First off, there will be photographs, so stay tuned! This is just getting the word out about the new items seen at Sea Otter so far.

Big news, (or finally fulfilled rumors, depending upon your viewpoint) from Mavic with their CrossMax based 29″er tubeless wheels and Hutchinson’s long awaited Python tubeless tires. The wheels, which have been tested by the guys at Niner bikes for about a year now, weigh 1750 grams and are UST standard with the rim well and hook bead. Typically Mavic, they have the model named emblazoned around the rims sidewall in barely readable text. Disc only, of course.

The Python tubeless tires look to be of decent volume and have that love it or hate it Python tread pattern that to me, looks like a fantastic hard pack tread pattern. I hope to snag a demo ride and check these out, as Niner has almost all their bikes decked out with this rim and tire combo.

Secondly we have the Manitou Minute 29″er forks in full force at the expo, seen at many booths on the front ends of 29″er bikes. A test ride on one of these will be done too. Manitou is sporting a 46mm offset so handling should be spicy on the right bikes.

One of the complaints in the 29″er market place is that too many of the bikes are expensive and cheaper, well spec’ed bikes don’t exist. Jamis has stepped up in this direction with it’s Dakota 29″er hard tail. It’s got a triple butted aluminum frame, Avid Juicy 3 hydraulic disc brakes, and a full Shimano spec’ed drivetrain. A Tora 29″er with Pop Loc sits up front, and the rims are WTB shod with the same companies tires. One of the cool things is that the extra large is a 24.6″ top tube bike with a 21″ seat tube. Great for the bigger guys. All for a price of a bit more than $1200.00.

Niner showed off their new J.E.T. 9 three inch travel full suspension bike. Based on the same design as the R.I.P. 9 trail bike, the new rig has a few tweaks to shorten the travel and drop some weight to get a complete bike weight of right at 23lbs as shown at the expo. This is with no goofy parts either. Quite impressive! More details later, so stay tuned!

Finally, I saw a bike getting wheeled briskly through the expo area that looked all the world like a Specialized emblazoned, Stumpjumper branded 29″er hard tail. No sign of anything 29″er at the booth, but I will see what I can find out about it later.

Again, pictures are forth coming. Stay tuned for more from Sea Otter!