This week's episode comes to you from our Gravel Bike Field Test, and, unsurprisingly, we've got gravel bikes on the mind. James and Dave dig into gravel geometry, and specifically on the ways that gravel bikes are borrowing from mountain bikes. Sometimes that borrowing is a good thing, sometimes it's a bad thing. 

Then, a What Bike Should I Buy with everything* on the line. 

*Everything, in this case, is doing the dishes at the CT gravel house.

Elite amateur bike racers deserve free stuff, right? 

Well, not so fast. This episode, James digs into the world of sponsorship, including dos and don'ts of requesting it. 

Then, we ask Zach some mechanic questions, and try to figure out which rim brake bike can fit 32mm tires.

This week, James chats with brake engineer John Thomas about the difficulties in perfecting disc brakes, and how the very nature of the way we put bikes together these days makes it almost impossible to make them completely silent. 

Then, we pepper pro mechanic Zach with audience questions, and help Jakob pick a new bike in a contentious What Bike Should I Buy segment.

This week your favorite Nerds are in Adelaide, Australia for the Tour Down Under, and the episode opens with a walk through the mechanic's pits. What's new in 2020 pro equipment? 

Then, we sit down with pro, and known geek, Adam Hansen to discuss his scientific and real-world exploration of bike fit.

It's Awards season! James, Dave, and Caley sit down to award the best tech of the last decade and discuss where those developments are going next. Is the future of road disc brakes finally quiet? Will mechanical shifting stand the test of time? What will gravel bikes look like in ten years' time?

This week's episode opens with a few indoor riding topics - Zwift's new off-road courses and Rapha's indoor riding clothing. We then switch gears to gravel and discuss the new Evil Chamois Hagar, which looks (and will ride) like nothing else on the market.

Welcome to the CyclingTips Nerd Alert podcast!

In this episode, we discuss in detail the key findings in Dave Rome's most recent tech feature, which dives into Adam Kerin’s incredibly exhaustive research on chain efficiency and durability. Which chains last the longest, and which ones aren’t worth the extra money? What’s the most economical way to keep your expensive drivetrain running smoothly? And what are our hosts’ favorite chain lubes?

The world of bicycle tech is just too big to live exclusively within the confines of our regular podcast, so we’re now expanding Nerd Alert into its own regular pod, which will be released every other week.

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