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Bikes & Big Ideas is the weekly podcast from BLISTER that's dedicated to the most interesting conversations and ideas from the bike world — and beyond.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Red Bull Rampage finally included a women’s category this year, with Casey Brown doing a whole lot to spearhead it, and the event was spectacular. If you haven’t watched it yet, well, you should. Casey’s run starts at 29:25, but do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing.We sat down with Casey to hear how it felt to finally have the door opened to women; talk about what goes into getting yourself to Rampage as an athlete, and everything it takes to actually be there and put a run together; the process of scouting, building, and testing her line; the competition day and what all went down; how to make the event even better next year; and what’s next for women’s freeride beyond Rampage.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Learning that the women’s event was finally on (2:07)Casey’s training & prep, and the logistics that go into competing (6:48)The new venue & building a line (7:46)Scouting a line & coordinating with other riders (14:28)The format of the women’s event (18:28)Casey’s line (20:21)The crux (25:45)Potential changes for next year(31:55)The next frontier in women’s freeride (36:57)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ethan Eggert is hard at work refining his Arid Cycles Spade Enduro bike, which has gone through three different suspension layouts, numerous geometry and kinematic tweaks, and one catastrophically broken frame — and he’s just 19 years old. We sat down with Ethan to get the whole story — including his plans to eventually offer bikes for sale — and it’s a good one.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Ethan’s background & the inspiration behind Arid (1:30)The Spade V1 & learning how to design a frame (7:02)Geometry, suspension kinematics, & radical experimentation (13:37)The Spade V2 & refining the recipe (21:53)Frame failure (24:46)The Spade V3 (28:56)Commercialization & next steps (37:27)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A lot of mountain bike hip packs are pretty cheaply made, and/or lightly tweaked versions of basic casual designs. High Above does things differently, from focusing on MTB-specific designs to making all their packs in the US from top-quality materials. So we went down to High Above HQ to chat about all of it, get the rundown on some upcoming High Above products — including some non-hip-pack models — and see how they go about designing, testing, and making their bags and other gear.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Kyle and Spencer (1:46)High Above’s history (2:36)Kyle and Spencer taking the reigns & their backgrounds (4:23)The pros and cons of US manufacturing (10:26)Designing, testing, and refining packs (15:49)High Above’s current product lineup (23:13)Upcoming High Above products (35:48)Potential future offerings (39:29)High Above’s mission and company ethos (43:02)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Enve’s new fifth-generation M-Series wheels are a big departure from earlier iterations, with dramatically different rim profiles — and some very wild claims about improved compliance — new, Enve-built hubs, and a whole lot more. So we sat down with Enve’s VP of Product, Jake Pantone, to pull back the curtain on their long development process, the goals for the new wheels, the athlete feedback that drove those changes, and get the full story of Enve’s new MTB wheel lineup.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Design goals for the new wheels (2:15)Prototyping carbon wheels (5:43)Testing & development with the Commencal Muc-Off team (7:40)Bike changes & the evolution of wheel designs to match (20:18)The M-Series lineup (25:56)Rim profiles & ride quality (36:23)Impact testing (42:40)Enve’s Innerdrive hubs (53:15) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September was an interesting month in the bike industry with one the biggest retail bike stores in the country announcing its closing; Motion Instrument’s future looking grim; and news of Rad Power Bikes’ bizarre plan to sell eBikes in Best Buy stores. Simon and Mike have plenty to talk about on the industry side alone, not to mention all the exciting bike racing like the inaugural Lake Placid UCI XC World Cup; the US Cup DH; and the mind-blowing win by Tadej Pogacar at the UCI Road World Championships; plus a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Asheville’s Hurricane Aftermath (2:39)The Pro’s Closet Closing (4:29)Rad Power Bikes in Best Buy (16:11)Motion Instruments Out of Business (28:17)Road World Championships (34:35)Tadej Pogacar’s Dominance (39:27)Lake Placid World Cup XC (44:09)US Cup DH (49:57)Bosch Updates CX Motor (53:44)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dylan Wood and Simon Stewart have been busy testing bikes and filming head-to-head comparisons, which means they’ve also been spending a lot of time on the same bikes. So, they got together to go over everything from longer-travel eMTBs like the Cannondale Moterra SL and Mondraker Dune XR to XC race bikes like the Yeti ASR and Cannondale Scalpel, then went down some geometry rabbit holes and a few other tangents.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Cannondale Moterra SL (2:43)Mondraker Dune XR (14:02)Yeti ASR (22:29)Cannondale Scalpel (32:22)Specialized Stumpjumper (39:51)Spot Mayhem 140 (45:12)Slack Head Angles (51:54)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicOff The CouchGEAR:30Blister PodcastCRAFTED Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Alex Showerman’s new short film ‘Coming Home’ tells her story of doing just that — both in literally returning to her hometown in Vermont, and in finding community and acceptance in the women’s freeride scene after coming out as trans. You can, and should, stream the film for free now.We sat down with Alex to dive deeper into her story and hear more about some of the themes that the short-film format didn’t leave time for. Alex’s retelling is touching, funny, and full of insights about what it really means to be at home in your own skin, the women’s freeride scene, and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Alex’s childhood in Vermont (1:25)Getting into MTB (4:19)Finding & building community in the freeride world (6:28)Coming out as trans (10:52)The women’s freeride scene (16:50)Alex’s three-year road trip out West & back injury (18:28)Navigating the pressure to perform, and finding joy in riding again (55:53)Coming home (26:12)Foundation (30:06)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Maxxis’ new High Roller doesn’t look much like High Rollers of old, and Maxxis is talking a very big game about how widely their DH racers are using it. So we sat down with the Manager of their Bike division, Aaron Chamberlain, to talk about the impetus to update the High Roller; hear the story behind its development; peel back the curtain on how Maxxis manages their product line; and a whole bunch more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:The concept for the new High Roller (3:12)Maxxis’ tire development and testing process (10:04)Adding new tires & balancing options vs. simplicity in the lineup (14:45)The High Roller name (27:58)Upcoming High Roller variants (31:26)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mike Ferrentino is back behind the microphone in this episode of Reviewing the News, and Mike and Simon get right into what happened in the bike industry in August. They recap the exciting UCI MTB World Championships in Andorra; Mike gives his take on the interesting Specialized and Frameworks partnership; and they both agree that cross-country mountain bike courses should be longer. Simon puts Mike on the spot about his racing history, and they wonder if the bike retail landscape is ever going to return to ‘normal’, and lots more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:The Breck Epic (1:49)Howard Grotts’ Crash (4:02)MTB World Championships (10:58) Mike’s Microphone Looking Safe 24:58)Spot Bikes vs Gates Lawsuit (25:57)Scott’s Two CEOs (30:35)Specialized/Frameworks Partnership (34:18)Lifetime Events and Races Doing Well (41:10)Mike’s Racing History & the Leadville 100 (43:21)Amazon Accountability (57:33) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We’re hard at work testing a huge range of bikes and other gear, as always, and David Golay sat down with Zack Henderson to talk about a whole bunch of it, from the Trek Top Fuel to the Marin Alpine Trail, the Forbidden Druid V2 to the Trek Slash+, and a whole bunch more. Plus we get off in the weeds about bike geometry, and wrap things up by issuing a big “I told you so” to a certain manufacturer.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Trek Top Fuel (1:40)Trek Slash+ (7:32)Knolly Fugitive 140 (16:06)Forbidden Druid V2 (20:51)Marin Alpine Trail (33:34)Privateer 161 V2 (43:22)Manitou Mara Pro PB vs Formula Nebbia (52:11)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More and more women are riding mountain bikes, so why are there so few women-specific bike brands out there? It’s not just about making bikes for everyone — though that’s important, too. Kara Williard and David Golay sat down with Ludi Scholz, the Off-Road Category Manager at Liv, to hear all about it.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMESLudi’s Background & Role at Liv (2:53)Women-Specific Bikes (7:14)Why This Matters (11:31)Frame Design / R&D (15:14)Suspension Tuning (21:09)Liv’s Lineup (25:40)Pique & Intrigue X (29:12)What’s Next for Liv (32:02)The Industry at Large (32:43) OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Gearboxes have some clear advantages for more gravity-oriented mountain bikes — less unsprung weight, the ability to shift while not pedaling, no derailleur to damage, and more — but have yet to reach widespread adoption. Zerode is perhaps the company best known for making gearbox mountain bikes, and we sat down with founder Rob Metz and Ali Quinn of Zerode to hear the story of Rob founding the company, and the homemade gearbox that kicked it all off; why they’re fans of gearboxes; their new World Cup DH race team; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Zerode’s backstory & history (3:46)Why gearboxes? (6:29)Early production bikes (12:58)Ali’s introduction to the company (17:01)Pinion vs. Effigear (25:01)Standard Pinion vs. Smart Shift? (28:50)Selling gearboxes to the public (35:33)The G3 & the DH team (43:01)Future direction and new products? (45:58)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Vermont Mountain Bike Association is one of the leading organizations in the country in the assessment, funding, and building of adaptive trails — and in collaboration with Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, they are creating an inspiring network of adaptive accessible trails. We sat down with Kenzie Brunner from VMBA, and Jeff Alexander from Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports to get the story on what they’ve been up to. RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:What is VMBA? (2:23)How VMBA is Structured (4:53)Vermont Adaptive Ski And Sports Overview (10:00)Adaptive Trail Access In Vermont (12:30)The Kelly Brush Foundation (15:11)ADA Compliant vs Adaptive Accessible (17:36) Adaptive Trail Assessment (20:33)Adaptive eMTB-friendly trails (30:06)Biggest Challenges (35:28)What Does the Future of Adaptive Trails Look Like? (40:47)Adaptive Tourism (42:48)Non Adaptive and Adaptive Riders Riding Together (45:29)How to Plan an Adaptive MTB trip to Vermont (48:18)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this month's episode of Reviewing the News on our Bikes & Big Ideas Podcast, Simon welcomes freeride legend Wade Simmons as his guest co-host. Wade gives a recap of Crankworx Whistler and claims he can’t do tricks, then Wade and Simon try to sort out why they keep crashing, and the unfortunate reality of not being as fast as they once were. They get into the wild Les Gets World Cup and XC Mountain Bike racing at the Olympics, Wade’s spat with Rémy Métailler and Yoann Barelli over who rode the gnarliest lines first, and Wade gives an education on chain lube, plus a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Crankworx Whistler recap (2:10)Women competing in slopestyle (3:40)Big-ring wheelies (7:31)Getting old and crashing (9:44)Machine built trails (16:35)Checks and balances (19:33)Wade’s spat with Rémy Méttailer and Yoann Barelli (29:09)Shimano’s huge trail building donation (35:32)Les Gets World Cup DH (44:30)Amuary Pierron’s winning run (46:19)Olympic mountain bike races (50:29)Singletrack-eating bikes (57:47)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hannah Otto’s obliteration of the Whole Enchilada FKT a couple of years ago was already hugely impressive, but she went much bigger — double the elevation and well over double the mileage — in her follow-up pursuit of the Kokopelli Trail FKT. She came painfully close to pulling it off on her first attempt, despite horrific weather and trail conditions, before finally getting redemption with her second attempt this spring. So we sat down with Hannah to chat about what inspired her to choose the Kokopelli Trail for her next FKT attempt; hear the story of her brutal first go-round; discuss going back for her ultimately-successful second attempt this spring; and much more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Chasing the Kokopelli FKTWhy Kokopelli?Hannah’s prep for her first attemptThe cold, snowy first attemptRegrouping & the second attemptGear selectionManaging fearTraining for long-distance FKTs vs. racingOUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The first production batch of the Frameworks DH bike is sold out, but they’ll soon be opening preorders for the Enduro version. So we brought Neko Mulally back onto the show to tell us all about the new bike; the variants of the DH bike he’s been testing; the expanded Frameworks race team with Angel Suarez and Asa Vermette; and a bunch more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Recapping the 2024 race season to date (2:16)The expanded Frameworks team (6:20)Tuning the DH bike for different racers (11:56)Frame materials & testing other variants (20:14)The Enduro bike (34:13)Balancing racing with team management / mentorship & Neko’s evolving role (57:29)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Geometron arguably did more than any other bike brand to kick off the geometry revolution of the late 2010s, but they weren’t content to leave their longstanding G1 alone — even though its geometry still looks pretty up to date five years after it first launched. So we sat down with Sam Robson and Marcel Lauxtermann from Geometron to talk about the development of the new G1, their goals for the updated bike, the testing that informed the updates they made, and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:Geometron G1BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Sam and Marcel (3:29)Updating the G1 (6:32)Refining geometry (9:04)“Loading patterns” and bike setup for customers (13:57)The new G1 (18:11)David’s bike setup preferences (25:52)Headtube angles and front wheel loading (30:47)Stem lengths and steering feel (37:29)Bottom bracket drop and geometry adjustability (41:31)Other updates (43:25)Suspension kinematics (47:39)Sam & Marcel’s personal bike setups (51:42)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this month's episode of Reviewing the News on our Bikes & Big Ideas Podcast, Mike Ferrentino and Simon Stewart debate the polarizing topic of bikes in Wilderness areas. There's plenty of bike racing to talk about — including the biggest one in the world, the Tour de France. And they’re excited to talk about Red Bull Rampage including a women’s category, Simon winds Mike up about a new tire valve standard, plus a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Simon’s recent crash (0:53)Bikes in wilderness areas (7:30)Women’s competition at RedBull Rampage (18:41)World Cup DH racing in June recap (22:15)Nino Schurter wins his 36th XCO (29:18)Tour de France (30:32)The great bike valve debate (42:10)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We’ve been testing a big spectrum of bikes from the XC-race-derived Specialized Epic Evo to big Enduro sleds including the RAAW Madonna V3 and Marin Alpine Trail, so David Golay and Zack Henderson sat down to chat about a whole bunch of them, and along the way we take a deep dive into tire design & a variety of options we’ve been testing; discuss the wide variety of mid-travel high-pivot bikes on the market, and a bunch more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Deviate Highlander II (2:00)RAAW Madonna (11:14)Specialized Epic Evo (21:38)Marin Alpine Trail (27:44)Schwalbe Tacky Chan (37:48Michelin Wild Enduro and DH (45:19)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Bryan Hance is a bike enthusiast and web developer who combined those two interests in co-founding Bike Index, a database that tracks ownership to help recover bikes that end up stolen. Through that work, Bryan uncovered a sprawling bike theft and trafficking operation, which he traced back to one man, operating out of Jalisco, Mexico — and the story only gets crazier from there. So we sat down with Bryan and Chris Solomon, who wrote a piece for Wired on Bryan’s work, to hear all about it. RELATED LINKS:Bag BalmBLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Bike Index & Bryan’s interest in bike theft (2:14)Constru-Bikes’s operation (7:46)What did this network look like? (13:41)How Bryan uncovered Constru’s trafficking (22:20)Arrests in the US (29:11)How to shut this down? (34:56)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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