Starling Cycles on Simplicity, Design, & Building Bikes in a Shed (Ep.105)

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Starling Cycles have made a name for themselves building simple, elegant steel single-pivot bikes, and this week on Bikes & Big Ideas, we sat down with founder Joe McEwan to talk about going from working on aerospace composites to building metal bikes, his thoughts on bike design — including why simpler is often better — and a whole lot more.
Joe McEwan with the Starling Murmur Frame
Starling Cycles have made a name for themselves building simple, elegant steel single-pivot bikes, and this week on Bikes & Big Ideas, we sat down with founder Joe McEwan to talk about going from working on aerospace composites to building metal bikes, his thoughts on bike design — including why simpler is often better — and a whole lot more.
Starling Thermoplastic Carbon Fiber E-Bike Prototype
Starling Cycles have made a name for themselves building simple, elegant steel single-pivot bikes, and this week on Bikes & Big Ideas, we sat down with founder Joe McEwan to talk about going from working on aerospace composites to building metal bikes, his thoughts on bike design — including why simpler is often better — and a whole lot more.
Starling Swoop
Starling Cycles have made a name for themselves building simple, elegant steel single-pivot bikes, and this week on Bikes & Big Ideas, we sat down with founder Joe McEwan to talk about going from working on aerospace composites to building metal bikes, his thoughts on bike design — including why simpler is often better — and a whole lot more.
Starling Murmur Stainless

Blister Outdoor Gear review Crested Butte

Joe McEwan had a career as an aerospace engineer working with composites, but when he started building bikes, steel was his material of choice. So we sat down with the founder of Starling Cycles to get his take on frame materials, and why steel is an under-appreciated one; why single-pivots can ride really well; go really deep on the tradeoffs between wheel sizes, & why mullets maybe aren’t the best of all worlds; and a whole lot more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

  • Joe’s background as an aerospace engineer to founding Starling & building bikes in a shed (1:32)
  • Why steel? (7:56)
  • Single pivots & suspension kinematics (12:26)
  • Starling’s “Core” lineup (20:43)
  • Wheel sizes & tradeoffs (24:31)
  • Starling’s “Rare” lineup (33:48)
  • Carbon e-bike prototype (43:11)
  • Joe’s Big Idea (48:14)

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