(BRAIN) — Seth Alvo, whose YouTube channel has 2.75 million subscribers, announced in a video last week that he is now part owner of Clik Valve, which sells an alternative to presta valves.
Alvo said the ownership "complicates things" when it comes to his independence as a video reviewer of mountain bike products. His solution was to be transparent from the start, he said.
"I have to acknowledge that you can no longer trust my opinion on anything concerning valves. I literally own part of a valve company. Not only that, but Clik licenses their technology to others like Schwalbe and Wolftooth, an increasing list of brands that are making Clik-compatible pumps and accessories," he said on the video, which now has 377,000 views and 1840 comments as of Monday. "This is the very thing that I've tried to avoid — It's why I now choose sponsors outside of bicycles and components. And so, it's not perfect."
He said his media business had grown to where he no longer need to accept bike industry partnerships or sponsorships, but that he was excited about the Clik Valve's potential to change the industry by replacing a 140 year old valve standard with something he feels works better.
"Off camera, I'm going to have several additional roles. I'm going to be attending meetings about our products. I'll be personally testing everything. I'll be getting these valve cores into the hands of all the right speople and I'm going to be creating tutorial videos for the Click website and YouTube channel," he said.
"Whether or not bicycle valves are super interesting to you, this is really exciting for me. It's almost like an additional chapter in my life where I get to start something that could transcend this YouTube channel. Where would I logically
go from here? It's not like I've spent the last 10 years in some industry learning the ropes as a marketing manager or something and I have a sweet resume: I'm a YouTube creator. There's only limited things that I can do later on. And so I either have to keep doing YouTube until YouTube is replaced with something else or I have to look for other opportunities that are worth my time."
Alvo launched his YouTube channel in 2015 as Seth's Bike Hacks. He later changed its name to Berm Peak as he expanded it scope.
Related: Pinkbike's July 2025 interview with Alvo.
