Bikes & Big Ideas Podcast
Conversations with the pro riders, product designers, & others who are shaping the sport and bike culture.
Recent Episodes:
EXT is updating their (already impressive) Storia and Arma rear shocks, so we sat down with their founder, Franco Fratton, to hear all about the new dampers; the potential for truly “active” suspension...
Air- and coil-sprung rear shocks have been used on mountain bikes for decades, but Cane Creek’s “air-charged coil” Tigon shock is a novel concept. So we sat down with Will Hart from Cane Creek to hear...
We’ve been testing a huge spectrum of bikes — from Gravel to Enduro — plus a bunch of new tires, suspension, and more. Simon Stewart and David Golay sat down to talk about all of it, recap the World Cup...
High-end metal bikes are having a resurgence, and we sat down with Daniel Yang and Nick Neuhaus of Neuhaus Metalworks to talk about why; hear their takes on frame design and size-specific geometry; discuss...
Simon Stewart is joined by special guest host Mike Ferrentino to talk about Kona’s Sea Otter debacle and the state of the industry more broadly; the start of XC World Cup season; new XC race bikes being...
Norco hasn’t been shy about the fact that they’re working on a new DH race bike, and we sat down with Norco engineers Adrian Ward and Kirk McDowall to hear all about it.
It’s been an insanely busy last few weeks for new bike launches, and we’ve been riding a whole lot of them. We sat down to chat about our early impressions of a *lot* of new bikes, from the Specialized...
In their third installment of Reviewing The News, Ryan and Simon get into: the slopestyle strike; Scott’s apparent management instability; riding in Tuscany; some reflections on how we ever rode without...
Brook Macdonald’s return to racing World Cup DH after breaking his back at Mont Sainte Anne in 2019 was nothing short of remarkable, but the last few race seasons have still been difficult ones for Brook....
Georgia Astle’s path to freeride stardom was an unconventional one — she didn't bike much growing up, despite living in Whistler — and it’s given her an interesting perspective on the state of the sport,...
Dakotah Norton is one of the most decorated American DH racers in recent years, and we sat down with him to chat about his 2023 season, including his rocky start and strong finish to it; moving to Mondraker...
Sarah Sturm’s path to gravel-racing stardom was unconventional, and her telling of the story is highly entertaining. So we sat down with Sarah to hear all about it, and chat about taking on new challenges;...
Ryan Palmer and Simon Stewart are back for another episode of Reviewing The News and there’s plenty to talk about: Kyle and Rachael Strait’s possible new bike sponsor; Red Bull Hardline in Tasmania; brake...
Norco has a long history with high-pivot bikes, but the switch to that layout on their new Optic and Sight still came as a surprise. So we sat down with Norco engineer, Colin Ryan, to hear all about the...
Ed Masters is back on Bikes & Big Ideas to talk about his 2023 season, the upcoming Tasmanian iteration of Hardline, the 2024 race landscape, the state of pro-level Enduro, and a whole lot more.
Designing a new MTB tire from scratch is a lot of work. Doing 5 at once is a massive undertaking — but Continental did just that with their updated gravity tire lineup. We sat down with Continental product...
David Golay and Zack Henderson give their early impressions on a bunch of bikes they’ve been testing lately, including the wild Nicolai Nucleon Supre Drive, Ibis HD6, and Chromag Lowdown.
We’re expanding our Reviewing the News podcast series to Bikes & Big Ideas, and in this inaugural episode, hosts Simon Stewart and Ryan Palmer kick things off by discussing Greg Minnaar leaving Santa Cruz,...
Rónán Dunne is on a meteoric rise through the World Cup Downhill ranks, and he’ll look to continue that on the newly formed Mondraker Factory Racing team. We sat down with Rónán to chat about leaving Nukeproof...
Night riding is a lot of fun, and often the only way for many folks to find time to get out in the darker winter months. We sat down with Outbound Lighting’s Tom Place to chat about light design, how they...