Ah yes, the rites of spring. Daffodils blooming. Birds singing. Sea Otters ottering … Per usual, April brings the bike world a bumper crop of bike tech, nevermind the tariffs. I took a little walkabout through this famous expo at Laguna Seca, California to see what I could find. Here are a few standout rigs spotted at e-Otter.
Scor 6080 Z LT
I’ve always thought Scor bikes look quite tidy and put together. Unsurprisingly, this bike caught my eye as I was perambulating. It is surprising, however, that this is a $6,000 e-bike (well, it was recently on sale for $5,949), and it is built with Bosch’s Performance Line CX drive unit. The alloy frame and simple SRAM GX drivetrain help make this an affordable rig.
Specialized Turbo S-Works Levo 4
We’re in the midst of a Newton meter arms race, and a few days before Sea Otter, Specialized lobbed a watt-bomb into the fray in the form of its Turbo Levo 4.
This major update merits an entire article, but suffice to say, the Turbo Levo has been completely revamped with a new Turbo 3.1 motor that throws 101 Nm on most models and a frightening 111Nm on the S-Works trim shown above. It seems that e-bike motor manufacturers are in a race to crack the 100Nm barrier, pursuing new competition like DJI. The S-Works Turbo Levo even offers a mode that unlocks the motor to power up to a Class 3 speed limit (28mph). Not gonna lie, that is concerning, given the pushback against e-MTBs in some places. Sure, the display reads “Class 3” when you do this, but would that discourage bad behavior?
Other notable upgrades for the fresh Levo include a beautiful, bright, full-color display integrated into the top tube, a Supercharger feature to charge from 0-80% in an hour, a SWAT box, quick change battery … phew! Probably there’s more, but we’ve got to go to a break.
I have a hunch that, if an e-bike motor manufacturer hasn’t already released a 100Nm+ option for its full-power drive units, it will soon to keep up with this, DJI, and a host of other new motors.
Transition Repeater PT
Alright this one isn’t exactly new, but it was cool to finally see the SRAM Powertrain IRL. As I’ve mentioned previously, these new drive units aren’t very prolific yet, but it has some interesting integrations with SRAM’s AXS Transmission.
Forbidden Druid LitE & Druid CorE
Ah-ha! Speaking of the much-hyped DJI Avinox, here it is stateside on a bike that isn’t an AmFlow. Here is Forbidden’s first entry into the e-MTB market.
The Canadian company took an interesting, sort-of modular approach to its two e-bike offerings. The LitE and CorE share the same basic frame layouts and drive units. The LitE is a 140/150mm travel bike with a 600Wh battery while the CorE has 150/160mm of suspension with an 850wh battery. Both share the Avinox M1 motor. And if you have second thoughts, changing the shock stroke will either bump the LitE up to the CorE’s longer travel, or vice-versa. Also, you can plug in the bigger 850wh battery, if you want more range on the LitE.
As this is Forbidden’s first e-MTB, they made a few modifications to their high-pivot platform. The shock is (obviously) in a different configuration, compared to their acoustic bikes. And a steel, 18-tooth idler pulley with two Enduro bearings is employed for durability.
Ari Timp Peak
Ari’s new Timp Peak came out right before Sea Otter, offering Bosch’s latest Performance Line CX drive unit, a big-‘ol 800wh battery and 170mm of Horst-link driven travel front and rear. As direct-to-consumer brand, Ari is offering a (relatively) affordable way to get a top-flight drive unit in a heavy-duty enduro package, with builds starting at $6,700.
See-Through TQ on a Scott
To illustrate just how compact its drive unit is, TQ displayed a see-through Scott frame featuring its novel internal-shock design. Rideable? No. But an impressive engineering feat.
RIP Revel
Well, this is awkward. Revel was displaying a brand-new e-bike at Laguna Seca, but merely a week later, the brand announced it was ceasing operations immediately, due to bankruptcy. You hate to see it, especially with a home-grown brand from my own state of Colorado. Via con dios, Revel.
And a Dog
No further comment required.