BLISTER — Outdoor Gear Reviews, Podcasts, Buyer’s Guides, Giveaways

BLISTER Gear Reviews, Podcasts, & Articles

David Golay reviews the SRAM Maven Brakes for Blister

SRAM Maven Brakes

Mountain bike brakes have been creeping up in power in recent years, but SRAM’s claim that their new Maven brakes best their longstanding Codes by *50%* is still pretty wild. But it takes a lot more than just raw power to make a good brake, and after spending six months on the Maven Ultimates, we’re ready to weigh in on how well SRAM has done.

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David Golay and Zack Henderson review the Formula Belva for Blister

Formula Belva Fork

The Formula Belva is one of the only dual-crown Enduro forks available — so is there a good reason for that? Check out our Full Review to see what we thought after a few months with this uncommon Italian fork.

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Luke Koppa reviews the Arc’teryx Cormac Arc’Word Shirt LS for BLISTER.

Stuff We Like: July 2024

This month’s edition of our Stuff We Like series includes everything from casual shirts to hydration solutions, bike tools to deceptively-technical sunglasses, and a whole lot more.

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David Golay and Zack Henderson review the Deviate Highlander II for Blister

Deep Dive: Deviate Highlander II

We compare the Deviate Highlander II to the Norco Sight, Norco Optic, Kavenz VHP 16, REEB Steezl, Trek Fuel EX, Ibis Ripmo V2S, We Are One Arrival 152, and Santa Cruz Bronson.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

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David Golay and Zack Henderson review the Deviate Highlander II for Blister

Deviate Highlander II

High-pivot Trail bikes are becoming increasingly common, but Deviate was way ahead of the curve there — so how does their Highlander II ride? We’ve spent several months on it, and the results have been both surprising and impressive.

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David Golay reviews the Specialized Status 2 170 for Blister

Flash Review — Specialized Status 2 170

The original Specialized Status was a super-popular, quite affordable park / freeride / do-it-all bike — so the new one has some big shoes to fill. Check out our early impressions of how it fares.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

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Helping Everyone ‘Go’ Outside w/ Gnara (Ep.306)

Helping Everyone ‘Go’ Outside w/ Gnara (Ep.306)

Pants weren’t originally designed for female anatomy, and that creates problems for a lot of people in a lot of different scenarios – from climbing with a harness to peeing at a festival. Gnara, with their patented “GoFly Technology,” has been working to address this overlooked issue for the past several years, and we talk to their co-founder, Georgia Grace Edwards, about all the work that’s gone into solving this problem and the impact it has had.

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Zack Henderson reviews the Trek Slash+

Flash Review — Trek Slash+

The Trek Slash+ merges a lightweight TQ motor with the high pivot design used on the regular Slash. Those two elements alone imply a burly ride, but is there more to the story? Check out our impressions from a few initial rides.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

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BLISTER Reviews, Podcasts, & Articles:

BLISTER — Outdoor Gear Reviews, Podcasts, Buyer’s Guides, Giveaways

Making Skis in a Ski Town | 2025 Romp Ski Lineup | Blister Summit Video

Few ski companies make their skis as close to the slopes as Romp, and at Blister Summit 2024, we sat down with Romp’s Eligh Purvis to discuss the ins and outs of operating a ski factory in Crested Butte, CO; Romp’s fully custom vs. “Romp Ready” ski options; some new models they rolled out for the 24/25 season, and more.

David Golay reviews the Schwalbe Radial Tire Casings + New Albert & Shredda Tires for Blister

Flash Review — Schwalbe Albert Tires

Schwalbe says that their new radial casing tires offer a very different feel from more conventional tire constructions, and we’ve started to put those claims to the test. Here are our early impressions.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

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David Golay reviews the Schwalbe Radial Tire Casings + New Albert & Shredda Tires for Blister

Schwalbe Radial Tire Casings + New Albert & Shredda Tires

Schwalbe has added a couple of new tires to their mountain bike lineup, and they debuted a new radial casing construction that they’re making some very big — and very intriguing — claims about. Check out what they’ve come up with.

Blister reviews the Kavenz VHP G2

Kavenz VHP G2

The Kavenz VHP G2 takes their latest VHP V7 design and adapts it to a gearbox application, with broad compatibility across Pinion and Effigear systems. We’ve walked through Kavenz’s latest creation in our First Look.

'Deeper' w/ Jeremy Jones & Jonathan Ellsworth (Ep.25)

‘Deeper’ w/ Jeremy Jones & Jonathan Ellsworth (Ep.25)

Jeremy Jones & Jonathan Ellsworth revisit the 2010 film, Deeper, which Jeremy calls the most important movie of his snowboarding career — which is saying something, coming from a guy who was named snowboarder of the year 10 times, and a guy that’s starred in over 100 films.

Blister reviews the Santa Cruz Vala

Santa Cruz Vala

Santa Cruz’s new Vala brings a full-power Bosch motor to the Santa Cruz lineup, but the biggest surprise here is perhaps the move away from VPP toward a more typical four-bar suspension layout. There’s a lot more to the Vala though, so join us as we walk through the details.

BLISTER — Outdoor Gear Reviews, Podcasts, Buyer’s Guides, Giveaways

Stuff We Like: September 2024

This edition of our ‘Stuff We Like’ series is all about apparel — from ultralight rain shells to versatile baselayers, cozy insulators, bike shorts, and much more. Check it out to learn more about the standout products our reviewers have been testing.

Blister reviews the Ohlins DH38 & RXF38 Coil Spring Kits

Flash Review — Ohlins RXF38 m.2 Coil Kit

Ohlins’ Coil Spring Kit is easy to install, doesn’t add too much weight, and, unlike kits for other forks, still allows you to go back to an air spring later. So, what’s it like to ride? We have some initial thoughts in our Flash Review.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you’re already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)