.
Since the 2023 show, Van Rysel has officially launched the RCR and re-entered the WorldTour peloton thanks to a new partnership with the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team.
Van Rysel is offering the RCR in SRAM Rival AXS (£4,500 / $5,499), Shimano Ultegra Di2 (£5,500 / $TBC) and SRAM Force AXS builds (£5,500 / $6,999).
There’s also a replica of the team bike for £9,000 / $10,999, although that’s temporarily out of stock (in the UK, TBC in the US) having sold through pre-orders last week.
BMC’s revamped Roadmachine in the flesh
BikeRadar’s Oscar Huckle was on the launch of BMC’s revamped endurance bike a couple of weeks ago and was seriously impressed – you can read his BMC Roadmachine review.
Still, we couldn’t resist swinging by the BMC booth to look at the recently released Roadmachine.
Once again, big tyres are the headline here – can you see a trend developing with the latest endurance road bikes? – with room for 40mm rubber.
There’s also nifty down tube storage, a neatly integrated rear light and ‘Stealth Dropouts’.
BMC will offer the new Roadmachine in road and gravel (Roadmachine X) builds, while there’s also a Roadmachine AMP e-road variation.
The Ritchey Montebello is a utilitarian’s dream
With polished fenders sparkling resplendently in the Californian sunshine, mudguard magpie Jack Luke was drawn towards the new Ritchey Montebello from across the show.
The Montebello is an all-new steel road bike that pairs relaxed geometry with mounts for a front rack and mudguards (with clearance for 36mm tyres – or 4mm without fenders), and dynamo light routing.
To prove the credentials of the brand’s new randonneur bike, Ritchey’s marketing manager, Fergus Liam, rode a pre-production Montebello at the 1,200km Paris-Brest-Paris event.
We’ve covered the Ritchey Montebello in more detail here.
Parlee’s nude Ouray turns heads
After a couple of lean years, during which the brand was rescued from the brink of bankruptcy, Parlee was back with a bang at Sea Otter.
The new Ouray turned heads on Parlee’s stand, thanks partly to the nude carbon finish, protected only by a lightweight – but durable, according to Parlee – wax coating.
The Ouray is a monocoque frame, made in one piece, and Parlee is so confident in the layup of the carbon fibre that it wants to keep everything on display, without any paint or even clear-coat lacquer, to distract from the finish.
The Ouray joins the Z-Zero, RZ7 and Chebbaco in the Parlee line-up. It’s a bike that points to the future, compatible with only electronic groupsets and, like the Blackheart and FiftyOne bikes also featured here, SRAM UDH.
Parlee says the Ouray is designed around open standards, and supplies the bike with custom, 3D-printed headset spacers for PRO, ENVE and FSA cockpits.
Giant stays loyal to the TCR
Finally, here’s the latest Giant TCR – another bike launched in the build-up to Sea Otter.
We’ve covered the new Giant TCR in detail – and have already reviewed this latest iteration – so will keep this brief for now.
While some brands are slimming down their ranges by combining their aero and lightweight lines into one do-it-all road bike, Giant has stayed loyal to the TCR name in launching this 10th iteration, while continuing to develop (and reduce the weight of) the Propel aero bike.
The flagship TCR Advanced SL frame now weighs a claimed 690g for a size medium, while getting subtle aero upgrades – both to the tube shapes and with the cable routing going internal – and a new handlebar.
Bridge Bike Works’ Surveyor race bike is a work of art
Bridge Bike Works’ Integrally Threaded Carbon Bottom Bracket was a highlight of Sea Otter 2023.
Most carbon bikes with a threaded bottom bracket bond an alloy sleeve into the frame, with the bottom bracket threading into this.
Bridge’s design is unique, with the bottom brackets threading directly into threads moulded (not cut) into the frame.
After two years of development, the Canadian brand is now ready to bring a full bike to market, kicking things off with the Surveyor.
Priced at around $4,000 with a stock paint option, the Surveyor is a road race bike with clearance for 40mm tyres.
Despite that gravel-bike style clearance, Bridge says the Surveyor’s geometry figures are firmly road-like. It expects to see customers evenly split between true road builds and a gravel-lite spec, as pictured here.
Canyon targets rugged riding with new Grizl:On e-gravel bike
Finally, here’s Canyon’s new electric gravel bike, the Grizl:On.
Launched in March, the Grizl:On is a new addition to Canyon’s e-gravel line-up, joining the Grail:On.
The Grizl:On uses Bosch’s new Performance Line SX motor for relatively lightweight electrification, with the drive unit adding a claimed 4kg.
It’s not as powerful as full-fat ebike motors, such as the 90Nm Bosch Performance Line CX, but Canyon says its lower weight and torque results in a more natural ride feel.