Bikes & Big Ideas

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.

Bike companies file a lot of wild patents, spanning from “nearly released product” to “outrageous pie-in-the-sky idea.” Dan Bacon of Wheelbased chronicles many of the more interesting ones, and we brought him back on the show to talk about some recent highlights, from Bilstein’s proposed fork damper to Shimano’s multiple electronic brake concepts, a carbon fiber cooler from Yeti (the BIKE company), and a whole bunch more.RELATED LINKS:Bag BalmBLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Bilstein’s wild fork damper (2:28)SRAM’s gravel linkage fork (7:48)Fox’s new Live Valve (17:04)Shimano’s piezoelectric shifters (25:10)Shimano’s electronic brake (31:11)Yeti (the bike company) making a cooler?? (38:45)Dan’s Big Idea (43:48)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike Ferrentino is back again as co-host for this month’s iteration of Reviewing the News, and Simon is delighted to have him in the studio to help try and make sense of the Red Bull Hardline drama. There were two exciting DH World Cup races to talk about, as well as an XC World Cup in Nova Mesto to cover. And in a fun change of pace, they get into the recent Giro d'Italia and the upcoming Tour de France. And there’s much more than just racing to go over, including an exciting update about Kona and a whole bunch more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:The MegaVolt eMTB festival (0:59)Red Bull Hardline’s insane canyon gap (3:46)Moto rider Johnny Walker’s mindblowing run down the Hardline course (15:10)Mike’s microphone is safe (for now) (20:47)Loic Bruni dominates (23:13)Ronan Dunne and Mondraker (26:56)Bike theft (30:56)Nova Mesto XC World Cup (33:51)Tom Pidcock (34:59)Nino Shurter’s incredible career (35:49)The Giro D’Italia (42:39)The Pog (43:39)Tour de France predictions (46:46)The return of Kona (53:57) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve been very impressed with the EXT Storia V3 on a whole bunch of different bikes over the years, but EXT is launching a new V4 iteration soon, and they’ve found a lot to tweak. So we brought EXT founder, Franco Fratton, back to Bikes & Big Ideas to give us a rundown on the new Storia and Arma V4; talk about the potential for truly “active” suspension systems in the bike world; tease some more upcoming EXT products; discuss the state of patents in MTB suspension; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:Bag BalmBLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:The Storia & Arma V4 (2:27)Aria vs. Storia (26:55)Active suspension in MTB (41:27)Future EXT products? (46:45)Patents & the bike industry (48:59)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it comes to rear shocks for mountain bikes, there are tons of options for both air- and coil-sprung versions, but the Cane Creek Tigon is both — an “air-charged coil shock,” as Cane Creek describes it. So we sat down with Cane Creek’s Will Hart to get the rundown on the Tigon, including why Cane Creek decided to make it; what its pros and cons are relative to their other shock offerings; who it’ll work best for; and more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Will (1:38)The Tigon (3:34)“Air-charged coil” shock (10:29) Setting sag & air / coil interplay (15:31)Cane Creek’s shock lineup & choosing between their offerings (18:50)Suspension kinematics & what the Tigon is best suited for (22:56)The Tigon damper (27:03)Base tunes vs. wide adjustment ranges (34:18)Durability (40:26)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve been testing a huge variety of bikes, from the E-Gravel Scott Solace to a bunch of high-pivot Trail bikes (including the Deviate Highlander II), plus several new forks, some new tires, and a whole bunch more. So we sat down to chat about all of it; recap the World Cup DH season opener; recount being repeatedly heckled on the local trails; and argue about the relative merits of tire inserts vs. beefier casings.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:World Cup DH season opener (1:44)Norco Fluid VLT & Canyon Neuron:ONFly (12:34)Bosch SX Motor (13:21)Deviate Highlander II (24:51)Yeti ASR (30:25)Michelin’s new Enduro and DH tires (41:34)Fox 38 Grip X2 (57:51)Formula Belva (1:05:31)Scott Solace (1:11:04)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carbon fiber bike frames have become ubiquitous in the high-end world, but metal bikes are making a comeback — and the number of steel full-suspension bikes we’ve reviewed in the last few years is a testament to that. So we sat down with Daniel Yang and Nick Neuhaus of Neuhaus Metalworks to chat about the case for metal bikes; hear the story of their respective journeys into frame building; talk about bike sizing and size-specific geometry; and discover that Daniel and our Bike Editor, David, are maybe secretly the same person (?)RELATED LINKS:Bag BalmBLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Nick and Daniel (2:50)Are Daniel and David secretly the same person? (13:57)Group learning & sharing info (15:24)Metal bikes (18:40)Carbon fiber frames & industrial design (26:12)The UDH (35:00)Frame sizes & size-specific geometry (50:37)Making biking more inclusive (58:20)The case for custom bikes (1:03:29)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon welcomes guest co-host Mike Ferrentino to go over a busy, weird month in the bike world. Of course, they have to talk about what happened to Kona, which leads to a discussion about the negative effect Venture capital and investment companies seem to have on the bike industry. But there’s also fun stuff going on with companies like Gates, and Mike places a bet with eating his microphone as the stakes. Plus they get into the incredible start to the XC World Cup season for U.S. athletes, the new Canyon lightweight eMTB, the scourge of poison oak, and, naturally, some discussion of zombies.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:What's going on with Kona? (0:41)Enve is being sold again (9:25)Rapha closed their U.S. office (14:42)The Mountain Bike capital of the world (18:03)Gate’s 100k belt drive prize & Microphone eating (29:00)Recap of the first two XC World Cups (34:46)New Yeti ASR (42:22)XC bike amnesia (52:03)Canyon Neuron:ONfly first ride (56:04)Poison Oak (1:03:30)28 Days Later sequel and Zombies (1:04:47)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Norco Factory Team has a new DH race bike, and the story of its development is an interesting one. So we sat down with engineers Adrian Ward and Kirk McDowall to hear their take on the goals and design intent of the bike; what they learned from the development of the existing Enduro bike, the Range (and its modified DH version); the original test mule for the new race bike; working with Greg Minnaar to continue the bike’s development; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Adrian and Kirk (2:03)Origins of the DH bike project (3:59)Racing DH on the Range (6:35)The next steps (13:27)Kirk’s testing (17:28)Building “the fastest race bike” (22:53)The design of the bike (28:41)Wheel sizes & going MX (32:33)Suspension layout (41:07)Greg Minnaar & reconsidering 29’’ wheels (46:52)Future development (56:26)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve been testing a massive assortment of new bikes and other gear, and David Golay and Zack Henderson sat down to chat about a whole bunch of them, including the high-pivot Norco Optic and Sight, the new Specialized Epic Evo, the newly-mulleted Yeti SB165, and more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Yeti SB165 (1:29)Norco Sight & Optic (8:46)Kavenz VHP 16 V7 (22:43)Rocky Mountain Instinct (31:52)Rocky Mountain Altitude (38:33)Ibis HD6 (45:46)Specialized Epic Evo (53:18)SRAM Maven brakes (58:58)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

March was an interesting month for bike news. There was a dispute at Crankworx Rotorua which resulted in the men not competing in the finals, Scott is having crazy management drama, there are a bunch of interesting new lightweight eMTBs, and Simon had a recent trip to ride in Tuscany. In our third installment of Reviewing The News, Ryan and Simon get into all of this and more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Simon’s recent trip to Italy (1:50)Riding eGravel bikes in Tuscany (4:03)Are gravel bikes just reincarnated 30-year-old mountain bikes? (4:48)John Tomac’s drop-bar riding prowess (7:39)How did we ride without dropper posts? (7:54)Slow eBikes in Europe (10:38)The Slopestyle strike (20:40)First-ever women’s slopestyle event at Crankworx (27:32)Scott drama (32:50)The year of the lightweight E-bikes (38:04)Norco Fluid VLT (39:58)Mondraker Dune (50:11)Short-travel high-pivot bikes (53:24)Old brakes vs. new brakes (1:01:51)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Racing World Cup DH isn’t easy under any circumstances, but doing so after a spinal cord injury — and needing to relearn how to walk, much less ride — is something else entirely. Brook Macdonald pulled it off, but he’s also struggled with bike setup, burnout, and more over the last couple of seasons. For 2024, though, he’s got a new team, a new bike, and a renewed hunger to race — we sat down to hear all about it.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Getting a fresh start for 2024 (2:24)Coming back from breaking his back in 2019 (4:09)What does (and doesn’t) work in a DH race bike (18:06)Moving to Forbidden (23:40)Hardline Tasmania (26:58)Losing weight (35:44)The evolution of DH racing (39:04)Changing race tracks (50:05)Brook’s 2024 goals (54:42)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Georgia Astle is one of the many ultra-talented riders to come out of Whistler, BC — but she actually grew up kitesurfing and doing a whole bunch of other sports, rather than mountain biking. Once she fell in love with mountain biking in high school, though, her rise through the ranks was astonishingly rapid — first as a racer and later as a freerider — and we sat down with Georgia to hear all about it, including the state of Enduro racing and women’s freeride, Georgia’s goals for 2024 and beyond, and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Growing up in Whistler and not mountain biking (2:44)Getting into racing (7:51)Georgia’s meteoric rise (13:42)DH vs. Enduro as a privateer (21:32)The folly of eMTB racing (31:06)Moving to freeride (34:04)The state of women’s freeride (39:06)Georgia’s 2024 plans (48:52)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dakotah Norton finished the 2023 DH season strong, with two podiums and a 6th place finish over the final four races, but as he put it, the season started with “near failure.” We sat down with Dakotah to talk about the struggle of finding consistency at the limit; his move to Mondraker Factory Racing and the dissolution of his former team at Intense; the state of DH racing both at home and abroad; how to better develop up-and-coming American DH racers; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Getting up to speed with the new team (2:20)The 2023 season (3:45)Finding consistency in a chaotic season (6:34)The dissolution of Intense Factory Racing (17:35)Finding a new team mid-season (21:38)The state of World Cup DH racing (22:41)Broadcasting races (25:34)Running World Cup DH (30:25)Developing American DH talent (33:42)Dak’s 2024 goals (41:09)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gravel racing has exploded in recent years and Sarah Sturm — who only started racing bikes in college, after burning out on competitive soccer — quickly vaulted to stardom in the sport. So we sat down with Sarah to hear the surprising and hilarious story of her path into gravel racing; chat about the struggle of not excelling at something you’ve dedicated a lot of time and energy toward; the evolution and professionalization of gravel racing; the overall state and health of the sport; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Sarah (1:25)Racing cyclocross & moving to gravel (2:49)Sarah’s first forays into mountain biking (6:46)Being the “doomsday prepper of bike racing” (19:20)The evolution of gravel racing (27:37)“Marginal gains people” (39:22)The health of the sport (45:51)Sarah’s 2024 plans & goals (51:22)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.