Designing, prototyping, testing, and refining a carbon fiber wheel is deceptively complicated. Things like weight, stiffness, vertical compliance, and durability are the standard buzzwords for talking about a new wheelset, but how do you strike the right balance between all of them, and how do you go about validating a new design? And what how does athlete feedback factor in, especially considering that the needs of top-level pros aren’t exactly the same as those of mere mortals? We sat down wit...
Jun 01, 2023•52 min•Ep. 172
Jesse Melamed won the 2022 EWS Overall, and then, despite that success, made the move to Canyon from longtime frame sponsor Rocky Mountain. So we sat down with Jesse to chat about what he changed with his mental approach and bike setup to make the 2022 season come together; why it was time for a team change despite that success; his decision-making process in choosing his new race bike from Canyon’s extensive line; the start of the 2023 season, including Jesse’s insane save at Maydena; the new E...
May 25, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 171
After tackling broader questions like “which bike and ski brands are the current holders of their respective ‘Cool Kids Belts’” in Part One of Bikes vs. Skis, 2023 last week, we’re diving into the head-to-head comparisons: which bike company is most comparable to Rossignol skis? Who is the ski equivalent of Guerrilla Gravity? And many, many more. And we’ll be back with a third installment next week, so let us know what your best comparisons are, what we got wrong, and/or if there’s a specific co...
May 18, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 170
Richie Schley is one of a kind — pioneering freeride mountain biker, former pro skier, hilarious storyteller, & much more — and in this conversation, we cover a lot of ground, from the early days of freeride MTB to the current state of the sport and what he’d like to see change, and along the way we chat about his recent bachelor party; how Richie was too early in adopting fanny packs; how hard it is to get new ideas to achieve widespread adaptation; and a ton more. TOPICS & TIMES: Richi...
May 11, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 169
When Payson McElveen rode across Iceland in a single pull a few years ago, he found something in that effort that’s not present in his racing career and immediately knew he wanted to follow it up with something in the same vein. So he dusted off his globe, and after an immense amount of planning, he put together a monster route across Tasmania, spanning 360 miles and nearly 35,000 feet of climbing — most of it on dirt — and set out to ride the whole thing straight through. And while the physical...
May 04, 2023•54 min•Ep. 168
We just got back from the 2023 iteration of the Sea Otter Classic, and while we’re definitely still recovering, we sat down to chat about a bunch of the most interesting new gear we saw at the show — including Push Industries’ mysterious new fork, a bunch of new drivetrains / drivetrain components, a ton of new DH bikes, and a whole lot more. And we also discuss a few of the broader trends that we saw at the show, first and foremost the proliferation of headset cable routing. TOPICS & TIMES:...
Apr 27, 2023•30 min•Ep. 167
Project Bike Tech was founded to answer the question “what if there was something like high school auto shop classes, but for bikes?” And now 15 years later, they’re operating in dozens of schools across a bunch of states, and are expanding rapidly. So we sat down with their Executive Director, Mercedes Ross, to talk about what Project Bike Tech does and how they designed their curriculum; what kinds of career paths their alumni have had; what it looks like setting up a new chapter & how you...
Apr 20, 2023•38 min•Ep. 166
We’ve been hard at work testing a whole bunch of new bikes and gear, and David Golay and Simon Stewart sat down to talk about a whole bunch of it, including comparisons of two very different Enduro bikes, the Yeti SB160 and Cotic RocketMAX; two long-travel, big-battery eMTBs, the Pivot Shuttle LT and Specialized Turbo Levo; the new SRAM Transmission, and a bunch more — and along the way they tease some new bike releases that are coming very soon. Keep your eyes on the site. TOPICS & TIMES: S...
Apr 13, 2023•42 min•Ep. 165
Bikes have become much, much better built over the last couple of decades, but Jason Quade felt like the tools to work on them hadn’t kept pace, and (sort of accidentally) founded Abbey Bike Tools to fill that gap in the market. And now more than a decade later, Abbey has an extensive catalog of some of the best-quality bike tools out there. So we sat down with Jason to look back on the founding of Abbey and have him tell the (excellent) story of how it came to be; how they’ve built out the line...
Apr 06, 2023•46 min•Ep. 164
There aren’t many riders who do such a wide range of riding as well as Phil Atwill. He’s had great results on the Downhill World Cup circuit, his film parts are super varied and impressive, and on top of all that he’s also now running the Propain Positive team. So we sat down with Phil to get his takes (and stories) from all of it, including the burgeoning Greek MTB scene, the changes to the 2023 World Cup format, what it’s like running a team while also racing and filming a ton, and much more. ...
Mar 30, 2023•54 min•Ep. 163
The new Eagle Transmission is a big addition to SRAM’s lineup and while it still uses a derailleur, cassette, and chain as we’re all used to, a lot of the details are very, very different. So we sat down with SRAM’s Chris Mandell to talk about the new groupsets and the thinking behind them, from the “Full Mount” derailleur, to all the ways that they’ve simplified installation and setup, the new controllers, and a whole lot more. TOPICS & TIMES: Why’s it called a “Transmission”? (1:58) The de...
Mar 23, 2023•58 min•Ep. 162
There are a lot of people doing amazing things on bikes and putting together mind-blowing video segments, but nobody does it quite like Caleb Holonko. His Lights Out edit from late last year was absolutely wild, and his recent follow-up, In the Know was a very worthy sequel. So we sat down with Caleb to chat about his approach to riding, filming, and building trails; the ways that growing up in North Vancouver influenced his riding; blending classic North Shore features with modern style; how he...
Mar 16, 2023•48 min•Ep. 161
Cotic Bikes was an early pioneer in the UK’s hardcore hardtail scene, and now 20 years later they’re still doing things their own way — including making a line of (mostly) steel full-suspension bikes to go with those hardtails. So we sat down with their founder, Cy Turner, to get the super interesting story of Cotic’s founding and development; Cy’s approach to bike design and why they do things pretty differently from a lot of other brands; why Cotic puts such an emphasis on custom builds, and a...
Mar 09, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 160
Magnus Manson is just 24 years old, but his racing career has largely been on hold for the last few years as he’s battled cancer. And despite his young age, Manson has taken on his fight with remarkable poise and maturity. So David Golay sat down with Magnus — who is now officially in remission — to talk about his experience; how he used bikes as a motivational tool through chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant; racing while undergoing treatment; his 2023 plans and goals; and a whole lot more....
Mar 02, 2023•47 min•Ep. 159
The most interesting segment of the current mountain bike market just might be the 140–150 mm travel Trail bike range, with huge diversity in the on-trail performance and feel of the various options available. And so we sat down to chat about a bunch of the very different bikes in that class that we’ve been spending time on recently, including the Esker Rowl, Trek Fuel EX, Ibis Ripmo V2S, and the Starling Murmur. And we also touch on our impressions of the new Transition Smuggler and Pivot Shutt...
Feb 23, 2023•44 min•Ep. 158
Chris Currie has worn a lot of different hats over several decades in the bike industry, and his latest venture, Ministry Cycles , is making big headway on a very, very interesting-looking machined aluminum frame, the Psalm 150. And so we sat down with Chris to hear about the origins of the project — which has its beginnings back in the 2000s — and along the way Chris shares a lot about his philosophy on suspension design; what goes into starting a bike company; how he’s gone about product devel...
Feb 16, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 157
Racing World Cup DH is hard. So is designing a bike to do it at the top level, and running a team isn’t exactly a cakewalk either. But after a season of doing all three concurrently, Neko Mulally is still having a blast, and is running his Frameworks team and self-designed bike back for a second season. And so we sat back down with Neko to catch up on how the 2022 season went, what he learned from year one, what’s changed with the bike (it’s a lot), and a whole lot more. TOPICS & TIMES: Less...
Feb 09, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 156
Climbing 8,600 feet is a pretty big day on the bike no matter how you slice it, but it balloons into something else entirely when it’s going up the Whole Enchilada trail in Moab, Utah, with a commitment to pedaling every inch, and cleaning every move. But Braydon Bringhurst pulled off that wild feat, and produced the excellent 8600FT film about the effort, so we sat down with him to get the whole story, including a ton of insights into his mental approach, the immense level of preparation that w...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 155
Geoff Kabush has been racing bikes professionally for longer than just about anyone — and at 45, he’s still going strong. So we sat down with Geoff to hear about his unconventional beginnings in mountain biking; how the sport has changed over the course of his career; what’s kept him motivated nearly three decades into his career; skiing; social media; and much, much more. TOPICS & TIMES: Starting “mountain” biking on a 10-speed (3:25) Social media & athletes (11:01) World Cup XC to a mo...
Jan 26, 2023•51 min•Ep. 154
Just a few years ago, Jakob Jewett thought he wanted to be a professional skier — and was racking up strong results in freeride competitions. But fast forward to 2023, and he’s now got his first season of Elite World Cup Downhill racing under his belt, and has just signed on as the newest member of Pivot Factory Racing. So we sat down to chat with Jakob about his move to racing bikes and what flipped that switch for him; his approach to racing & learning consistency from the one and only Tro...
Jan 19, 2023•37 min•Ep. 153
Most small bike manufacturers don’t dive straight into running a World Cup race team, but Gamux isn’t most companies. So we sat down with their founder Pascal Tinner to talk about all the ways that Gamux is doing things differently — from putting such a strong emphasis on racing, to building a fully-machined DH frame, with a Pinion gearbox and a belt drive to boot. And along the way, we get into frame geometry, mullet bikes, some teasers of upcoming Gamux models, and a whole lot more. TOPICS &am...
Jan 12, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 152
2022 was Blister’s busiest ever year for bike reviews, and we’ll have even more coming your way in 2023. But before we dive headlong into the new year, we wanted to sit down and recap a bunch of our favorite bikes and gear that we tested last year, including suspension, brakes, tires, and more. And along the way, we chat about bike versatility vs. specificity, tease some upcoming reviews, and a bunch more. TOPICS & TIMES: Orbea Rallon (6:30) Revel Rail 29 (9:37) Pivot Shadowcat (11:56) Kaven...
Jan 05, 2023•56 min•Ep. 151
Velocio co-founder Andrew Gardner enjoys biking in many different forms, and earlier this fall, he and Jonathan Ellsworth went on a gravel ride through New England — which Jonathan, something of a gravel biking skeptic, found to be delightful. So Andrew, Jonathan, and David Golay sat down to talk about gravel riding and how / why mountain bikers might find it to be more enjoyable than we think; the ways that the various biking communities silo themselves off, and how that serves many people poor...
Dec 29, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 150
Ed Masters is always good for an entertaining story — and his recap of his extremely wild Vallnord race run from earlier this year is reason enough to tune into this episode. But Ed also has a whole lot of insights to offer into what makes a race season come together; how he approaches race day — on both the Enduro and DH bikes; the delicate balance of risk vs. reward and where to push the limit; and the importance of consistency and stability for a successful team. So we get into all of that, p...
Dec 22, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 149
Ellie Smith is the reigning Australian National DH Champion (having won the race on an Enduro bike, no less), and that was just the start of her 2022 season. So we sat down with Ellie to chat about her breakout year and what she learned over the course of the season; racing many different disciplines; bike setup and European vs. Australian DH tracks; her mental approach to racing and what does (and doesn’t) work for her; welding food manufacturing equipment for Mars Foods (!?!), and a whole lot ...
Dec 15, 2022•52 min•Ep. 148
Though ski season is well underway in much of the Northern Hemisphere, we’re still testing a lot of bikes, too, and have updates on what we’ve been spending time on. So we sat down to chat about the especially-aggressive Canyon Spectral 125, the super-adjustable Trek Fuel EX, the impressive (and surprising) Santa Cruz Nomad, and a bunch more. And we also discuss some of the upcoming bikes that we’re most excited to spend time on soon. TOPICS & TIMES: Canyon Spectral 125 Trek Fuel EX Ibis Rip...
Dec 08, 2022•49 min•Ep. 147
We’re continuing our deep dive on suspension technology with EXT’s Franco Fratton, and this week, it’s all about dampers: how they’re built, how they work, how EXT goes about designing them, and more. And along the way, we debunk some common misconceptions about damper performance and design, too. TOPICS & TIMES: How a damper is built (3:13) Orifice dampers (10:03) Oil displacement (16:33) Damper consistency (21:33) Hysteresis (30:48) Choosing targets for damper design (33:11) Critical dampi...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 146
A lot of small frame builders start out just making the bikes they wanted to ride, but not many come up with anything nearly as polished-looking — or involving as many exotic construction techniques — as Machina Bikes . So we sat down with Tom and Sion to talk about their wild carbon fiber / titanium / aluminum Enduro bike (which also features a gearbox and mullet setup for good measure). Along the way, we chat about their process of developing and refining the bike; how and why they settled on ...
Nov 24, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 145
We’ve been following the development of the Trinity MTB with a great deal of interest, and Mic Williams is back on the show to talk about the latest developments — of which there are many — including the now-operational custom gearbox, which is poised to pick up where Honda left off with their famous RN-01; some updates to the frame construction; and a lot of other details. And along the way we get into it about his experience testing the V3 prototype at Crankworx; “mistaking the way to perfecti...
Nov 17, 2022•56 min•Ep. 144
The Whole Enchilada in Moab is one of the best-known mountain bike trails in the world, but most folks take a shuttle to the top. Hannah Otto just demolished the FKT for the full loop, including the road climb to the top — for men or women — breaking the prior record by almost a full hour. So we sat down with Hannah to get the whole story, including her planning, nutrition, bike setup, and a whole lot more. TOPICS & TIMES: The Whole Enchilada trail (1:46) Planning the FKT attempt (7:26) Gear...
Nov 10, 2022•49 min•Ep. 143
