“Co-founders Frank Yohannan and Lou Rudolph hosted the inaugural Laguna Seca Challenge on April 6 & 7, 1991. There was a total of 350 athletes and 150 spectators. Today the event hosts over 9,600 athletes and 72,500 fans. In 1993 the event was renamed the Sea Otter Classic and is now universally regarded as the world’s premier cycling festival.” – Sea Otter Classic
The Sea Otter Classic also hosts the world’s largest consumer bike exposition in North America. The Expo holds hundreds of vendors who display new products, distribute free samples, and offer great bargains. The four-day, action-packed festival includes racing across a variety of disciplines, non-competitive rides, bike demos and much more.
Niner MCR Full-Suspension Gravel Bike
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since Niner showed their proof of concept MCR aka Magic Carpet Ride gravel bike at Sea Otter 2018.
For Sea Otter 2019, gone is the 3D printed prototype with parts slung from it – this latest iteration of the MCR is close to production with just a few tweaks remaining before it is ready for sale later in 2019.
April 11, 2019 marks the date Niner officially launched the MCR. In this video, Zac Festal of Niner discusses the MCR in detail, covering what the bike is, what the bike is not, geometry, suspension details and more.
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MCR Niner Amazing!!!!
5 questions?!
1. Why Niner MCR with lots of tech but very little travel?
2. Why not just get a short travel XC race bike and set up with drop bars and Gravel tires and get some real travel?
3. Why not build a Gravelbike with a Lauf 60mm Trail Racer Fork and soft-tail rear suspension and keep it low-tech?
4. Why not build a a very compliant full-rigid frame/fork Gravelbike with 56mm/2.2in (or wider) Gravel specific tires mounted on (i=inner width) i30mm rims set at 20psi and keep it very low-tech?
5. Are Gravelbikes perfect the way they are currently built?
Clearly, Gravelbikes still have some different ways to evolve.
Given the option, I would choose number 4.
What would you choose?????
Riding in SoCal mainly on fire roads and non technical trails in the mountains I built my Lynskey GR PRO with lauf grit sl fork and s-works cg-r seatpost. 30mm front travel and a little cushion seat post provides made my ride pretty comfy going up and down on anything I used my hardtail MTB for before. I like that I don’t have to worry about maintenance for traditional suspensions. Maybe descents are not as fast and easy as with 100mm front travel, but I take that trade off for more versatile bike (can’t have both MTB and Gravel). Use 650b wheels with 2.1 tire for steep and/or sandy trails and 700cx35 for less steep hardpack and bad pavement.