Bikes & Big Ideas

Our new Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide is live, and while it takes some cues from our Winter Buyer’s Guide — the eleventh edition of which is in the works right now — it’s very much its own beast. So we sat down to talk about what’s in the Guide, how it’s structured, and why; how the mountain bike market has evolved; the return of ‘All-Mountain’ as a class of bikes; and a whole lot more.

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TOPICS & TIMES:

The new MTB Buyer’s Guide & how it’s structured (1:48)

What makes our Buyer’s Guide different (5:35)

Reviewing bikes now vs. a decade ago (9:06)

Zack’s worst bike purchase (15:23)

Direct-to-consumer models & the evolution of bike sales (16:32)

Classifying bikes & the return of ‘All-Mountain’ as a category (23:26)

Which All-Mountain bike would we each buy? (34:19)

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Stashed founder Elliot Tanner has many talents, like making ultra-light climbing gear and designing components for Marker’s Kingpin touring binding. But that’s not all: he also built his own high-pivot, gearbox-equipped Enduro bikes, and that was before high-pivots or gearboxes were cool. 

But it wasn’t until his family had amassed more bikes than they had room for that he got the inspiration to create a bike storage solution. We caught up with Elliot to chat about that first design, and how it went from something he built to solve his storage problem to the Spacerail Bike Storage System that is the foundation of Stashed, plus a whole lot more.

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TOPICS & TIMES:

Elliot’s Engineering Background

Designing Climbing Gear

Making Marker KingPin Components

Elliot’s High-Pivot Gearbox Bikes

Designing his First Bike Storage System

Founding Stashed

Manufacturing in Wales

What’s hanging on Elliot’s Spacerail 

Favorite Place to Ride

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The Pivot Firebird and Propain Tyee don’t look super different on paper — they’ve got about the same suspension travel, generally similar geometry, and both can convert between 29’’ and MX setups — but they ride quite differently from one another.

So what sets them apart? We wade into that topic, offer our early take on a couple of new pieces of Italian suspension, argue about what does (and doesn’t) make for a good mixed wheel bike setup, discuss Bosch’s output-boosing software upgrade for their Gen 5 CX motor, and a whole bunch more.

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TOPICS & TIMES:

Pivot Firebird (2:29)

Propain Tyee (21:12)

Salsa Blackthorn (25:24)

EXT Vecta (33:23)

Formula Selva V (40:04)

Bosch CX Software Upgrade (51:11)

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Our Bike Editor, David Golay, has a long history with BTR. Back when 26’’ wheels were still the norm, he found them while making a wide search for a builder who made a hardtail with the sort of aggressive geometry he had in mind at the time — and the Ranger was, by far, the most promising option.

Over a decade later, he’s on his third Ranger, having ordered two more with increasingly custom geometry as his preferences have evolved — and they’ve consistently been fantastic. But they’re also quite expensive, with build quality, finishing details, and construction to match.

So it immediately caught our attention when Paul ‘Burf’ Burford, the man behind BTR, launched a new project to build affordable, simple frames, by hand, in the UK: Rat Bikes. And for this week’s episode, we sat down with Burf to hear all about it.

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Rat Bikes

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TOPICS & TIMES:

The Rat Bikes concept (3:00)

How to make affordable, UK-built frames? (7:54)

Cutting costs in frame design (15:59)

The Dad Rat (24:13)

Prototyping & next steps (35:25)

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In the June edition of Reviewing the News, we start with some good news regarding the GOP’s withdrawal of the proposal to sell millions of acres of public land. We move on to discussing the merger of We Are One Composites and Industry Nine, followed by a recap of all the exciting World Cup DH, XC, and Enduro racing that happened in June, plus some Tour de France predictions, a selection of new products, and a whole lot more.  

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Dustin Adams on Racing, Manufacturing, & We Are One’s Next Big Thing (Ep.19)

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TOPICS & TIMES:

Mike’s ride on the Monarch Crest Trail (2:12)

The GOP’s Public Lands Sale Proposal (11:46)

Don Cook’s Passing (16:45)

We Are One Composites and Industry Nine’s Merger (20:54)

Leogang and Val di Sole DH and XC Racing Recap (25:47)

Amaury Pierron and Anna Newkirk’s Injuries (29:54)

The State of Enduro Racing (36:48)

Tour de France Predictions (41:45)

New Products (48:21)

What we are Reading and Watching (58:33)

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Since 2008, Portland Design Works (PDW) has quietly been designing products that inspire people to commute by bike, ride to the grocery store, or to simply hop on and go somewhere fun. Today, we’re catching up with founder Erik Olson about his history in the bike industry, why being fluent in Chinese was integral in building relationships in Taiwan, his first products and getting PDW off the ground, his commitment to sustainability, what’s in his coffee mug, and more. 

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TOPICS & TIMES:

Coava Coffee (1:04)

Riding with his Dog in the Basket (2:17)

Erik’s history in the bike industry (3:11)

Studying and working in China (7:44)

Transitioning from Planet Bike to starting your own business (10:01)

Starting PDW in Portland (12:36)

PDW’s First Products (14:41)

Expanding the catalog (19:55)

Sustainability (24:40)

Navigating challenging times in the industry (27:15)

Development & distribution (30:37)

Their Most Popular Products (35:48)

E-bike specific products (38:33)

What’s the future look like for PDW? (44:47)

Donating to Grassroots Advocacy Organizations (47:22)

What Erik’s Riding (49:50)

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We’ve been testing a massive range of bikes, from the XC-oriented Kona Hei Hei to the long-travel, full-power Santa Cruz Bullit, so David, Simon, and Dylan sat down to talk about a whole bunch of them. We also dive into Shimano’s long-awaited XTR Di2 wireless drivetrain and the Deore and XT versions that just launched, the consistency of Shimano’s new brakes, and a whole lot more.

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TOPICS & TIMES:

Kona Hei Hei (1:46)

Yeti MTe (10:46)

Pivot SL/AM (22:36)

Specialized Turbo Levo 4 (31:45)

Santa Cruz Bullit (40:13)

Salsa Blackthorn 145 (46:17)

Esker Woodsy (52:48)

Santa Cruz Hightower & Bronson (1:02:51)

Shimano XTR Di2 & Deore / XT versions (1:17:48)

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Ultra-fast long-distance bike rides have garnered a lot of attention of late, headlined by Lael Wilcox’s record-setting circumnavigation of the planet. But as impressive as many of those efforts are, there’s something lost in moving so quickly. Seeing the world by bike is a great way to slow down, take it all in, and have an experience that other methods of transportation can’t replicate.

Chris McCaffrey finished a seventeen-month ride around the world last fall, and we sat down to hear his whole story, from the trans-Atlantic rowing effort that sparked his interest in long-distance human-powered travel, to the incredible places he saw and people he met along the way, and a whole lot more.

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TOPICS & TIMES:

Why ride around the world? (2:29)

Trans-Atlantic rowing attempt (6:23)

Chris’s first big bikepacking trip (17:56)

Lessons learned from that trip (24:03)

Bike setup for the ride around the world (26:45)

The route (32:10)

Setting off (39:01)

North America (43:22)

Europe (49:12)

Asia (51:03)

Getting sick (1:04:44)

Favorite places & next destinations (1:25:20)

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In the May edition of Reviewing the News, we start with some good news regarding the return of Revel Bikes and the acquisition of Rocky Mountain by four Canadian investors. World Cup DH racing kicked off with two exciting races with vastly different conditions, Christopher Blevins continued his XC winning streak in Nova Mesto, and the incredible Giro d’Italia was one we won’t soon forget, plus a whole lot more. 

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TOPICS & TIMES:

Revel Returns (3:13)

Rocky Mountain’s New Owners (13:01)

Christopher Blevins’ Domination (16:22)

Mathieu Van Der Poel Crashed and Burned (24:01)

The Fantastic Giro d’Italia (34:23)

Visma’s Stage 20 Tactical Masterpiece (53:00)

Simon Yates’ Redemption (39:47)

Terrible Conditions at the Bielsko-Biała DH World Cup (58:59)

A Dry, Blown-Out Track in Loudenville (1:05:31)

Jackson Goldstone’s Incredible Race Run (1:08:25)

Gracey Helmstreet’s First Win For Canada (1:14:13)

Recent favorite products (1:17:44)

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Esker Cycles came on the scene in 2018 with a couple of sleek carbon fiber mountain bikes featuring an unknown Dave Weagle suspension platform called Orion. Weagle’s design was originally conceived for motorcycles and was dependent on a single front sprocket layout, which, back when Orion was developed, didn’t include mountain bikes since multiple chainrings and front derailleurs were still the norm. Orion was shelved until Esker founder Tim Krueger approached Weagle looking for a suspension design, and the first Esker bikes started to take shape. Steel and Titanium hardtails followed as Esker expanded its product portfolio, and while Esker’s first suspension bikes were carbon fiber, Tim had aluminum in mind from the beginning, with the dream of offering high-quality, affordable mountain bikes. 

A lot has changed since the early days of Esker, so today we’re catching up with Tim Krueger  — and he doesn’t disappoint — essentially pulling back the curtain on what it’s been like to be a small bike brand during a volatile time in the bike industry. Tim also discusses their decision to abandon carbon fiber bikes in favor of aluminum, focusing on affordability, his take on geometry, their new metal bikes, and much more.

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Esker Cycles

TOPICS & TIMES:

Tim’s First Bike Shop Job

Teaching Was Not for Tim

Getting Hired as a Product Manager for Salsa

Adventure by Bike

Tim’s Time Guiding Bike Packing Tours

Meeting Dave Weagle

Blowing the Dust off Orion Suspension

Bootstrapping Esker

Scraping Together $250K 

Manufacturing in Taiwan vs China

All in for Metal

Esker’s New Aluminum Bikes

Direct and Bike Shop Sales Strategy

Box of Bikes

Esker’s Conservative Approach to Growth

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