Sea Otter, Sanitas Bikes, and the Rise of Drop Bar Mountain Bikes – VELO

Then the Ridley Ignite GTX hit the market recently and it takes the concept of a hardtail mountain bike with drop bars out of the realm of hack-it-together and into production ready. There might be something here.

This was all on my mind walking around this year’s Sea Otter when I stumbled across the Sanitas Node Cambium. There it was again, another drop bar mountain bike. This time it’s the kind of small brand titanium that screams cool, from Durango of course, but if there’s already a big brand involved and now there’s a small brand too. Is something happening?

Sanitas Bikes is an example

There are three people behind Sanitas cycles. One of them is John Siegrist, otherwise known as the man behind DEAN Titanium. If that’s still not ringing a bell, just know that the brand has been making titanium bikes in the US since 1989 but Siegrist sold it in 2021. The other two co-founders include his son David and former DEAN employee Bradford Swaim.

The three men make a total of two full suspension titanium bikes. In case it’s not clear, this brand is tiny. You probably haven’t heard of it but they do have some experience in the industry.

This year, Sanitas is introducing the Sanitas Node Cambium into that tiny lineup and it’s a hardtail mountain bike with drop bars.The company says “As builders we are seeing a split in gravel bikes: Wide-tire drop-bar mountain bikes and gravel race bikes/all-roads.”

Obviously this one falls in the former category. It’s got a 73mm BB shell and boost spacing with space in the frame for up to a 29 x 2.3″ max tire and “ample CS crank room and option CS Yoke can allow riders to run up to 46T chainrings.” Swaim explains that it will also include UDH dropouts, dropper post routing, and internal brake cable routing with a choice between a 100mm suspension fork or rigid carbon fork.

Full circle, the future, or a fad?

The point here is not so much this bike. Sanitas caught my eye because it’s not a big brand with a wide distribution. It’s fun to highlight an up and coming brand at a big show but there’s more than that. For one thing the Sanitas bikes didn’t sit at a Sanitas booth.

The Sanitas node carbon drop bar mountain bike was, as I mentioned, at the Vittoria booth. At the very least, that points to yet another brand putting a stamp of approval on the concept. I asked Swaim who he thinks this is for and he tells me that “as tire widths are becoming wider and customers are requesting more robust but versatile gravel bikes, this is our version of a  ‘Monster Gravel’ to answer those inquiries.” That’s not exactly a general answer but it does at least point to gravel cyclists in Durango looking for something like this.

Personally I’ve been leaning more into owning the idea that a racy gravel bike is what I like. I need something that’s capable but I want it to feel like a road bike. A mountain bike, even with drop bars, will never fit that description but it’s certainly capable and might be fast in the right situation. I only question how many people will actually experience that situation.

I’m calling this one a fad in terms of the overall industry impact but I actually think that the small brand approach is the right one. There’s not a huge market for this only because the use case is very small. Swaim is responding to customers in a very specific part of the world. That won’t apply to most other people unless your riding is similar to Durango. At the same time it clearly makes sense in certain race situations and it might be good for ultra endurance as well. Everyone else is likely served better by something else.

If your use case does match up, check out Sanitas bikes website for more info on a custom titanium drop bar mountain bike.

Originally Published Here: https://velo.outsideonline.com/gravel/gravel-gear/sea-otter-sanitas-bikes-rise-drop-bar-mountain-bikes/