Industry Day At Sea Otter Classic: Bicycle World Comes Together At Bike Festival Outside Monterey
Presenting sponsor of this story is Las Vegas Cyclery
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
MONTEREY, California — It’s Industry Day at Sea Otter Classic today to start off the four-day party of bicycling in the hills outside Monterey.
LVSportsBiz.com was impressed with the more than 1,000 brands that made the trek to the Laguna Seca racetrack and its iconic “corkscrew” to do business and marketing at The Otter.
The big boys of bicycling like Specialized, Shimano, Giant and Sram are here. LVSportsBiz.com is giving pub to five small companies here to promote their products.
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LVSportsBiz.com always has a tender place in our hearts for Laura and Steve Toll and Big Dave at ism bike seats.
It’s a terrific saddle that protects the “private parts” while pedaling.
We’ve been through the Interbike days and I reported on Steve Toll’s bike saddle when I was a reporter at The Tampa Tribune.
Steve said he came up with the saddle concept while using the toilet in his bathroom and the rest is bike saddle history.
Need a new bike saddle pp check out the ism product.
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Quick advice — always use a bike light when pedaling at dark and it’s also a good idea to even use power lumen front and rear lights during the day.
LVSportsBiz.com recommends the KOM Cycling light from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
We recently used this easily-mounted light on our famed Surly Pugsley fat-tire bicycle when biking the back streets of the Strip for a recent live event story at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The 1,000 lumens light runs for $120 retail and a light with less lumens that can be used during the day costs 60 bucks retail.
If you need a light get this one.
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Bryan Tarn launched his Journey Optics sunglasses company after COVID hit in 2020 and has invested about $200,000 in designing and manufacturing sunglasses designed specifically for male athletes with low nose bridges.
The software salesman still has his day job. But he’s sleeping in his Sprinter in a Safeway parking lot to exhibit at his first industry expo here at Sea Otter.
The Irvine, California man designed the sunglasses from scratch and the new designs required new tooling and molding to crank out the eyewear in Taiwan.
Like many entrepreneurs, he tried other products that he didn’t like so he decided to create his own product based on his own experiences.
He was a recreational bicyclist with one bicycle, but now he has five.
And he’s in the business of making and selling sunglasses designed for dudes with low nose bridges.
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Man, I have known Nate Bird at Honey Stinger for years.
This dude has sliced and diced these delicious energy waffles for samples at many an Interbike and Sea Otter show.
Nate has worked an amazing 21 years at Honey Stinger in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
He gave me two samples of a new nut-flavored waffle and these are delicious.
If you’re hungry, but a box of The Stinger and pack a few in your back jersey pocket for a tasty snack along the way on bicycle rides or hiking excursions.
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Former photographer and amateur racer Adam Barker used to shave his legs, but his bathroom was always a complete mess.
So a year ago, he debuted his BOLT Skin + Shave razor and lotions product at Sea Otter and he’s back in 2025.
Adam sells two razors — one for $44.95 and another for $39.95 with the blades and razor designed in Finland to handle coarse men’s leg hair. He also sells a $19.99 scrub lotion, $17.99 shave butter and $16.99 post shave lotion.
The Salt Lake City bicyclist who does endurance mountain bike rides came up the idea himself after too many unsuccessful shaving episodes in the bathroom. “It looked like I wrestled with a chainsaw.”
You can buy the razor and lotions in a bundle that range in costs from $64.99 to $129.99.
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So, there’s a guy named Steve Fearn who was sending me emails by the batches from Muc-Off, which makes bike frame and part washing materials.
But there’s a lot more too, from gloves and mini tire inflators to even grime-removal machines and tiny air blowers to get rid of grit.
There’s a friendly can-do attitude at Muc-Off, which is a helluva funny name for the British company.
Muc-Off even has a bike-washing station at The Otter on one side of the sprawling complex.
It was nice to put the Steve emails with a face.
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