Grannygear ferreted out some stunning machinery that was on show at Sea Otter fitted with big hoops. Here is a photo blitz of some of the sleek rigs he saw fit to capture in pixels.
Big Wheels For Two: Okay, how about a titanium frame with carbon “Exogrid” technology, a White Brothers through axle fork, and be able to bring along a good buddy or significant other? Yes? Well check this Santana tandem out.
Here’s a shot of a downtube before it is completed with the carbon fiber and welded into a frame. Check out how the Santana logo is cut into the design. Pretty trick.
You’ll need a lot of fork and a lot of “whoa power” to stop all of that titanium and carbon fiber bombing down a mountain.
The Yeti “Big Top” has caused quite a stir both due to the fact that it is a pretty cool frame and that the back story on the development is ahhh…….interesting, shall we say? What most folks don’t know, and what Grannygear found out, is that Yeti factory guys have been building up their own 29″ers and since Yeti didn’t sell 29″ers, well…..they were disguised. The 29″er fans within Yeti finally convinced the less than enthusiastic owner of Yeti to produce this frame. Well, at least that is how it was related to Grannygear. At any rate, let’s take a look………….
If you run the Big Top as a single speed, you can have this cool little detail on your direct front derailluer mount to show off.
The Big Top will have swappable drop out plates to run either single speed or geared set ups. The detail and burly construction look impressive. Notice the far drop out has a post mount disc brake fixture machined into it. Nice. The Big Top will also accommodate a Hammerschmidt front internal geared crank or a chain guide on the ISCG tabs for ultimate versatility.
The rarely seen Elsworth Enlightenment is a swoopy looking carbon fiber affair.
The Enlightenment was set up with a Gates Carbon Drive belt system.
The Enlightenment has swappable drop out ends with beautiful machining to allow for single speed, geared, or belt driven drive train set ups.
The Enlightenment with its Smallblock 8 tire and the resulting clearance.
Intense showed the Tracer 29 in this really hot orange color.
Machined modular drop outs to accommodate quick release or through axle rear wheel set ups.
There is a lot going on down there in the bottom bracket area of the Tracer 29.
Look for more Photo Reports from Sea Otter coming soon.
Enlightenment is gorgeous! And such a clever dropout too.. Shame about the minimalist clearance..
BLING!!
5.5″ travel Reba – http://singletrack.competitor.com/2010/04/gear-and-tech/sea-otter-tech-nuggets-slideshow_7376?pid=1585
Side note: The Tracer will offer different dropouts that will also adjust the wheelbase, hopefully allowing for more tire clearance than shown with the Kenda Karma 2.2.
grannygear
Wow. 2011 is going to be a great year.
Dropout technology is getting pretty advanced and pretty easy to use. Hard to imagine the some current SS’s couldn’t be using something as simple and secure as the Yeti, Ellsworth or Tracer.
Yeah, seems the cranks get more clearance than the tires, aslthough the tires are the most moving ones.
The Karma tire on the Intense also seems to be a bit snug in place, but optics may deceive.
Just saw a few pics of Giant’s prototype Anthem X 29er which won the super D under Carl Decker’s guidance and it too seems to suffer from tight tyre clearances.
Yes it is a prototype but a few extra mm of wheelbase so a decent tyre can fit cant be that bad can it?