Bikes & Big Ideas

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.

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TOPICS & 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)

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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.

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TOPICS & 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)

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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.

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TOPICS & 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)

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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.

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TOPICS & 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)

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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 (?)

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TOPICS & 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)

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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.

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TOPICS & 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)

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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.

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TOPICS & 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)

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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.

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TOPICS & 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)

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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.

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TOPICS & 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)

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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.

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TOPICS & 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)

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