SKY PARK BIKE FEST | RECAPPED

September 16, 2026

With our crew stretched thin over events season, we decided to give an Alpha Wolf member the chance to fly our flag at the SkyPark Bike Fest, Powered By Bosch. Teddy Parker received the full media pass experience at the event, getting a full expenses-paid and all-access opportunity that is typically reserved for those working in the industry. And the experience he had made us wish that one of us had been able to attend, as it sounded like one hell of a time!

Check out The Loam Wolf Forum and consider joining the Alpha Wolf membership program to enter yourself into the hat for exclusive members-only opportunities like this.

As a Southern California local, SkyPark offers more than just a relaxing alternative to the typical high-speed antics of nearby lift parks. With a fairly different format from your traditional bike park, we have come to see it through a different lens. One that increases its value well beyond the scope of just being another place to ride. Whether you come for the riding, camping, bike demos, local races, or the year-round Christmas theme… SkyPark will offer you as much as you’re willing to take advantage of.

For myself, it has become the de facto base of operations to experience the San Bernardino Mountains. It’s a must-visit whether you want to double-header a weekend with Summit Bike Park or Snow Valley, or take advantage of the park’s two-day events such as the Bike Fest weekend event, powered by Bosch, which I visited here. While these are the main draws for me, serving more as a logistics solution, it’s FAR from the only reason I ended up a pass holder at this bike park.

As a pedal-up park, eBike rigs and rentals are a common sight every day at the park. There is always a variety of Bosch-powered bikes on the trails, however, the offerings can hardly hold a candle to the experience that is the Bike Fest event, sponsored by Bosch itself. These poor bikes could barely get any recharge time in before somebody was signing a waiver and whisking one away to experience something they may have never tried before.

While my partner owns an eMTB, I’ve been a rather staunch holdout. I was seemingly waiting for the industry to prioritize practical fun over outright power and range. While a stubborn BMXer who has only experienced the mountain biking lifestyle for nearly 7 years can comfortably grumble about the ride experience of the majority of e-bikes on the current market, my viewpoint has been more challenged than ever by two bikes sporting the same motor and battery combo.

When I first hopped on the Pivot Shuttle LT, I felt a bit foolish on it at a place like SkyPark. Despite seeming like bringing a chainsaw to a knife fight, the Pivot kinematics (and weight) kept the bike practical enough on the flowy jump trails, while obviously being an efficient experience on the main technical descent at SkyPark. I even ended up doing the skills challenge on the LT, and while the overall weight hardly helped in those tight transitions, I got WAY farther than I should have on that course. Nearly completing it as a rider with limited ebike experience, I left the challenge proud of my accomplishment.

Hopping on an Ari Timp Peak, I experienced the most comfortable ride of the weekend. While it was similarly overgunned on the relatively mellow trails, I appreciated the predictability of the suspension feel and some extra traction and forgiveness on the technical descent. I rode both an XL and a medium, as it was such a popular model that I never quite got time on a size large.

As a last minute swap, I ended up taking the new Intense Tazer out for the time trial race. I really wish I had warm-up time on the bike, as I struggled to reign it in at times. But racing an unfamiliar bike first go at 7 in the morning is hardly a fair way to judge a bike! It felt big and powerful when the local terrain hardly required either. And I understood what the bike wanted and needed, as the few wide-open sections in the bike park had me doubting if I should let off the coward hooks as much as I was. But the Tazer had me planted at speed in a way I can’t say I’ve felt on any other bike. More forgiving than the Shuttle LT, but more efficient than the Timp Peak.

I went for one lap on the Polygon Collosus carbon build, but it had some setup issues that I didn’t have time to resolve. I’ve enjoyed the Polygon bikes I have tried (and owned), including ebikes. So I’d love to take another crack at it, with their new showroom nearby in Orange County. This had me switching to a Kona Remote 160 CR I had reserved, and this is when things got interesting. You expect an ebike with a half size battery and lighter motor package to feel more fun, but nothing prepared me for the experience that these 400wh battery, Bosch SX-equipped bikes would offer me.

I’ve known for a while that my preference is for a lighter weight build like that, from previous ebikes I’ve demo’d. But I’m usually very cognisant of the notion that I am “still on an ebike” and thus still feel compromised in my handling and jumping feel in the air. The Kona immediately challenged the sensibility of that statement. It absolutely came alive in the air, and the more forgiving feel of a Kona had it feeling comfortable during chunky moments, if a little overwhelmed when ridden at speed. To me the biggest takeaway was that I couldn’t tell if the bike FELT closer to a normal bike or a full power, which is impressive to be able to say. The numbers should make it clear that it is still an ebike at the end of the day, but while doing the riding the Remote CR is best suited for, it felt just as natural as my personal bike. It was also the first bike I tried running auto-shift. It proved not to be for me, but I was impressed by its consistent cadence on simpler fireroad climbs. When it was steep or challenging, I found myself taking back control with manual shifting.

For a moment I was prepared to call the Remote CR the winner winner chicken dinner out of all the bikes I tested over the weekend, but from the rafters, the loudspeakers started playing Pivot’s entrance music. My final reservation of the weekend was the Pivot Shuttle SL/AM. I already knew I enjoyed the LT version from the first demo I tried on Saturday, but I still understood that a mid-power version would suit me better. Having just ridden the Bosch SX-equipped Kona, I suddenly had high expectations, but the SL/AM met these, and then some.

I usually like to set expectations low and be pleasantly surprised. The SX-equipped Pivot blew the doors wide open, far exceeding what I had imagined. This was the very last bike during a 2-day event where I probably got more ride time than I ever have in 48 hours. I was going in exhausted, and the SLAM absolutely breathed a second wind of life into my limbs. There is inherent bias when my personal bike is a Pivot Shadowcat, but what do you want me to say? It felt as though somebody took my Shadowcat, put a mild-mannered motor on it, chucked a wagon wheel up front, and called it a day.

I’ve never leaned an ebike over like that, out of all I’ve tried. I’ve never nailed all my lines like I did on the SLAM. I’ve never been more motivated to find every side hit all the way to the end of the trail. Personally, I don’t want my ebike to ask me how far I can ride or how fast I can go up a hill. I want my bike to ask me, “how much of this trail are you gonna ride?” On the full-power ebikes, every missed side hit, every straight air, and every arm pump-riddled end of a trail just reeks of a missed opportunity to me. One less smile, or one less laugh on the trail. I don’t need to know a single number from my ride. Read my face and tell me how the ride went.

I’m not implying that other people should have the same goal. I would never spend time convincing someone of the benefits of a mid-power bike, when their riding and terrain better suit a full-power e-bike. I just want to plant a flag in the ground that says I support brands ALSO going this direction, instead of simply getting stuck chasing the numbers rabbit hole. There is an exciting prospect of lighter bikes with ‘full’ power to come in the future, but ultimately we get there by improving BOTH motor configurations. I can put a range extender on a lightweight ebike, but I can hardly take a chunk out of a full-power ebike to shave 5 or more pounds in the same way.

Bike Fest weekend at SkyPark was an experience like no other. Aside from the trails and demos and meeting new people, it was a truly unique experience to race up stairs on ebikes and do a trail BACKWARDS at a bike park on an ebike in a race format. As I said in the video, SkyPark does things their own way, and with the support of Bosch, they’ve truly made the most of it. You know an event succeeded when I’m bummed it’s only once a year! And they better bring back the race up trails backwards next year. I think they got me addicted to a sub-genre of riding I never intended to, and I can’t wait for the next one!