Bikes & Big Ideas

Joe McEwan had a career as an aerospace engineer working with composites, but when he started building bikes, steel was his material of choice. So we sat down with the founder of Starling Cycles to get his take on frame materials, and why steel is an under-appreciated one; why single-pivots can ride really well; go really deep on the tradeoffs between wheel sizes, & why mullets maybe aren’t the best of all worlds; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Joe’s background as an aerospace engineer to founding Starling & building bikes in a shed (1:32)
• Why steel? (7:56)
• Single pivots & suspension kinematics (12:26)
• Starling’s “Core” lineup (20:43)
• Wheel sizes & tradeoffs (24:31)
• Starling’s “Rare” lineup (33:48)
• Carbon e-bike prototype (43:11)
• Joe’s Big Idea (48:14)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: Blister Labs
• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

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Ed Masters often looks like he’s having more fun than anybody else on the EWS and World Cup DH circuits, but that belies just how seriously he takes racing at the top level, and how much thought he’s given to the sport. And so we brought Ed onto Bikes & Big Ideas to talk about the incredible end to the 2021 World Cup season (and get hyped for racing to fire back up in 2022); catch up on his injury-laden 2021 season and how he’s doing these days; the similarities and differences between Enduro and DH, and the challenges of racing both; and a whole lot more. 

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Ed’s 2021 season & injury recoveries (2:37)
• The World Cup season & performing under pressure (9:55)
• Injuries & Ed’s 2021 season, cont’d (29:05)
• 2022 plans (49:12)
• DH vs. Enduro, & racing both at the top level (55:23)
• Ed’s Big Idea (1:05:30)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: Blister Labs
• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

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Katy Winton has reliably been one of the top contenders on the EWS circuit, but she found herself without a factory ride in 2021 and had to put together her own team at the 11th hour to keep racing. And despite all that chaos, she had another strong season, which culminated in her signing with GT Factory Racing for 2022. So we sat down with Katy to get the whole story, and she did a remarkable job of peeling back the curtain on day-to-day life as a professional racer during the season; contract negotiations and managing a career; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Katy’s 2021 season & being left out of a factory ride (2:19)
• Putting together Moxie XI (15:47)
• Racing as a privateer after years on factory teams (25:16)
• Mindset & balancing training with running a team (30:57)
• Managing the season & traveling with Joe Nation (35:04)
• 2022 team talks & signing with GT (42:49)
• Goals for 2022 (50:42)
• Katy’s Big Idea (52:17)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: Blister Labs
• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

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RockShox announced their new Flight Attendant electronically-controlled suspension system a few months ago, so we brought Chris Mandell back on Bikes & Big Ideas to tell us all about what the system is and how it works; who it will benefit the most; what the tradeoffs are; and Chris wraps it all up with a really important Big Idea.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• What is Flight Attendant? (1:58)
• How does Flight Attendant work? (4:40)
• What forks, shocks, & bikes is it available on? (23:35)
• Why no aftermarket sales? (25:09)
• What are the tradeoffs? (32:49)
• Who’s the target customer? (37:43)
• Chris’ Big Idea (39:02)

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: Blister Labs
• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

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BMC has a strong heritage in road and cross country bikes but isn’t as well known for gravity-focused offerings. Mariano Schoefer and Christof Bigler — an engineer and designer, respectively, at BMC — were looking to build the bikes they personally wanted to ride and started modifying existing models as an after-hours side project. Their tinkering caught the attention of their bosses, and long story short, their efforts spawned an entirely new bike brand, SCOR. So we sat down with Mariano and Christof to get the full backstory and the rundown on the bikes themselves.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Mariano and Christof’s roles at BMC
• Background as riders
• Project origins
• Management catching on & growing momentum
• Design ethos & bike details
• Launching SCOR
• Mariano & Christof’s Big Ideas

RELATED LINKS:

• Introducing: Blister Labs
• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide
• SCOR 4060

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Neko Mulally has had a very successful career racing for some of the biggest teams on the World Cup circuit, so we were surprised — and excited — when he announced that he was launching his own team for the 2022 season, and racing a bike that he designed himself. So we had to get Neko on Bikes & Big Ideas to talk about how he decided to take on such an ambitious project; designing the bike(s) and working with Frank The Welder to build them; starting his own team; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Project origins & initial concepts (1:31)
• Making the leap & leaving Intense (16:00)
• Working with Frank the Welder (19:00)
• Design goals & tradeoffs (28:09)
• Going from kinematics & geometry to a real bike design (35:07)
• Testing & refining the design (48:37)
• Sponsorship & starting a team (59:00)
• Neko’s Big Idea (1:06:17)

RELATED LINKS:

• Neko's video series, FRAMEWORKS
• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

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2021 was Blister’s busiest year ever for testing mountain bikes and gear, and there were some real standout products among that crop. So we rounded up a bunch of our reviewers to give a rundown of the highlights of the last year — including a bunch of bikes all over the travel spectrum, some suspension products, and tires, inserts, pants, and more. And since we’re so excited to build on all that momentum into 2022, we make some predictions for the year to come and talk about a bunch of the bikes and gear that we’re most excited to spend time on soon, too.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Dylan Wood (1:45)
• Luke Koppa (17:20)
• Eric Freson (36:00)
• Noah Bodman (49:43)
• David Golay (1:03:35)

RELATED LINKS:

• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide
• Pivot Trail 429
• Norco Range
• Commencal Meta TR
• Canfield Lithium
• Ibis Ripley AF
• We Are One Arrival
• Marin El Roy

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Guerrilla Gravity just celebrated their 10th anniversary, so we sat down with co-founders Will Montague and Matt Giaraffa to talk about what inspired them to start a bike company in the first place; going from aluminum single-pivot DH bikes to pioneering an entirely new way of making carbon fiber frames; weathering the Covid-19 pandemic; and doing all that while building every single frame in Denver, CO.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• GG’s origin story (3:10)
• Growth, new models (18:48)
• Current Guerrilla Gravity lineup (23:52)
• Modular Platform and converting models (25:22)
• Will & Matt’s personal rides (28:28)
• Build customization & staying flexible (30:47)
• What’s next for GG? (33:02)
• US manufacturing & predictions for the future of the bike industry (33:57)
• Favorite parts and other gear? (41:42)
• Will & Matt’s Big Ideas (45:40)

RELATED LINKS:

• Ep. 3: Guerrilla Gravity’s New Bikes & Big Ideas
• Guerrilla Gravity Trail Pistol
• Guerrilla Gravity Smash
• Guerrilla Gravity Gnarvana
• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

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Clipless vs. flat pedals is a hotly debated topic in the mountain bike world, but now there’s a third choice — Hustle Labs’ Avery magnetic pedals. We were, frankly, a bit skeptical about this new in-between option, but we’ve had three reviewers spending time on the Avery, and they’ve wildly exceeded our expectations. So we sat down with Hustle’s Design Engineer, Tripp Hurt, to talk about where the concept originated; how the pedals work; who they are (and aren’t) for; what’s next from Hustle; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Origin story & Craig’s “ecliffany” (2:14)
• Avery pedal design (4:36)
• Weight & Who are they for? (12:31)
• Tripp’s background & bike shoe ergonomics (16:57)
• What’s next from Hustle? (28:31)
• Tripp’s Big Ideas (30:12)

RELATED LINKS:

• Hustle Avery REM Tech Pedals
• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

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Cannondale has a long history of doing things their own, quirky way, and the last couple of bikes they’ve rolled out — the Jekyll and Scalpel HT — are no exception. So this week, we’re joined by Cannondale’s Scott Vogelmann and Travis Tomczak to talk about those bikes, Cannondale’s weird streak, the wild dual-shock DH bike prototype that informed the Jekyll development, and a whole lot more. And along the way, they drop some teasers for what’s next from Cannondale, too.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Scott and Travis’ intros (1:44)
• Cannondale lineup highlights (4:36)
• Upcoming product teaser (7:20)
• Keeping Cannondale weird (8:51)
• Jekyll development (14:20)
• High-pivot bikes (18:20)
• Dual-shock DH bike prototype (25:39)
• Travis’ promise on supply chain woes (30:05)
• Decision making behind athlete team (30:59)
• Travis’ Big Idea (36:00)
• Scotts’ Big Idea (38:21)

RELATED LINKS:

• Cannondale Jekyll
• Cannondale Scalpel HT
• Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
• This Week’s Gear Giveaway
• Gear Giveaway / Newsletter Signup
• Become a Blister Member / Get our new Buyer’s Guide
• Register for the 2022 Blister Summit
• Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide

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