Bikes & Big Ideas | BLISTER Outdoor Media & Gear Reviews

Albatross Bikes on the Super-Adaptable Apogee Module (Ep.198)

November 30, 2023 by David Golay

There are lots of custom hardtail builders out there, but the constraints of pivot locations, maintaining frame alignment, and the tooling needed to make it all work means that fully-customizable full-suspension bikes are a lot rarer. Albatross Bikes has taken a very creative approach to offering customizable full-suspension bikes with their Apogee Module, and we brought them on to hear all about it.

Katy Winton on Burnout, Recovery, & Returning to Racing (Ep.197)

November 23, 2023November 23, 2023 by David Golay

Katy Winton has had a challenging last couple of years, from a protracted concussion recovery to having to put together her own privateer program at the last minute to even race in 2021. And then two races into the 2022 EWS season, she was so severely burned out that she pulled out of the rest of the season to recover. Now, she’s ready to tell the whole story, so we brought her back on Bikes & Big Ideas to share it.

Cornelius Kapfinger on Founding Intend, Inverted Forks, and Doing Things Differently (Ep.196)

November 16, 2023November 16, 2023 by David Golay

It can be hard to stand out as a smaller component manufacturer, but Intend BC isn’t shy of doing things differently, and their forks, shocks, brakes, and other components don’t look like much else out there. Founder Cornelius Kapfinger is here to tell us all about it.

Neko Mulally on Selling the Frameworks DH Bike, Signing Asa Vermette, and More (Ep.195)

November 9, 2023 by David Golay

Neko Mulally’s Frameworks DH bike is now available for pre-order, and we sat down with Neko to chat about its development, the production version of the bike, his experimentation with different frame materials, and much more.

Lachlan Morton on the Tour Divide Record, Bears, Payday Bars, & More (Ep.194)

November 6, 2023November 2, 2023 by David Golay

The Tour Divide route covers 2,670 miles from Banff, Alberta to the US-Mexico border near Antelope Wells, New Mexico — Lachlan Morton just completed it in a record-setting 12 days, 12 hours, and 21 minutes. So we sat down with him to hear all about it.

Contra Bikes on Making the MC a Reality (Ep.193)

January 18, 2024October 26, 2023 by David Golay

Designing and prototyping a bike is hard work, but bringing one to production adds a whole new set of challenges, and we sat down with Evan Turpen of Contra Bikes to hear all about getting his US-made steel high-pivot Enduro bike, the MC, out into the world.

Privateer Bikes on the 141 and 161 V2 (Ep.192)

October 19, 2023 by David Golay

Privateer has been teasing the upcoming second-generation versions of their 141 and 161 for a while now and we recently sat down with Dan Hicks, the engineer behind the project, to get all the details on the new bikes.

Casey Brown, Vaea Verbeeck, and Hannah Bergemann on Women at Rampage (Ep.191)

October 12, 2023 by David Golay

We sat down with Casey Brown, Vaea Verbeeck, and Hannah Bergemann to talk about the lack of a women’s category at Red Bull Rampage; what they’ve been doing to change that; why opening up Rampage to women is important; and the trajectory of women’s freeride more broadly.

This week on Bikes & Big Ideas we’re chatting about a bunch of the bikes we’re currently testing across the travel spectrum, including Santa Cruz’s new Heckler SL, a battle of high-pivot Enduro bikes, the Propain Tyee, and more.

Reviewer Reports: Contra MC vs. Trek Slash, Santa Cruz Heckler SL, REEB Steezl, & More (Ep.190)

October 5, 2023 by David Golay

This week on Bikes & Big Ideas we’re chatting about a bunch of the bikes we’re currently testing across the travel spectrum, including Santa Cruz’s new Heckler SL, a battle of high-pivot Enduro bikes, the Propain Tyee, and more.

Archibald Cycles on Canadian Manufacturing & the Wild AC1 (Ep.189)

September 28, 2023 by David Golay

The Archibald Cycles AC1 — a Canadian-made, steel-frame, high-pivot bike with a gearbox — doesn’t look like much else out there, and the story of its conception and journey toward production is an interesting one.

Sklar Bikes: A Custom Builder’s Shift to “Mass” Production (Ep.188)

September 21, 2023 by David Golay

Sklar Bikes has a stellar reputation as a custom builder, so when owner and founder Adam Sklar decided to shut down that part of the business and move to stock, production bikes, it came as a surprise. His take on the evolution of the company is an interesting one, and we sat down to hear all about it.

GEAR THERAPY! — Session #1 (Ep.187)

September 14, 2023September 14, 2023 by David Golay

Bikes are expensive, there are more good ones than ever before, and understanding the tradeoffs between options and how to find the right one to suit your needs can be tricky. We’re here to help. Welcome to Gear Therapy.

David Golay reviews the 2024 Trek Slash for BLISTER

Trek on the New High-Pivot Slash (Ep.186)

September 7, 2023 by David Golay

The Trek Slash has been in their lineup for a long time, but the new sixth-generation bike is a big departure from the earlier iterations — first and foremost because of its new high-pivot suspension layout — and we sat down with the lead engineer on the project, Matt Yerke, to hear all about it.

Blister Mountain Bike Knee Pad Roundup — 2023

D3O On The Past, Present, and Future of MTB Armor (Ep.185)

August 31, 2023 by David Golay

The mountain bike armor market has evolved a lot in recent years, and D30’s non-Newtonian materials have had a big hand in shaping those changes. So we sat down with them to chat about the ways MTB armor has changed; where they see it going in the future; the tradeoffs inherent to designing protective gear; testing standards + their pros and cons; kids’ armor; and a whole lot more.

Chromag’s Full Suspension Bike Development (Ep.184)

August 24, 2023 by David Golay

Chromag is unquestionably *the* first brand that a lot of people think of when it comes to hardcore hardtails, which makes their recent foray into full-suspension bikes especially interesting. And as we uncover in this conversation with Chromag engineer Joe Swann, the path to launching the Darco and Lowdown has been a long and winding — and fascinating — one.

Reviewer Reports: Chromag Darco, Pivot Shuttle AM, Commencal Supreme, & More (Ep.183)

August 17, 2023 by David Golay

The gang is back together to give a rundown on a bunch of the bikes we’ve been testing, from short-travel steel full-suspension ones to a bunch of mid-travel eMTBs and full-on DH race bikes.

Story Time With Ryan “R-Dog” Howard (Ep.182)

August 10, 2023 by David Golay

Ryan “R-Dog” Howard is one of the most stylish mountain bikers of all time, and it turns out he’s quite the storyteller, too. We sat down with Ryan to chat about everything from his four appearances at Red Bull Rampage; his absurd new “company vehicle;” and what Ryan describes as “the best trip of his life — even though it ended with a broken leg; and a whole lot more.

Prevelo founder Jacob Rheuban on Designing a Better Kid’s Bike (Ep.181)

August 3, 2023 by David Golay

Kids’ bikes aren’t (or shouldn’t be) just scaled-down adult ones, and Prevelo founder Jacob Rheuban has a lot of great insights to share on what goes into making a good one.

Miranda Miller is best known as a gravity MTB racer — and former DH World Champ — but she’s been branching out widely in her career, including riding a lot of gravel, and on this week’s episode of Bikes & Big Ideas we sat down to talk about what drove her to take a risk on something new; her DIVRGNT Minds project; highlighting lesser-known riding destinations; and a whole lot more.

Miranda Miller on DVRGNT Minds, Burnout, & Riding All the Bikes (Ep.180)

July 27, 2023 by David Golay

Miranda Miller is best known as a gravity MTB racer — and former DH World Champ — but she’s been branching out widely in her career, including riding a lot of gravel, and we sat down to talk about it.

Lal Bikes on Making the Supre Drive a Reality (Ep.179)

July 20, 2023 by David Golay

The Lal Bikes Supre Drive is an extremely interesting take on reinventing the mountain bike drivetrain, and we sat down with Cedric and Alex from Lal to get the whole story of taking it from a prototype to production, getting bike companies (and the public) on board with a very novel concept, and a whole lot more.

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