Bikes & Big Ideas

Bryan Hance is a bike enthusiast and web developer who combined those two interests in co-founding Bike Index, a database that tracks ownership to help recover bikes that end up stolen. Through that work, Bryan uncovered a sprawling bike theft and trafficking operation, which he traced back to one man, operating out of Jalisco, Mexico — and the story only gets crazier from there. So we sat down with Bryan and Chris Solomon, who wrote a piece for Wired on Bryan’s work, to hear all about it. RELATED LINKS:Bag BalmBLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Bike Index & Bryan’s interest in bike theft (2:14)Constru-Bikes’s operation (7:46)What did this network look like? (13:41)How Bryan uncovered Constru’s trafficking (22:20)Arrests in the US (29:11)How to shut this down? (34:56)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Bike companies file a lot of wild patents, spanning from “nearly released product” to “outrageous pie-in-the-sky idea.” Dan Bacon of Wheelbased chronicles many of the more interesting ones, and we brought him back on the show to talk about some recent highlights, from Bilstein’s proposed fork damper to Shimano’s multiple electronic brake concepts, a carbon fiber cooler from Yeti (the BIKE company), and a whole bunch more.RELATED LINKS:Bag BalmBLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Bilstein’s wild fork damper (2:28)SRAM’s gravel linkage fork (7:48)Fox’s new Live Valve (17:04)Shimano’s piezoelectric shifters (25:10)Shimano’s electronic brake (31:11)Yeti (the bike company) making a cooler?? (38:45)Dan’s Big Idea (43:48)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Mike Ferrentino is back again as co-host for this month’s iteration of Reviewing the News, and Simon is delighted to have him in the studio to help try and make sense of the Red Bull Hardline drama. There were two exciting DH World Cup races to talk about, as well as an XC World Cup in Nova Mesto to cover. And in a fun change of pace, they get into the recent Giro d'Italia and the upcoming Tour de France. And there’s much more than just racing to go over, including an exciting update about Kona and a whole bunch more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:The MegaVolt eMTB festival (0:59)Red Bull Hardline’s insane canyon gap (3:46)Moto rider Johnny Walker’s mindblowing run down the Hardline course (15:10)Mike’s microphone is safe (for now) (20:47)Loic Bruni dominates (23:13)Ronan Dunne and Mondraker (26:56)Bike theft (30:56)Nova Mesto XC World Cup (33:51)Tom Pidcock (34:59)Nino Shurter’s incredible career (35:49)The Giro D’Italia (42:39)The Pog (43:39)Tour de France predictions (46:46)The return of Kona (53:57)

We’ve been very impressed with the EXT Storia V3 on a whole bunch of different bikes over the years, but EXT is launching a new V4 iteration soon, and they’ve found a lot to tweak. So we brought EXT founder, Franco Fratton, back to Bikes & Big Ideas to give us a rundown on the new Storia and Arma V4; talk about the potential for truly “active” suspension systems in the bike world; tease some more upcoming EXT products; discuss the state of patents in MTB suspension; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:Bag BalmBLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:The Storia & Arma V4 (2:27)Aria vs. Storia (26:55)Active suspension in MTB (41:27)Future EXT products? (46:45)Patents & the bike industry (48:59)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

When it comes to rear shocks for mountain bikes, there are tons of options for both air- and coil-sprung versions, but the Cane Creek Tigon is both — an “air-charged coil shock,” as Cane Creek describes it. So we sat down with Cane Creek’s Will Hart to get the rundown on the Tigon, including why Cane Creek decided to make it; what its pros and cons are relative to their other shock offerings; who it’ll work best for; and more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Will (1:38)The Tigon (3:34)“Air-charged coil” shock (10:29) Setting sag & air / coil interplay (15:31)Cane Creek’s shock lineup & choosing between their offerings (18:50)Suspension kinematics & what the Tigon is best suited for (22:56)The Tigon damper (27:03)Base tunes vs. wide adjustment ranges (34:18)Durability (40:26)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

We’ve been testing a huge variety of bikes, from the E-Gravel Scott Solace to a bunch of high-pivot Trail bikes (including the Deviate Highlander II), plus several new forks, some new tires, and a whole bunch more. So we sat down to chat about all of it; recap the World Cup DH season opener; recount being repeatedly heckled on the local trails; and argue about the relative merits of tire inserts vs. beefier casings.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:World Cup DH season opener (1:44)Norco Fluid VLT & Canyon Neuron:ONFly (12:34)Bosch SX Motor (13:21)Deviate Highlander II (24:51)Yeti ASR (30:25)Michelin’s new Enduro and DH tires (41:34)Fox 38 Grip X2 (57:51)Formula Belva (1:05:31)Scott Solace (1:11:04)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Carbon fiber bike frames have become ubiquitous in the high-end world, but metal bikes are making a comeback — and the number of steel full-suspension bikes we’ve reviewed in the last few years is a testament to that. So we sat down with Daniel Yang and Nick Neuhaus of Neuhaus Metalworks to chat about the case for metal bikes; hear the story of their respective journeys into frame building; talk about bike sizing and size-specific geometry; and discover that Daniel and our Bike Editor, David, are maybe secretly the same person (?)RELATED LINKS:Bag BalmBLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Nick and Daniel (2:50)Are Daniel and David secretly the same person? (13:57)Group learning & sharing info (15:24)Metal bikes (18:40)Carbon fiber frames & industrial design (26:12)The UDH (35:00)Frame sizes & size-specific geometry (50:37)Making biking more inclusive (58:20)The case for custom bikes (1:03:29)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Simon welcomes guest co-host Mike Ferrentino to go over a busy, weird month in the bike world. Of course, they have to talk about what happened to Kona, which leads to a discussion about the negative effect Venture capital and investment companies seem to have on the bike industry. But there’s also fun stuff going on with companies like Gates, and Mike places a bet with eating his microphone as the stakes. Plus they get into the incredible start to the XC World Cup season for U.S. athletes, the new Canyon lightweight eMTB, the scourge of poison oak, and, naturally, some discussion of zombies.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:What's going on with Kona? (0:41)Enve is being sold again (9:25)Rapha closed their U.S. office (14:42)The Mountain Bike capital of the world (18:03)Gate’s 100k belt drive prize & Microphone eating (29:00)Recap of the first two XC World Cups (34:46)New Yeti ASR (42:22)XC bike amnesia (52:03)Canyon Neuron:ONfly first ride (56:04)Poison Oak (1:03:30)28 Days Later sequel and Zombies (1:04:47)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

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