For this episode of All About Bikes CEO and President of Pivot Cycles, Chris Cocalis, sits down with Pivot athletes Stefanie McDaniel and Rob Drew to walk you through all the features of the all-new, completely redesigned Switchblade.
For this episode of All About Bikes CEO and President of Pivot Cycles, Chris Cocalis, sits down with Pivot athletes Stefanie McDaniel and Rob Drew to walk you through all the features of the all-new, completely redesigned Switchblade.
Hello and welcome back to All About Bikes presented by Pivot Cycles. In this episode CEO and President of Pivot Cycles, Chris Cocalis, sits down with Pivot athletes Stefanie McDaniel and Rob Drew, to walk you through all the features of the all new completely redesigned Switchblade. This is a previously recorded episode from when we launched this bike in February 2020. We wanted to upload this episode for all our new listeners on this podcast. The new Switchblade heralds a new era of all mountain bike riding with more travel, unrivaled versatility and progressive geometry. So let's jump in and learn about the completely redesigned Switchblade.
Chris Cocalis:Hi, I'm Chris Cocalis, with Pivot Cycles and we're here today to talk about new Switchblade. I've got Stephanie McDaniel with me and Rob drew both Pivot athletes enduro racers, and it's been a pretty cool week, got to get them both out on the new Switchblade for the first time. Actually, the first people to ride the actual finished painted switchblades in the wild, so that was pretty cool.
Stefanie McDaniel:Heck yeah.
Chris Cocalis:Even in some weather too, here for Phoenix.
Rob Drew:It was an honor, it was chilly. But it was fun.
Chris Cocalis:Did you get rained on at all.
Rob Drew:We caught a little bit of rain in the beginning, early in the week, we got a little bit of rain. But the day we were out last it was just windy and cold. But the dirt was amazing.
Chris Cocalis:Well, you've had a Switchblade for a long time, along with Firebird 29 and you've been racing Firebird 29 all last year, so. So give me your thoughts for starters.
Stefanie McDaniel:So definitely, I just felt climbing, I actually had to like look behind me a couple times thinking someone was holding me up as I was climbing some technical features that normally you know, you're just like, alright, moving up here. So I'm like, wow, this thing climbs pretty well. And then, you know, you turn it downhill and it just begs to be you know, just pumped and everything about the bike is so playful a lot more playful than the Firebird, which is amazing to ride on South Mountain.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, the Firebird's so planted, and it's a ultra stiff bike. But it also just, it just sticks to the ground.
Stefanie McDaniel:Yeah.
Chris Cocalis:And Switchblade does too, but in a different way. It definitely allows you to get up on top of the stuff and throw it around a lot easier. It's a lighter frame too. What did you think bike compared to your Switchblade, or your Firebird.
Rob Drew:So I've had a Switchblade ever since I've been riding for Pivot. And although I love every bike I've had the good fortune to ride, when people would ask me if you could only have one Pivot, which would it be? It was always the Switchblade. The Switchblade has always been my favorite go to bike. And so I had some concerns, knowing that it was getting long in the tooth, and you were looking to refresh it. I just had some fears like what if Chris makes a change and goes a direction that I don't like? Or I don't love it as much? You know, it's one of those things just fear of change. The thing blew me away, I would never have believed you could have improved every aspect of that bike. But, you know, everything I could have, I could have hoped for you, you hit the nail on the head. I'm excited.
Chris Cocalis:We do a lot with that. And we wanted to make sure we we did kind of find the limit of where it wasn't as good. So there is a point on any bike where too long or too slack and and when we're doing the prototype process, we always work towards that and then kind of come back from the edge a little bit. And that was one of the goals with this bike. Obviously, the Firebird 29 is fantastic in a park situation, and a pro EWS, the gnarliest of enduros. But even for most enduros It's a lot of bike and even on our gnarliest stuff on South Mountain it's awesome, but it's almost too much. More bike than you certainly need.
Rob Drew:But it doesn't really, like every other Pivot it doesn't give up anything you don't pay a penalty for having a bike so capable. It doesn't challenge you on the climbs it's incredibly effective.
Chris Cocalis:No but when you get a bike like the Switchblade and it backs that off a little bit and it gets more in the middle of like it'll do everything on South Mountain. It will do a park. It will do those pro level enduros, but it also has a popiness and an ability to climb. And that is variety of things. The reach is longer, but like on a medium frame is about five millimeters shorter than what where we're at on the current Firebird 29. We did steepen the seat angle a little bit, obviously, slacken head angle a little bit. But they're all a combination of incremental changes.
Rob Drew:If you asked me to make a list of things on that previous Switchblade that I would like to see changed, I couldn't have thought of anything that I would like to see change. But it seems like you touched everything, some things less than other things. But every change contributed to a package that's ridiculously better than the last one. And the bold statement because that last bike was so good.
Chris Cocalis:At the end of the day when we look at those bikes, and the goal is always to try and you know, achieve, like the next travel segment up and capability. And then next travel segment down in the ability to climb and pop over things and just be a bike that you can ride everywhere. And the Switchblade always had that. Now it gets more travel too because it was 135 millimeter travel bike before. Now it's 142 millimeters. The Switchblade was originally 150 millimeter travel bike in the front.
Rob Drew:Yeah.
Chris Cocalis:And in its last year changed to 160 millimeter fork. So this bike is designed around a 160mm fork with a 44 millimeter offset. And then the 142mm in the back. And that's actually a more balanced combination with the longer reach and the slightly slacker head angle.
Rob Drew:Well as an enduro racer, if somebody asked me to design my ultimate enduro bike, I would tell them 29 inch wheels 160 up front 140 and in the rear, that's the magic combination, in my opinion. And, and this thing just hits the marks across the board.
Chris Cocalis:So you guys both rode the bike in it's standard low setting. And then the new bike, like the Firebird 29 actually has a flip chip in the back. So you can raise the bottom bracket a little bit steepen the head angle. So if you're riding in some train, that's not quite so steep or gnarly, a little bit more pedaly or even a lot more technical and slow, East Coast roots, rocks type stuff, and you want that bottom bracket up a little bit higher, you have that option as well. But that also helps with the ability to still run plus wheels on the bike. You guys probably aren't going to be doing much plus wheel running unless it starts to snow here and really mucky which is not probably going to happen in the next week or so.
Rob Drew:I think I'm one of the few people I knew who was running the Firebird in the high setting.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah.
Rob Drew:So I was eager when I noticed that it had the flip chip on it, I was eager to flip it around and try it. I didn't. But I am interested to make that change and see how it feels.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, it makes for a nice different combination. Another option to be able to run on the bike depending on how you want to set up your bike. And then for riders that are running plus tires, it still is somebody who's not enduroing at that level and just wants a nice planted trail bike, plus wheels are still a great option for that. Now, the ability to put it up higher and the BB in the rear and still add the cup to the front to get it back.
Rob Drew:I was just gonna ask though, is the cup still going to be an option that's available for that bike?
Chris Cocalis:Always, yeah. Yeah, for sure. So, so yeah, with the high setting and the cup, you basically bring a plus wheel bike to the exact same head angle, seat angle, geometry, or you can have a steeper seat angle, half degree steeper head angle, if you're not running plus wheels. And then of course, you can totally mulletize the bike. Actually right now I'm running my Firebird 29 that way and some people love that, some people don't, but it's kind of a thing. And if you want to do it, that bike has the capability to again, you can do it halfway and leave your 29 inch wheel on the front, put a lighter 27.5 with a little bit more meat on the back. And, and put it in the high setting and keep that geometry pretty stable.
Rob Drew:Well in places where you have a trail like Geronimo, where you've got the super slow switchbacks. The 27.5 in the rear seems to give you a quicker acceleration out of the corner.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah.
Rob Drew:And then obviously the 29 up front gives you better rolling, less likely to wheel trap. So although I don't have a bike that's in that mullet setup, I can see where the benefits are in the right circumstances. Or super steep stuff if you've got to get in the backseat you don't have to worry about getting your butt torn up by the tire.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, I think that's probably the bigger thing depending on the size of the rider if somebody struggling, likes to ride really steep stuff and wants to have that extra just little inch, that's really about all it is you know, of have clearance. Sometimes the front front tire can cash checks that the rear can't deliver with the 27.5.
Rob Drew:Yeah,
Chris Cocalis:But you know, there's compromise to everything. But you can do it both can do all three setups. So having that chip is a really nice setup on the bike. Yeah. Is there anything else about the geometry that you want to know about?
Rob Drew:What was the change that you made on the seat tube angle, because it feels like it's, I never had a concern about that on the previous model but the difference of the seating position, cockpit spacing wise from from up to down, seemed to have a lot more change then it does now there's more consistency, it felt like for me.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, there's several things going on with seat angle. So when a company lists its effective seat angle, that's generally a position in space over the center of the bottom bracket where they draw a line from that point, down to the center of the bottom bracket. It's not usually where the seat tube actually passes through bottom bracket, because pretty much every company for tire clearance and other reasons winds up with that seat tube forward where the bottom bracket actually sits. The more a company pushes that forward, the more the angle is going to change when you adjust the seat. So we pick that seat angle at a fairly high setting and space not at the top of the seat to a realistic, more realistic seat post height. And on the newer bike, the the seat tube is actually closer to the center of the bottom bracket. So you don't get a big change in seat angle as you lower the seat. The positive of that really is smaller riders, taller riders, you get consistency. But we also did go steeper on the seat angle. So I think the the old bike was sitting, once we put this 160mm fork on it, it's something like 72.5 degrees on the seat angle, this one in the high setting is at 76 degrees. So quite a big difference there. Because the geometry has gotten longer, top tube lengths are still relatively consistent with the old bikes. So if you rode a large before with the 45 millimeter standard, you can write and large now and 45 millimeter stem. The other thing with the seat tube and getting
Rob Drew:So how does that affect the stand over? it straighter and more in line is just a massive adjustability for the dropper posts. So we did two things with that. It's straighter, so you can run the dropper post, almost all the way down to the DW Link pivot. And then the other thing is the seat tubes got a lot shorter. So previously, the small frame ran like 406mm length seat tube, and the medium now runs at 394.
Chris Cocalis:The stand over has gotten lower. That's really because of the new linkage and the vertical shock which we can go over that in a minute. But the seat tube being shorter, allows everybody to be able to run a longer dropper post. So we got kind of the iceberg effect of the dropper, how far it can go to the collar. But if the seat tube is too high, then 150 millimeter 175 millimeter posts to the saddle might still be too much extension for somebody.
Rob Drew:Yeah.
Chris Cocalis:But with a shorter seat tube like this, you can just go up to the next dropper height. So that gives you a lot more options there as well. So you see on the spec of the bikes to all the dropper post lengths have grown per size on on the spec sheet on this bike too.
Rob Drew:Yeah, so the vertical shock, the rocker linkage. I love that.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah. It's funny because people thought that was a brand new thing for us when we launched on the Mach 4 SL but the first Firebird aluminum had that, the first downhill bike had that. And then basically for different reasons with the Mach 6 and the first Switchblade when we were trying to find better ways to get clearance seat tubes hadn't steepened so much at that time. And the clevis design really brought some nice things to the table for us. But the vertical shock design, now we can fit everything in. There's been a trend both towards steeper seat tubes, and then slightly longer chainstay. So when we design the original Switchblade, that's another thing that makes the bike more balanced on the downhill as well and more settled.
Rob Drew:All the weight centralized down low.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, well the chainstay length was super short on the original Switchblade, and it's still short, but we've increased it by a few millimeters. And that makes a big difference on getting the wheel out there a little bit more combined with the steeper seat angle. We don't need that packaging of the clevis quite in the same way anymore. And so the vertical shock actually eliminates a whole other machined part, the weight of the clevis. And then yeah, we can make everything more compact, we can get that shock all the weight down by the center of the bottom bracket. The trunnion shocks, the metric length shocks those things came along and are really advantageous with a vertical shock mount. Because the width of the trunnion is right there to the outside of the rocker mounts, and it just bolts right up. So not that people change their shocks very often. But if they do like service from the service side, it's super simple, super fast to swap out a shock but it also the shock the bearings are in the seat stays, it bolts right into the side of the rocker mount bolts right into the side of the shock. And it's, it's just simple, super simple to use.
Rob Drew:Well, speaking of trends, a lot of people are jumping toward coils on a lot of bikes. And I know previously on the pivots, it had been difficult because of the the rising rate of linkage or because of how linear they were, you couldn't really get something with a coil that had a quick enough ramp. How's this bike going to deal with that?
Chris Cocalis:That's a great question because we had a whole bunch of things going on the vertical shock and the elimination of the clevis just alone makes it way more compatible with coil shocks, even if we didn't do anything to the rate on the suspension. But it eliminates that clevis which basically lengthens his shock and puts a lot of extra load on it. So we've got that with the metric shock with wider bushings, a much smoother running setup there. And then the new linkage is a much more progressive rising rate linkage. So it was designed from the get go to be able to run a coil over shock.
Rob Drew:Well, it seems like the the rocker, the progression of the rocker linkage makes the feel of the bike much less susceptible to the friction of the bushing package. I didn't feel like that thing was lacking and I run my stuff really fast and and the performance of that thing for me was just really right on.
Chris Cocalis:Yes, you do. You just open that rebound damper up.
Rob Drew:Wide open, if I can go 10 more clicks, I'd go.
Chris Cocalis:We can pour some water in that shock for you.
Rob Drew:There we go.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, it's everything we've worked on over the years, whether even on the Firebird 29 was with the short clevis was to reduce friction and a lot of things with the metric shock as well aid in that. And so yeah you just get a much smoother running setup, but really, everything being so compact and low. The entire process we go through with laser frame alignment and all post-machining on all our bearing pockets and everything after the frame is manufactured. That stuff all makes for longer lasting smoother running pivots. And then you don't get any bind. Stuff like the trunnion shock if a frame isn't aligned can actually create more of a problem because there's less areas of give now, now it requires even higher precision, which we've always had. So that's a non issue. So overall, we just get all the benefits that come with that design. The other thing too, is the DPS shock. Stef what do you think of the way that felt? I mean, you've probably you got a Float X2 on your on your Firebird 29.
Stefanie McDaniel:Yeah, it felt amazing, the settings are great. It just took everything that I put at it.
Chris Cocalis:So typically the DPX2 is, if you've really dialed in on a Float X2 going to DPX2 is like eh.
Stefanie McDaniel:Right. Yeah I'm like eh okay.
Chris Cocalis:We've been through so many iterations of testing with Fox on this and this one is not your typical DPX2 shock. It's actually got all new internal piston design on it, not just a valving change. And so it still looks like, tastes like you know, everything from the outside looks like a normal DPX2 shock. But all the internals are basically different on that shock. And yeah, it is, it climbs better, it's more planted on descents, it takes hits better. And then we really the stock tuning for the shock is designed for a wide range of riders, we had told you to set it up and run it in the middle setting and when I set you up, we had you fully open and I think about three quarters of the way out on the low speed compression damping setting. But the volume spacer inside there is to the much more aggressive end. In fact at South Mountain the Fox guys, several of them wanted to back off on that personally, so but in the past we've had really aggressive racers that have always like I just want to go to the max volume spacer. So I wanted to have something that you can just really pound the crap out of it and hit something really as hard as you want to hit it and then if somebody is riding the bike in a different way they can always back off a volume spacer pretty easily but we wanted to set it up for an aggressive rider first.
Rob Drew:Yeah, I prefer to typically have more ramp and less damping
Chris Cocalis:And that gives you plenty of ramp and does this, is there something different about the rebound circuit on this shock? Everything changed with the new valving and the new piston design on the shock but the actual circuit itself where the oil flows through the head, the forging of the shock head or the casting of the shock head is, is the same DPS as before.
Rob Drew:Yeah, normally with the X2, I leave it pretty close to open on the rebound side. And this felt like it was quicker reacting than even the X2 had been for me before.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, part of it too is to be able to get as wide a range of possible. So some of the stuff in the past, you click the rebound, click around that shock and it had a pretty narrow range, even though it has what, 12 plus clicks on it. Now when you close it down, it's pretty closed down. When you open it up, it's poppy like you like it. So one of the other things when you took the first bike out one of my prototypes, I sent you out on the live valve.
Rob Drew:The live lave, that was my first time out on that stuff. And yeah, I was shocked. And that was when I sent you that email basically saying, you know, how do you make a bike climb better, that also descends better, you know, flying in the face of the belief we've all had that if you want to be more capable climbing, you've got to you've got to concede something on the descending and vice versa. And this bike just gives the the middle finger to that whole rule.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, so if you've got the money to play, the Live Valve is pretty awesome. We've been over the Live Valve with the Mach 4 SL and the Mach 5.5. But it really does open up the the abilities at either end so that we can run the shock, even a little bit plusher in the full open position and give you better pedaling on the on the climbs.
Rob Drew:Well, I noticed on that bike where the controller goes under the frame, you've got another pair of bolts that looks like a upside down water bottle cage mount what's that?
Chris Cocalis:Probably around Sea Otter time, there'll be some, something secret coming. Kind of like when we launched Live Valve on the Mach 5.5 but there was no Live Valve and nobody knew about it. They were like, what are all these holes for in our frame? Yeah, there's something coming.
Rob Drew:Don't worry about it, it's gonna be good.
Chris Cocalis:Don't worry about it, it'll be good. We always try and make frames, you know, future compatible. So when we're working on something that might not be quite ready for primetime yet.
Rob Drew:So the turban bolts or the turban engine bolts on right there.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, it's an E-bike. E bike motor fits on to waterbottle bolts. It's like 100 horsepower, crazy. No, that's not what it is. Anyway, but the frame will have something kind of cool that I think most riders will appreciate when we when we come out with that.
Rob Drew:I'm excited to see.
Chris Cocalis:So a lot of other things on the bike too, though, are the weight, we wanted to keep the stiffness up actually increase it in certain areas. But we were still able to take a quarter pounder out of the frame, almost 100 grams.
Rob Drew:So I meant to ask you about that does, does the shock configuration allow you to go lighter on the front triangle of the frame because you don't have to compensate for the load the shock puts there. Because it definitely is noticeably lighter.
Chris Cocalis:We do a lot of things on the ride tuning side. So where we want to put the flex and where we want to put the material. It actually allowed us to beef up some things in the rear triangle and increased torsional stiffness even further and put more material in places. We lost the clevis design. And that added, I mean, honestly, that's probably half of the weight savings that came on frame just losing that particular part because the new upper link is not so different in weight from the one the single linkage that we had on there that bolted onto the clevis before.
Rob Drew:It seems much less susceptible to rear triangle twist under pedal load.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah. So when we when we design the original Switchblade, most people don't realize we've actually been through three generations of Switchblade swingarms, since the original Switchblade. The original one was designed to be able to take this mythical plus tire that never really transpired It was supposed to be a 3.4 inch tire that was going to come and so this is this idea when we were working on that bike was that you could ride your 29 inch wheels all season
Rob Drew:I'd be very interested to ride it and plus and then have something that is almost a fat bike in the winter. And so that bike had really big clearance but also really, really thin chainstays to get to achieve that. And then it also didn't clear all the crank rms in the marketplace and if so ebody was a higher level r der and they wanted to run omething like god forbid a 36 to th chainring on the bike, it a so didn't clear with the stuff that was in the market. So the next couple of generations wo ked on the stiffness of t at and increase that but even ithin that structure, the e was only so much we can do The new bike in plus configura ion clears 2.8 tires, not a m stical 3.4. So everything's desi ned to get that stiffness up and clear low Q factor 168 milli eter Q factor. Like XX1 cranks o XTR cranks and then be able o run bigger chain rings on th front as well. configuration because with my with my old Switchblade, I always had a ton of fun riding that way. It's not my competitive setup. But if I'm riding for fun, it's still super fun.
Chris Cocalis:So yeah, just some other things on the bike too.
Stefanie McDaniel:Colors?
Chris Cocalis:Well, colors are important. What do you think of the colors?
Stefanie McDaniel:I think the colors are awesome.
Chris Cocalis:Which color do you like more?
Stefanie McDaniel:Well, I rode the blue one. So I like that. But the green is pretty sweet.
Rob Drew:Yeah, it was fortuitous that Kali had just given me an olive green helmet. Before I even knew what the color was going to be. And boom, there it is the match.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, when they rolled that out here in the company, everyone was a little bit shocked because it's not my it's definitely not my typical, but I might wind up on that green.
Rob Drew:And the great thing is both colors are fantastic. So if I had to flip a coin, I wouldn't be heartbroken either way. I'll take any one you want to give me. I'll take any one.
Chris Cocalis:It's always a good thing when you can't pick which is your favorite.
Rob Drew:When you're done with the one I was riding. I'm happy to have that.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, I'm sure you are. Yeah. So what else we got? So we've got new geometry new colors. The build options on the bike are, if you look at our current Switchblade on, I think it's still up on the website or Firebird 29 any any of the build spec, we have our race, pro, and team level builds. We continue with those. But there are some cool things on the on the builds. This one comes with a Grip2 fork now.
Rob Drew:That's a great damper too. You and I were talking about how good that damper is. And obviously I loved it on the Firebird. And it's on the enduro build. Yeah, I noticed also which is great.
Chris Cocalis:So that'll be on the pro and team builds and then the race build will get the Grip fork which is still totally awesome. The the dropper posts on the pro and team builds go from a normal Fox dropper now to a kashima coated dropper. Which is something that a lot of people been asking for they like their kashima forks to match their seat post. And then the new bars and the grips.
Rob Drew:I've always been a fan of the padlock grips. So when I saw that this didn't have them anymore. I was a little bit sad, but the new grips are fantastic. I love them.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, the padlocks are awesome. But it has definitely been a love them hate them type thing.
Rob Drew:Yes, I've spoken a lot of people don't like him. And on a couple of occasions when a bike tipped over. The end of the handlebar does break pretty easily.
Chris Cocalis:They were super soft, but you could lean them up against your car.
Rob Drew:That's true.
Chris Cocalis:The new ones. You don't want to lean up against your car like your car's not gonna win that one. Yeah. So the new handlebars have the stock size on everything but the extra large extra large come with an 800mm maybe the extra small comes with a 760mm I believe but then we go to a 780 millimeter new handlebar new graphics, the the indicators on where you set your handlebar a little bit easier to read while you've got them on the stem. Yeah, I did notice that also. So you can really set up your stuff a lot faster, easier. But the new grips are a big deal because we wanted to bring some of that basically the ergonomics in what we were achieving with the padlock. But having something a little bit more connected for the rider.
Rob Drew:The interface between your gloves and the grips is really good. Yeah, so you don't have to hang on so tight. That's one thing I was noticing. So people who previously maybe couldn't ride a
Chris Cocalis:So it's really sticky. Whether you're running gloves or no gloves, whether it's wet or dry. They've got a lot of grip to them a lot more rubber on the back. It's kind of an oval shape. Also a taper, everything to put your hands in 29 inch bike. Can now fit on the bike. a really natural position, left hand right hand specific grips and then a hard plastic end so if you do go down or scrape a wall is a little more durable have to do the curb feelers on South Mountain when you're coming around the corner. Yeah, it's definitely more durable for that. Then the bike too comes just like the last one comes in extra small through extra large They can fit on the bike. Every bike size is sizes. But the new extra small is almost as small as the Mach 4 SL extra small so you can get down to that five foot tall rider. size specific tubing so it's not like we designed, I say tubing, but it's a molded carbon frame. Yeah. So proportionately everything grows. So an extra large frame has larger top tube and down tube. So it's not just the lay-up, but also the tube sizing on each frame size. And yeah, so along with that, the vertical shock mount that also and with the live system we also had to fit all that in there, and we really focus on that extra small size, because we can get everything fit on the extra small size, we can get it to fit with lots of clearance on the bigger sizes, so the extra small size, and all of them fit in a large water bottle cage as well. So that's the old, the curvy down to the old Switchblade and then the addition of the DPX2. That was kind of a kind of a tight fit, is an understatement. It didn't really the two didn't weren't really compatible with each other anymore. And now you can you can have it all so.
Rob Drew:Yeah it's actually a higher mounting position. Reaching it is very easy. I will admit, I'm one of those people who, you know, had occasion to not be able to find my bottle cage. And when I looked down, that's when you hit a rock on the trail and crash. Yeah, it's not cool. You hope nobody sees you. Yeah, so now much less likely on this bike.
Chris Cocalis:So stuff like that the straighter lines, the water bottle cage stuff, even the ability to reach down and how you you get to the lever on the shock if, if you want to reach for the lever, all of that stuff is better, the lower link is wider, there's no cable housings running underneath. So really the advancement of the Pivot cable port system, the rubber protection the way it is on the chainstay very similar to what we did on the Mach 4 SL, where the chainstays are sitting higher. And then we've got the the raised ribs on the protectors off a softer rubber really makes the bike quiet. And so there really is just not a detail that that we left unturned on the bike to make sure that it checks all the boxes and really sets a new standard for we're going in this category of enduro trail bike, all mountain, whatever you want to call the category, but want to make sure that it's all covered there. I can't wait for the world to see this bike. Well, by the time they see your video, they'll have seen the bikes.
Rob Drew:It's it's really, really good. I think everybody thinks we're jaded. You know, because we're family. But the truth of the matter is, this is just a fantastic bike. Hard to believe you can improve every aspect of my favorite bike and you did it.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah, and Steph is gonna have to make difficult decision this year. Actually, it's not too difficult to have more than. First world problems, I've got to decide which fantastic I got to ride.
Stefanie McDaniel:Yeah, which one.
Chris Cocalis:Yeah I just keep one of each.
Stefanie McDaniel:Yeah, exactly.
Chris Cocalis:Or you can have one of each color.
Rob Drew:I say a huge round of applause.
Chris Cocalis:Thank you guys. Thank you guys for coming.
Stefanie McDaniel:Yeah, thank you.
Rob Drew:Thanks for letting us ride the bike
Chris Cocalis:Thanks for listening and hope you all enjoy the new Switchblade.
Rob Drew:Go out and order one now.