Bikes & Big Ideas

September was an interesting month in the bike industry with one the biggest retail bike stores in the country announcing its closing; Motion Instrument’s future looking grim; and news of Rad Power Bikes’ bizarre plan to sell eBikes in Best Buy stores. Simon and Mike have plenty to talk about on the industry side alone, not to mention all the exciting bike racing like the inaugural Lake Placid UCI XC World Cup; the US Cup DH; and the mind-blowing win by Tadej Pogacar at the UCI Road World Championships; plus a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Asheville’s Hurricane Aftermath (2:39)The Pro’s Closet Closing (4:29)Rad Power Bikes in Best Buy (16:11)Motion Instruments Out of Business (28:17)Road World Championships (34:35)Tadej Pogacar’s Dominance (39:27)Lake Placid World Cup XC (44:09)US Cup DH (49:57)Bosch Updates CX Motor (53:44)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Dylan Wood and Simon Stewart have been busy testing bikes and filming head-to-head comparisons, which means they’ve also been spending a lot of time on the same bikes. So, they got together to go over everything from longer-travel eMTBs like the Cannondale Moterra SL and Mondraker Dune XR to XC race bikes like the Yeti ASR and Cannondale Scalpel, then went down some geometry rabbit holes and a few other tangents.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Cannondale Moterra SL (2:43)Mondraker Dune XR (14:02)Yeti ASR (22:29)Cannondale Scalpel (32:22)Specialized Stumpjumper (39:51)Spot Mayhem 140 (45:12)Slack Head Angles (51:54)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicOff The CouchGEAR:30Blister PodcastCRAFTED

Alex Showerman’s new short film ‘Coming Home’ tells her story of doing just that — both in literally returning to her hometown in Vermont, and in finding community and acceptance in the women’s freeride scene after coming out as trans. You can, and should, stream the film for free now.We sat down with Alex to dive deeper into her story and hear more about some of the themes that the short-film format didn’t leave time for. Alex’s retelling is touching, funny, and full of insights about what it really means to be at home in your own skin, the women’s freeride scene, and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Alex’s childhood in Vermont (1:25)Getting into MTB (4:19)Finding & building community in the freeride world (6:28)Coming out as trans (10:52)The women’s freeride scene (16:50)Alex’s three-year road trip out West & back injury (18:28)Navigating the pressure to perform, and finding joy in riding again (55:53)Coming home (26:12)Foundation (30:06)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Maxxis’ new High Roller doesn’t look much like High Rollers of old, and Maxxis is talking a very big game about how widely their DH racers are using it. So we sat down with the Manager of their Bike division, Aaron Chamberlain, to talk about the impetus to update the High Roller; hear the story behind its development; peel back the curtain on how Maxxis manages their product line; and a whole bunch more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:The concept for the new High Roller (3:12)Maxxis’ tire development and testing process (10:04)Adding new tires & balancing options vs. simplicity in the lineup (14:45)The High Roller name (27:58)Upcoming High Roller variants (31:26)OUR OTHER PODCASTSBlister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Mike Ferrentino is back behind the microphone in this episode of Reviewing the News, and Mike and Simon get right into what happened in the bike industry in August. They recap the exciting UCI MTB World Championships in Andorra; Mike gives his take on the interesting Specialized and Frameworks partnership; and they both agree that cross-country mountain bike courses should be longer. Simon puts Mike on the spot about his racing history, and they wonder if the bike retail landscape is ever going to return to ‘normal’, and lots more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipBLISTER+ Real World TestimonialsBlister LabsThis Week’s Gear GiveawayBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideTOPICS & TIMES:The Breck Epic (1:49)Howard Grotts’ Crash (4:02)MTB World Championships (10:58) Mike’s Microphone Looking Safe 24:58)Spot Bikes vs Gates Lawsuit (25:57)Scott’s Two CEOs (30:35)Specialized/Frameworks Partnership (34:18)Lifetime Events and Races Doing Well (41:10)Mike’s Racing History & the Leadville 100 (43:21)Amazon Accountability (57:33)

We’re hard at work testing a huge range of bikes and other gear, as always, and David Golay sat down with Zack Henderson to talk about a whole bunch of it, from the Trek Top Fuel to the Marin Alpine Trail, the Forbidden Druid V2 to the Trek Slash+, and a whole bunch more. Plus we get off in the weeds about bike geometry, and wrap things up by issuing a big “I told you so” to a certain manufacturer.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Trek Top Fuel (1:40)Trek Slash+ (7:32)Knolly Fugitive 140 (16:06)Forbidden Druid V2 (20:51)Marin Alpine Trail (33:34)Privateer 161 V2 (43:22)Manitou Mara Pro PB vs Formula Nebbia (52:11)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

More and more women are riding mountain bikes, so why are there so few women-specific bike brands out there? It’s not just about making bikes for everyone — though that’s important, too.  Kara Williard and David Golay sat down with Ludi Scholz, the Off-Road Category Manager at Liv, to hear all about it.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMESLudi’s Background & Role at Liv (2:53)Women-Specific Bikes (7:14)Why This Matters (11:31)Frame Design / R&D (15:14)Suspension Tuning (21:09)Liv’s Lineup (25:40)Pique & Intrigue X (29:12)What’s Next for Liv (32:02)The Industry at Large (32:43) OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch

Gearboxes have some clear advantages for more gravity-oriented mountain bikes — less unsprung weight, the ability to shift while not pedaling, no derailleur to damage, and more — but have yet to reach widespread adoption. Zerode is perhaps the company best known for making gearbox mountain bikes, and we sat down with founder Rob Metz and Ali Quinn of Zerode to hear the story of Rob founding the company, and the homemade gearbox that kicked it all off; why they’re fans of gearboxes; their new World Cup DH race team; and a whole lot more.RELATED LINKS:BLISTER+ MembershipThis Week’s Gear GiveawayTOPICS & TIMES:Zerode’s backstory & history (3:46)Why gearboxes? (6:29)Early production bikes (12:58)Ali’s introduction to the company (17:01)Pinion vs. Effigear (25:01)Standard Pinion vs. Smart Shift? (28:50)Selling gearboxes to the public (35:33)The G3 & the DH team (43:01)Future direction and new products? (45:58)OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister PodcastOff The Couch