Bikes & Big Ideas

Neko Mulally’s Frameworks project has drawn a lot of well-deserved attention, and now he’s opening pre-orders for the production version of his World Cup DH race bike. So we sat down with Neko to hear all about everything that’s gone into the development of the bike this season; his experimentation with different frame materials; the wildly talented Asa Vermette joining the team; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Opening preorders for the DH bike (2:14)

Refining the details (10:02)

Changes from the prototypes to production (20:44)

Frame materials (31:14)

The Frameworks Enduro bike (43:00)

Injury recovery and 2024 plans (1:01:23)

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The stats of the Tour Divide route — 2,670 miles and 192,000 feet of climbing, mostly on dirt — are imposing, and Lachlan Morton just covered it in a record-setting 12 days, 12 hours, and 21 minutes. So we sat down with him to hear about what it takes to plan, prepare for, and execute such a wild undertaking, how it went, why Lachlan already wants to go back and re-ride the course, but slowly, and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

The Tour Divide route

Record ethos & riding self-supported

Planning the attempt

Bears

Timing & mishaps

Nutrition

Payday bars

Sleep strategy

Decision-making, fatigue, and risk tolerance

Bike setup & gear

Derailleur mishap

The record

What’s next?

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Happy Hour

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The Contra MC — a US-made, steel, high-pivot Enduro bike — is an ambitious project by any measure, and designing and prototyping the bike is just half the battle. So we brought Evan Turpen, the driving force behind Contra, back on the show to talk about refining a prototype design and knowing when to stop tinkering; what goes into bringing a design to production and the challenges that arise from that; what he’s learned along the way; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

The MC (2:55)

Design refinement & knowing when to stop tweaking (4:29)

Ramping up to production (17:26)

Tooling and streamlining the process (32:14)

UDH compatibility & the SRAM Transmission (45:36)

The Beyond Racing team & the DH bike prototypes (52:49)

Future refinements (1:04:15)

Finishing & cosmetics (1:12:27)

RELATED LINKS:

Ep.118: Contra Bikes on Building a Bike From Scratch

Ep.176: Anna Newkirk and Abby Hogie on Beyond Racing, the Contra DH Bike, & More

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Privateer has been working on the second-generation versions of their 141 and 161 bikes for three years now, and Dan Hicks, the engineer behind the project, has a ton to share about the thought process behind the updates and bike design in general — and does a great job of explaining all of it. So we sat down with Dan for a very deep dive into the new bikes, and he shared a ton of thoughts that are going to be interesting to anyone who cares about mountain bike design — whether or not you’re in the market for a Privateer.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Dan’s background & role at Privateer (2:12)

The goals of the 141 and 161 V2 (2:55)

The E161 (6:02)

Sizing bikes & proportionality (10:13)

Geometry adjustability (25:34)

Suspension kinematics & shock tuning (29:16)

Sag & suspension setup (37:12)

Pedaling performance (44:16)

Pedal kickback vs. chain feedback (46:19)

Wheel sizes (56:26)

Cable routing (1:01:12)

Bottom-out bumpers & shock progression (1:19:46)

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When it was announced that Red Bull Formation wasn’t happening in 2023, there was a lot of hopeful speculation that, in its place, there would be women competing at Rampage for the first time. But that didn’t happen either, so we sat down with three of the top freeriders in the world — Casey Brown, Vaea Verbeeck, and Hannah Bergemann — to get their thoughts on how we got here, why they want a women’s category at Rampage (and what they’re doing to make it happen), why representation at the top tiers of the sport is important, and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Vaea Verbeeck: (1:31)

How we got here (1:55)

Postponing Formation (4:32)

Formation as a stepping stone to Rampage (7:30)

How to get to a women’s category at Rampage (12:05)

Hannah Bergemann: (19:49)

Working behind the scenes to organize the riders (20:10)

Advancing the state of women’s freeride (21:57)

Structuring a women’s category at Rampage (23:43)

The growth of women’s freeride (26:14)

How to move forward (28:31)

Formation alongside Rampage (30:07)

The response to women at Rampage (34:26)

Casey Brown: (36:12)

Casey’s interest in Rampage (36:24)

Why hasn’t a women’s category happened yet? (38:33)

Organizing a women’s category at Rampage (41:00)

Why is a women’s category important? (42:59)

Growing women’s freeride (45:23)

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Happy Hour

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Simon Stewart, Dylan Wood, and David Golay sat down to talk about a bunch of the bikes they’ve been testing lately, from the short-travel Cannondale Habit to the very not short-travel Canfield One.2 Super Enduro; some eMTBs including the new Santa Cruz Heckler SL; a head-to-head comparison of high-pivot Enduro bikes from companies very large and very small; and a whole bunch more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Cannondale Habit (1:40)

REEB Steezl (6:24)

Santa Cruz Heckler SL (11:39)

Devinci E-Troy (17:52)

Propain Tyee (21:44)

Canfield One.2 Super Enduro (29:00)

Contra MC & Trek Slash (34:57)

Irish World Cup DH Results (43:40)

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Happy Hour

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High-pivot bikes are having a moment. Mullet bikes and steel full-suspension frames are too. And while gearbox mountain bikes haven’t achieved widespread popularity (yet?) they’ve got their ardent supporters. The Archibald Cycles AC1 brings all those elements together in a Canadian-made Trail / Enduro / Park bike, and the end result looks pretty interesting. So we sat down with Archibald founder and designer of the AC1, Alex Troughton to hear all about the bike, his goals for it, when it might reach production, and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

The origins of Archibald Cycles (2:21)

The AC1 (4:30)

Frame design & material selection (12:37)

Alex’s fabrication background (18:09)

Geometry & adjustability (22:10)

Gearboxes (25:43)

Belt vs. chain drive (30:36)

Moving to production (34:34)

The Archibald name? (39:57)

Pricing (41:44)

Potential other models (43:18)

Tailored sizing (45:37)

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Happy Hour

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It’s rare for a small but well-established custom bike builder to make the leap to overseas-built production bikes, but Adam Sklar has done just that. While it might be easy to romanticize the idea of a custom hand-built bike made by a single builder, Adam speaks very openly about the ways running that version of Sklar had ceased to feel like the way he wanted to bring bikes into the world; the challenges (and high points) of building custom bikes; coming up with a production lineup after years of making such varied custom offerings; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Adam’s founding of Sklar (3:07)

Turning Sklar to a business from a hobby (5:22)

The custom era (6:34)

Surviving as a custom builder (7:58)

The custom bike-building process (9:33)

Evolution of Sklar’s custom business (19:22)

Adam’s North American Handmade Bike Show winning bike (21:28)

Material selection (22:33)

Working with titanium (25:26)

Moving to production bikes (28:06)

Sklar’s stock offerings (31:35)

Overseas production (34:40)

Lessons learned in production (39:18)

Dangle Supply (41:10)

RELATED LINKS:

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This Week’s Gear Giveaway

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Happy Hour

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We recently launched Gear Therapy over on our GEAR:30 podcast and now we’re bringing it over to Bikes & Big Ideas, too. For our first session, we chatted with Blister Member Andy Majewski about his bike quiver and the ways it’s evolved; how he might better dial in his current bikes to suit his needs; what bike would make the most sense to add to his quiver; why he needs the Philadelphia Eagles to go back to the Super Bowl for that to happen (it’ll make sense, we promise); and more discussion of a lot of bike gear and its tradeoffs.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Meet the Patient: Andy Majewski (1:43)

Andy’s Bike Quiver (5:12)

Suspension Performance & Anti-Rise (8:44)

Suspension Setup (12:55)

Wheel Selection & Tradeoffs (21:09)

eMTBs & Andy’s Specialized Levo (28:52)

Quiver Expansion & the Philadelphia Eagles (42:51)

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This Week’s Gear Giveaway

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Happy Hour

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Trek’s new sixth-generation Slash has changed a lot from the prior-generation bike — including a high-pivot suspension layout, some big updates to the geometry and suspension kinematics, and a default mixed-wheel size setup — and we sat down with Matt Yerke, the lead engineer on the new Slash, to learn all about it. Matt walked us through the design goals for the Slash; their early experiments with high-pivot Trail bikes, including prototyping the layout on what would become the current Fuel EX; a ton of the design considerations that went into the new bike; how he sets up his personal Slash; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Introducing the new Slash (1:33)

Matt’s role at Trek (1:59)

Goals for the new Slash (2:52)

The first prototypes, and dialing in front-rear balance (4:01)

High-pivot bikes & choosing to go that route on the Slash (5:54)

Anti-squat & pedaling performance (10:38)

Idler pulleys and drag (14:20)

Geometry & other details (15:08)

Mullets & their tradeoffs (18:59)

Chainstay lengths for mullets vs. 29ers (22:35)

Axle paths & suspension kinematics (25:48)

Frame adjustability (33:33)

Matt’s personal Slash setup (36:18)

RELATED LINKS:

BLISTER+ Membership

BLISTER+ Real World Testimonials

Blister Labs

This Week’s Gear Giveaway

Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

Off The Couch

GEAR:30

Blister Podcast

CRAFTED

Happy Hour

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