Fair weather prevailed at the 2024 Sedona Mountain Bike Festival after a brief forecast scare the day before almost doomed the weekend-long event for a second year in a row. But the clear skies set the tone for the Arizona event: lovely riding on tacky dirt, and some sweet new bike gear to show off. Spencer and Josh spent two days wandering and documenting the festival, so check out the mega-gallery of all the bikes, products, and people they found below…

The crowd is always colorful at Sedona MTB fest and—from the guy wandering around with an Apple Vision Pro headset to a couple dressed up in the tuxedos from Dumb and Dumber—this year proved no different. With mostly clear skies and dry trails, the bike demo fleet racks were empty, and people were stoked. After much rambling around the festival grounds and handshaking, we found plenty of standout bikes and products to showcase.

Industry Nine SOLiX Road and Gravel Wheelsets and Hubs

We got a sneak peek of the new SOLiX wheel collection from Industry Nine. Available today, the SOLiX SL and SOLiX G wheels will be the go-to performance road and gravel options in i9’s lineup and are currently available in 13 different configurations.

According to i9, “These wheelsets are engineered to minimize drag, addressing everything from the mechanical aspects like the pawl and drive interface to aerodynamic elements.” Based around the all-new SOLiX hubset (similar to HYDRA but in a more elegant and sleeker package) they feature a continuously-phased five-pawl freehub, 121-tooth drive ring, and 605 points of contact, amounting to .59° engagement. Some notable hub updates for this road and gravel application include: reduced pawl rotation and spring pressure, optimized drive ring diameter, and changed contact seal layout—all designed to bring resistance and freewheeling noise to a minimum.

SOLiX Hubset

• Hole Count: 24| 28
• Engagement: 605 P.O.E or .59°
• Axle Specs: 12 x 100 Front | 12 x 142 Rear
• Freehub Body : SRAM XD-R | Shimano HG | Shimano MS-R | Campagnolo N3W
• Weight: Front 110 g | Rear 223 g
• MSRP: $695 pair

SOLiX G Wheelsets

The SOLiX G collection offers the most adventure-worthy and fully customizable gravel wheel from i9 meant to excel on backcountry and gravel routes thanks to tech borrowed from the MTB realm.

The unique straight-pull, one-piece aluminum spokes directly thread into the SOLiX hub flange, providing a responsive ride quality. Furthermore, the hubs and spokes are available in 11 anodized colors, inviting riders to configure their dream wheels via a custom wheel designer.

• Hole Count: 24
• Wheelset weights starting at 1320 g
• Engagement: 605 P.O.E or .59°
• Axle Specs: 12 x 100 Front | 12 x 142 Rear
• Freehub Body: Sram Xd-R | Shimano Hg | Shimano Ms-R | Campagnolo N3w
• MSRP (starting at): Alloy $1405/Set | Carbon $2395/Set

SOLiX SL Wheelsets

SOLiX SL is the more aero-focused side of the new offerings and includes CFD-designed rims and straight-pull Sapim CX-Ray bladed spokes anchored in the SOLiX hubs. Riders looking for extra flair can select 11 anodized hub colors and nine spoke nipple colors from the custom wheel designer. With a full array of profiles to match climbing, aero, or mixed terrain applications, the SOLiX SL range spans road, gravel, and cyclocross disciplines.

Tout Terrain Scrambler Xplore GT II 28 Select 3.1

In a market flooded with discounted, closeout, plastic gravel bikes, the Tout Terrain Scrambler Explore GT II offers a beacon of hope. This steel-framed, 12-speed drop-bar bike, equipped with a Pinion gearbox, is engineered to handle anything thrown its way.

The Tout Terrain exclusive drop-bar shifters with TRP hydro brakes provide a wide range of hand positions and plenty of stopping power for all-day adventures.

Stratocrom steel tubing and a carbon fork offer a smooth ride and plenty of mounting options for bags and racks, while maintaining clearance for up to a 700 x 50 mm tire. The complete build retails for $5663.90 with custom powder coating options using Tout Terrain’s custom configurator.

Neuhaus Happy Jack Dirt Jumper

The Happy Jack came to life through a cooperative project at Neuhaus Metalworks led by Antonio Sagaral, a mechanical engineering student at Northern Arizona University. Veering from the path of traditional mountain bikes, the Happy Jack was an exercise that allowed Antonio to explore external barriers such as cost efficiency and time as well as manage production and delivery timelines. Six Happy Jack’s were built using CNC-machined chainstay yokes, sliding dropouts, and a geometry built to send the NMW knowledge of steel to new heights.

The project not only served as a research project but also as an exercise in designing from a business perspective. Developing an understanding of the external barriers such as cost, efficiency and time.

Neuhaus Ti Hummingbird Hardtail

Along with a full demo fleet of Solstice and Hummingbird bikes, the Marin-based brand showed up with a full size run of Hummingbird Titanium bikes.

In Neuhaus’s words, “The Hummingbird Ti bikes build on all the qualities of our popular steel bikes. With a razor-sharp handling and lightning-fast acceleration, the Hummingbird Ti builds on the foundation that is our popular Hummingbird line. The bike seen is a M+ Hummingbird Ti featuring the same 3D-printed parts our steel bikes are known for. It will clear a 29 x 2.6” tire and the sliding dropouts provide a chainstay length range of 420 mm to 440 mm. This bike is built with a Roost Ti bar, 5 Dev titanium stem, titanium crank, and purple anodized titanium chainring. Along with the Hummingbird Ti we are excited to offer the Solstice Ti and our Epyon Titanium gravel bike.”

This one in particular belongs to Steve from Hardtail Party. Be sure to check out his new channel Big Brain Party!

Privateer 141 Gen 2

Privateer had their Gen 2 frames in both 141 (pictured) and 161 travel options, featuring their A.L.P (aligned linear progression) kinematics and custom-tuned Fox suspension complimented by Enduro Max bearings.

The frame is capable of being run as a mixed wheel setup with a flip chip on the linkage and dropout. Each size has size-specific chainstays and rowdy progressive geometry.

We’re hoping to bring one of these in for review, so stay tuned for more on this interesting platform.

Rogue Panda

On of the first products that caught our eye was Rogue Panda’s new Blue Ridge Handlebar Cradle. The main structure is machined in Flagstaff, AZ. The shims are 3D-printed nylon and the bars are carbon fiber. The whole package weighs 8.5 ounces and comes in two strap options; $195 with plastic buckles and $235 with Austere MFG straps.

Rogue Panda are also offering some of their bags in Challenge’s Ultra 400 fabric. Ultra is a UHMWPE fabric which is an acronym for Ultra-High Molecular Weight Poly Ethylene. The skinny is that the fabric is super tough, long-wearing, and very waterproof. It has a very satisfying crinkle as you roll it and breaks in quite nicely.

San Util Design

San Util had a very strong showing in their second year at Sedona MTB Fest between their own booth and with plenty of bags over at the REEB tent as well. In addition to SU’s sizeable choice of color options across the line, we also saw some of the Colorado-based brands bags constructed with Challenge Ultra fabric, the most notable being Adam’s personal ski pack. San Util had a new roll-top handlebar pack to show off and you can expect a full review in the near future!

Osprey Packs

For spring 2024, Osprey throws its hat in the bikepacking ring with their Escapist collection, a full suite of bikepacking gear. The Escapist collection includes three sizes of frame bags, a wedge bag, a top tube bag, a handlebar bag, a saddle bag, and backpacks. They use an aluminum reinforced holster design to keep the bags stable. The bags all tout waterproof roll tops or zippers as well.

Thomson Hardtail

Thomson had a steel hardtail frame so new they hadn’t even pressed a headset into it yet. The frame is custom-made in Georgia by Zukas Cycles from Columbus tubing and features Paragon dropouts. They also had some Cerakote color accent options in lime green, purple, and orange.

Norco Optic V3 

Spencer got to ride at least one bike during the festival weekend; Norco’s Optic V3. With Norco being one of the few brands debuting something before Sea Otter next month, he was compelled to throw a leg over the new-new, which sports an updated high-pivot suspension (VPS HP) layout that is rare to find on a short travel (125 mm ) bike. The bike will be available in a few different build kits in both aluminum and carbon.

The Optic can be converted to a mixed wheel setup with Norco’s missing link package (rocker and shock mount) without any change to the Optic’s geometry. Spencer will reserve his less informed opinions until Travis puts out his proper review in the near future, but the trend of short travel bikes getting such well thought out suspension designs is really exciting.

Let us know if you see anything in these galleries you want us to review in the future. Shoutout to Sedona MTB Fest for having us and keeping us from falling into a vortex. See you next year!