Welcome mountain bikers! In this special Tech Talk episode of The Inside Line podcast, we dive deep into the world of carbon composites used in mountain biking. Vital MTB's Brandon Turman is joined remotely by Nic McCrae, the R&D Manager and Senior Composites Engineer at Santa Cruz Bicycles.

Nic's insightful words will help you learn the basics of how a carbon frame gets made, dispel some myths, and shine a light on some of the projects that happen in the Santa Cruz Carbon Lab.

Among other work, Nic played a large role in the creation of Reserve Carbon wheels and a custom full-carbon trials bike for Danny MacAskill.

If you need a new helmet as the season ramps up, go to JensonUSA.com. They have a big helmet sale going right now with savings up to 67% on protection for your dome. As always, with Jenson USA, if you use coupon code insideline at checkout, you can receive 10% off qualifying items.

Maxxis Tires has introduced XC Wide Trail tire spec for their Aspen and Rekon Race tires. The 29 x 2.4-inch tires are recommended for 30mm internal width rims, but are acceptable on 25mm internal or larger widths. The dual-compound, EXO casing tires come in at 720g for the Aspen and 760g for the Rekon Race. They’ll drop this summer, so keep an eye out at maxxis.com.

And last but not least, Santa Cruz Bicycles offers free pivot bearing replacement for life on any of their full-suspension frames. If your riding has slowed down with a bit of lockdown, now’s a great time to get your local shop for some bike maintenance. hit up santacruzbicycles.com/dealers to find a great shop near you.