meanwhile, in Madrid....

Well, actually Otero was a very specialized store with a great craftsman. Their frames became very popular, apart from their quality, for their famous "Pentax" geometry (basically the seat tube curved around the wheel, leaving chainstays approximately 37 cm long, achieving extraordinary traction on climbs).
Apart from their famous frames that were used, as they have already said, by professional teams and even the Spanish cycling team, they also distributed other brands exclusively, such as MBK, in a very charming store for the time.
With the MTB "boom" they expanded their horizons and dedicated themselves to being importers. For ex. They were the importers for Spain of an incipient Grip Shift. And at that moment the hypermarkets that were already displacing traditional commerce and selling everything from carrots to TV and anything that could be a business realized that they needed a piece of the MTB pie. But they didn't know anything about the business. They wanted it cheap and ready to ship.
Otero became the bicycle supplier for one of those large hypermarkets (we will omit the name) and was in charge of distributing thousands of MTBs with those premises: cheap and ready to ship. I don't know how to explain the difference in English between shipping an item and selling it.
Otero looked for industrial warehouses in San Jose de Valderas from which to receive and distribute the thousands of MTBs that were requested and that is how it worked for years, growing a lot.
But......
But the hypermarket stopped being interested in Otero as a supplier, they looked for a cheaper one (with even cheaper mtb) and they almost finished with Otero. A serious crisis happened, and I saved him that the store was never directly part of the import business.
That said, you can imagine that although the MTBs sold under the Otero brand had a bit more quality, in the end they all came from an unknown and cheap Asian supplier. Of course Otero will never be remembered for his MTBs
Despite everything, it has good material and a good price, but I assure you that now in Spain you can find better bicycles from that era. Last month I found a complete Deore in a Razesa frame (mythical Spanish brand, which did make their MTBs) in aluminum and for €40. I couldn't buy it, they beat me to it, Jjjj
My Raleigh Technium was €40 and a Scott Superamerica was reserved for €70 yesterday...I would look a little more
 
Thanks @Obi-Juan ! That's all really interesting. Is that to say, that in the hypermarket years the quality was so-so, or were they still decent bikes?

Yes, I've generally been really impressed with the amount of amazing deals you can find in Spain. It took me a little while to find Wallapop, is there any other apps or websites you'd recommend trawling for deals?

Unfortunately, I'll probably only be in Spain for 18 months or so, so I probably shouldn't build up a fleet of even more bikes than I have back in the UK! However, I've already planned to bring at least one home with me.

Additionally, if you have any recommendations for local trails (aside from Casa de Campo) or decent places for a day out near Madrid I'd highly appreciate it!
 
Remembering that Grundig World Cup Race at Casa del campo back in 1994, this was the one John Tomac was getting big air & crossing up off that steep drop-in. Quite flamboyant even by JT's standards.
 
I'm struggling to find much about the manufacturer other than they're based in Madrid
just some additional information about Otero, their portfolio for 1991:
Otero 1991 Portfolio aus Bicisport Guia 1991.jpg

I came across a number of buyer guides from early nineties from Spanish Bicisport magazine a while ago.
Can't read Spanish, but Google lens or translate typically does the job to understand also the text.
Very interesting for me is allays to see this large number of specific local brands with nice bikes which never made to other countries or regions in Europe.
Otero is just one of those.
Otero Ad mirror aus Bicisport Guia 1991.jpg
 
Recordando la carrera de la Copa del Mundo Grundig en Casa del Campo en 1994, esta fue la carrera en la que John Tomac hizo un gran salto y cruzó después de esa pendiente pronunciada. Bastante extravagante incluso para los estándares de JT.
¡essss!
Buena memoria
Hay un vídeo en YouTube, lo estuve viendo hace 2 meses, pero no recuerdo el enlace
 
Thanks @Obi-Juan ! That's all really interesting. Is that to say, that in the hypermarket years the quality was so-so, or were they still decent bikes?

Yes, I've generally been really impressed with the amount of amazing deals you can find in Spain. It took me a little while to find Wallapop, is there any other apps or websites you'd recommend trawling for deals?

Unfortunately, I'll probably only be in Spain for 18 months or so, so I probably shouldn't build up a fleet of even more bikes than I have back in the UK! However, I've already planned to bring at least one home with me.

Additionally, if you have any recommendations for local trails (aside from Casa de Campo) or decent places for a day out near Madrid I'd highly appreciate it!
If you go through Casa de Campo, I would recommend that you go to Monte del Pardo. It is very close (approximately 2 km from the Casa de Campo) and it is another story.
The Monte del Pardo reaches Colmenar Viejo, 50 km from Madrid and beyond
Eye! It has very technical areas, but also a lot of trail and countless single tracks. It is beautiful, the vegetation and fauna are impressive. There are everything from wild boars to deer, falcons and I even once traveled 1 km with an imperial eagle above my head (Seprona confirmed that there were 2 pairs of imperial eagles breeding in the Monte del Pardo... 5 km from Madrid!) .
Before, I lived in Dehesa de la Villa and the Casa de Campo was 1.5 km away and Monte del Pardo was 1.5 km away. I preferred this last option, it is more rewarding.
In fact, from where I live now I can access Monte del Pardo in about 20 km. When we meet at my brother's house (he lives near Colmenar Viejo) I ride my bike there, especially to remember the Pardo mountain, which is my weakness.
 
just some additional information about Otero, their portfolio for 1991:
View attachment 883927

I came across a number of buyer guides from early nineties from Spanish Bicisport magazine a while ago.
Can't read Spanish, but Google lens or translate typically does the job to understand also the text.
Very interesting for me is allays to see this large number of specific local brands with nice bikes which never made to other countries or regions in Europe.
Otero is just one of those.
View attachment 883941
Well, the article is more of an "advertisement".
He comments that until 1990 Otero only made handmade frames like the one with which Giovaneti won a cycling tour of Spain, and that now he "manufactured" a range imported from Taiwan. Then they comment on the models with their components...little more
As a curiosity, I included some pieces of which Otero was an importer: specialized tires, ITM and even Iscaselle saddles.
I remember well that they were the Iscaselle importers because I bought a Giro d'Italia from them and then a Dakar. I still have the Giro d'Italia, the dakar was horrible for me, Jjjj
 
If you go through Casa de Campo, I would recommend that you go to Monte del Pardo. It is very close (approximately 2 km from the Casa de Campo) and it is another story.
The Monte del Pardo reaches Colmenar Viejo, 50 km from Madrid and beyond
Eye! It has very technical areas, but also a lot of trail and countless single tracks. It is beautiful, the vegetation and fauna are impressive. There are everything from wild boars to deer, falcons and I even once traveled 1 km with an imperial eagle above my head (Seprona confirmed that there were 2 pairs of imperial eagles breeding in the Monte del Pardo... 5 km from Madrid!) .
Before, I lived in Dehesa de la Villa and the Casa de Campo was 1.5 km away and Monte del Pardo was 1.5 km away. I preferred this last option, it is more rewarding.
In fact, from where I live now I can access Monte del Pardo in about 20 km. When we meet at my brother's house (he lives near Colmenar Viejo) I ride my bike there, especially to remember the Pardo mountain, which is my weakness.
By chance, at the moment you sent this - that's exactly where I was!

DSCF8411-2.jpg

I was out with a road bike friend though, so we mainly stuck to tarmac! Will definitely return to see some of the trails though, really beautiful landscape.


@joglo thanks for sharing the portfolio too! It's been cool learning about the local bike manufacturers for sure. I agree, there's clearly so many quality frames out there in the world aside from the big dominant (US) brands. The Otero actually fell through in the end, but on Obi's recommendation, I ended up with a very nice Razesa frame to build up (as well as the Giant pictured above!)
 
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