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.

In our first Vodcast, we blast through Kaz's Trek Top Fuel review, Henry showcases his latest snorkeling kit, and Dario talks us through his mighty 41lb enduro bike.

With eight different bikes and several pieces of supporting content, this Field Test has certainly been a big one. Now, it's time for its final piece - the Roundtable discussion, where we answer the ultimate question - how likely are we to recommend these bikes? And what would our order of preference be?

Our usual mix of bike and tech reflections. Does the perfect bike ever really exist?

Hear ye, hear ye, let's talk even more about mountain bikes.

When Greg Minnaar left the Santa Cruz Syndicate, it was about as big of a news story as you get in mountain bike racing. A rider who went against the very best of each generation, it was at one time impossible to think of him racing for anyone other than the Californian brand. One season later, to say he's landed on his feet would be an understatement. His 2024 racing season didn't unfold as he would have hoped, but he rounds out the year with a World Cup podium, fresh motivation, and a partnership with a brand he seems to be very well aligned with, even if now it's about helping other riders win, and not his own racing ambitions.

Brian and I caught up with him to talk about old bikes, blank chequebooks and the lucky number 13.