Bikes & Big Ideas

By the time he was in his mid-20s, Adam Miller had already founded three bike companies — Borealis Fat Bikes, Why Cycles, and Revel Bikes. It’s a pretty wild backstory, and Adam sat down with us in Blister HQ to spell it all out like he never has before.

We talk about growing up in Alaska, starting — and running — his first bike company as a 21 year old college kid; selling that same company and going on to found Why Cycles and Revel; and what makes Revel bikes different and, what he believes makes them better.

TOPICS & TIMES

• Growing up in Alaska (3:47)
• Studying in Africa (13:24)
• Starting Borealis Fat Bikes (16:29)
• Why did you leave Borealis? (25:00)
• Starting Why Cycles (34:37)
• Starting Revel Bikes (43:42)
• What differentiates Revel’s bikes? (50:41)

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Which bike company is currently most like which ski company? And which bike and ski company do most other bike and ski brands secretly wish they could trade places with? Today, Noah Bodman, Jonathan Ellsworth, David Golay, and Eric Freson make parallels and analogies between these two industries to get a better sense of the current position, reputation, and trajectory of a bunch of different brands in these sports.

And we want to hear from you — where do you agree or disagree, and can you come up with better, more accurate analogies than the ones we’re proposing? Let us know in the Comments Section on our site, and then we’ll incorporate some of your answers into Part 2, which will air in a couple weeks.

TOPICS & TIMES

• Who is providing the most bang for your buck? (5:11)
• Current “cool kids” bike & ski brands? (9:58)
• Which brand do other companies want to be? (16:59)
• Which brands have the most upside? (24:45)
• The bike equivalent of Kastle & Stockli? (40:54)
• "Custom" in the bike & ski worlds? (46:35)
• Whose reputation is better than their products? (50:50)
• Which companies have the most brand loyalty? (57:27)

RELATED LINKS:

• Bikes vs Skis, 3rd Edition (2021): Part 1
• Bikes vs Skis, 3rd Edition (2021): Part 2
• Bikes vs Skis, 2nd Edition (2020): Part 1
• Bikes vs Skis, 2nd Edition (2020): Part 2
• Bikes vs Skis, 1st Edition (2018): Part 1
• Bikes vs Skis, 1st Edition (2018): Part 2

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What, exactly, does it mean for a company to be a Certified B Corporation business, and why should anyone care? To learn more, we reached out to Chris King Precision Components, which just completed the process of becoming one of the very few B Corp manufacturing companies in the entire bike industry.

Chris King’s general manager, Chris (aka, “Kirby”) Bedsaul talked with us about what the process of becoming a B Corp entails, why they decided to do it, and along the way, we also discuss Chris King’s approach to manufacturing out of their homebase of Portland, Oregon.

TOPICS & TIMES

• What is Chris King Components? (3:00)
• How is the company doing during COVID? (3:57)
• Kirby’s role at Chris King (7:56)
• Why become a B Corp? (10:12)
• The process (17:15)
• Most surprising part of the process? (33:14)
• Environmental steps Chris King is taking (35:32)
• Favorite Chris King product? (50:15)
• King’s Lifetime Warranty (54:55)
• The Chris King Open House (57:24)

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As a way to show our appreciation for our Bikes & Big Ideas listeners, we discussed our best / worst ideas for the bikes edition of our Blister ‘Crash Course’ video series — and some of the ideas are truly magnificent. So check it out, and then please feel free to suggest your own best / worst ideas for these Blister ‘Crash Course’ bike videos.

TOPICS & TIMES

• Blister ‘Crash Course’ Videos? (5:12)
• Round 1 Ideas (8:04)
• Round 2 Ideas (13:42)
• Round 3 Ideas (18:05)
• Round 4 Ideas (21:48)
• Round 5 Ideas (29:05)
• Round 6 Ideas (33:03)

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Bill Walton is not only one of the greatest basketball players of all time, his passion for bikes is all-time, too. In his book, “Back from the Dead, he writes, “My bike is the most important thing I have. It is my gym, my wheelchair and my church all in one.

So it was a joy to talk to Bill about his life-long love affair with bikes, and about his upcoming event, Bike For Humanity, which is a virtual event that Bill created as a way for all of us to show our solidarity in these times.

We also discuss the top-5, all-time, NBA ‘bike’ guys; music, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES

• Bill’s life-long love of bikes (5:21)
• Bike For Humanity (12:13)
• Top 5 NBA ‘bike’ guys? (18:35)
• Best cardio guys in the NBA? (23:11)
• Music, Bob Dylan, & the Dead (25:00)

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As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, a number of companies in the outdoor industry are pivoting away from their normal operations and product offerings to provide healthcare workers with critical gear.

So we talked to physician assistant and Blister reviewer, Sascha Anastas, about the scope of the problem, and we then talk to Kitsbow, Industry Nine, & Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis about how they are each helping the cause. This is an inspiring conversation.

TOPICS & TIMES

• Sascha Anastas on the PPE Shortage (1:34)
• What Kitsbow is doing (13:53)
• What Industry Nine is doing (33:53)
• What Shaggy’s Skis is doing (47:03)

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Many of you remember Dustin Adams from his DH-racing days (the guy was fast), and others of you know of Dustin as the guy behind We Are One, the company making carbon rims, wheels, and other bike stuff in British Columbia.

So we talked to Dustin about what it’s like being a composites manufacturer in Kamloops, BC; Dustin’s path from racing DH to starting We Are One; manufacturing in the time of COVID-19; and we talk about the big new thing they’re currently working on.

TOPICS & TIMES

• How do you describe We Are One? (2:49)
• How is COVID-19 affecting your manufacturing? (5:04)
• Dustin’s life before We Are One (9:17)
• Current product line (23:11)
• Teaming up with Industry Nine (30:08)
• What’s the story with the Kona WC Team? (31:26)
• The Next Big Thing from We Are One (35:02)
• What’s Your Big Idea? (41:30)

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For many of us, it will soon be time to dust off our bikes and get back to riding. So what are some of the most important things you can do to your bike if you haven’t been riding it?

To answer this, we talked to Simon Stewart, who has a wealth of knowledge about servicing bikes that comes from his experience working at bike shops; being a mountain bike guide; writing and reviewing for Bike Magazine and Dirt Rag magazine; working for SRAM as a technical ambassador and a SRAM Technical University Instructor; and from currently owning and running the bike shop, Boneshaker Cycles, in Buena Vista, Colorado.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Simon’s background: Ireland, Tanks, & Harleys (4:59)
• Bike Prep: Avoid Catastrophe / Best ‘Bang for the Bother’ (28:15)
• Tires (30:58)
• Brakes (33:14)
• Critical Fasteners (33:59)
• Drivetrain (35:52)
• Suspension (42:58)
• Tire Sealant (48:51)

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The World Cup Downhill season starts in just a couple of weeks, so we checked in with Blister reviewers Noah Bodman, David Golay, and Ben Sims to get their thoughts on and predictions for the upcoming season. We also discuss the future prospects and popularity of World Cup DH racing versus the popularity and trajectory of Enduro World Series racing, and we place one very big wager on the upcoming season.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Upcoming Men’s DH Season (1:57)
• Upcoming Women’s DH Season (17:35)
• WC DH vs Enduro World Series (24:30)

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Moab’s Slickrock Trail is one of the best-known and most iconic mountain biking trails in the world. And yet, a preliminary proposal from the Bureau of Land Management was put forward to auction the right to drill for oil and natural gas under the trail. Now, the good news here is that, just as I was speaking last Friday to our guest, Ashley Korenblat, a preliminary hold was put in place by the Bureau of Land Management to stop the sale for the right to drill for oil and gas under Slickrock Trail, but this should very much ought to get our attention, first, because if this could happen to a trail as famous as Slickrock, we all ought to realize that this same thing could happen to many of our favorite trails around the US.

And so the important thing for all of us in the bike community is to understand how the current energy system works in the US; how fragile and susceptible our trail systems truly are; why we all need to get educated about the energy policies of our local areas and be contacting our local representatives, and more. And our guest today, Ashley Korenblat, is one of the best people out there to help us understand the current system, and what each of us needs to be doing to protect the places where we love to ride and recreate.

Among other things, Ashley the founder and managing director of Public Lands Solutions, and I would strongly encourage you to check out the important work they’re doing.

Ashley was also a guest at our Blister Speaker Series at Western Colorado University last year, and you can listen to my Speaker Series conversation with Ashley over on our BLISTER Podcast channel, episode 86, to learn more about her own extremely interesting background, and to get more of a general background on the specific topic she and I will be discussing today.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• What exactly is going on here? (5:22)
• Is there precedence for this? (8:17)
• What’s the Trump administration’s case? (11:19)
• What would you propose happens? (13:38)
• What can residents of Moab and / or residents of Utah do? (18:24)
• What can the rest of us do? (21:24)
• Breaking news re: Slickrock (23:49)
• What is the future of this debate? (28:30)
• What we need to know re: energy issues (31:04)
• Public Land Solutions (33:03)

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