Bikes & Big Ideas

The long-travel single-crown fork landscape has shifted a ton since Manitou unveiled the original Mezzer in 2019, and the new second-generation version has seen a lot of changes to better match modern bikes — including splitting the lineup into the standard Mezzer and the beefier Mezzer LT. Both get a host of intriguing performance-oriented changes, too, so we brought Manitou Product Manager Phil Ott back on the show to discuss them, and tell the development story of the new forks.
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RELATED LINKS:
Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide
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TOPICS & TIMES:
Goals for the Updated Mezzer (2:29)
Versions & Splitting the Lineup (4:39)
Chassis Stiffness & Friction (8:50)
Dropouts & Alignment (21:41)
Spring Design (28:14)
Damper (35:42)
Adding High-Speed Rebound Adjuster (42:20)
Compression Damping (47:35)
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Blister Cinematic
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Spot’s Ryan Palmer and Simon Stewart have been talking about bikes for years, so when Spot dropped their new Diggity 125 Trail bike, Simon quickly wound him up for a chat. Ryan shares details about their design decisions, why Spot’s Living Link suspension layout gives them more kinematic control throughout the travel, their interesting take on size-specific chainstay length, the lightweight Trail bike trend, and a whole lot more.
Note: We Want to Hear From You!
Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected]
RELATED LINKS:
Spot Bikes
Outerbike
Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide
BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered
TOPICS & TIMES:
What’s With the Name Diggity? (2:40)
What Were the Design Goals? (8:13)
How Did You Land on 125 mm? (13:06)
How Important was Weight? (14:35)
Why it's More Than a Shorter Travel Mayhem 140 (23:17)
Geometry (29:43)
Spot’s Take on Size-Specific Chainstays (32:44)
Where Can You Ride One (50:47)
Spot’s 30 Day Return Guarantee (53:15)
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Gravel Hall of Famer Yuri Hauswald is coming out of retirement at age 55 to raise money for the Life Time Foundation by racing the Unbound Gravel 200, a race he won over a decade ago. Tune in to find out why he’s starting dead last, what’s changed in his training approach, his bike setup, and why he’s passionate about kids’ charities, plus some bonus gravel tips & tricks for one of the most challenging gravel races in the world, by one of the best to ever do it. Don’t miss this one.
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Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected]
RELATED LINKS:
Donate to Chase The Race with Yuri Hauswald
Lifetime Foundation
Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide
BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered
TOPICS & TIMES:
Specialized’s Ride to Vegas (1:18)
Yuri’s Bike Racing History (3:13)
Winning the Unbound 200 in 2015 (5:35)
Why Come out of Retirement to Race it Again (9:23)
Why Emporia Kansas Changed Yuri’s Like (11:53)
Training & Fundraising (18:37)
Having a Coach and Fueling (26:43)
What the Hell is a Mud Stick (30:21)
Yuri’s Unbound Gravel 200 Tips & Tricks (33:16)
Bike Setup & Tire Choice (41:47)
How Can We Find You in the Race (46:52)
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Blister Cinematic
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Mike and Simon unpack the first DH and XC World Cup of the season, and there’s a whole lot to talk about, including course drama, fast Frenchies, DH hardtails, belt drives, tons of flats, just as many crashes, and Vali Holl and Asa Vermette's insane winning runs, not to mention the XC race mudfest the day after. Plus, we sprinkle in a bit of industry news, and Mike lays out his plan to make poison oak pepper spray.
Note: We Want to Hear From You!
Please let us know if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover or a guest you’d like us to have on Bikes and Big Ideas. Email us at [email protected] to weigh in.
RELATED LINKS:
Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide
Get Our Free Newsletter & Gear Giveaways
BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered
Mike’s The Grimy Handshake Substack
TOPICS & TIMES:
Air Travel & Spirit Airlines (2:36)
Mike’s Poison Oak Spray (13:20)
The 1st World Cup DH of the Season (17:00)
Course Drama (30:56)
Asa Veremette has Arrived (31:37)
Women’s Elite (34:52)
Vali Holl’s Run (39:18)
The XC Race Mudder (43:18)
Mike’s Sea Otter Recap (50:21)
The Evolving eMTB Landscape (57:44)
Another Surron Parent Charged (1:08:15)
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Hannah Otto has been reeling off an impressive streak of mountain biking FKTs over the past few years, and now she’s added a road bike one to the list: the 14,000’ climb up Mauna Kea, Hawai’i. So we brought Hannah back on the show to tell the story behind the effort, discuss the differences in FKT culture across disciplines, and a whole lot more.
Note: We Want to Hear From You!
Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected]
RELATED LINKS:
Hannah on the Whole Enchilada FKT (Ep.143)
Hannah on the Kokopelli Trail FKT (Ep.232)
‘Chasing the Triple Crown’ (Blister Cinematic Ep.49)
Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s Guide
BLISTER+ Get Yourself Covered
TOPICS & TIMES:
Taking on Mauna Kea (2:17)
The route & elevation profile (6:43)
Choosing which FKT to attempt (10:11)
The Mauna Kea FKT history (13:15)
Weather concerns (14:41)
Pre-riding & prep (18:59)
Pacing & power numbers (25:08)
The turn & getting back on pace (28:25)
Bike setup (33:06)
Road vs. MTB FKT culture (35:13)
Training on a road bike as a MTB / gravel racer (47:17)
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:
Blister Cinematic
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Blister Podcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.