Best new road gear at Sea Otter

Held just outside Monterey, California for more than 20 years each spring, the four-day Sea Otter Classic is a fantastic place to get a look at new kit. Andrew Dodd has already brought us his picks for cool mountain bike gear. And here is our pick of the best of the new road gear below.

Retired pro rider Pietro Caucchioli, a two-time Giro d'Italia stage winner, is starting an online custom bike brand called Divo, and is also heading up Alé, the consumer-direct brand from clothing giant APG, which is the factory for Giordana, Vermarc and many more.

Alé will begin selling online in June, offering riders the quality of Giordana or Vermarc garments at a lower price.

Alé will have three different tiers of clothing. Astute roadies will notice similarities between Alé clothing and that of other brands coming out of APG.

Alé will have a deep women's line as well as the men's clothing.

Bob Parlee has been making custom carbon road framesets for a while, but this aero bike is a new venture.

Parlee was leery of making aero tube shapes as many of them can compromise ride quality, the company claims, but this ESX bike has the best of both worlds.

Parlee uses direct-mount Shimano calipers at the fork and under the chain stays.

Parlee made its first seatpost for this bike.

The integrated top cap can be removed for a lower position.

Bar Fly has a new Garmin mount, the SLi, that is aluminum and can fit 31.8 and 35 bars.

The SLi mount features threads for attaching a video camera like this GoPro or a Garmin Virb on the underside.

Rokform's Fusion Plus RMS iPhone case (US$79/approx £47) securely attaches to a few different mounts.

The US$29/approx £17 universal mount, with a rubber strap for mounting to a handlebar of any diameter, also has a lanyard for extra peace of mind.

The aluminum Pro Mount isn't new from Rokform, but company founder Craig Erion notes that is has been given the highest form of flattery from competitors like Topeak recently.

Avex water bottles feature a unique top to stow the mouthpiece away from debris.

The Avex water bottle (US$11/approx £6.50) when closed. The red button at right pops the top open.

The Avex water bottle when open. The lid snaps back down with the flick of a finger.

Ergon's CFS Pro Carbon split seatpost moves 43mm fore and aft. It first showed up as original equipment on a Canyon road bike.

Ergon's new 195g SRX3-M road saddle features a relatively flat tail with a small ergonomic indentation. It comes in two widths.

For April Fool's, Feedback made a tiny one-off workstand for children. At least one distributor took the bait and tried to place an order.

This isn't an April Fool's. Feedback's free new iPhone app helps riders track the maintenance history of their bikes. You can set alarms for when you need to perform different tasks, whether putting on a new chain or refreshing tire sealant.

Fi'zi:k's VS saddles started with a slight channel. Now, that channel is more dramatic.

The VS line goes across the Aliante, Antares and Arione, in metal and carbon rails.

Fi'zi:k held a crowd-sourcing project of sorts for saddle design, asking riders around the world to pick the best designs. This is one of them.

These are the 15 finalists that went into limited production.

The new Xentis Squad 2.5 SL weighs 890g — for the pair.

The Austrian Xentis brand prides itself on the diamond-machined brake track. Machining off the resin makes for a harder, more consistent track.

With ceramic bearings and carbon hubs (220g for the set), Xentis wheels come in about 50-100g lighter than comparable models from ENVE or Zipp.

Similar to Reynolds' Swirl Lip Generator, Xentis has this wavey extrustion on its rims for smoothing air over the tire, the company claims.

Lake's CX402, despite the moniker, is a new carbon moldable road — not cyclocross — shoe.

The side and rear portions of the carbon sole are heat moldable on the US$529 CX402 shoe.

First introduced last year, the CX402 is shipping now. The internal layer is perforated leather.

Considerably more affordable, the US4$279/approx £166 CX237 road shoes come in standard, wide and women's sizes, with a double BOA closure.

The Lake CX237 shoes are a bit wider than a standard road last.

With a full leather upper, BOA closure and thin carbon sole, the Lake CX237 is a mix of old and new school.

Lake's cyclocross shoe, with its aggressive, replaceable treads, now comes in all black.

SRM, long known for its integrated battery on its power meters that required shipping back to headquarters for recharging, now comes in an AAA option for an FSA crank.

Whether the AAA option replaces the lithium ion battery across the board remains to be seen for SRM.

SRM's new Power Control 8 head unit features GPS, among other things. GPS has been notably absent from prior SRM head units.

Lapierre's new aero bike, the Aircode.

More and more carbon seatposts are being produced with vertical flex visually denoted, if not actually engineered in.

Internal routing keeps things tidy on the Aircode.

The direct-mount Shimano caliper is embedded slightly into the fork.

The Française des Jeux edition of the Aircode gets this traditional brake-mount placement; the stock version will have the caliper tucked underneath the chain stays.

The Lapierre Pulsium is the French brand's new endurance bike. It can fit up to 32mm tires.

The Pulsium fork uses a more generous 50mm as compared to Lapierre's more usual 43mm. This helps create a longer wheelbase for more stability.

Lapierre has built elastomers into this junction of the top and seat tubes. This prototype isn't quite as polished as the team versions, Lapierre said.

The flexible junction can move up to 3.5mm, Lapierre claims.

The carbon dropouts on the Pulsium are sheathed on either side by a metal derailleur hanger.

Lapierre tucks the seatpost clamp bolt under this partially opened rubber cap.