Bikes & Big Ideas

D3O’s non-Newtonian materials are used extensively in mountain bike protective equipment from a lot of different brands, and David Golay recently sat down with their Senior Vice President of Marketing, Kevin Franks, and their Head of Product, Kevin Fleer, to talk about the state of the mountain bike armor market; the ways it’s changed in recent years; where D3O sees it going in the future; the tradeoffs inherent in designing armor; testing standards for armor and how D3O thinks about them; armor for kids + the challenges in designing it; and much more. Along the way, Kevin and Kevin talk about D3O’s use in everything from consumer electronics to Formula One, and tease some upcoming new bike products, too.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Introducing Kevin Franks and Kevin Fleer (2:09)

What is D3O? (3:13)

Differing formulations and applications of D3O (6:50)

Tradeoffs in armor design (11:08)

Testing standards for bike armor (15:26)

Limb protection standards vs. helmet ones (17:57)

D3O versions and their tradeoffs (23:06)

Areas for improvement in MTB armor (27:31)

Evolution of the MTB protection market (30:35)

Working with partner brands to design armor (32:52)

Fitting armor and army data (34:12)

Designing armor for kids (35:45)

The future of MTB protection (39:09)

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This Week’s Gear Giveaway

Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

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Happy Hour

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Chromag has been doing things very differently from most bike companies for decades now, helping to pioneer modern hardcore hardtails — and doing so in Whistler, BC, in the shadow of the legendary bike park — not exactly classic hardtail terrain.

So when Chromag launched their first production adult full-suspension bikes late last year, it wasn’t a huge surprise that the Darco and Lowdown stood out from the rest of the bike market in a number of ways, from geometry to material selection and more. We sat down with Chromag engineer Joe Swann to get the story behind their development (which stretches back more than a decade); chat about the design goals for the bikes and the ways that Chromag went about achieving them; material selection and the ways that Chromag thinks about choosing the right one for a given application; our impressions from having spent quite a bit of time on the Darco recently (full review coming soon) and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Joe’s role at Chromag (3:16)

Chromag’s first full-suspension prototype (4:02)

Hitting the reset button (7:39)

The design goals for the Darco and Lowdown (9:07)

Chromag design identity, and carrying that over to the FS lineup (11:40)

Material selection (15:21)

Tuning frame stiffness (18:04)

The Darco (22:26)

The Lowdown (27:04)

Material selection, Pt.2 (29:36)

Brand identity & going FS (31:52)

The 155 prototype (34:05)

Upcoming models? (42:02)

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David Golay, Dylan Wood, and Simon Stewart sat down to chat about a whole bunch of the bikes we’re reviewing currently, from the Chromag Darco to the Commencal Supreme, with a ton of other ones in between, including the Pivot Shuttle AM and the Trek Fuel EXe AL. Along the way, we discuss bike design more broadly; eMTB drive systems and their tradeoffs; and a whole bunch more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Chromag Darco (0:56)

Pivot Shuttle AM (8:28)

Trek Fuel EXe (18:31)

Rocky Mountain Instinct Powerplay (26:13)

eMTB drive systems (32:38)

Canfield One.2 (38:39)

Commencal Supreme V5 (42:30)

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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Aptos, CA is a small beach town that has produced an incredible number of world-class mountain bikers, and Ryan “R-Dog” Howard has a lot of great stories to share about the scene that gave rise to him, Cam and Tyler McCaul, and too many more to list — not to mention serving as the winter riding escape for the likes of Brandon Semenuk, Martin Soderstrom, and many others. And along the way, we chat about everything from Ryan’s incredible catalog of custom-painted bikes and where he gets his inspiration for them, to building community around riding, “the best trip of my life,” as Ryan put it, and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Ryan’s injury update (2:30)

The Aptos, CA MTB scene (4:54)

Competitive drive & finding motivation outside of it (8:57)

Rampage (14:23)

The Post Office Jumps & Ryan’s formative years (17:28)

Going pro as a rider (24:43)

Custom-painted bikes & design inspiration (26:23)

“Roadkills” & “the best trip of my life” (35:05)

The new company vehicle (39:29)

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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When Jacob Rheuban founded Prevelo in 2017, he had no engineering background and no experience in the bike industry, but identified a need for better kids' bikes, and set out to fill it. And now, more than six years later, he’s got a lot of great stories to tell and insights to share about both what it takes to start a bike company from scratch, but also what makes for a good kids’ bike, and how their needs differ from those of adults; what it took to get folks (even dedicated bike riders) to accept higher-end kids’ bikes as worthwhile; where the kids’ bike market can and should go from here, and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Prevelo’s founding (2:49)

Why kids' bikes? (8:06)

Designing kids’ MTBs (12:05)

The future of kids' bikes (19:39)

Customer adoption of higher-end kids' bikes (22:05)

Kid’s bikes and weight (29:05)

What makes a good kid’s bike? (32:40)

Testing geometry and feedback from kids (36:08)

Specialization of kids’ bikes (38:22)

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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Miranda Miller has done a lot of different things in her career, from winning DH World Champs to racing the EWS (and now EDR), but in the last few years she’s branched out more than ever and is having more fun than ever before. So we sat down with Miranda to chat about her DVRGNT Minds project and how she charted this new course for her career; getting into gravel riding as a gravity-oriented mountain biker; the Downhill Southeast scene and the return of grassroots DH racing; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

DVRGNT Minds & moving away from full-time racing (1:40)

Returning to DH? (9:35)

Getting into gravel riding (10:58)

Choosing riding destinations (16:46)

The Japanese mountain bike scene (18:27)

Racing goals (23:06)

Downhill Southeast, and the reinvention of the US DH scene (28:38)

Miranda’s 2023 plans (33:16)

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 (for Blister Members)

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When we first had Lal Bikes founder and Supre Drive inventor Cedric Eveleigh on the show about a year and a half ago, he’d just announced the Supre Drive — a wild take on reinventing the mountain bike derailleur — to the world. A lot has happened since then, including the first production Supre Drive bikes being delivered to customers, so we brought Cedric back on the show — joined by fellow Lal engineer Alex Ham — to tell their story of launching a new company and trying to get the industry and consumers alike to adopt a seemingly radical new idea for how mountain bike drivetrains could be laid out. Cedric and Alex do an outstanding job of peeling back the curtain on everything that goes into starting a new bike company and many of the inner workings of the bike industry at large.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Introducing Alex (1:41)

Delivering the first Supre Drive bikes (3:32)

Moving the company (5:13)

Alex joining Lal (16:17)

Getting bike companies on board (19:39) 

The Nicolai Nucleon 16 & Designing a frame for the Supre Drive (38:18)

Ramping up into production (44:18)

RELATED LINKS:

Lal Bikes on Reinventing the Derailleur (Ep.94)

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

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Happy Hour

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Summer is in full swing and we’ve been testing a ton of new bikes and gear, so I sat down with Simon Stewart and Dylan Wood to chat about some of the things that have stood out to us the most, including a variety of bikes, SRAM’s Transmission (including the new GX version), and along the way, we veer off on a few tangents, including some discussion of the World Cup Downhill season so far.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Revel Ranger (1:56)
• Commencal T.E.M.P.O. (7:32)
• SRAM Transmission (8:28)
• World Cup DH (16:55)
• Fox Union Shoes (19:11)
• Yeti SB160 (21:18)
• Pivot Shuttle LT (27:01)
• Wolf Tooth Resolve (28:39)
• Akta Trail Knee Pads (36:49)

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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Deviate Cycles is well known for their high-pivot Trail and Enduro bikes, and that concept has gained a lot of traction in recent years, but getting consumers to accept new ideas can be challenging. Deviate co-founder Ben Jones has a lot to say about the balance of bringing new ideas to market without alienating potential customers; the tradeoffs of gearbox bikes and why they haven’t widely caught on; and much, much more. In this conversation, we also talk about Deviate’s recent efforts to explore bringing production to the UK, including their wild 3D-printed titanium and carbon fiber Lowlander prototype; the Moroccan MTB scene; and the importance of clarity in a brand’s model lineup.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Ben’s Eurobike recap (2:04)

The founding of Deviate (2:43)

The Guide & gearbox bikes (5:51)

Consumer acceptance of new ideas (14:34)

The Highlander (19:12)

The Claymore (22:38)

Morocco’s MTB scene (33:16)

Deviate’s model lineup & the importance of brand consistency (35:06)

The Lowlander 3D printed Ti prototype (37:32)

The challenges and benefits of onshoring production (44:58)

Why titanium + carbon fiber for the Lowlander? (49:24)

Launching the company with Asian production (54:20)

RELATED LINKS:

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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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Beyond Racing started as a pipedream of Anna Newkirk and Abby Hogie: wouldn’t it be cool to have a World Cup race team that you run and race for with your best friend? Few people have the skills or determination to make it happen, though, and the story of what Anna and Abby — with the help of none other than Eliot Jackson — have pulled off is a great one. So we sat down with the two of them to hear all about the founding of Beyond Racing; why they chose to go that route rather than getting on established teams; moving to Contra Bikes for 2023 and the wild tale of how that came about; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Crankworx Innsbruck prep (2:18)

Starting Beyond Racing (2:52)

Naming the team (9:49)

Launching a World Cup race team (16:35)

The Beyond Racing support structure (20:17)

Coaching (25:07)

Moving to Contra bikes (28:14)

Prototyping the Contra DH bike (35:28)

The 2023 season so far (48:19)

Anna and Abby’s goals for 2023 and beyond (57:09)

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

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.