Bikes & Big Ideas

A lot of small frame builders start out just making the bikes they wanted to ride, but not many come up with anything nearly as polished-looking — or involving as many exotic construction techniques — as Machina Bikes. So we sat down with Tom and Sion to talk about their wild carbon fiber / titanium / aluminum Enduro bike (which also features a gearbox and mullet setup for good measure). Along the way, we chat about their process of developing and refining the bike; how and why they settled on the design they chose; what they still want to refine; discuss potential plans for production; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Tom and Sion’s backgrounds (3:04)
• Tom’s original park bike (9:35)
• Development of the Enduro bike (15:27)
• Jointly deciding on specs & design (17:43)
• Prototyping & lessons learned (32:44)
• Choosing a gearbox (42:18)
• Mullets (50:21)
• Racing-driven product development vs. building bikes for fun (1:05:27)
• Production? (1:07:14)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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We’ve been following the development of the Trinity MTB with a great deal of interest, and Mic Williams is back on the show to talk about the latest developments — of which there are many — including the now-operational custom gearbox, which is poised to pick up where Honda left off with their famous RN-01; some updates to the frame construction; and a lot of other details. And along the way we get into it about his experience testing the V3 prototype at Crankworx; “mistaking the way to perfection”; brain chemistry (?); the prototyping process; & much more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Crankworx Cairns (3:16)
• Product testing on a public stage (10:57)
• “Mistaking my way to perfection” (13:19)
• The Gearbox (25:38)
• Prototyping & refining ideas (37:31)
• Status of the V3 Prototype (44:30)
• Handcrafted bikes (47:54)

RELATED LINKS:

• Trinity MTB (Ep. 125)
• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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

The Whole Enchilada in Moab is one of the best-known mountain bike trails in the world, but most folks take a shuttle to the top. Hannah Otto just demolished the FKT for the full loop, including the road climb to the top — for men or women — breaking the prior record by almost a full hour. So we sat down with Hannah to get the whole story, including her planning, nutrition, bike setup, and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• The Whole Enchilada trail (1:46)
• Planning the FKT attempt (7:26)
• Gear selection (11:55)
• Bike setup (15:20)
• Attempting the FKT (17:52)
• Pacing and goal setting (24:39)
• On-bike nutrition (29:47)
• FKT culture & setting personal goals (33:10)
• Hannah’s 2022 race season & becoming a privateer (35:15)
• 2023 plans & goals (44:13)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic\
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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

The Pacific Crest Trail is well known in the hiking world and beyond, but what if there was a mountain biking version? Gabe Tiller has ambitions to establish a route — predominantly on dirt — from British Columbia all the way to the southern tip of Baja Mexico, and founded the Orogenesis Collective to make it happen. With the trail taking form — and slated for a “soft opening” in 2023 — we sat down with Gabe to get the whole story, including his vision for the trail and where the idea first took root; what’s gone into building and planning the trail; what still needs to be done; how you can help; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Origins of Orogenesis (2:20)
• Planning & the Orogenesis Collective (3:53)
• The importance of local relationships (8:43)
• Route finding (17:12)
• The route (21:28)
• How Orogenesis will be used (27:22)
• The name “Orogenesis” (31:21)
• The Pacific Crest Trail as a template (32:42)
• Challenges of building a 5,000+ mile trail (37:19)
• How to get involved in the project (42:27)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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

Traumatic brain injuries are an unfortunate reality of many outdoor sports, and after professional snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered one that derailed his career, Kevin founded LoveYourBrain, along with his brother Adam, to provide resources and support for others going through their own journey of recovery. And so we sat down with Adam to talk about everything that LoveYourBrain does, the conversations around TBIs in the action sports world, and a whole lot more  — including their fundraising raffle where you can win a Revel Rail29 or Rover.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• LoveYourBrain history & Kevin’s injury (1:57)
• The LoveYourBrain mission (7:19)
• Fostering community (9:31)
• TBI recovery & making peace with a new normal (12:35)
• Changing the perception of TBIs (17:58)
• Improving conversations about TBIs in the action sports world (20:55)
• Prevention education (23:20)
• Supporting someone recovering from a TBI (27:04)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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

When we first had EXT founder Franco Fratton on Bikes & Big Ideas back in Ep. 110, we had plenty to cover with just the story of his long and remarkable career in suspension design and didn’t delve too far into the technical side of things. But Franco is an incredible wealth of knowledge when it comes to suspension design, so we’ve got him back on the show to share a whole bunch of that knowledge, in part one of a multi-episode series with Franco. So strap in, you’re going to learn some stuff in this one.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Dampers vs. Shock Absorbers (2:21)
• Sprung vs. unsprung mass (8:12)
• Coil springs & the need for dampers (9:32)
• History of damper design (10:04)
• Adjustability vs. damper quality (22:01)
• Orifice dampers (23:55)
• Valve types (28:36)
• High- vs. low-speed adjusters (30:15)
• Range of adjustments (36:22)
• Damping “knee” (42:20)
• Twin tube vs. monotube dampers (47:28)
• Damper design philosophy (59:58)

RELATED LINKS:

• Franco Fratton (Ep.110)
• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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

Matthew Fairbrother showed up in Scotland for the 2022 EWS season opener, at age 17, having never left New Zealand before, and with no plan for what was going to follow that first race. And in what is one of the wildest mountain bike stories of the year, he wound up bikepacking over 3,400 km between races over the course of the season — and still finished 13th overall in the U21 Men’s category. So we sat down to get the whole story, which somehow just gets even crazier from here.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Planning the tour (2:17)
• Matthew’s gear (7:37)
• Bike setup & weight (10:55)
• Matthew’s approach to sufferfests (13:32)
• Hallucinations and “fluffy animals” (15:20)
• Motivation & the mental game (17:40)
• Sleep, nutrition, and animal attacks (22:20)
• Scotland to Switzerland to Slovenia & diving into races (26:17)
• Making it to North America (32:05)
• Other racer’s reactions (34:27)
• Whistler & over-enthusiasm (35:46)
• Moose encounters & crossing the US border (42:44)
• Burke & Sugarloaf races (46:28)
• Wrapping up the EWS circuit in Europe (48:00)
• Lessons learned (54:11)
• The MTB community (58:07)
• Matthew’s 2023 plans (58:53)

RELATED LINKS:

• Eric Olsen (Ep.126)
• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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

We’ve been testing a ton of new bikes and gear (as always) and we’ve got updates on a bunch of it including the new Santa Cruz Tallboy and the RockShox Pike that came on it; the Intense Tracer 279; the Kavenz VHP 16; we chat about crank length and Hope’s new super-short 155 mm option; we offer some updates on our upcoming brake shootout, and thoughts on brake selection in general; and a whole bunch more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Intense Tracer 279 (2:21)
• Revel Rail 29 (15:27)
• Kavenz VHP 16 (18:36)
• Santa Cruz Tallboy (20:55)
• RockShox Pike (23:59)
• Continental Tires (32:39)
• Crank length & Hope 155s (42:14)
• Brake shootout (48:05)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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

BTR Fabrications has a well-earned reputation for building burly, aggressive hardtails, and we sat down with Paul “Burf” Burford (the “B” in “BTR”) to talk about his design philosophy and pioneering aggressive hardtail geometry; racing DH on a hardtail; their wild one-off Gasser DH bike; racing with the Athertons; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Burf’s background & founding BTR (2:06)
• BTR’s history & the Belter DH hardtail (9:08)
• Hardtail geometry (15:34)
• The BTR customer (25:53)
• The Pinner Trail full suspension bike (32:39)
• The Gasser DH bike (45:43)
• Burf’s Big Idea (52:17)

RELATED LINKS:

• Ep.125: Trinity MTB
• Ep.93: Williams Racing Products
• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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

Pete Fowler’s path to founding Pinner Machine Shop was an unconventional one, including teaching himself how to be a machinist, running a mill in his kitchen while his partner was at work, and a whole lot of other twists and turns. So we sat down with Pete to get the whole story, and chat about how and why he keeps Pinner running on top of holding down a job at Chromag; saving countless vacations from Whistler bike park carnage; where his product ideas come from; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Founding Pinner Machine Shop (2:17)
• Learning machining & kitchen milling (8:24)
• Sustainability & keeping bikes running (14:26)
• Pete’s design process (19:04)
• Learning, growing, and staying motivated (21:13)
• Chromag (27:59)
• Pete's favorite part of running Pinner (32:14)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: CRAFTED
• Introducing: Open Mic
• Become a Blister Member
• Blister Labs
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

OUR OTHER PODCASTS

• Off The Couch
• GEAR:30
• Blister Podcast
• CRAFTED

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