We round up this week's news and answer your questions.

Henry and Matt recount the blind tire test, plus normal Dario talks us through one drool-worthy bespoke bike.

This week's podcast brings you Jessie-May, Dario, and Henry to talk through their Show-and-Tells and answer some of your questions.

Kaz, Daz, and Haz run through the Haro Greer review, talk yet more etiquette (as if it ever ends), and give their lukewarm takes on the industry, freeride bikes, and most importantly, the health and growth of Toblerone the shih tzu.

We used to fight over a degree, and now some bikes can offer a degree in either direction with a headset, 10mm on the chainstay, progression adjustment, and smaller geometry tweaks—all from the stock platform. But does this help or hinder the consumer's riding experience?

Dario, Daz, and Denry show us their current favorite parts of biking and discuss whether a bike can ever be too adjustable.

Is oversharing a thing in mountain biking? Kaz, Dario, Henry and Matt talk about the ethics and considerations behind pirate trails. Plus, we cover EXT latest DH fork, a steering damper and the Slash+ before answer questions, giving terrible relationship advice and talk about whether the E13 Sidekick hub is a worthy investment.

Last year we visited Specialized’s eMTB facility in Cham, Switzerland to ride some bikes and poke around their ebike innovation centre. We sat down with Jan Talavasek, Marco Sonderegger, and Joe Buckley, three of the key people behind eMTB development at Specialized, to talk about past, present, and future. We also got a special appearance from the venerable Marketing Todd, who swears Specialized is done making new bikes and that we should stop asking sneaky questions about future models.

They had a lot to say, and we got a few tidbits out of them, so the pod runs a bit long. Alternatively, you can read the article + photos here. This was recorded before we'd figured out how to press the big red button to do video podcasts, but we'll be back soon with our regularly scheduled podcast.

03:07 The Evolution of E-Bikes & the Development of the Turbo Levo

14:58 The Shift in Perception of eMTBs

30:52 Brand Equity & the Levo's Original Name

33:51 The Swiss Office

44:02 Future Developments in eMTBs

50:20 Understanding E-Bike Performance Metrics

56:51 The Impact of Market Timing

01:00:00 Engineering for Performance, Legislation, & Consumer Safety

01:12:04 Charging Technology and Battery Longevity

01:15:59 Data-Driven Design and Testing

01:24:02 Field Testing and Component Tracking

In a special end-of-year podcast, Henry is joined by Kaz, Matt, and Dario to talk through the winners of each category, as well as explain the rationale behind the choices.

00:08:50 Value Product of the Year

00:14:31 Value Mountain Bike of the Year

00:25:16 E-MTB of the Year

00:45:13 Innovation of the Year

01:05:42 Suspension Product of the Year

01:22:01 Product of the Year

01:32:41 Mountain Bike of the Year

After a whirlwind 2024 Season, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jordi Cortes of Fox Factory and Neko Mulally of Frameworks Racing to debrief on the latest tech, the incremental changes that riders are now making to maximize setup, and ask whether aftermarket performance devices are really worth it.

Have we got to the stage where it isn't about only setting up your suspension well, but rather setting up your bike to get the most out of your suspension?

Kaz, Dario, Sarah, and Henry bring you this week's Show & Tells, review reflections, and listener questions.