Anyone Going to Pole Booth at Sea Otter Classic April 20th-23rd?

[slickrock]

There is a good possibility the a few sizes will be available to check out. For those not sure about size or just want to fancy one in the CNC flesh and happen to be within travel distance of Monterey, CA for the next few days may, this could be a great opportunity. Bosch will also be there for demos and supervised firmware upgrades; hopefully the Race version will be available to demo.

I'll be going to check out the new ID and compare it my early-adopter K1 on Friday or Saturday. Maybe they will have a coil setup to try.

Possible meetup could ensue.

 

[megabobra]

And what are they launching that's so special and unseen??

 

[slickrock]

And what are they launching that's so special and unseen??

IDs are brand new (I haven't seen one) and Voima's in general are a rare bird, versus say Levos which are as common as pigeons out here. More importantly, multiple sizes can be seen at once. Say you bought K2 and you wondered what a K1 would feel like or your considering a purchase and not sure what size to get. It's not like you can go into your local LBS and check one out.

 

[megabobra]

Nah it's a new DH bike: Pole's New 'Onni' DH Bike - Sea Otter 2023 - Pinkbike

 

[Alexbn921]

I was there and rode a k2 around.

 

[slickrock]

It was clear, fair weather Saturday at Sea Otter and the place was packed - Overheard somebody say that this an 'MTB version of Burning Man".

So the Pole booth was at good location a had a number of different bikes on display.

There was K2 ID that looked trick in gold. It was not as immediately as distinguishable from the non-ID brethren, save for the quickly noticeable top tube control. But after closer inspection, other differences can be seen - the whittled down motor cover, bolt-on brake mount, and leaner tube clamp and less bulgy head tube. Unfortunately, there were no other sizes to compare against for prospective buyers.

There was also a Vikela on hand in Storm Grey (not pictured) that i kept mistaking for Vioma when side-glancing - it really does look like a motorless version of the ebike.

What really drew my attention was the Onni, which I'll explain more on the another subject thread. I will say that that it seemed purpose-built and design-driven thru direct riding experience. In fact, Leo was prepping the bike at closing time to race it, himself, the very next day. I lent him a much needed chain whip so he could swap the cassette and he returned the favor and tuned up my bike.

I also made sure to checkout the Bosch booth so I could audition their race motor. The had a number of signature brand bikes to choose from, include the Orbea Wild and Ibis Oso. I went with the Wild. The race motor was addicting and was not as unbridled as I imagined when starting from a standstill. It provides an additional dimension of power control that for me, would be worth premium. I particularly like the power is full-on before cutoff, which may be detriment for others that prefer a fade.

As an aside, the Bosch mechanic racked my bike with the other demo bikes while I took as small Wild for a spin. In that interim, I was later that old that several folks saw my bike and wanted to sign up thinking they could demo it

And the Wild, I might add, was good ride, more along the lines of my Levo, but with a bit more nimbleness.