Transcript
Scott Hill: Okay, welcome to another episode of UK Tri Chat hosted by myself, Scott Hill from TriWolf Triathlon Coaching. Pleased to say tonight that we've got the the owners and founders of Shotbox um to talk to you tonight. We've got both Josh and Martin.
Scott Hill: So Josh Martin, I don't know if you want to introduce yourselves. Just tell us a bit about yourselves and the background behind behind you, not necessarily Shotbox as such.
Josh: I'm Josh. My background originally started in cycling from an early age really and um now more modern times into triathlon.
Josh: for the past year, ventured into that world.
Josh: um
Josh: ah That's about me really.
Josh: um I went to university study marketing um and that's sort of my role and involvement in in Shotbox, ah sort of on the marketing side.
Scott Hill: Yeah, I'm fully aware of your participation in triathlon events that Martin's been telling me over the past few months back into last year.
Josh: Yeah, you and everybody else I think.
Scott Hill: sir The addiction's real, so I'm pleased to say that I'm sure we'll see you over the coming years in in that sport.
Josh: Yeah, no, I can confirm it's real.
Josh: It's, um yeah, definitely caught the bug.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Good. No, it's really pleasing to hear.
Josh: I think from my point, it's been really interesting to see how the bug, it showed some interest and how it's really just taken over.
Josh: and the transformation
Josh: in him both physically and um um um um mentally. It's been quite a... So that's why tend to tell everybody.
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: No, it's good. it and it is an addictive sport and it does become a lifestyle. It's something I say all the time, but you're absolutely right. I mean, I say a lot of people, even people I work with, it's, you know, if if things are getting on top of you, bit stressed, have a break, go and go and do a bit of exercise, that's gym work, go for jog, whatever it is. And you come back so much more energized and ready to kickstart, you know, the rest of you work because you feel like you've achieved something.
Scott Hill: umor Endorphins and everything else have kicked in and and I think it's really positive. And it does sharpen the mind and sharpen the brain. And I think you can get so much more focus in in what you're doing, whether that's personal life, home life, family life, or even business life.
Scott Hill: So it's really, I think it's really important exercise.
Josh: Even better if it showed up on the balance sheet.
Josh: Sorry.
Scott Hill: Yeah. What about yourself, Martin?
Josh: So, yeah, I'm Martin Green, the founder of Shopbox.
Josh: We started Shopbox in 2014.
Josh: Previously to that, have various lives.
Josh: My background really is sales. something I did for many years and then in in in later life I moved into the fitness industry
Josh: ah My journey, my fitness background really, cycling has always been part of it.
Josh: and um I would neither describe myself as a cyclist or a triathlete.
Josh: What I would say is that I am a lover of bikes. and ah I ride bikes and I love bikes and everything to do with two wheels and taking them apart, putting them back together.
Josh: ah' tinkered around with them and I've been riding bikes, I think I would be right in saying across six decades.
Josh: And and i'm I'm a little a bit older than a look. but I rode bikes in the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s and the the last two decades.
Josh: And I need to keep going for a couple more really.
Josh: So really that's that's my background in
Scott Hill: Yeah. So you've probably been riding riding bikes before the boom happened as such then in both cycling and sort of the triathlete world.
Josh: Yeah, before the boom.
Josh: and and yeah Yeah, definitely. um
Scott Hill: Yeah. So what's your first memory then of traveling with bikes as such, whether, you know, that was,
Josh: Well, really, that would that would really probably have been in the 90s because before that, cycling abroad wasn't necessarily that accessible.
Scott Hill: yeah.
Josh: and And people would tend to travel with their bike in the car for European holidays. It just wasn't
Josh: as easy as it is now, really.
Scott Hill: Yeah, I guess that's the days when everyone had a massive Volvo where the boot was big enough that you could actually lie down and sleep in it as well. So you get me in there after the bikes in there as well.
Josh: Yes, yes.
Josh: Nevertheless, yeah. I mean, but back in those days, it was very difficult. And of course, there wasn't the choices for bike cases.
Josh: I mean, my my first experience of traveling really was with a soft bag.
Scott Hill: yeah
Josh: um You know, the internet didn't really exist.
Josh: And you went into a bike shop and bought a bike bag.
Josh: and you know that we're available.
Josh: um Yeah.
Josh: but yeah So probably in the ninetyties really.
Josh: essentially, kind of...
Josh: start Martin started the the business... Wow.
Scott Hill: it.
Scott Hill: when was the moment that you thought you know this is a necessary to change this to protect our bikes because not really a lot of people spend an awful lot of money on these bikes but then some of them some people don't spend the right sort of money to protect that valuable asset as such you know and i and i look at what bikes i've got and i look at what bikes other people have and some of these bikes are ten thousand pounds in excess of that but then that don't actually
Scott Hill: protect him very well. So I'm guessing there was a point in in in the idea or, you know, the the production of Shopbox where you thought this is a necessary change that needs to happen.
Scott Hill: I just want to know a bit more about that.
Josh: Well,
Josh: and mean when we started Shockbox, there were one or two solutions out there, mainly soft bags. okay And um'm I'm not going to pick on any brand in particular, but there are well-known brands out there with ah with with soft bags.
Josh: And I realized quite early that those bags are not up to the job. okay And we we looked at everything that was available kind of out there in the market. And no bike case is perfect. We know that.
Josh: Okay. Because you try to you you try to to cover as many bases as possible, but you can't cover everything. So you can't get every size. And, you know, there's not one size that fits all. But what we you can try to do is aim for some form of protection. And think what we realized is that many of the cases or the offerings were just,
Josh: boxes that coincidentally you could fit a bike in and weren't really designed around a bike. And, you know, you know, Josh and I were talking about this, this early, you know, the kind of, you know, we're probably going to come on to soft case versus odd case at some point later, but you know I'll touch on that now.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: And we, we, we know that the the, the soft bag, isn't the way to go. So we focused on the hard case. You know, we thought it gave the maximum amount of protection to bikes. And as you say, some bikes are 10, 12, you know, 15,000 pounds even, you know, and why would you cut corners and basically wrap it in a sleeping bag and hand it over to a baggage handler?
Josh: You know? Yeah.
Scott Hill: Yeah, we've seen how some of them airlines handle baggage as well, and you see it pop up in the media every now and then.
Josh: I mean, that there is really there is the element of it, the way that they're handled, but
Scott Hill: So, yeah. I guess...
Josh: kind of it's a calculated risk on the riders your off, isn't it? I mean, you know, while they have a a responsibility to look after your kit when you hand it over, you know, kind of, you're kind of doing it on a wing and a prayer because things happen. And if you were able to take your bike into the, onto the plane and put it,
Josh: and stow it above your head, and you're in full control of it all the time, the outcome is on you. So what you have to do is try to eliminate and then you know, you can find lots of,
Scott Hill: Yeah. yep
Josh: um lots of connections to the way that you train in this, you eliminate as many variables as possible to give you the best possible outcome.
Josh: on race day. And it's the same when traveling with a bike. You eliminate all of those variables. If you put it in a soft bag, and for example, we know that 80% of claims for damaging transit are with a soft bag.
Josh: So why would you put yourself in that position?
Scott Hill: Really?
Josh: If you've got a 10,000 pound bike, eliminate the risk and put it in a hard case.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Scott Hill: Yeah. and you And you always hear the stories and it where you know you see stuff pop up on social media when people travel abroad for whatever race they're doing, whether it's triathlon or cycling or whatever, where they've they've arrived with a bike that's been damaged.
Scott Hill: And you know and and I've had well i've i friends of mine that have arrived and the bike hasn't even arrived and they don't even know where it is.
Josh: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah, but I guess that that other hurdle of that with, you know, you're talking about these boxes and stuff, I guess you've got restrictions with airlines as well. So yes, we can't put them in the cabin with us, but they go underneath, but they've also got to go through this security procedure as well.
Scott Hill: So you've got limitations there. You know, and I can give you experiences on what I've had with with different airports.
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: But I guess you've got to counter that as well when you're in this production phase.
Scott Hill: Yeah. I've had it with, can't remember what airport, I think I told you, I've had one airport where they wouldn't put it, they physically wouldn't put it through the x-ray scanner for the oversized bagging. I had to go through customs and open it up myself and let them check it.
Scott Hill: But it would have fitted because in every other airport I've been, it's gone through fine.
Josh: Really?
Scott Hill: um And, you know, the one,
Josh: it seems It seems like different airports have different policies, though, don't they? Kind of.
Scott Hill: Yeah, it does it does. They are different. And and I guess it if some of it might ball back to the security side of stuff that these airports have. And the bike box is behind me. you know um Over this shoulder here, we've got the classic one that you do in this one. even We've got the new one, the pro. I've used both of these in airlines and they both managed to get through all security check-ins through the x-ray scanner with no problem.
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: um albeit you know this one here is is easier to pack in obviously i've ventured that way because it's i have to break my bike box i have to break my bike down less to get it into the case which is fantastic because it means it's less fat for me at either end as well but i know in either one they're fully protected which is great yeah
Josh: Yeah,
Josh: yeah. yeah I mean, that's kind of really what the thinking behind that product was, really, that kind of, you know, but we'll we'll come on to that later, you know.
Scott Hill: yeah
Scott Hill: Yeah. So do you do you think it's quite stressful experience traveling with with bikes?
Josh: We'll come up to that.
Josh: one you think I think there's a... problem As i say, I've got a good... I personally, when I first travelled with my bike, thought the experience was um extremely stressful and i I hated every moment of it. It's...
Josh: was it 20, 2012, 2013? twenty twelve twenty thirteen i think we went to Italy and I used a soft bag at the time. It sounds like all we're doing is hating on soft bags, but, um, but I used a soft bag at the time and the whole journey was The pack and the bike was the only easy part of using it. You lived in London, didn't you? So you had to cross London with it on a tube and that. I lived in London. I had to get bus, a boss tram, a train, and then on the plane. There's a film about that, isn't there? Yeah. And it was it was just a nightmare to having to figure out a way to lift it up, to put it on the bus, and then get it on the tube. it was just awkward and difficult and really put me off traveling with a bike and I think that just made it very stressful and but I think part of to go back to your previous question is when you realized a shop box became a necessity was think not that particular scenario then i think we've begun to travel quite a lot with ah a cycling group that we were part of in the late noughties early 2010s to Italy a lot and most people travel rented a bike when we got there yeah because travel traveling just with you by it was just
Josh: wasn't too difficult for everybody i mean we're quite experienced cyclists it was too difficult really for people to not comprehend but you know we we even sent somebody with a van yeah yeah with everybody's bikes when they drove that time didn't you know rather and and one person i think took their box by a specialized tarmac in a uh in a cardboard box yeah in a cardboard box And I think that's probably when we realized that something better needed to be to be done, a better solution or an easier solution. Of course, in those days as well, like say, they they were just like large suitcases.
Josh: I remember Wiggle Do them on, dear a DHB branded one. And it was just like a really big 1970s suitcase. And you had to strip the bike back so much to get it in, and then you'd have to shoe on it in. I mean, I don't know how we did it. Right.
Josh: but you so But I think that's when we realised we needed to do something.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: i certainly yeah You certainly realised that. and then um But it is a stressful it can be a stressful experience if you don't... and ah But that was down to the equipment that I was using at the time. It wasn't adequate for the job. And I think if you use equipment that's...
Josh: good, then it becomes a far less stressful experience. i think the same with anything. if you've got tools that aren't good enough for the job, it's difficult and it's going to be stressful. More a challenge. More of a challenge. Whereas if you've got the right tool to do the job. As I remember with those soft bags as well, that kind of thing with the framing, yeah I don't want to pick on any brands or shoot maybe you shouldn't name any of the brands, but the same as the Chican one with the frame in the bottom.
Josh: ah They call it the Aero Comfort or something like that. but It was a very similar bag to that and they don't stay up right. When you pull it along, it's top heavy because it's the bars at the top.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: As you pull it along, it just falls over. In fact, I've seen them marketing videos of that particular brand where it just keeps falling over. It doesn't stay up right.
Josh: And then just going back to that baggage handler thing that you mentioned earlier, the the we We believe that baggage handlers want to handle your your luggage correctly. They don't set out in a bad mood because they've had an argument with the wife the night before and decide they're going to throw your luggage around. you know i think...
Josh: and We were privileged enough when we were doing going through the design process for Shockbox was that somebody think we rode with worked at EMA, East Midlands Airport, and they hooked us up with some people in the baggage handling department, and we did a bit of a chat with them about it.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah.
Josh: And they were they're just normal people. They're not a breed on their own. And the outcome of that was if something's difficult to shift, you're going to bloody throw it.
Josh: If you make it easy for them, so it's got four casters that glide and it multi-rotates and it's got handles to lift it, it's more energy for them to throw it than it is to roll it.
Scott Hill: yeah
Scott Hill: Yeah, is it's a really positive thing, actually, with the shop box. Boxes, how easy they do move. And, you know, I travel with friends quite a lot. You know, I'm out Lansry right now. and out of six of us, three of us have come with shop boxes.
Scott Hill: And the other brands that are here, just the way they move and stuff, just generally, you know, around the airport and stuff is so different. And I've had friends of mine have commented on this as we've gone. So, We've seen a massive evolution of you know way back when, you know decades ago, to what we've got now.
Scott Hill: but have you seen Have you seen the evolution within your own brand as such?
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: What what what obstacles have you had? what have you had to do to evolve from from day dot to where we are now?
Josh: Well, to to be fair, i mean, we we we were quite lucky. We're lucky. You make your look, don't you? But we set out with a program of future-proofing the cases that we built. So the Classic has been around for lots of years now, but it's still relevant.
Josh: In that it was it was designed around something that we saw coming, which was rotor brakes and through axle. So it's not limited in terms of tire dimensions because there are no well wi wheel recesses. Like with many cases, they have a recess molded into them, which limits the size of the tire.
Josh: Also, they require on a require a ah QR release to go through the frame to hold the wheel in place, and there's none of that in our boxes. we didn't you know we just didn't want to put any limitations in there.
Scott Hill: yeah.
Josh: So really, we set out with a program of future-proofing it in a way that the case could always be relevant, And we're rather than thinking about the bike you might buy today, what about the bike you might have tomorrow?
Josh: So we haven't really had any problems with that. imagine other brands built cases around aluminium bikes and as as carbon was a pretty new thing back then.
Josh: And they've never really moved on, have they? There has been no evolution. You know, we look at for example, how bike tech's moved on in the last two or three years.
Josh: Think about how it's moved on in the last 10 or 12 years, you know, where carbon carbon bikes just weren't a commonplace. you might see ah carbon forks You might see carbon see okay?
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah.
Josh: Or seat stays, sorry. But that was probably it host and And a seat post and maybe bars, but very rarely even a stem now to be full carbon. um So
Josh: our cases were designed because we saw this coming and we designed around that. And so there's not really any there's never really been here and and any obstacles to evolution. Well, I suppose there has been one big obstacle is that the integrated handlebars... Oh, right. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No one well no really saw that one coming, did they? No, I don't think anybody saw that coming.
Josh: And I suppose that's been the biggest evolution for us, is that we quickly realized that people weren't going to be able to pack it in the existing case, the classic and the premium.
Scott Hill: you know that crossed my mind because obviously I mentioned I've already had both and I use the Shotbox Pro now my my my new bike the latest one I've got which is a specialised SL8 and it's integrated handlebars but that didn't actually cross my mind because I use the Shotbox Pro now it just fits straight in you know all I have to take it off is the wheels and the wheel bags the rest of the bike is in pedals still attached it's in there and the box is closed so yeah didn't I didn't realise that myself um
Josh: um
Josh: threaten Yeah, yeah.
Josh: yeah I mean, as you say, nobody nobody really saw it coming. But we we kind of identified that quite early. And, you know, we saw the emergence, for example, of gravel.
Josh: We saw the levels of integration, but originally the pro when we started the design was the brief was to be able to pack a TT bike without removing the base bars.
Josh: That's what the original brief was.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: And then as tech evolved, we broadened the scope of it to cover road bikes as well. But originally that case was designed for triathlon. Yeah.
Josh: That was the original brief.
Scott Hill: well
Josh: Yes. So we would we would have had the classic and the premium range for road rights and cyclists.
Scott Hill: like
Josh: But that what we know now as the Pro, it's code name actually when we were designing was Tri-X, wasn't it? The Tri-X, because we didn't know what to call it. ah But it was originally designed around TT.
Josh: That's what it was for.
Scott Hill: Yeah. i think a lot lot of people don't actually realize when their bikes go through airlines and and i've again witnesses first hand especially traveling into the states and stuff is even though your bikes have have left your hands they've gone into you know through the x-ray machine and the next time you see them as it the other the other the other end of the airline you know when you when you're in the airport collected it But your bikes can your bikes can still be inspected by customs stuff during that journey.
Scott Hill: And I've I've had it traveling to America where my bike's been opened up because they've checked whatever's inside it.
Josh: Yeah, yeah.
Scott Hill: But they've they've left me and left me a note in there to say that it's been checked. And that was new to me at the time. But I still believe most people out there don't realize that your bike can still be inspected at any point during its journey.
Josh: like i think I think as well, bikes are more likely to be inspected than a normal suitcase because they're so big and um often people put loads of different things in there as well.
Josh: They see there's more than just a bike in there when it's scanned, don't they? Nutrition, they put all sorts of stuff in there. So they they do always... I think to America, it's a vast majority of the time, i think I spoke to a couple of people who say their bike always gets checked when they fly into in America.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Josh: it's TSA won't do... I mean, you... I mean, I suppose being from the UK, we would imagine, because we have these levels of privacy, we would imagine that they can't open your property without you being there.
Josh: But of course, in the USA, TSA have the authority to do that, and they do, and they will. And they'll close the case and put it back together.
Scott Hill: yeah yeah
Josh: And we knew that was coming, and, you know... that this This is the reason and then why this case is so well thought out, or our cases.
Josh: So it comes equipped with, it sounds like a sales pitch, it comes with TSA approved latches. Okay, which which what it means in basic terms is they have a magic key, okay, which allows them to open it and close it again without knowing the combination.
Scott Hill: Yep.
Josh: you know I mean, probably anybody could get hold of one of those keys, but the reality is the TSA can close it again, ah check it, open it, check it, and close it, and you wouldn't even know they'd been in there.
Josh: okay Another thing that we noticed is there there's another big bike box brand out there that that requires what we call an anti-crush pole. that you have to insert into it.
Josh: Okay, they call it the pole dance, trying to get it in and get your hand out and close it. So one of the decisions that we made quite early was to integrate that into the case, where we had two sides that came together.
Scott Hill: Yeah. yeah
Josh: It just never needs to be removed, obviously. You can never lose it or forget it. And if the TSA go inside your case, and i am aware of instances where this has happened, they just don't put it back.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: Okay.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: Now, it's possible that you may not need that anti-crush pole.
Scott Hill: they don't know
Josh: You know, you may or you may not, but it's there for a reason, isn't it?
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: You know, and I mean, that's something that, yeah you know, kind of during during the design process, Josh actually pointed out about the loading of, I mean, maybe you just want to cover that.
Josh: Oh, they're loading. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, a lot of people, I suppose, when when luggage gets put into an aeroplane, they maximize the space that they they have to maximize the space of of the cargo hold itself.
Josh: And so they they they ram it for and everything's stacked to the roof on top of each other. And because bike cases are big and heavy, they always go at the bottom.
Josh: ah So what ends up happening is you get 10, maybe 15 or 20 suitcases, all that can go up to 30 kilos of storage. So you've potentially got 300, 400 kilos worth of weight sat on top of your bike case. Bike case. Compressing it. Compressing it you know When you think about it, that is crazy. There's a lot load there.
Scott Hill: It is, it's a scary thought, isn't it?
Josh: a
Scott Hill: You know, your your pride and joy, where you spent thousands for, that is just at the bottom of a pile.
Josh: Yeah, essentially. And i think that's why it's so important that we find it so important to go for a hard case. we I remember you pointing this out at the time. You said it's a little bit like having a soft bag.
Josh: I don't want to keep going back onto soft bags. I do we want to move on. A little bit like, if you can imagine, right, throwing a duvet cover over your bike in your lounge, then you and your mates all standing on it.
Josh: You wouldn't do it, would you?
Scott Hill: yeah good so if there was anyone out here well listening just now to this this podcast then what sort of advice would you give them if they were first time flying with a bike yeah
Josh: You know, so...
Josh: First time, buy hard case. and mean I'm not saying it has to be a shock box. I'm just just a hard case.
Scott Hill: ye yeah yeah
Josh: Use a hard case. Okay. And that's the advice that I would, if you're going to do it, do it and and but trust the process. And ah the the first time is always the hardest time you do anything. So there's a level of anxiety of the unknown.
Josh: and And I think probably particularly with triathletes, you need to know what's going to happen, when it's going to happen.
Scott Hill: Yep.
Josh: You know, you can't control the environment like the weather. Okay. You can't do that. But again, removing as many of those variables as possible, what the anxiety comes from, the unknown.
Josh: so I'm going to get there. And then what will I do with my bike? And how will I get it to the event? And I mean, I think like that's why I imagine a lot of people do. And once they've done that once, can I get the stem back on? Can I...
Josh: what What if I lose my setup? which Which is really, again, why we went for the pro case, because you don't really have to mess with it.
Scott Hill: Yep. Yep.
Josh: you know You just put it in and go. I think my one piece of advice for people traveling with the bike for the first time would be to think about the whole journey as a whole.
Scott Hill: and the
Josh: um So not just people get a lot of when people research by boxes, they get hooked up on one detail. Will it fit? Will my bike fit? And the simple answers, most bike cases on the market, your bike will fit into it. You know, that they're not out there.
Josh: Bike cases aren't out there that are too small for for bikes. Otherwise, they just wouldn't exist anymore.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: So ah rather than thinking what's it going to be like to to move around the airport or pick it up or get it in the back of the car or how easy is it going to put my bike back together when I'm there? um You know, then kind of things are the things that are important. and which make the that's That's what makes the journey difficult or hard. Not when you're in ah the the what affects it.
Josh: affects your journey when you're not in the comfort of your own home. When you're packing it, you're at home, you've got all your tools around you you, you're not stressed out. But when you're out there in the public, that's when things start to become more stressful when things don't quite go right, or you're not expecting it.
Josh: So think about the whole journey as a whole.
Scott Hill: wait We went out to did our Ironman Barstona last year and um went out there with a friend and We had two different bike boxes, both of them hard case. When we actually flew out, then we got a train to our destination. Then we had to have a bit of a walk through the town to get to our accommodation.
Scott Hill: Because it was quite late at night, there was no taxis around. it was only small town, really. um And just the simplicity of walking along the road or along the pavement with how the wheels move on the shot box was... was drastically different compared to my friend's bike box.
Josh: I
Scott Hill: um And yeah for me, it was a good thing for him. It was was not so good. But you you touched on.
Josh: mean, enough that's... was going to say that's maybe an extreme example, but again, the manoeuvrability is a big important part of it. As Josh just you said, it's the whole journey.
Scott Hill: Go on.
Josh: And it's not just...
Scott Hill: It ties back into that.
Josh: It's not the journey, it's the destination.
Scott Hill: Yeah, and i kind of that is that's what I mean. It tied back into what Josh was saying. Don't just think about the airline with your your bike going on a plane. It's the the before and after. You transit in the car if you've got to move on foot.
Josh: Yeah. Yeah, because you've got to use it as well.
Scott Hill: Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. You've touched on the anti-crush system. I'd like to hear bit more about that, what you've built into Shopbox.
Josh: you to go? ah Well, um yeah as I was talking about the weight and so that's the sense that's really what it is there for. It's it's um when it's packed in an air in ah in a cargo hold, it's it's to stop your bike, it's to stop the case being compressed. and There's a little bit of flexibility in in the case, in in the material. um you know It can't be fully brittle and solid because if it if it got an impact, it would just break. So there has to be some give in there. So the anti-crush pole basically stops the middle from being compressed in and then ultimately crushing your bike when it when it starts. its in If you think of an egg box...
Josh: And how it kind of comes together to protect, that's where the thinking came from, an egg box really, and how it protects the egg inside to some degree.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah.
Josh: Now, and you know, if you took that to its extreme and let's just say the baggage handler put your bike case on the runway and the pilot ah decided he needed to reverse the plane and it rolled over it, it's not going to survive.
Josh: You know, the the bike case and the bike would, it would be gone. You know, that would be it. But under normal use and um under normal load and handling, that anti-crush system is designed to do that.
Josh: And when it presses together, the idea is that it spreads the load out back into the case rather than kind of absorbing it directly.
Scott Hill: yeah. Yep.
Josh: And so ah protecting everything within the cavity. which is you your frame set and your wheels. And again, the reason that it is integrated rather than removable is because make it simple, stupid, that phrase, you know that.
Josh: And the easier that you make it for somebody, the easier it is. And if you can forget something or put it down and I do things all the time. I put something down and then, I didn't pick it back up.
Josh: So everything about those cases, anti-crush system included, okay, is made to make it simple. If you can't remove it, you can't lose it.
Josh: It's there. It removes a future decision.
Scott Hill: do you out look one yeah Do you have limitations with airlines? do um I'm guessing, well, in fact they do. So we have we have limitations with restricted sizing and stuff like that. So how how does that work in the process of of making these bike boxes? Because obviously if you go to an airline, we're now told obviously how much they charge to transit your bike, what your maximum weight limit is to transit a bike, what the sizing is by measurements and stuff like that. So I guess if you've got to factor that in. How do you do that? trying to keep
Josh: Well, think I think sometimes with some of the information they put on there, you do have to take with a bit of a pinch of salt because because um some of the airlines haven't updated their but dimensions.
Scott Hill: I guess you're trying to keep the size as you can.
Josh: for it I can't remember the airline off the top of my head. There's one in particular. I can't remember it is, but it says a metre by metre. and there There isn't a bike case out there that fits into that.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: but when we But you do have to consider weight. I mean, think we we call it ah like a triangle, don't we Yeah. um You know, you have to kind of find the sweet spot between it being light the size to make it as easy as possible to pack it, and then... Level of protection. And the level of protection that it gives. And you kind of have to find the sweet spot, because you can't you can't be... you can't have all three. You can't be big enough to to pack a bike too big, because it has slightly say it has to fit within them dimensions. It can't be too heavy. It has to be light enough to be able to...
Josh: to um to to put your bike in and still fit within the weight limits, that you know, some of the airlines impose. And then, but it also has to protect the cases with the bike inside as well. So, um, I think we, we just find ourselves just on the very top limit of the the size. Um, there's there's, there's a balancing act there as well, isn't there, uh, Scott, because, you know kind of, you,
Josh: you You may be a kilo or two heavier than some of the competition, but your level of protection is is exceeds everything else out there.
Josh: you know I can genuinely say, to my knowledge, we have never had reported a bike broken in transit.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Right. Yeah. I guess.
Josh: And the only time anyone's ever mentioned any damage to me was because he put a track pump in a bike case with a aluminium foot on it, on his top tube.
Josh: And it it marked it. And you know, that was going to happen, wasn't it? If it was going to happen. But aside from that,
Scott Hill: guess I guess that goes back to that packing side of stuff. in in In principle, when you book these, whatever bike transport case you've got, when you're booking these onto the airlines, that airline, you're paying for your bike transit only, not all this other stuff people put inside that box.
Josh: Yeah, that's it. yeah
Scott Hill: so So when people are putting track pumps in their clothing, nutrition, everything else, they're actually going outside the guidelines of that airline's policy.
Josh: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hill: So in theory, that's, yeah.
Josh: I mean, aluy I'm glad you've mentioned that because kind of people, you know, you have this impulse and I do it myself. You know, you've got to get the wife's ear dryer in there because her hand luggages a little bit over, you know, ah of cabin luggages a little bit over and
Scott Hill: um my
Josh: you know, the kids' bucket and spade and everything else go in there.
Scott Hill: but I i put why
Josh: and
Scott Hill: i mean, everyone does it.
Josh: number one,
Scott Hill: And ah and I'd be lying if I said I did. And i put my wetsuit in there. But it's nice and soft, and you know and it's it's effectively... In some way, you could say it's it's a soft-shell thing and but and and probably a couple of other things.
Scott Hill: But I think track pumps, when we go to events now, especially Ironmans and stuff like that, they've got track pumps in transitions. They always say it when you go to the the race briefings, don't bring your tracks pump.
Scott Hill: There's enough in transition will do it. But everyone still does.
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: They always carry these track pumps around because they've got to use their own track pump.
Josh: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hill: And to be honest with you, when I'm there and I see people using track pumps, I don't take one because I think it's pointless because they've got them there, but I'll be like, oh, can I borrow your track pump?
Josh: Yes. Yeah.
Scott Hill: And I'll use theirs.
Josh: yeah
Scott Hill: But we've now got these little, the little air, when you charge them up and it's a little air pump, the small things.
Josh: yes yeah
Scott Hill: I mean, I've got one here, fantastic bit of kit. And that just now goes in my little hand log, is in my rucksack with me and you hardly notice it.
Josh: It's easy, isn't it?
Scott Hill: Saving weight everywhere.
Josh: It's definitely better than then gas canisters, that's for sure.
Scott Hill: Yeah, really, really good. But yeah,
Josh: I mean, the thing that you're just saying, that people just don't really take any notice.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Josh: A big example of that is, just going back to aeroplanes, the plane lands and they say, don't stand up or take your seatbelt off until the plane comes to a complete standstill.
Josh: And then you sit in there and then everybody's up and... You know, people generally genuinely don't generally don't listen.
Scott Hill: yeah yeah
Josh: But I think the takeaway from that is that, as we've said earlier, you know, we're prepared as people that ride bikes, cyclists, triathletes, to spend
Josh: embarrassing amounts of money on a bike, okay? And we buy a bike case for it, and then we quibble about paying an extra 30 quid
Scott Hill: yeah. Yeah.
Josh: And we want to try to to to to book it on a plane. So we try to get the case within the... um on longwall particularly, within the agreed 23 kilo limit and put it in as your allowance.
Josh: So they pack everything in there. And so what they'll tend to do is then compromise and go for a soft case or ah complain that your case is a little bit heavier.
Josh: You can't have that level of protection and have a case that's under 10 kilos. you The two things just don't go hand in hand. And that's probably the only limitation that we get, isn't it? From, you know, the obstacle.
Josh: Yeah. Objection from people. It's weight. That's the biggest one. But ultimately, like like that there's that like I said, there's that triangle where because it gives you a certain level of protection and you need to be able to fit um bikes in without taking the handlebars off, so it's going to be bigger, it ultimately has to be heavier, otherwise it's not going to protect the bike.
Scott Hill: but generally if they're not if they're not packing it with extra stuff the weight limit is still within the weight
Josh: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah he yeah yeah. That's what it was designed to do, yeah.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah. And and you're right. and You know, what you say is there is okay. Let's, that means I'm going to have to buy extra luggage, but if your bike's fully protect and that's what you want it to be fully protected, then you'll buy extra luggage to take your clothing, take things like your track pumping that and stuff like that.
Josh: mean...
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: Uh, yeah.
Josh: I mean, I think that the vast majority of people travel...
Scott Hill: So. Yeah.
Josh: um short flights, and they'll tend to be budget airlines, where you might pay 30 quid for your flight, but you've got to pay 30 quid to take the bike each way.
Josh: And you'll tend to get 30 32 kilos as a limit on your on your baggage with those airlines.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah.
Josh: And, ah you know, if you wanted to put your wetsuit in, you could you could argue that that's part of kit. So you could do that.
Scott Hill: Yeah, if I was giving anyone any advice with traveling, because I've had this mistake happen is if you are booking budget flights early, make sure you book your bike transport at the same time, because I've seen it happen in the past where people have booked their flights early because they're cheaper because it's in the Black Friday sale or January sale, whatever it is.
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: and then if it will, I'll add my luggage, I'll add my bike later on, and they get to that near point of travel, and they go on there to put their bike on, and it's fully loaded, it's maxed out, because you've got X amount of athletes leaving that same country.
Josh: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good the same event. I'll tell you what, you've just given me a heart attack because I've just done that exact thing.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: i bought I'm going to a training camp at the end of February and I bought my flights months ago. i thought I'll book the bike on ah in a couple of weeks or something.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: I've just not got around to it. So I'm probably going to go on and do that straight after this.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: Fingers crossed.
Scott Hill: It happens. It happens. um I've done it.
Josh: Well, that would be so funny if that happened to you, wouldn't it? Don't, don't.
Scott Hill: that Training camps, is you know you get away with it, but generally racing and stuff because UK athletes
Josh: we've got a lot of people going in.
Scott Hill: so much abroad, especially within Europe and stuff like that. Then yeah, the the airline have got a maximum capacity. Um, and I've even even seen that we've loaded, you know, you we've had, um, again, friends of mine that we've got the destination and their bike hasn't turned up.
Josh: of course.
Scott Hill: Um, and it transpired that airline was full is coming on the next flight. Um, and sometimes people leave a weight or they'll go to the destination hotel and and the airline does deliver it, but that's another stress that you don't need.
Josh: Yeah.
Josh: yeah no Yeah, exactly.
Scott Hill: Uh,
Josh: why yeah ah it It's never happened to me, but I went to Ibiza back in October on a trip and there was probably 500 people on this this weekend, on this this festival, bike festival.
Josh: and But at the airport on that day, there was probably 300 people, all the flights leaving to various de destinations, ah you know, within a couple of hours of each other.
Josh: And I do remember on on the little group that we had all of these people that were flying into Gatwick, there was about 40 of them. And they didn't get their bikes for two or three days afterwards, just because they couldn't couldn't get them on.
Scott Hill: Wow.
Josh: yeah I mean, they booked them, but they were...
Scott Hill: but I mean, I've had it, I've had it again, you know, you hear stories and people put tags and whatever in their bike now.
Scott Hill: Um, uh, and someone I know that races on all the Ironmans and stuff like that, he didn't get his bike back and he could even, know well, I know where it is cause it's showing on my app and he ended up traveling out to another European country to collect his bike.
Scott Hill: And he's like, you know, follow on this track.
Josh: Oh, wow.
Scott Hill: It was in there. But the stress that that must have put him under would have been phenomenal.
Josh: I can imagine.
Scott Hill: Because it doesn't...
Josh: He would have been training for that event for quite some time, I imagine.
Scott Hill: Yeah, it doesn't
Scott Hill: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's not just that. it's Most athletes, whatever their sport is... That's their personality, that's them, that's what they do. So when you haven't got it you know outside of events and stuff like that, it it adds more stress to your life because that could be your your release.
Scott Hill: It could be your escape from from anything you're dealing with in its parcel of life.
Josh: Yeah, yeah.
Scott Hill: And I guess if you haven't got that possession with you, it's it can be a bit demoralizing and a bit difficult for a lot of people.
Josh: You can't just go out for a bike ride because it's stuck in some airport on the other side of the Europe. Which may seem quite petty to some people, but ah actually, if it happened to you, it it would be the end of the world at that weekend, wouldn't it? You know, destroyed.
Scott Hill: Yeah. We always know always see how these athletes um athletes don't cope very well with injuries, do they? And I guess you can put it into that as such in so in some ways.
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: um So where is where is Shotbox at the moment in terms of that you know globally who's using the actual product itself? Is it is it traveling worldwide?
Josh: Oh, well. Well, we know that you're using it. we We have a ah massive global presence. okay The majority of shop boxers, particularly the pro, ahll go to the USA.
Josh: um we We just seem to have built up a fantastic level of loyalty there, um particularly for the gravel
Scott Hill: yeah.
Josh: um sector, road bikes as well.
Scott Hill: yep
Josh: um We we ah and and continue to grow there. ah Within Europe, um we we ah we work with a ah a retailer called Bike24.de.
Josh: and dot d e and um They do massive amounts of them. We've just done some sampling for Van Rysel.
Scott Hill: Yep.
Josh: We're going to be working with them. We work with Pinarello. We work with Factor, branding cases for them. And we're hoping to bring on Colmargo.
Josh: There are a couple of other things that we've spoken about privately that can't mention right now to do with Triathlon, okay ah big brands ah that we ah are looking to work with. um The deal's almost done, but we're not quite there. So it wouldn't be right to make any announcements about that. But the product is there, being used by a lot of people. Everybody's very happy with it.
Josh: And I'll never get sick of hearing that. the and And nice the product is. I was at event last night and a guy said to me at this event, it was a launch for a um a and ah ah cycling event in the Isle of Wight in June. and ah he he said to me, he I'd met this guy in Ibiza, and there was this car park in the hotel, and there must have been 150 bike cases in this car park waiting to be transported, and... um
Josh: you know there there was a ah good amount of shot box pros there but he said he hed he'd never seen it up close to some of the competitors and he he just didn't realize how nice it was and how well designed it was and you know it was there were great words to hear but he can't wait to buy one you know he's gonna be buying one for his next trip and uh
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah.
Josh: It never ceases to amaze me, some of the places where we get emails from. The amount of countries, Martin was saying, it's a truly it really truly is global. We do a lot to America, but we have customers in Singapore, Australia, Thailand, South Africa. Japan. Japan.
Josh: you know India. ah Dubai. Dubai. Quite a lot in Dubai. Saudi. I mean, kind of. It's crazy to think when we started that we'd be sending bike cases to Australia and Dubai. Quite weird feeling really that that would happen. And we never set out for it to be anything other than, the mission in my mind is not to be a million, it wasn't to be, oh, I can make a few quid from this or something like that.
Josh: You know, it's a business, course it is. Okay. But really... When I came into this industry, getting into the the cycling industry was quite a challenge in that almost everybody that worked in it ah was from a racing background.
Scott Hill: That's really Yeah.
Josh: And there was a bit of snobbery around that. And it was quite difficult. mean, you can sometimes feel a little bit like an imposter, like imposter syndrome being there.
Josh: It's quite difficult to...
Scott Hill: that's ready for
Josh: to to get into. And all I really wanted was to earn the respect of those people where they would say, that is a nice case. That is a lovely product. That's been well thought out.
Josh: You know, it's a good product. And that was really payoff for me. And, you know, maybe we'd make, we'd sell a few and make a little bit of money as well, but it just never ceases to amaze me.
Scott Hill: Yep.
Josh: But we get emails from, For example, ah we're just about to send one to ah Olympic medalist Danny Rowe.
Josh: And we get messages from all over the world, from ex-pros and stuff like that, that are really interested in the product. And it's quite encouraging that they kind of have noticed it and have heard of it.
Josh: We just wish more people knew about the product.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Scott Hill: yeah and And obviously your brand's been there for a substantial amount of time now. We've had, we were still used to COVID area, but that's like six years ago now. do you think in this last five years, you've seen the comeback and, you know, we've seen the sport grow again, both for cyclists and triathletes?
Josh: Yeah.
Josh: Yeah, I mean, definitely. I mean, I think like on the build up to kind of up to 2019, 2020, we started to feel a difference in the momentum where people were starting to go into lots of events.
Josh: They were taking note of that. We knew they were taking notice of our product because we saw that
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: in the sales, okay, and mean and the amount of inquiries. Because not all inquiries net out to a sale. You know, sometimes people don't, they go for a competitor. And it's always nice to hear when they come back and say, i wish I'd brought that now because that's not quite what I thought it was going to be. And that's always nice to hear. But then, of course, when COVID came, and I a I hate that period, really, looking back at it.
Josh: It gave me a lot of time for reflection. But of course, with no overseas events and no travel, the business just really ground to a stop.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah.
Josh: And, you know, we were quite lucky in a way that we managed to keep going and stay where we were. And it gave me some breathing space to really focus on the pro case.
Josh: Okay. It gave me that time because running a business can sometimes times be like spinning plates. If you remember that old thing they used to do, spinning plates. And ah you have this list of things that you want to do but you don't always have the time to implement them.
Josh: And so really when COVID came, it was a kick in the teeth, but it did give me the time to work on the pro case. Pardon?
Scott Hill: yeah So you took a positive.
Josh: but
Scott Hill: There was a positive that came out of it at least. Yeah.
Josh: Yeah, yeah, positive it came out. But it really meant that the business had to start again almost from scratch. And ah now it's kind of not just shock box, but travel generally um and events generally are or just on the verge of exploding again.
Josh: And...
Scott Hill: Yeah, you see in the tri-world, like the, just the booking and sell out of events at the minute is just like, it's great to see.
Josh: Yeah. And new events come in all the time, aren't there?
Scott Hill: Yeah, it's great to see, it's great to be part of, it's great to coach athletes and help them through them, you know, from personal perspective myself, but you have to do some serious planning now.
Scott Hill: And I guess that comes in with training camp for yourself.
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: Josh and and stuff like that you know these things have to be planned so far in advance now and again it's it's difficult but it's important that people are looking that far ahead and planning and and planning these minute details not just you know the race entry but everything that comes with it the complexity of the travel the you know the airlines the the bike the equipment they might need and everything else as well and you know if they're looking for for working with coaches to get the best in all of this stuff because there's many people out there can offer so much advice and we see up so much advice all over social media at the minute.
Scott Hill: And some of it's relevant, but a lot of it is not relevant.
Josh: Yeah, I can definitely agree to that.
Scott Hill: yeah and that's And that's what's coming It's catching a lot of people out because there's many people out there with no experience whatsoever that are doing quick videos here and there because they're very good at it, talented in that aspect because a lot of the stuff that we see on social media, I can't do.
Scott Hill: I guess that's because I'm of a certain age and generations are coming through that can do it very quick at doing it.
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: um But people ah people listening have got to be careful that they are following the right advice and not the wrong advice by someone who's just good at social
Josh: yeah Yeah, I think I can definitely agree. Couldn't agree more with that, to be honest. um You do have find a lot of cycling influencers find themselves in a position where people listen to them.
Scott Hill: Mm-hmm.
Josh: ah the The content that they make, the quality of it is absolutely great. but then sometimes you listen to the advice that they give and you can tell it's advice given by a newbie cyclist.
Josh: um And some so sometimes some of them are open about that, you know, that they're that they're new to it. But like you say, I think you do have to be um cautious about some of the advice. or But giving it gave advice should be about giving your opinion rather than and advice. Because when you give advice, it's a dangerous place to be. Because if you...
Josh: don't really know because you don't have the experience to know because you've not really done it. You just, you're paid to say it really in some way. Um, you shouldn't really be giving that advice and it's not authentic, is it?
Scott Hill: No, no, it's not. So with shop boxing, it can be, yeah, extremely.
Josh: I'm dangerous.
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: Yeah, really, really dangerous. you know Well, we could I could go down a rabbit hole with that. But where where where do you see shop boxing in five years?
Josh: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hill: what is What is your vision? Where do you see you going in yourselves?
Josh: Well, we we at this stage, we've got no new products planned. okay We're intending to i mean roll out some new colours this year.
Josh: As we started, we did some samples. like you've you've got one You were lucky enough to get one of the red ones.
Scott Hill: Yep. Oh, we lost you.
Josh: We did just a few of those. We did a few green ones last year, um and we did some pink ones.
Scott Hill: Can you still hear me okay?
Josh: And ah we're we're just about to roll out a few different colors, try a few few different things.
Scott Hill: I think we've lost you there.
Josh: Originally, we just stuck with black. We're going to continue to develop the pro. um We're not sure how we can make it better. We can only make the manufacturing process better.
Josh: and so to make it more stable and to make sure product comes through faster.
Scott Hill: So it seems like we've got a technical issue there.
Josh: We are looking to try to shift away from...
Scott Hill: We've lost connection.
Josh: um he's dropped. Is it because I was boring?
Scott Hill: Are we back?
Josh: You are pretty boring, I've got to say. Yeah.
Scott Hill: Are we back? We're back.
Josh: Hello. Okay. Yeah,
Scott Hill: a bit but I think that was an issue on my side there. So, yeah, apologies. We're back.
Josh: okay yeah we were still here. here.
Scott Hill: Yeah, I wasn't sure.
Josh: who there
Scott Hill: No. Well, we'll come back anyway. But yeah, obviously you see you've got no no immediate development for the current box or anything planned for the future.
Josh: Well, it'll just be ongoing development. So, for example, you know, kind of like... um
Josh: ah experimenting with upgraded wheels, things like that, changing some colors, that that kind of thing, really. we're go to we We want to do some work with the internals, and the internals are very good on it, but could they be better?
Josh: you know
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: Could the wheel bags and the the frame wrap, could we tweak them slightly? but There are no immediate plans to change anything with designs or anything like that, and it's possible that we may look at other products.
Josh: So we kind of...
Scott Hill: You think with your working with with colors and for example, that you could um work with specific colors for different teams and i guess stuff that.
Josh: but
Scott Hill: i mean, you've talked about some of you doing custom for.
Josh: Yeah, but we can do that because we we can do... um As as you you may have seen, you know, there there are... ah Viesvello cases out there. There are Colmargo cases. There are Pinarello cases. There are Van Rysel cases.
Josh: ah We can brand for anybody that we you know that that wants it.
Scott Hill: Yep.
Josh: which we but We are working hard to try and bring that to the retail side of it as well, where We would like to be able to offer some level of customization for when people buy the case.
Josh: you know
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: they want their name on it? Do they want, i don't know, their nickname or if they've got a particular number that they like to race with or you know that kind of thing.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: we're we're looking at We'd like to be able to offer that and that that is in the development. and We don't have an exact timeline when that might be ready, but that's something that we are looking at.
Scott Hill: You always see, you always see people traveling around where different locations, you're like, I'll go to a location, I'll buy a fridge magnet, but most people, they'll buy a sticker and they'll stick that on the box, whatever race they've been.
Josh: Yeah.
Josh: Yeah, yeah.
Scott Hill: um
Josh: Yeah, that's that's something. It's something that we can do. I know i know that ah some competitive cases, they come with stickers all over them.
Scott Hill: They do.
Josh: And to be fair, it was something that we steered away from doing in that the the graphics that used to be available never stay on the box because of the nature of the material that it's made It's very oily and they tend not to stay on.
Scott Hill: yeah
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hill: Well, you thought about that with the airline tags as well on this, on the shop there as well, which some airlines are quite surprised about.
Josh: Yeah. Yes. I mean,
Scott Hill: I'm like, no, no put it through the slot.
Josh: yeah yeah, yeah, It's quite a good thing.
Scott Hill: Uh,
Josh: Well, the reason, the reasoning behind that was because if the TSA opened your case and the, uh, the, the sticker or the the label is around the handle, then to get into it, that's going to come off.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hill: nothing
Josh: And then what happens to the label?
Scott Hill: yeah no
Josh: But to just to get to to the Martin answer sort of what product-wise we're going to be looking at over the next five years, but as a brand shop box over the next five years, we want to make shop box the brand that's synonymous with traveling with bike. um When somebody says, oh, I'm going on holiday with my bike, we want the we want people to be saying...
Josh: you want to get a shot box pro get a shot box pro and i'd love to be able to go on a cycling training camp or a cycling holiday and 90 of the cases that are there are shot box pros yeah and that's what that's what i want not because because i genuinely believe it's the best product on the market and people okay it's just better for people to use it. And I think that's what I'd love to see in the next one. That's what we we want to see. I think i think at the moment, the the majority of people that are using it are kind of like like yourself, early adopters. You get it.
Josh: just It works for what you need to do. And it makes your journey... i mean, you've done it so many times anyway that you probably do it without thinking about it. okay But for somebody who hasn't travelled before...
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Mine was unpacked here and everyone was.
Josh: they They, you know, it's second nature. Yeah.
Scott Hill: Yeah. No, I was just saying here when a we come here.
Josh: But for somebody who hasn't done it before, is it
Scott Hill: We've got a delay, I think.
Josh: there's a level of anxiety for them to travel and for them to just be able to be assured that they can just put the bike in, put the wheels back on at the other end and go. And in some cases, they may really need to remove a saddle or something.
Josh: But it's that simple. And within 10 minutes, you're on your way again. but That's got to be the way forwards. And this thing of having to strip the bike right down to be able to ride it is not a good thing.
Scott Hill: That was very much... It
Scott Hill: was very much here that I got mine out, packed unpacked it, put it together. i was like, that's it, done. I put the kettle on then whilst everyone else was still getting spanners out and Alan Cruz and everything else.
Josh: Yeah, yeah, yeah. i think
Scott Hill: But yeah. But I mean, I love mine recently.
Josh: I've heard that so many times.
Scott Hill: Yeah, but the visible, so we need to get the shock box visual more. So mine's obviously white on on the red case in there. That stands out. And even I've had people come through, go through the airport. So look, there's a shock box one.
Scott Hill: And, you know, it's been pointed out because that, that white writing stands out on my one. So that's really good to see.
Josh: do Do we say that then?
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yeah.
Josh: if i'm Okay.
Scott Hill: So.
Josh: I mean, people are starting to, mean, that's a nice thing for me to hear.
Scott Hill: Yep.
Josh: know, it's kind of,
Scott Hill: And um'm not I'm there, well, have go, have a push, that see how easy that is to get around.
Josh: okay Yeah. There's even videos of people um riding them down like ramps at airports and stuff like that. a video of you somewhere. Riding riding one.
Josh: on yeah Yeah. Well, I wouldn't advise you do it because you couldn't stop. At Stansted, I think. There's a big ramp that comes down at Stansted, isn't there? Yeah. Was it? just was it no No, tell you what, it was Bergamo.
Scott Hill: mate.
Josh: It was Bergamo in Italy.
Scott Hill: not recommend
Josh: There was a big ramp that comes from the car park down to the airport and it got on and fell off. They took up some... Nearly took that guy out. there Some young family out. a Family of four got taken out. Yeah.
Scott Hill: Safety disclaimer, though, but don't be doing that.
Josh: yes Yeah, I know. you have yeah you You shouldn't really do that. But it...
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: it's a It's, ah we we we want to see in the next five years that Shockbox is just a brand that everyone would consider, you know, and and, you know, kind of, we've tried to avoid screaming and shouting about the product and saying how great it is.
Josh: We kind of believe that it should be in the background, the silent partner, you know, for people that know, know, kind of,
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: you know it You know it is, and that's what you would buy. It's the obvious choice.
Scott Hill: Yeah. So where obviously people listen the podcast, where can they, where can they find shot box? How can they follow you? Yeah.
Josh: Well, they can follow us on Instagram. You know, we're not we're not great at social media.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: We have some presence there. Just at Shopbox. At Shopbox, we are on social media and our website, really. That's it.
Josh: You know, we... um I was going to say, our website, shopbox.co.uk, also as well, shopbox.us for customers that we have in North America. and They can go directly to there. And then for the UK as well, there's Sigma Sports, which is available.
Josh: um And then, as obviously, Martin's already mentioned Bike24 in Germany. and but so but but But they serve the whole of Europe as well.
Scott Hill: Yeah.
Josh: so there's quite a few options. And we're looking to add different... retailers um around the world over the year as well. So and there's potentially a few other places that it will be. Larger retailers. mean, there are a lot, there are a lot of independent retailers that already supply it.
Josh: Now they can have it on display in their stores. um You know, but we need to be in touch with more
Josh: triathlon based businesses. Okay. And we, we, if If any of them are listening to to the podcast, we'd love to hear from you and see what your view is and and discuss Shopbox in some detail with them on the pro and how we might be able to set up a program with them.
Josh: It enables them to
Josh: supply the case to customers
Scott Hill: Yep.
Josh: but they you know that they don't have to be too concerned about space and so stock. and you know yeah Because we do also work with quite a lot of ah independent bike shops as well. there's a few around London, ah the the Midlands, up in Scotland. There's quite a few independent bike shops that also do stock it. So and it might be worth checking with your your local bike shop as well, because they they might also have it available.
Josh: It kind of works in a way where the... order it through the bike shop. They can see it and touch it and feel it in the bike shop. And then the bike shop order it and we send it directly to the customer next working day.
Josh: So they they don't have to get on the bus with it. You know, kind of but sometimes people want to be tactile with it before they buy.
Scott Hill: Yeah. not hot night
Scott Hill: Yeah, no, fantastic. And what would be your final message then to the, obviously all listeners from the UK TriChat community? Give them a final message.
Josh: Oh, do more of what you love. Yeah. That's it.
Scott Hill: Keep doing what you love.
Josh: Find something you love and do more of it. Yeah.
Scott Hill: No, totally agree. Couldn't agree more. We are here.
Josh: And always walk on the sunny side of the street.
Scott Hill: i thought Yeah. um Well, we're in air but we're only here for, as I say, a lifetime, not a long time, aren't we, in reality?
Josh: Yeah.
Scott Hill: And if you talk to the older generation, they'll always give that advice is enjoy your life. And I guess that's what's supposed
Josh: Well, you can get kind of really wrapped up in Korea you you know and Oh, as in a career. A career. I thought you talking about the country. Oh, right. No, no. you Well, we're a comedy double act here. Right.
Josh: You can get really tied up in in your career and and and life generally and not really find any time to do what you do love. and and And I think people that take part in a triathlon event do have found that escape where they can live their life.
Josh: ah Even if it's just for a few hours, they can do it and and feel human.
Scott Hill: Yeah. Yep.
Josh: And um if everybody if everybody did that, well, it's hard, as you say, and that's why everybody doesn't do it. um
Scott Hill: yep
Josh: So find what you love and do more of it.
Scott Hill: Fantastic. Well, from UK TriChat and myself, I'd like to thank you very much for you both coming on and talking today. I'm Josh and Martin from Shockbox. I hope the listeners have enjoyed the conversation.
Scott Hill: And this is about real conversation with real people and and getting exposure and learning and teaching people out there just about sport in general, not necessarily just triathlon in my background, but, you know, all the sports if we can.
Scott Hill: So, you know, thank you. Thank you to your listeners.
Josh: Well, really appreciate you inviting us on.
Scott Hill: And, uh,
Josh: Yeah, thanks for having us. it's ah It's new territory for us, this is. You know, something we've never done before, as you can tell by our inexperience in this. But, you know, ah we've enjoyed it. And, you know, kind of, if anyone's got any, it does raise any questions or anyone's got anything that we didn't cover, it wasn't intentional.
Josh: It's just that we were just chatting, weren't we? But if anyone has got any questions, you know, they could just email us.
Scott Hill: yeah
Josh: As you can tell, Martin isn't afraid of talking.
Scott Hill: Fantastic.
Josh: Support at shotbox.co.uk and we'll be quite happy to answer any questions that we might not have covered. Sales at shotbox.co.uk. Okay, sales at shotbox.co.uk. Sorry.
Josh: so
Scott Hill: why Thank you. And thank you everyone for listening and we look forward to the next podcast from you.
Josh: Cheers, Scott. Take care.
Scott Hill: Bye now.
