With their athletes taking wins at the Tour de France and Red Bull Hardline, Enve has been having a hell of a summer. So today we’re talking with Enve’s Jake Pantone about what they’ve been up to, the increasingly blurry lines between bike categories, how wide Gravel tires should be, and why you might want to put a suspension fork on your drop bar bike. And Jake also shares exciting news about their plans to make Mountain Bikes. RELATED LINKS: Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide Get Our Free New...
Sep 18, 2025•49 min•Ep. 292
The list of world-class cyclists that have come out of the Durango Devo junior cycling program is astounding. Christopher Blevins is on a tear and is currently leading the UCI XCO overall. Riley Amos crushed the XC U23s last year. Sepp Kuss made a name for himself shepherding Jonas Vingegaard through the mountains and then went on to win a Grand Tour himself, and Quinn Simmons’ aggressive attacks made headlines during this year's Tour de France. So today, we catch up with Durango Devo co-founder...
Sep 11, 2025•48 min•Ep. 291
For this month's Reviewing the News Episode, Mike and I start with a topic that hits close to home: we both know extremely fit people who have passed away recently while riding their bikes. So, today we talk about how it's common for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease to go undiagnosed, especially in athletes, and what you can do, and should do, to protect yourself. Plus, we just had a fantastic, wet, and muddy weekend of racing in Les Gets, France, which gives us plenty to go on about, like...
Sep 04, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 290
Fox’s new Podium inverted fork has understandably garnered a lot of attention, and we’ve got an update on how our testing of it is going, along with the updated Float X2 and DHX2 shocks . But it’s not all gravity suspension on the docket, as we weigh in on the very good and very light Fox 34 SL fork ; the ultra-versatile Trek Fuel EX ; Revel’s first eMTB, the ReRun ; and a bunch of brakes from brands large and small. RELATED LINKS: Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide Get Our Free Newsletter &...
Aug 28, 2025•58 min•Ep. 289
For today’s Gear Therapy episode, the team gets together to try to solve Jonathan’s pedal dilemma. Like many riders out there, Jonathan is questioning his current pedal choice, and not surprisingly, he’s considering ditching his clipless pedals and replacing them with flats. Sascha and Zack bring a valuable mountain bike coaching perspective to the conversation, and together with Simon’s years of experience in the industry and bike shops, they look at the advantages and disadvantages of both sty...
Aug 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 288
Last year, we sat down with Casey Brown right after the first iteration of Red Bull Rampage to feature a women’s category to chat about what it meant to finally break that particular glass ceiling, what it took to do it, and how the event went. Casey is, once again, among a stacked roster of women who will be dropping in for this year’s competition, but she’s been up to a whole lot more than just preparing for Rampage — from bringing back Dark Horse, now on her own property; working with D3O to ...
Aug 14, 2025•44 min•Ep. 287
Why didn’t Jackson Goldstone race Red Bull Hardline in Wales and give us the highly anticipated showdown between him and Asa Vermette? Dylan and I dive right into our opinions on that, and then break down the rest of July’s incredible racing results, including a quick recap of one of Simon’s favorites — the Tour de France. And itt wouldn’t be a Reviewing the News episode without some tariff chaos, and unfortunately, also some bike companies in trouble. Still, thankfully, there’s a bit of good ne...
Aug 07, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 286
Our new Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide is live, and while it takes some cues from our Winter Buyer’s Guide — the eleventh edition of which is in the works right now — it’s very much its own beast. So we sat down to talk about what’s in the Guide, how it’s structured, and why; how the mountain bike market has evolved; the return of ‘All-Mountain’ as a class of bikes; and a whole lot more. RELATED LINKS: Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide Get Our Free Newsletter & Gear Giveaways BLISTER+ Get You...
Jul 31, 2025•45 min•Ep. 285
Stashed founder Elliot Tanner has many talents, like making ultra-light climbing gear and designing components for Marker’s Kingpin touring binding. But that’s not all: he also built his own high-pivot, gearbox-equipped Enduro bikes, and that was before high-pivots or gearboxes were cool. But it wasn’t until his family had amassed more bikes than they had room for that he got the inspiration to create a bike storage solution. We caught up with Elliot to chat about that first design, and how it w...
Jul 24, 2025•46 min•Ep. 284
The Pivot Firebird and Propain Tyee don’t look super different on paper — they’ve got about the same suspension travel, generally similar geometry, and both can convert between 29’’ and MX setups — but they ride quite differently from one another. So what sets them apart? We wade into that topic, offer our early take on a couple of new pieces of Italian suspension, argue about what does (and doesn’t) make for a good mixed wheel bike setup, discuss Bosch’s output-boosing software upgrade for thei...
Jul 17, 2025•58 min•Ep. 283
Our Bike Editor, David Golay, has a long history with BTR. Back when 26’’ wheels were still the norm, he found them while making a wide search for a builder who made a hardtail with the sort of aggressive geometry he had in mind at the time — and the Ranger was, by far, the most promising option. Over a decade later, he’s on his third Ranger, having ordered two more with increasingly custom geometry as his preferences have evolved — and they’ve consistently been fantastic. But they’re also quite...
Jul 10, 2025•44 min•Ep. 282
In the June edition of Reviewing the News, we start with some good news regarding the GOP’s withdrawal of the proposal to sell millions of acres of public land. We move on to discussing the merger of We Are One Composites and Industry Nine, followed by a recap of all the exciting World Cup DH, XC, and Enduro racing that happened in June, plus some Tour de France predictions, a selection of new products, and a whole lot more. RELATED LINKS: Dustin Adams on Racing, Manufacturing, & We Are One’...
Jul 03, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 281
Since 2008, Portland Design Works (PDW) has quietly been designing products that inspire people to commute by bike, ride to the grocery store, or to simply hop on and go somewhere fun. Today, we’re catching up with founder Erik Olson about his history in the bike industry, why being fluent in Chinese was integral in building relationships in Taiwan, his first products and getting PDW off the ground, his commitment to sustainability, what’s in his coffee mug, and more. RELATED LINKS: BLISTER+ Get...
Jun 26, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 280
We’ve been testing a massive range of bikes, from the XC-oriented Kona Hei Hei to the long-travel, full-power Santa Cruz Bullit, so David, Simon, and Dylan sat down to talk about a whole bunch of them. We also dive into Shimano’s long-awaited XTR Di2 wireless drivetrain and the Deore and XT versions that just launched, the consistency of Shimano’s new brakes, and a whole lot more. RELATED LINKS: BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered TOPICS & TIMES: Kona Hei He i (1:46) Yeti MTe (10:46) Pivot SL/AM (...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 279
Ultra-fast long-distance bike rides have garnered a lot of attention of late, headlined by Lael Wilcox’s record-setting circumnavigation of the planet. But as impressive as many of those efforts are, there’s something lost in moving so quickly. Seeing the world by bike is a great way to slow down, take it all in, and have an experience that other methods of transportation can’t replicate. Chris McCaffrey finished a seventeen-month ride around the world last fall, and we sat down to hear his whol...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 278
In the May edition of Reviewing the News, we start with some good news regarding the return of Revel Bikes and the acquisition of Rocky Mountain by four Canadian investors. World Cup DH racing kicked off with two exciting races with vastly different conditions, Christopher Blevins continued his XC winning streak in Nova Mesto, and the incredible Giro d’Italia was one we won’t soon forget, plus a whole lot more. RELATED LINKS: BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered TOPICS & TIMES: Revel Returns (3:13)...
Jun 05, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 277
Esker Cycles came on the scene in 2018 with a couple of sleek carbon fiber mountain bikes featuring an unknown Dave Weagle suspension platform called Orion. Weagle’s design was originally conceived for motorcycles and was dependent on a single front sprocket layout, which, back when Orion was developed, didn’t include mountain bikes since multiple chainrings and front derailleurs were still the norm. Orion was shelved until Esker founder Tim Krueger approached Weagle looking for a suspension des...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 276
There is big news in the bike world today: Revel Bikes is back. And Revel’s founder, Adam Miller, is now once again the owner of Revel. It was almost exactly five years ago that I was sitting down with Adam in Blister HQ talking about Revel’s meteoric rise. A lot has transpired since then, including the company announcing that it was shutting down just a few weeks ago. But today, Revel is back, Adam Miller is back, and I sat down with Adam to get the whole story. RELATED LINKS Get Yourself Cover...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 275
Fox has launched a ton of new suspension over the last month or so, and we’ve been testing just about all of it. So David and Zack sat down to chat about how that’s going so far, and how the new forks and shocks stack up against their predecessors; chat about our respective experiments with long-shocking and dual-crown-equipping our personal Enduro bikes; check in on Pivot’s new Trailcat SL & LT, and a bunch more. RELATED LINKS: BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered TOPICS & TIMES: Fox 36 & ...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 274
In April of 2024, Kona Bikes set up their tent at Sea Otter, then promptly tore it back down when Kent Outdoors, who owned Kona at the time, pulled the rug right out from under them and declared that Kona was no longer in business. A year later, we sit down with Kona founder Jacob Heilbron about why he and other Kona founder Dan Gerhard sold Kona to Kent Outdoors; what happened at Sea Otter; how things have been going since buying Kona back; rebuilding the brand image; what their future plans lo...
May 08, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 273
There’s no doubt that Spring is a busy time in the bike world, with lots of news, early-season racing, new products being launched, and the consistently shaky state of the bike industry, giving Mike and Simon no shortage of things to talk about. It seems like every month there’s a sad story of hard times for a bike brand, and April’s bummer news is Revel Bikes closing its doors. Thankfully, bike racing gives the lads something positive to chat about since the season is off to a fantastic start f...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 272
There’s a fine line to walk in developing a new product, especially as a new brand without an existing track record. Make something plain and in line with existing options, and you risk getting lost in the noise; go too weird and unconventional, and it can be hard to find willing early adopters. Outlier MTB took a chance with their wild-looking Void and Pendulum pedals, but they’re not just different for the sake of being different — there’s sound thinking behind the designs. So we sat down with...
Apr 24, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 271
High-pivot bikes are generally thought of as super planted, smashy, gravity-oriented bikes, but that isn’t inherently true, as some shorter-travel high-pivot Trail bikes have demonstrated in recent years. But isolating the main reason for going high-pivot — a more rearward axle path than can realistically be achieved with a more conventional suspension layout — from all the other variables that go into designing a bike is hard to do in practice. Cascade Components wanted to learn more about what...
Apr 17, 2025•51 min•Ep. 270
Lal Bikes’ Supre Drive offers some compelling upsides over a conventional derailleur drivetrain, but it also needs a frame built around the system. Lal began by partnering with Nicolai on the Nucleon 16, but now they are ready to launch their first bike under the Lal Bikes brand. So we sat down with Cedric Eveleigh, the founder of Lal and inventor of the Supre Drive, to hear all about the new Katana, get the story of its design and development, chat about material selection and ride feel, and a ...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 269
Spring is here, and things are busy in the bike world, giving Dylan and Simon lots to talk about in our March edition of Reviewing the News. They kick things off with a fun conversation about which pro athletes shred on both bikes and skis, which leads them into a recap of the very well-attended Red Bull Tennesee National DH race and who’s going into the season with good speed. This time of year typically means lots of new products to get excited about, and the lads go over some of their favorit...
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 268
Mountain bike gearboxes have had a small but vocal set of proponents for over a decade but have yet to see widespread adoption. That might be changing, at least in World Cup DH, and Atherton Racing is one of several teams debuting, or at least testing, a gearbox bike for this season. So we sat down with Rob Gow, the Head of Design at Atherton Bikes, to talk about the new A.200.G and what spurred its development in the first place; what it took to adapt the A.200.M to accept a gearbox; what Ather...
Mar 27, 2025•54 min•Ep. 267
Finding period-correct tires has become next to impossible or prohibitively expensive when restoring vintage mountain bikes. Bike industry veteran and vintage bike enthusiast, Wakeman Massie, recognized this void and founded House of Looptail to fill it. Wakeman has painstakingly recreated some of the most iconic tires in mountain bike and BMX history. In today’s Bikes and Big Ideas conversation, Wakeman talks about some of the other well-known products he designed before getting into vintage ti...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 266
David Golay and Zack Henderson sat down to chat about a ton of the new gear we’re currently testing, including bikes across the travel spectrum, some suspension products, and a bunch more. Plus we dive into the merits of active chain devices and talk about our early impressions of the Rimpact Chain Damper and how it stacks up against an Ochain. RELATED LINKS: BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered TOPICS & TIMES: Pivot Trailcat LT (1:44) Transition Sentinel (7:31) Santa Cruz Bronson (15:23) Ochain vs...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 265
Another month has gone by, giving Mike and Simon plenty to talk about in the latest edition of Reviewing the News. In the last episode, they were super excited about the upcoming Red Bull Hardline in Tasmania, and today they get into the results, the insane speeds throughout the course, Asa Vermette’s rise to elite-level racing, and Jackson Goldstone’s redemption. It wouldn’t be a Reviewing the News episode without some bike industry news, so the lads discuss the recently imposed tariffs, the re...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 264
George Brannigan announced his retirement from World Cup Downhill at the end of the 2024 season — but he’s not done racing, and just put up a very strong result at Red Bull Hardline Tasmania, finishing 11th despite a minor crash. So we sat down with George to talk about his decision to step away from World Cups to race other events; his move to Transition that went alongside it; his thoughts on the state of World Cup racing; and a whole lot more. RELATED LINKS: BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered TOPI...
Feb 27, 2025•55 min•Ep. 263
