- We're here outside the Park Tool stand,
at the Sea Otter Classic.
- Welcome to GMBN Tech.
(upbeat music)
- Here at Sea Otter 2019,
right outside the Park Tool stand.
And of course, I'd only
be hanging out here,
because I'm a tool nerd, right?
Check this out, this is really cool,
so they've got loads of work stations
set up here with all the park tools,
and you can come here
and fix your own bike.
So if you're buying stuff at Sea Otter,
you can use their facilities,
which I think is really cool.
And Calvin is on hand showing people
how to use the tools correctly
for people fixing their own bikes.
That is awesome.
So, one of the coolest things
about being at Sea Otter,
is you get to see some really
bizarre prototypes floating around.
Now, this is a brand new bike
coming from a brand called Forestal
Now, this is Cedric Gracia's bike here,
and it's a complete prototype,
as you can see by this sort of
dazzle print you can see on here.
Now, the thing that's really,
really different about this
is it's made in Andorra,
it's designed in Andorra,
by an Andorran company.
And it's got its own designed
motor and battery in the unit,
and it's only designed in-house.
The entire production of this thing.
Now, Steve Jones over on EMBN
has just done a piece on this,
so I'm gonna put a link to his video
in this video description,
cause you've gotta find out about this.
This thing is insane.
And, you're gonna be
hearing about this soon,
cause I wanna get my hands
on one to have a go on.
Now also, you might have spotted
some pretty unique brakes
on the front of here,
called Brakings, an Italian brand.
And from what I hear, they're so powerful,
they're almost too powerful.
Something I never thought I'd
hear about a set of brakes,
but they feel phenomenal.
They look just like a
set of motorcycle brakes.
Check out the calipers on
these and check out the levers.
Braided hoses look absolutely fantastic.
For a long time, Michelin
has been renowned
for making phenomenal mountain bike tires.
Dating way back to the Comp 16s,
the 22s, the DH 16s that came later,
the Wild Grip'Rs, and all of the rest.
Now, I'm really pleased to see
them back in mountain biking.
Now, we recently looked
at a whole range of tires,
but one of them was missing,
and that is the DH 22s.
The brand new downhill tire,
and it's the one that Sam Hill
has been absolutely
dominating on in the EWS.
Now, look here.
So, I think this is one of the most
aggressive tires available right now.
The casing feels indestructible.
It feels absolutely fantastic.
The compound feels
really good, really soft.
And, just look at that
pattern on that thing.
That is just gonna
murder a downhill track.
Love to have a go on these.
I think it's gonna be a
really, really good tire.
Michelin are back, great to see.
Now, everyone knows I'm a fan
of quite a long, roomy bike.
I'm quite a tall guy,
tend to ride size Xls,
and my Mega has got a reach of about 515,
but Pole really are pushing the limits
of how long a bike can be.
Now, they're not just making
a bike long in the front end,
but also balancing this with
a long rear end on them.
So, it's got around 450
millimeters out back,
so it's really a long back end on them.
And up front, it's massive,
so it can get up to 530
mil reach on their XL.
Four sizes available;
this one is the EVOLINK,
and it's 158 mil
travel out back here.
And, it can take up to a
180 mil fork on the front.
But of course, the bike that
everyone's been talking about
has been the Stamina,
which is CNC machined.
Absolute works of art.
So, they've got 180 mil travel on front,
they've got a new one, 140 mil.
Now that one is the one that
really stands out to me,
I'm just gonna run you
through that bike in a minute,
because again it's that
thing, going back to slightly
shorter travel but with
really aggressive geometry,
so bike absolutely hauls
when you want it to,
it stays balanced and
poised, equal traction on
the front and rear wheels but of course
with slightly less travel,
so you're able to really
feel that terrain.
I think longer travel bikes are amazing,
and I'm not saying that people
shouldn't ride those bikes,
but you do have to push them so hard
to get the best out of them,
whereas for most riders,
myself included, running a
slightly shorter travel bike
I think give you a better ride experience.
Let's go check that bike out now.
Now this is a latest
version of the Stamina,
this is the 140 mil travel version.
So it's got a, currently it's got a 150
fork on the front here,
geometry's very similar
to the other bikes out
there, the reach varies from
the size extra small, sorry
size small, be down to
440 and XL up to 520.
That's still five mil longer
than my 160 mil travel
bike, so that's like a
significantly big bike.
But look at it, it's just
absolutely work of art.
The way it's manufactured,
the way it's machined,
and bonded together, just
is it's like nothing else,
I mean these are absolutely amazing.
Can't believe I've not had a go on one!
Think I need to sort that out, don't I?
Not sure if you remember,
but last year at Sea Otter,
I checked out RevGrips,
they're the suspending grips
that enable you to actually absorb
vibration as you're riding,
and you can tune that
with a series of shims,
and I think they're still
one of the most progressive products,
it's really cool.
But these guys have just
come out with something new,
so it's a Pro Series Stem,
available 14th, 15th,
31.8 3 degree rise and it
looks really really trick,
but it also has a couple
of very cool features,
obviously firstly as you
can see, it has a go pro
mount on the top, you
can use it for gopro,
you can use it for your Garmin,
or your riding computer,
smartphone, a light in this
case, and on the underneath
this one's got a bell in there,
so the bell is super cool
if you live somewhere with
wildlife perhaps, you need like a
bear bell on your bike and
they have a plug system
that stops the bell from
vibrating when you're riding
so you can have it as an on or off mode.
I think it's super trick,
and check the intricate
machining to the way that's produced.
Yeah, again, RevGrips
supplies me with something new
and really really cool.
You can never be too
safe on a mountain bike,
especially when you're
barrelling down the hills,
and you're likely to, at some
point, to have an accident.
Now, safety is something
that Bontrager takes very
very carefully, now
have a look at their new
wavecell technology.
If I just take the inside
of the helmet apart there
you can see, this is their
brand new system that
developed basically
completely dissipates impacts
around the head.
Absolutely fantastic system, look at that!
Now a couple of weeks
ago, on a GMBN techshow,
I did a piece on Guerrilla
Gravity bikes, which is
a brand that really jumped
out to me, as doing something
very very different, now
this is the first time
I've actually seen one of
the bikes in the flesh,
I've got to say it's got
some really cool features
that no one else is really
paying attention to.
Now, the first thing is
fact that it's got really
decent modern geometry,
which of course, I bat on
about all the time.
The second thing, is the
fact that you can change
virtually every aspect of
what the bike can offer you
as a customer, which, that's
gold really if you're the
sort of customer that likes
to tweak and set the bikes
up in different ways.
Now to do this, by having
some very special features
on the frame, so the main
front triangle is carbon,
and that itself is made
in a very unique way,
we'll get to that in a second.
As you might be able to see
here, on the front of the frame,
you've got adjustable cups
here so you can change
the reach of that bike,
so you can have basically
you can tune it to feel
the way that you want it.
And also, the front triangle
of the frame is the same
if your having 27 1/2 or 29
inch wheels, and you just
have a different lower cup
to compensate for that.
So effectively, you're
getting two bikes in one
straightaway with two
options for the reach.
The next up is you can change
the seat stay of the bike,
and the options therefore
giving the bike more or less
travel depending on what you want.
Say for example you prefer
the ride of a short travel
bike but you wanna go
and hit some bike parks,
bike parks obviously
having a coil shock and a
bigger stroke, more travel
on the back, it's gonna
feel better, so you have
that option without having to
have a whole new bike, so a
really good modular system.
Now again, looking back at
the way they're manufactured,
that in itself is very different.
Now they've got a very
secret process, so they
can't tell us too much
about for obvious reasons,
but it's quite automated,
and what that means,
is it takes down the
manufacturing process time, and
time is money of course, and
it's also a lot more refined.
Add on to that, they make
these incredibly impact
resistant, it's designed
for realistic riders that
you are going to crash your bikes,
you are going to scuff
them, and a part of the
curing process is done at
a much higher temperature
than with normal carbon,
the result of that means
they can powder coat
this, which is something
you don't really see with carbon, because
powder coating tends to be
done at very high temperature
which would, in theory,
undo the curing process,
but again, this is cured at
a high temperature, so it
can handle that.
These guys seem to literally
have thought of everything.
I'm just so impressed with
what they can offer so
essentially it's four
bikes in the range, with
different wheel sizes and
different travels, but on
any one of those, you
can change the wheel size
you wanna run, the geometry
of the bike, how much travel
it has, you really can set
them up the way you like.
Check them out, very cool company.
So I'm here outside of
Peaty's stand, basically,
checking out all his new products.
So, you've already seen some
of the stuff in the range,
the link lube, we've got
the loam foam for cleaning
your bike, they've got a
new tire sealant, which has
got the unicorn stuff
inside, the magic stuff that
makes it happen, but
they've got some other stuff
that's pretty cool, so
they're doing their tubeless
stuff, and they're helping
you basically construct
the tubeless conversion
kit yourself, so you've got
40 mil valve stems, you've
got 60 mil valve stems,
if you've got deeper section
rims, and now they've done
workshop spec tape, and
they're doing this from
21-35 mil wide so you can just
do numerous amounts of wheels
and then the coolest thing
I think, is the actual kit
that you get, so the packaging,
the way that it's done
is designed to take you
on a journey from setting
your bike up and how to
understand doing that.
I've got one here, I can
just open up and show you
on the inside.
So as you can see, you get
the valves on the inside,
you get the rim tape, you
get the little identification
stickers, and you get your
sealant and you got all the
steps you need to understand
how to set them up
for your bike, proper
job, think that's wicked!
You might have seen the
Topeak Tubibooster
I recently did a video on
GMBNTech, it's essentially
a tubeless inflation device,
works kinda like a mini
compressor, or essentially
like a refillable CO2
cartridge, so essentially it
is a big chamber that you fill
with air and you can deflate
the air in an instant
straight to your tire to help inflate it.
Really cool system, and of
course I showed you that
the head of that can be
used directly with a CO2
cartridge too, so you got
an option to use that on
when you're out on a trail for example.
I've just noticed that
they've got a different head
on this particular one, so
you still have the classic
head, which you might have
seen on that video I just
referenced but this one is
actually far more usable
as a home device because
it enables you to pass
the regular pump through,
and monitor the pressure
that you're plugging
into it, just a typical
Topeak thing to do just add
extra features all the time,
always giving you great value for money.
Nice little upgrade that is,
to an already great system.
Now I often refer to CO2
cartridges as being a lifesaver
when you're out on a trail
for getting your tire inflated
and getting you back in a
race or a ride, or whatever
you're doing, but sometimes
you don't know what pressure
you're putting in, it's
a bit of a leap of faith,
you have to kinda just do
it by ear, but not anymore.
Topeak are always coming
out with new innovations,
new products, got one with
a gauge on it, fantastic!
Something I never knew
I needed, now I need it.
And another cool little
feature, as well as the actual
gauge on there, of course
this is where you pierce the
CO2 cartridge, but you can
actually store a spare one
on the top part of there
meaning you can have
one on the bottom, one on the top, enough
to do two tires worth,
just a nice little handy
device to have, I think it's great!
Now it's time for a bit of shoe tech.
Now you may well know Giant
Buys has been one of the
biggest bike manufacturers in the world,
you could say one of the most giant bike
manufacturers in the world, their factory
is enormous, they make bikes
for a lot of other people
but they're now making an
entire range of very specialist
shoes, so I'm just gonna
run you through the features
of a few of them here.
So at the top here we'll
start with the crosscountry
race shoes, so this is a
super high-end one, about
$350 approximate price, carbon
chain on the sole there.
They're actually a twin-bar
system, so as well as
retaining the stiffness
at the front of the shoe,
which is really important
for pedaling, it actually
enables it to flex slightly
at the ankle so it is
conformative and comfortable,
uses twin-boa system
on the top here, something
else that's really important
with the whole range to
point out is they're very
hydrophobic, so it doesn't
necessarily mean that they're
waterproof but what it does
mean is they're not gonna
absorb water so hence you get
wet, they're gonna dry faster.
Now I think that's a much
better approach, in fact I can
tell you that's a much better
approach because from the UK
and it rains a lot and
that's exactly what you need.
You want your shoes to dry fast.
They also got, considering
this is a crosscountry
race shoe, very tough toe
box, as we've noticed,
the trend for crosscountry
racing is getting faster
and more aggressive so having
that protection on the front
is fantastic.
Now we've also got an elite
version, slightly stripped
down version, the same just
got a single boa system,
and missing a few more
features but essentially is the
same shoe, you can get
that for about $250.
Now, we've got some trail shoes as well,
they've got a transmit
here, which I think is
probably one of the best
looking shoes of the lot.
Super tough finish on the outside, but I
wanna skip that because I
wanna take you to the flat
pair of shoes.
Got two colors, called the
Shuttle, I'm all about the
gum sole, I like old school gum soles.
Now, the same thing,
the same treatment, is
hydrophobic, so it basically
doesn't absorb water,
it's a very thin upper
on them, even the laces
basically they won't
absorb any moisture so the
whole thing is designed
to not get heavier when
you get wet which is an
inevitability it's not like a
if or when, the sole is
extremely soft rubber on this.
So, I think the only thing's
we've found that have been
softer have been the actual
stealth rubber the 510 used.
This feels amazing to
me, but the tread pattern
and the way that the last has been made to
build the shoe suggests
that they may be really
quite durable as well, time will tell.
Very tough toe box on them and
something that's quite cool
this comes from, you see
this a lot in skate shoes
and Vans, is the sole
itself isn't that thick,
it hasn't got the padding
in this, they rely on the
insoles for the padding
so if you take this out,
it's quite a malleable
shoe, as you can see
so you get the old monkey
feet going on on one of the
pedals which is fantastic
if you want that and
I think what they're
suggesting is there's gonna be
different sorts of insoles
coming at a later date,
it's gonna allow you to
tune the ride of the shoe
so if you like a more
efficient ride you can have a
stiffer one, to give a bit
more performance, or if you're
like me, I like my clip
shoes to be really stiff
and I want my flat shoes
to be really flexible, I
want my foot to sort of
envelop around the pedal,
and you can get that with
this, I think they're great.
They're $130 and they've got a whole range
Did not expect that
from Giant, pretty cool!
Well, there we go, that was
another day checking out
all the cool tech at Sea Otter 2019.
If you wanna see what we did yesterday,
click down here, of course
don't forget to give us
a huge thumbs up if you
love all this cool tech
geeky stuff and share and subscribe!
Cheers guys!
