For this episode of All About Bikes, CEO of Pivot Cycles, Chris Cocalis, sits down with head of R&D at Pivot, Bill Kibler, to walk you through all the features of the all-new, long travel Shuttle LT.
For this episode of All About Bikes, CEO of Pivot Cycles, Chris Cocalis, sits down with head of R&D at Pivot, Bill Kibler, to walk you through all the features of the all-new, long travel Shuttle LT.
Drag Bill on some rides maybe he wasn't super happy about but the bike got him through it. Yeah, I mean our goal is never to Kill Bill but we always need to push his limits to the edge.
Jens Staudt:Welcome to Pivot All About Bikes podcast. This summer is a busy one at Pivot. We keep expanding our portfolio just to keep up with weeks ago, we presented the Shuttle SL to the world, a lightweight ebike with its focus on agility and low weight. Today, we take a look at the other end of the spectrum, the big ice cream cup of chocolate sprinkles, cookies and extra cream because sometimes too much is just right. We want to introduce you to the Shuttle LT. An EWS proof full on ebike to conquer the gnarliest tracks up and down. My name is Jens Staudt your host for today and my guests to talk about this bike are Chris Cocalis. And Bill Kibler. Welcome, Chris. Welcome, Bill.
Bill Kibler:Thank you.
Chris Cocalis:Thanks Jens.
Jens Staudt:When we discuss ebikes today, it is quite different from it was a couple of years ago we saw diversification in application. This means we have not only one but overall four ebikes in our Pivot lineup. The Evault and the shuttle family. Shuttle SL, the former shuttle now became the Shuttle AM and now we have the Shuttle LT. But before we start, we absolutely need to introduce Bill.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, I met Bill. Oh man back late in the 90s. I was at Titus and we were working on concept of hydroforming aluminum. I was just coming into the sport starting to see more formed shapes on bikes instead of just round tubes. And we were designing this cool form see tower assembly for the actually for the Titus Switchblade, the first Switchblade. It was a really complicated part. And then we ran, we were looking for a place to make it and Bill ran a high end ATV fabrication, aftermarket performance shop. And they had a lot of laser cutting and sheet metal forming capabilities. He basically took my hand formed concept and figured out a way to make incredibly precise production parts. And it was literally something we banged into shape with a hammer. So it was quite incredible what he's able to do then and what he's able to do now. And we've basically been working together on projects ever since. And Bill you can tell us a little bit more about your background.
Bill Kibler:me ride one of their bikes and I just fell in love with it. And as I moved around to different machine shops I always kept in touch with him and brought the work to the shop I was working at and ventually I opened my own machine shop and did a lot of production and prototyping for Chris over the years. And when Chris decided to start Pivot, I wanted to join forces with him and basically moved my machine shop in with with Chris and we've been working on projects ever since and every day is a new adventure and exciting to see what we can make together. It's been a fun journey.
Jens Staudt:How many toys in the kind of a CNC machine and stuff you have in your department?
Bill Kibler:Well, we have a full array of CNC machines. We have three CNC mills, we have couple CNC lathes, we have some 3d printers, one of them, we can print up to five and a half feet tall, we can actually print a full front triangle in it. And it was something that a friend of mine and I collaborated on and built together. We have CNC cutting capabilities for composites, just whatever we want to do we can do in house pretty much.
Jens Staudt:When Chris was over here a couple of weeks ago, he showed me a video with you guys just making carbon prototypes, tubing and the how's it called, again, Chris, this blue stuff that got pulled out?
Chris Cocalis:Oh yeah, we've got a process that we developed at Titus. I don't want to talk too much about it. But it allows us to develop incredibly precise carbon tubes and it'll really be the next generation of some of the things we're doing in our prototyping. We're really excited about it. You might see some things on the World Cup circuit in the not too distant future using this technology.
Jens Staudt:Bill, you not only do metal stuff with CNC machines, etc. You also do carbon stuff and composites.
Bill Kibler:Yes. Can design and make all the molds and everything that we need in house. A lot of times we need to make special little pieces to test out and we can make the molds to do cool molding on different parts. We can also 3d print samples and test fit them into bikes, especially on the ebikes, a lot of the brackets and some of the things that we use we'll 3d print them up first, test them before we machine them, just to make sure we get the design as close as possible on the first go around.
Jens Staudt:So by having this opportunity to have all these prototyping in house, I think we might at some point need to do an extra podcast on that. But now just let's get started on the exciting details of a new bike. And for those listeners who are not totally familiar with our lineup, to the term shuttle stands for electrified mountain bikes at Pivot. So Chris, after introducing the first shuttle, which now became the AM, for all mountain, in 2017 you kept tinkering with E bikes and now Pivot's got motors. So why was it important to offer a bigger variety of E bikes in our lineup?
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, it was cool back in 2017, there wasn't really much going on in high end, e-mountain bikes, we, it was like there was a lot of crap in the marketplace that basically low to mid end or very heavy bikes that motors were being attached to. And the concept of having a really high performing enduro bike just really wasn't being achieved out there. So getting the original shuttle going was one of the most exciting projects I've really worked on. And really the history of being in the bicycle industry, it was something all new. And it took the opportunity for us to really take that idea of assisted drive units and incorporate it in a very, very integrated way so that the whole performance of the bike was where we wanted it to be. And so that original shuttle started with the concept of making EMTB that was as close to our Switchblade as possible and both in terms of handling and suspension performance, and keeping the weight low. And then as each version of that bike evolved, we continue to stretch his capabilities to have that one bike to do it all. That was great at the time. However, in our analog line of trail, enduro bikes, we have the trail 429 we have the Switchblade, the Firebird, and that covers the entire spectrum. We wanted to offer that same type of range with our EMTB lineup as well.
Jens Staudt:I totally remember that first prototype, it was in all alloy like really prototype looking thing. And, and Bill, you had probably a lot of fun to on manufacturing those parts, did you?
Bill Kibler:Oh, yeah, we pushed the envelope of not only in the design, but the making of it took us to the maximum of our capacity of our machines and our minds. But it was a lot of fun.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, we had to start to consider buying other machines after that, to just do the size of the parts that we needed to do was pretty cool. And Bill, do you still have that original bike in your personal lineup?
Bill Kibler:Of course, it's in my garage right now. And all my grandkids love riding it.
Jens Staudt:So it's still in use?
Bill Kibler:Yeah. As my tribe gets bigger, I have to have more bikes in my garage to cover the range of the my family.
Jens Staudt:And maybe it's not a garage. It's hashtag Museum.
Bill Kibler:A little bit of both. Yeah.
Chris Cocalis:It is a little bit.
Bill Kibler:I like to keep the bikes that I built.
Jens Staudt:And now I mean with that bike, it was the this prototype led to a bike which was able to crush the 20 kilo mark just below it. And the shuttle SL bike we just launched a couple of weeks ago, almost took four kg away from that. And now we have offered the electrified Firebird pretty much in our lineup.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, for sure. With the shuttle SL, we really wanted to build a highly capable, lightweight emtb that followed that similar capability to our Trail 429 Enduro model, kind of between that and the Switchblade and then we have our, what we call internally our regular shuttle, and now called the shuttle AM or shuttle all mountain, it's really the Switchblade of our EMTB lineup with 140 millimeters of travel in the rear 160 on the front. And then now we have the new shuttle Lt. Or as you put it when we were talking earlier, the electrified Firebird. One of our dealers sent me a text when we when he first found out about it and he's like I can't wait for my electro bird so yeah, very, very excited to introduce this bike to the world.
Jens Staudt:For our Firebird is our EWS race bike and Matthew Walker just made a podium on it and it's we are so successful with this bike in the EWS. Is now the shuttle LT pretty much an EWS race bike?
Chris Cocalis:It's certainly that if that's what you want it to be, you know, the Firebird has proven itself to be a highly successful EWS race bike with the Pivot team currently sitting atop, well a top of the team rankings. But like the Firebird, the new Shuttle LT has that same high level of confidence and capability built into it. But also like the Firebird, it's a bike that can do everything, it can take you anywhere. And there's way more people riding Firebirds that are not EWS racers, and it's a bike that helps them push their limits and feel confident in any kind of terrain they're riding. So this bike just like that is really designed to allow you to push your personal capabilities and add to what you're already able to do and really expand your limits. And not just on the downhills the bike climbs incredibly, of course, with power in this regard, it's a lot better than the Firebird because you have that that power assist. And for me, it's it's difficult to really describe in words how this bike really comes together as one I know we'll be getting into more of the details. But it's just one of those things in life that you need to experience because the balance, the feel, and the fun factor of the shuttle LT are just off the charts.
Jens Staudt:The people are probably pretty eager to actually know how many watt hours how much torque geometry, and just all the details about the shuttle Lt. But before we jump into that, I mean, we need to cover a little bit more of the many, maybe the manufacturing history of all these bikes, because Bill, you had been in charge for making all of these prototypes and you have influence on how they sit in the spectrum of how Chris explained the shuttle SL is pretty much enduro trail. And shuttle am is kind of a Switchblade and now we have kind of a Firebird. So how this range of bikes actually look like?
Bill Kibler:Okay, we originally started with the shuttle, which is now called the AM. It falls into the middle of the spectrum of our electric bikes, you get a Shimano EP8 motor and a big battery, our suspension design and travel makes it a true all mountain ebike. That's kind of fun, you can take it out of the garage, go for a big ride and have a blast and still get to enjoy the rest of your day because you still, you feel like Superman, and that's a lot of fun. Then we recently launched the SL and this is sort of riders are looking closer to something that's not an electric mountain bike, it's light, a lot lighter than the the AM has a little bit of less travel. But it's very agile and can't tell it it's a bike ride. So great. You know, it's just a lot of fun and very responsive. And then we saw the opportunity to develop a bigger, more longer travel bike with more aggressive approach, mirroring the capabilities or high performance enduro bikes. Firebird basically, it's the Firebird, turned into an E bike. It's it's an awesome ride.
Jens Staudt:it actually was a great bike without the motor
Chris Cocalis:Some of the things we were doing on that and some of those curves and things really, it will add to the development of future analog mountain bikes as well. I spent so much time on that ebike as a non e-bike it was almost like another addition to our analog line. But once we got to add the power to it, things got infinitely better. It was, yeah, just the whole idea of across our line having the assist is it's so much fun.
Jens Staudt:Imagine putting analog bike like Firebird and making it into an ebike. So there are a couple of details to make that happen. I mean, it's not just like bolting a motor on it right, Chris?
Chris Cocalis:Yeah. Besides the electric parts of the shuttle LT this bike features everything you would expect from the Firebird. And what you would want out of high level enduro bike features a long reach, slack head angle to go down steep technical trails, and of course a chainstay length that provides stability. But without giving up the playful nature of the Firebird with a bike this size and travel you want to ensure that it still has proper handling, we spent a significant effort into optimizing the position of the motor and the battery. The center of the mass is extremely low and centered on the front triangle. And this makes the front triangle a lot more compact with incredible stand over clearance. What we did to achieve this was we rotated the motor up in the frame and rotated the shock forward slightly. This allowed us to be able to place the removable battery lower under the motor. So when you're going really just flat out on a gnarly trail, the bike is super planted, but also able to trip change directions easily. And one of the coolest things is just how it jumps, a lot of bigger travel e bikes, big motor, big battery, when you come off the face of a jump, or when you drop off something they just have this tendency for the front end to just drop hard. But the shuttle LT is not like that. It's super neutral. It's easy to manual with everything centered around the BB it feels even much lighter than it is and basically it's a bike that's easily to change direction easy to throw around. Just makes it super fun. With the overall design we were using the well proven Shimano EP8 motor, but along with that is one of the most interesting aspects of the bike being the battery. Shimano has several certified battery partners, we wanted a battery with more range than even the shuttle all mountain and we were able to develop a 756 watt hour battery and a nice slim package. In truth, this is way more power than riders will ever need. But it's awesome to have for big adventures or even self shuttling. So you can get in as many runs as possible. Kevin and I worked with the battery cell, with the battery manufacturer, on the cell layout that would provide us the most power and design that keeps the bike slim, it was an interesting meetings to get to where we wanted to because their concept and battery design was really to keep the cell orientation in more of a square, more slight rectangle brick shape where it was super wide, a little bit tall, basically just this lump that was really difficult to package and both make the bike look nice and kind of achieve what we wanted to achieve with getting the battery out. And so Kevin was looking at the size of each cell and doodling on a napkin how many batteries we could pack and in each segment and stack them up to where what the length of down tube we needed for a small frame. And to be able to get this all packaged in so we could really achieve the optimal setup on the bike. Yeah, it came out really nice looking. So you have a nice slim down tube and the way it fits in, we were able to achieve all of our goals with that. And then of course, this battery also features a high tech battery management system that meets all the top battery safety regulations, which is really important these days. It's also fully covered and warrantied through Shimano service as well. So one of the coolest things about the whole system is how the battery loads into the frame. Bill did a lot of work on the development of this. Bill, tell us a little bit about how this works.
Bill Kibler:Yeah, it's kind of really trick setup, we integrated the skid plate, so that you can remove two bolts from the front of it, and it rotates back away. And you're able to just unplug the battery and put the cable to the side and slide the battery out. Then you can take it out and charge it offline if you want to and then easily back installed and keeps everything down low. But also it's kind of tricky with the way it's set up when you close it back up the the skid plate has all the mechanisms in it to design to keep it nice and tensioned and not moving around. It's easy access and simple.
Jens Staudt:And we're talking about a big ebike here. Right, so important part. How much does it weigh?
Chris Cocalis:The LT weighs actually weighs just under 50 pounds or 22 and a half kilograms. And yeah, it's really good. This is quite light
Jens Staudt:That's good. for a bike in this category with this size battery. It's 756 Watt Hours bike also has a fox 38 fork, 2.5 inch tires, long travel dropper posts, a 223 millimeter front rotor that's thicker to handle those ebike loads and then the frame is designed for 203 millimeter direct mount, post mount rear, and then of course wheels that are appropriate for enduro style bikes. So all these parts that go on this bike would you know normally add up to 32 pound enduro bike. So to get a bike with this size, motor and battery on it, we're definitely at the light end of the scale. So for those who haven't already seen our shreddy fly by how we call it there's a video out there on our YouTube channel of our Pivot Factory Racing team like really really getting this bike sideways. Um, you want to check that one out, but here for the podcast as well. Chris what would a ride on your shuttle LT look like?
Chris Cocalis:Well I mean rides on the Shuttle LT can look like whatever you want it to look like there's, it's it's not really a bike with limitations you normally you're the limit if you're not just going boost crazy. Five to six hour epic rides are not out of the question. My personal favorites are long technical rides, the LT not only ups the fun factor on the steeper technical descents, even when it's not super technical, it gives me that extra safety net when I'm at my physical limit. And on really long rides, where you're really tired, it's just nice to have that extra, extra travel, extra bike handling and extra stability out of the bike. It's always nice to know that the bikes more capable than I am and it's a nice feeling to have when you're pushing it. This is these long rides, this is where I want the most support, no range anxiety, a lot of travel and all that grip and for me, and really anybody riding the shuttle can make your ride easier or can make it even way more challenging if that's what you prefer because you can just go for things that you wouldn't normally do it really gives everybody the ability to push their own personal limits. So with the whole shuttle line the bikes really enable you from a fitness level the shuttle LT just pushes that boundary a bit further in terms of range and making crazy technical climbs and more extreme descending really a welcome challenge and Bill and I both have a lot of great rides on the LT and Bill What are your thoughts regarding your favorite rides on that bike and how you use it and and some of the rides we've done together?
Bill Kibler:Well like you said, Chris, you know, you do like those long technical rides and you drag me along with you and that bike helps me survive them. It's actually just a blast to see what you can push your limits to as I get older I'm supposed to be reminded that I'm you know, I'm not supposed to do these things and this just gives me the opportunity to still live a dream being a child still you know, having a blast and hanging out with some fit riders and gives me great capabilities I love the rides we do out at Hawes you know we do over 20 mile rides and 3000 feet of climbing and you got to put a lot of effort into that and the bike helps just make that day enjoyable and it handles so good. I just feel like I'm on a roller coaster ride having a blast riding all the time you know the eticket hopefully I got another 10 or 15 years in me to keep up with Chris.
Jens Staudt:Did Chris and take you on this, what is this trail called this super technical climbing we rode last December Chris?
Chris Cocalis:Man I don't know were we on South Mountain?
Bill Kibler:Oh the beat down.
Jens Staudt:Yes.
Chris Cocalis:Oh, yeah. So Ranger Ranger trail up..
Jens Staudt:Do you drag Bill also?
Chris Cocalis:And across national Yes, I've taken, I've dragged Bill on some some rides maybe he wasn't super happy about but the bike got him through it. Yeah, I mean, our goal is never to Kill Bill but, we always need to push his limits to the edge.
Jens Staudt:You did just killing him a little bit on this trail, I guess.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, Jens. I don't know if you remember the first time you came out to ride ebikes with me and I was on that original prototype that bill still has the first shuttle and we were doing a version of that of that ride. And you were on a..
Jens Staudt:Competitor bike.
Chris Cocalis:A competitor bike and this was when we only had the 503 watt hour battery so it was really this ride was a bit about battery management. And the other ones supposedly had a 500 watt hour battery too but, we only got about through 60% of the ride. And that other bike killed its battery pretty quickly and we had to pedal out and we actually wound up coming down that trail that Ranger trail and then having to have somebody come pick us up because we were so out in the middle so far from Pivot at that point. But with the big battery you can do that whole loop that we did that first time you can boost the whole thing and still finish with three bars. It's It's amazing both the efficiency of the bikes, the motor, and of course the battery life what's capable now on on the length of these rides.
Jens Staudt:For those that are interested you may want to really Google also what Ranger trail is. And imagine going this trail up and the Shuttle LT can actually do that. And it's pretty, pretty impressive.
Bill Kibler:Yeah, the battery life on these bikes is so good. Usually, my battery life runs out before the bike does.
Jens Staudt:That's pretty much it. And maybe but maybe there are people out there that way fitter than us. So if they want to go all crazy on their length of the rides, and could they carry a second battery and just change it like mid trail lifted rent the first one.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, you can do that. Like Bill said, it's, it's two bolts, the front of the skid plate rotates down you unplug the cord from the battery, and then the battery slides out underneath. So it's possible and super easy to do that on trail. But yeah, carrying another 756 watt hour battery in your pack. That whole idea sounds a little bit crazy to me and riding seven to 10 hours on your eBike also sounds a little bit nuts, but I'm sure there's customers of ours that would love to do that. For most though What's more, would be more realistic, is having a second battery where you're doing self shuttle runs, and you're just boosting up the hill to get to the next run as quickly as possible. You could do a morning session, stop to have lunch and then put a fresh battery in and keep going for an afternoon session. The battery can be charged on or off the bike off the bike charging requires a small plug in adapter. But yeah, it can keep you in rotation and then you don't have to That's quite the charge time so yeah second battery is certainly a great option on this bike if that's what you want to do
Jens Staudt:if you follow our PFR rider Bernard Kerr during winter times in the UK he's like a big shuttle am fan. And now with the LT he was shooting photos for it for half the press release. And when those photos came in, I was like wow, this thing is flying and BK was flying so is he participating again that the EWS-E?
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, no Bernard is actually killing it right now and the World Cup so I doubt we will see any runs at the EW s anytime soon. That said that the entire team just is in love with the bike they were all super excited to get their their shuttle LT's and if they didn't have a race season to win, they you probably couldn't get them off of those things.
Jens Staudt:Yeah they were really enjoying themselves in the video. Bill, you made the prototypes for all the members of our shuttle family. So the SL, the AM, and the LT which one you like the most from?
Bill Kibler:Of course I like them all but my favorite go to is the Shuttle AM you know, for me it's the all around bike I can do casual rides with friends or family and then I can go with Chris on a very technical uphill climb and descent we have a one of my favorite rides to do with Chris is to ride up national and come down Corona. And it gives me the energy level that I can sustain, be able to do the descent on Corona, that's just an amazing all around bike. And, you know, we were able to keep the weight down on that at 19.5 kilograms 43 pounds, it was a game changer. And now it's the third generation it's got a larger battery so you can get a longer, longer rides in and with the EP8 motor, and it's very, very improved and just makes a great riding experience and I hope to keep riding it for a long time.
Jens Staudt:So Chris, you have the potential of having like all three shuttles in your garage, I guess. Yes. So which is one, which is the one you you pick the most or is your favorite?
Chris Cocalis:You know, everyone pretty much knows at this point, I'm always excited about the next bike it's we often spend more than a year testing before the bikes ever go into production. So it's it's fun to see every new project evolve as we develop the bike and it's something really well beyond what we originally envisioned. So with the SL and the LT both of these bikes were developed at a similar time. Yet they're really different. For me the SL is my cheater bike, the experience is so much like riding my trail 429 that it's sometimes just way too easy to just pick that by the bike that gives you assistance and you actually almost sometimes have to force yourself to like, I'm gonna go out on my analog bike. So it's super fun but very much a normal Mountain Biking experience and then for me, like Bill said, the shuttle AM is the great all arounder I mean it's that bike is highly refined we spend time it's on its third generation and there's many things that are just most things that are just absolutely perfect about that bike. I put some lighter wheels and some slightly lighter parts on it this year and this was like I raced it at sea otter I appreciate its full power and just that snappiness to get up and go and a lighter package it's in like Bill said
Jens Staudt:If it would live in Phoenix, I would also say to LT riding with his family. It's also the bike I love to ride in larger groups of ebike riders is there's generally different for me, when going on a ride with you, Chris, it's just like fitness levels experience levels, it does everything and it does it very well. But, when I just want to pick and go on an awesome ebike ride, and I can pick which bike and which ride you're dragging the people so far out into the desert. It's I'm going to do then it's it's all about the Shuttle LT. As we've discussed, most people know that pivots located here in just like you want to have this bike because it's otherwise it's Phoenix near South Mountain. The amount of technical writing we have on South Mountain is incredible. You have great technical climbs hard down hills with big rock drops and on the just too hard. And yeah, but I'm living over here in Germany, and weekend I like to do big rides that get to the other end of the mountain where not many people ride because both the distance the trails are different. And we kept joking about it. And but I and the terrain is is way more rugged in nature and the shuttle LT is really perfect for these rides. The Shimano motor is super smooth and powerful. And then the travel geometry and think for me, it's it's the SL, I mean, I raved about it how overall feel of the of the shuttle LT really comes alive in this environment. Yeah, it's it's cool to be able to get out much I like it in the SL podcast. But it's for me, it's there so far that when you're riding in the middle of nowhere, it's a bit like riding in a different world. And you can be not like this all distance desert dried. I mean, we don't out there for hours and can really enjoy the trails in nature and you rarely see anybody else. And it's both pretty magical. And it's also nice to know that you have that have this remote places over here in Germany. So I have like, extra travel, that extra range, everything you need. So it's you just have that extra assurance that you can do those rides and rather this tiny package super flickable it actually helps me know that you've got the equipment that'll back you up. There's a bike for everyone for every ride. So really... getting up the hill and on flatter trails and make me enjoy them more. And so you call it the cheater bike, maybe it's the same for me, Chris and I want to play more on the trail. And as funny as it is like, on these desert rides on an LT, it's just for me too much. I want to have like the shorter rides getting up there get like one hour of riding and just getting the maximum out of it. Without having to I would never use this battery. So it's, it's just SL for me. Yeah totally.
Chris Cocalis:You know, like for when you're gonna go to the Alps and do bigger stuff.
Jens Staudt:A couple of Shuttle? At least, at least
Chris Cocalis:At least.
Bill Kibler:You need all three.
Chris Cocalis:But all three would be best.
Jens Staudt:We recently found the trail with one of our partners, I was out there and Chris, I need to get you there. Maybe not in the rain because it's in the mud. It's like horrible, but you want to have this big bike to get up the mountain. It's a lot of climbing and it's super, super steep. And then we did it on the SL and as flickable it is as it is Alpine riding I mean to LT's to bike to go, I guess. So we shared now some blank facts about the LT and how you can have a blast out there on the trails on Pivot bikes, there's always more than you can see on the first look, we spent a lot of time on r&d and resources and our carbon manufacturing process. So what else we should like mention on this bike, it has a skid plate which actually covers the chain ring it features the dock tool, water bottles, big ones. So what else?
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, I mean the we talked a little bit about the rotation of the skid plate and how the battery exits out there. But the shuttle LT as well as actually the shuttle am has this full protection skid plate that extends below the height of the chain ring. This is actually something we debated a lot about on how to do this design because I wanted a skidplate that extended below that it's one of my favorite features of both of these bikes, as it gives that confidence to get up and over something that would normally be a chain ring crusher or bike tipper going back to South Mountain, I have these trails that they're just these both step ups and step downs, and a lot of them are just between the front and rear wheels, you are full on scraping or you're doing a power move. And it's almost like the purpose is to slam up onto that skid plate and then your back wheel slides up on top of something and even the rubber that we developed to go on those for the protection pad to be of a dirometer and a type that it can take those hits and scrapes. And so that's one of the little features that makes the bike even more fun. Whether you're going up over rocks or going up over a log, it adds that level of capability. In addition to that all sizes of the bikes fit a full size water bottle, we have our Pivot tool dock system mounted under the top tube. And then if you use that in conjunction with our Pivot tube strap, you can really have everything you need contained on the bike. So it just makes getting out on a ride that much easier. When you don't have to go run around the house and grab things you just grab your water bottle and go. And then one of the other cool features is the on the power button on the top tube. There's also a USB-C port. So if you need to charge your phone, your Garmin or even certain lighting systems, you have a nice external charging option on the bike.
Jens Staudt:Let me get back real quick on this skidplate because a lot of people have concerns of slamming a rock into the down tube. So it's actually able to take that hits, right?
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, I mean, it's the way the motors positioned and where the skid plate's positioned. When you're coming up and over not likely to get onto the down tube, you'd really have to be doing something quite silly to slam into the face of the down tube on the bike, the actual skid plate, the thickness, the way it's built, not only can it take it one of our guys at work is also just loves South Mountain, and he puts a lot more miles on his ebike than any of us and he just loves to abuse it. He'll bang on that thing until the rubber is gone. And I'll keep crushing it until like his Shuttle am looks like there's nothing left of the skid plate but completely scraped away. But there's no other than deep scratches and gouges. There's no cracks in it. So it can keep going for a long time. And fortunately, that part's replaceable. So if you were to slam it and break it, it's something you could you could change out.
Jens Staudt:Yeah, maybe you should tell him like hey, maybe you just get replaceable new one on it to not like totally wear it down.
Chris Cocalis:I think he'll wear it down and then put a new one on. You know when, when it's when it's time for that like to have a new home.
Jens Staudt:So but it's nice to hear that we have these tough testing grounds that really gets the abuse on our our bikes so we can ensure it works in every environment. What kind of builds we offer Chris?
Chris Cocalis:So we offer the shuttle LT in two builds, there's the team XTR build and then the ride XT/SLX build. The team XTR is the lighter of the two and features carbon bars and Fox factory level suspension. The ride XT/SLX build features Fox Performance Level suspension and top end components with similar performance to the team build. We we really love that performance level suspension, the fox grip damper on the Fox 36 fork and then the the Float X is the same shock as the factory series. But without the Kashima and some of the tune basically the compression rebound adjustability turned back to a more limited range. So it's actually easier for people to dial in on that bike. Both builds feature the same Shimano drive system battery and display as well as the same frame on both builds. And then both frames are available in both colors. So you can choose between either the cool bass boat blue tri-tone color, or the northern lights green color, both options are going to be super popular. And now you don't have to choose between one color on the performance build one color on the team build. You can get either one either color.
Jens Staudt:We covered this a little bit in our when we talked about how we ride those bikes and how each of us prefers a different kind of the shuttle family. But if I nail you down, Chris, so this shuttle LT how does this customer look like in who is this bike for like what's the perfect match on this bike?
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, that's really a tough question because we worked so hard to develop every bike with a high level of versatility and just like the Firebird, the shuttle lt can fit such a wide range of riders. If you have more bike without a penalty than why wouldn't you want that and sometimes a case can be paid for too much is just right. And that's really what the shuttle lt is all about. If there are times when, when you'd like to ride trails at the more extreme end of the spectrum, even if your everyday riding is something less, then there's really not a lot of penalty to pay for having more bike underneath you. But if that's not you, and you stick to more of mid technical to cross country trails and fortunately, we have a full range of shuttle models that can really fit everyone's riding needs perfectly. And like we were talking about before Phil and I both feel that everyone needs three shuttles. And that just to fill out your your lineup. You only live once. And Bill likes to say he who dies with the most toys wins.
Jens Staudt:I gotta remember it and I'm really having a favor for the SL, I'm not a cross country rider. I want to point that out. Maybe maybe a quick summary on this...
Chris Cocalis:You're an uphill cross country rider, and then you turn into a downhill rider
Jens Staudt:Kind of maybe. So if I make a quick summary, I mean, it's it's a big ebike with a strong motor, a big battery with 756 Watt hours, enduro geometry, enabling you to go up tech climbs and down gnarly descents the bike which leaves nothing to be desired and still weighs close to 22 kilo. I mean, that's pretty impressive. Can't wait to get some riding in on it. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Bill for providing those insights.
Chris Cocalis:Absolutely.
Bill Kibler:Will, sort of big grin on your face.
Jens Staudt:I think so. So yeah. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Bill, for providing all those insights and see out there.
Bill Kibler:All right.
Chris Cocalis:Look forward to riding with you Jens.
Bill Kibler:Thanks, guys.
Jens Staudt:Thank you all