Sea Otter Classic 2026 Gallery - Bikes

Suvi Loponen

Sea Otter is a lot of things. It's a gravel race, or in fact, many races across disciplines. It's a festival. It's an industry trade show compressed into four days at a racetrack in California, with over a thousand brands and 70,000 people all trying to get a look at what's hot this year, what's coming, and – of course – grab some freebies.

And it's absolutely filled with bikes. So many bikes that it's genuinely hard to know which ones to look at. Some will catch your eye because of the paint, others will make you wander closer because of the parts and accessories on them, or the fact that someone's taken a completely different approach to what a bike should be like.

The Open WI.DE 2.0 gravel bike can fit 29x2.6″ tiresThe second iteration of the gravel/adventure platform from the Swiss brand lives up to its name.Escape CollectiveJosh Weinberg

And some you'll find yourself standing in front of because you know the name, or you're just curious what that particular maker or brand has been working on.

Here are some of those bikes I got to stop and look at:

Stinner's 32" gravel bike

Unlike the Salsa Fargo 32", California-based Stinner was showing a much bigger 32" bike at its stand – here pictured with the 6'4"-tall founder/owner Aaron Stinner.

Chatting with him, it was clear that his aim isn't to bring the bike out to cater for everyone, but rather in the larger sizes for taller people. And like many others, he was quick to point out that when it comes to 32", many areas are far from perfected in terms of the components and the geometry.

Stinner plans to make 30 frames available in July, sizing from medium upward. He said he doesn't really see a rationale for going smaller: this is a bike that makes most sense for taller individuals, and making a small that works well would require a purpose-designed fork with far less stack than what's currently available off the shelf.

Stinner's 32" bike will come speced with wheels from Stoic Components, Stinner's own wheel brand, which was originally developed alongside John Jones, Stinner's longtime wheel builder and a close friend of the team, who passed away during Covid-19 before the brand could launch. After five years on the shelf, with moulds and R&D already done, Stinner is finally bringing the idea to market.

Aaron Stinner has been building for this moment for yearsThe longtime framebuilder and his two brands – Stinner Frameworks and Stinner Manufacturing – have become one of the largest bicycle fabricators in the US.Escape CollectiveJosh Weinberg

Road, gravel and mountain options are planned, all hooked, with rims from China assembled in-house at Stinner's shop. Hub options will include US-made options from the likes of White Industries or Wolf Tooth, alongside a more accessible Taiwanese alternative.

X-Lab enters the US market

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