Bikes & Big Ideas

The Norco Factory Team has a new DH race bike, and the story of its development is an interesting one. So we sat down with engineers Adrian Ward and Kirk McDowall to hear their take on the goals and design intent of the bike; what they learned from the development of the existing Enduro bike, the Range (and its modified DH version); the original test mule for the new race bike; working with Greg Minnaar to continue the bike’s development; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Adrian and Kirk (2:03)Origins of the DH bike project (3:59)Racing DH on the Range (6:35)The next steps (13:27)Kirk’s testing (17:28)Building “the fastest race bike” (22:53)The design of the bike (28:41)Wheel sizes & going MX (32:33)Suspension layout (41:07)Greg Minnaar & reconsidering 29’’ wheels (46:52)Future development (56:26)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

We’ve been testing a massive assortment of new bikes and other gear, and David Golay and Zack Henderson sat down to chat about a whole bunch of them, including the high-pivot Norco Optic and Sight, the new Specialized Epic Evo, the newly-mulleted Yeti SB165, and more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Yeti SB165 (1:29)Norco Sight & Optic (8:46)Kavenz VHP 16 V7 (22:43)Rocky Mountain Instinct (31:52)Rocky Mountain Altitude (38:33)Ibis HD6 (45:46)Specialized Epic Evo (53:18)SRAM Maven brakes (58:58)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

March was an interesting month for bike news. There was a dispute at Crankworx Rotorua which resulted in the men not competing in the finals, Scott is having crazy management drama, there are a bunch of interesting new lightweight eMTBs, and Simon had a recent trip to ride in Tuscany. In our third installment of Reviewing The News, Ryan and Simon get into all of this and more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Simon’s recent trip to Italy (1:50)Riding eGravel bikes in Tuscany (4:03)Are gravel bikes just reincarnated 30-year-old mountain bikes? (4:48)John Tomac’s drop-bar riding prowess (7:39)How did we ride without dropper posts? (7:54)Slow eBikes in Europe (10:38)The Slopestyle strike (20:40)First-ever women’s slopestyle event at Crankworx (27:32)Scott drama (32:50)The year of the lightweight E-bikes (38:04)Norco Fluid VLT (39:58)Mondraker Dune (50:11)Short-travel high-pivot bikes (53:24)Old brakes vs. new brakes (1:01:51)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Racing World Cup DH isn’t easy under any circumstances, but doing so after a spinal cord injury — and needing to relearn how to walk, much less ride — is something else entirely. Brook Macdonald pulled it off, but he’s also struggled with bike setup, burnout, and more over the last couple of seasons. For 2024, though, he’s got a new team, a new bike, and a renewed hunger to race — we sat down to hear all about it.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Getting a fresh start for 2024 (2:24)Coming back from breaking his back in 2019 (4:09)What does (and doesn’t) work in a DH race bike (18:06)Moving to Forbidden (23:40)Hardline Tasmania (26:58)Losing weight (35:44)The evolution of DH racing (39:04)Changing race tracks (50:05)Brook’s 2024 goals (54:42)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Georgia Astle is one of the many ultra-talented riders to come out of Whistler, BC — but she actually grew up kitesurfing and doing a whole bunch of other sports, rather than mountain biking. Once she fell in love with mountain biking in high school, though, her rise through the ranks was astonishingly rapid — first as a racer and later as a freerider — and we sat down with Georgia to hear all about it, including the state of Enduro racing and women’s freeride, Georgia’s goals for 2024 and beyond, and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Growing up in Whistler and not mountain biking (2:44)Getting into racing (7:51)Georgia’s meteoric rise (13:42)DH vs. Enduro as a privateer (21:32)The folly of eMTB racing (31:06)Moving to freeride (34:04)The state of women’s freeride (39:06)Georgia’s 2024 plans (48:52)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Dakotah Norton finished the 2023 DH season strong, with two podiums and a 6th place finish over the final four races, but as he put it, the season started with “near failure.” We sat down with Dakotah to talk about the struggle of finding consistency at the limit; his move to Mondraker Factory Racing and the dissolution of his former team at Intense; the state of DH racing both at home and abroad; how to better develop up-and-coming American DH racers; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Getting up to speed with the new team (2:20)The 2023 season (3:45)Finding consistency in a chaotic season (6:34)The dissolution of Intense Factory Racing (17:35)Finding a new team mid-season (21:38)The state of World Cup DH racing (22:41)Broadcasting races (25:34)Running World Cup DH (30:25)Developing American DH talent (33:42)Dak’s 2024 goals (41:09)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Gravel racing has exploded in recent years and Sarah Sturm — who only started racing bikes in college, after burning out on competitive soccer — quickly vaulted to stardom in the sport. So we sat down with Sarah to hear the surprising and hilarious story of her path into gravel racing; chat about the struggle of not excelling at something you’ve dedicated a lot of time and energy toward; the evolution and professionalization of gravel racing; the overall state and health of the sport; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Sarah (1:25)Racing cyclocross & moving to gravel (2:49)Sarah’s first forays into mountain biking (6:46)Being the “doomsday prepper of bike racing” (19:20)The evolution of gravel racing (27:37)“Marginal gains people” (39:22)The health of the sport (45:51)Sarah’s 2024 plans & goals (51:22)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

On our second episode of Reviewing The News with hosts Simon Stewart and Ryan Palmer; Ryan may have uncovered what Kyle and Rachael Strait are keeping secret before their big announcement on Friday (March 8th); Simon considers adopting Ronan Dunne’s pre-race hydration program after watching his incredible Red Bull Hardline winning run; there’s a brake lever lawsuit to talk about; Ryan’s father-in-law’s souped-up scooter; exploding lithium-ion batteries; and Cannondale’s wild Moterra SL lightweight full-powered eMTB.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Fezzari name change (2:53)Kyle and Rachael Strait’s new bike sponsor (4:38)Red Bull Hardline Tasmania (8:44)The dangers of racing Hardline before a World Cup DH season (12:35)Brake lever lawsuit & the broken health care system (22:13)Dutch police field testing e-bikes (34:22)Lithium-ion battery task force in NY (47:18)Frankenstein Batteries (49:40)Lithium-ion battery safety (50:51)Cannondale Moterra SL (1:00:32)The future of lightweight lower-power eMTBs (1:13:28)Cornhole College Scholarships (1:21:37)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

High-pivot bikes are becoming increasingly common but they’re still mostly reserved for longer-travel Enduro and DH models. Given that, Norco’s decision to move their 150mm-travel Sight and especially the 125mm-travel Optic to that layout was arguably a bit of a surprise — and it wasn’t one Norco made lightly. So we sat down with Norco engineer, Colin Ryan, to get the rundown on the new Optic and Sight, including the decision to go high-pivot and the testing that they used to validate it; how the suspension design of the new bikes differs from their other high-pivot models (and the prior-generation Optic and Sight); their new Ride Aligned setup guides; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Colin (2:50)The new Optic & Sight (3:47)Test mules for the new bikes & lessons learned (10:06)Shock spec and developing tunes (19:29)The new Ride Aligned setup guides (23:58)Wheel sizes (31:37)Geometry (37:32)Sprindex springs & making setup easier (42:51)Idler pulley testing (44:23)The Fluid & getting weird with the Optic (46:23)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch