The Roller Door

This week we launched the latest Bronson: our go-to aggressive trail bike. Listen as Garen and Hannah talk with Santa Cruz Director of Product Josh Kissner about how several small refinements and a few big ones have drastically improved the suspension and ride feel of one of our most popular models. If you have questions for Josh, please let us know by emailing [email protected]. 

Thanks for listening; we hope you enjoy.

Annie Ford is a climate activist, marine biologist, surfer and mountain biker with a passion for doing hard things. She's got the world record for descending the most vertical on a bike. She rode her mountain bike- with a surfboard- from the north tip to the southern tip of New Zealand. Most recently, she rode her Santa Cruz Nomad from Ensenada, Mexico to Whistler, BC to raise funds towards ending the pursuit of new oil and gas along the Australian coast. 

In this episode of the Roller Door, we hear about Annie's drive, her cause, and the stories (good and bad) from her trip North. Inspiring stuff. Congratulations, Annie.

In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen chats with Keegan Swenson, Tobin Ortenblad, and Sam Dale about their races, their bikes, and their experiences at the 2024 Downieville Classic. Is Downieville technical enough for an ex-world cup downhiller on a bigger bike to beat the fastest endurance riders on XC bikes? To find out, give a listen. Any questions? Please email: [email protected]. Thanks for listening, we hope you enjoy.

To chat with Sam Dale is to consort with a calm, wise man: steady in his words, rich in story, humble as they come, Sam is the kind of person you wish you had more time with. Luckily for us, he's now living in Santa Cruz. In this podcast, we click it down a couple notches and hear about Sam's beginnings, his years as a world cup racer, why he moved to Santa Cruz, and more. 

We hope you enjoy - and if you have any questions for Sam or anyone here at Santa Cruz, please email them to [email protected]. Thanks!

--- SPECIAL DROP ---

In this special episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah sit with everybody's Wingman, Tobin Ortenblad, to hear about how this year's Unbound Gravel race unfolded for the HtSqd team. 

We throroughly enjoyed this open, informative talk, and we hope you do to. If you have questions for Tobin, Keegan, Alexis, or anyone here at Santa Cruz Bicycles, please email them to [email protected]. 

Thanks for listening!

In this episide of the Roller Door Podcast, Garen and Hannah sit down with three very inspiring women: Anka Martin, Kelli Emmett, and Sarah Leishman. While their career paths have diverged, these three have a common thread in that they were the founding members of the first (and only?) all-female enduro team under Juliana Bicycles. Listen in for stories of races past, thoughts on the current racing scene, and how Anka, Kelli and Sarah transitioned out of racing and into careers in the cycling industry. 

If you have questions for the Santa Cruz team, or if you fancy a deeper dive with Anka, Kelli, or Sarah, drop us a line by emailing [email protected]. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy.

In this episode of the Roller Door, Garen and Hannah talk with Matt Miller of Santa Cruz-based non-profit Ecology Action. While the subject matter isn’t our normal mountain bike specific techy nerdfest, it was one of the more satisfying talks we’ve had on the Roller Door to date. Matt’s a cyclist in every form, and his (and Ecology Action’s) mission to get people riding is nothing short of inspiring. Matt and his team recieved a Paydirt grant, which will send them to the Netherlands to learn how to improve bike infrastucture in Santa Cruz -- listen in for statistics on traffic reduction, infrastructure solutions, dirt commuting, and for an open, welcoming stance on getting people out of cars and onto bikes. We’re feeling lucky – first Ben Hildred, and now Matt Miller: two inspiring chats with two enjoyable people who clearly love riding their bikes… just like the rest of us. 

We hope you enjoy, and if you have any questions for the team here at Santa Cruz Bicycles, please email them to [email protected].

Thanks for listening!

In this episode of The Roller Door, Garen and Hannah check in with the one and only Ben Hildred. You may know Ben from such feats as his Olympus Mons, wherein he ascended almost 70K feet in three days on his Tallboy, or from when he 'double everested' by climbing 58,808 feet over 172.5 miles... in 33 hours. Ben's an over-achiever, but hearing him talk through his motives is nothing less than inspriring. Spoiler alert: like the rest of us, Ben just enjoys riding his bike. That's what drives him. In today's podcast, we talk bike riding, motivation, wheel building, bike choices, a bit of tech, and of course, we hear some jokes. 

If you want to see what Ben's been up to lately, check out Your Time is Now on youtube, or dig through some archival bits here and here and here. 

And if you're interested in some handbuilt wheels from Ben himself, check out Further.

Finally, if you like this podcast, please subscribe, give it a rating, or tell a pal. And if you have questions for Ben or any of the team here at Santa Cruz Bicycles, email them to [email protected].

We hope you enjoy this as much as we did recording it.

On this episode of the Roller Door, Santa Cruz Bicycles Director of Product Josh Kissner regales Garen and Hannah with stories of yesteryear, like why we have build kits named D, R, and S. We also talk through some of the nuances of bicycle geometry, like how we measure and display seat tube angle, and why this matters to the rider. This is another rambling conversation, and I always learn something when chatting with Josh. We close this episode by cracking open the ol' mailbag for some information on shock stroke, Santa Cruz's new bossman, Ochain's and more.

Quick note: it was great to see some of our listeners IRL out at the Sea Otter Classic. Thanks for saying hello. It's wonderful to hear that people are enjoying the Roller Door- and remember, our email is [email protected] drop a line if you have questions, ideas, whatever. And if you enjoy it, please subscribe.

We hope you enjoy,

GB