Bikes & Big Ideas

A lot of recently updated bikes have felt like relatively subtle refinements of their predecessors, but there are also a bunch of brands still taking big swings. The new Yeti LT, Orbea Rallon, and Devinci Spartan are all very, very different from the bikes they replaced, and we’ve been testing all of them.

So David Golay sat down with Xan Marshland to offer up some thoughts on this new crop of long-travel bruisers, discuss some of the shorter-travel rigs they’ve been testing — across a vast range of price points — and get into some bigger picture discussions about the direction of the bike industry and mountain bike design along the way.

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TOPICS & TIMES:
Ibis Ripley AF (1:18)
Specialized Epic 9 (11:57)
Revel Ranger V3 (18:06)
Yeti LT (24:16)
Orbea Rallon (36:16)
Devinci Spartan (47:13)
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PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings are more than just a list of which cities have the best bike paths; they are a comprehensive look at how a city manages bike infrastructure, and have become a tool cities use to identify areas needing improvement, and a valuable resource for for individuals interested in advocating for change in their own communities.

City Ratings is a massive undertaking, so we sat down with PeopleForBikes’ Martina Haggerty and Grace Stonecipher to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into producing them and how they’re reshaping the ways some cities approach bike infrastructure.

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TOPICS & TIMES:
Who Are PeopleForBikes and What They Do (0:38)
Why & How City Ratings Got Started (2:20)
How Many Cities are Included (3:41)
City Ratings Methodology (4:10)
Best Cities (11:12)
Pushback? (13:03)
How to get involved to help your city become more bike-friendly (18:04)
Biggest Challenges (21:43)
International Cities (24:35)
Ebike considerations? (26:36)
Next year’s ratings (28:28)
What advice can you offer a city to help improve its score? (29:27)
Other PFB Initiatives (30:25)
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After 22 years, Cam McCaul and Trek parted ways, leading to a new partnership with Revel Bikes, so Simon caught up with his old friend Cam to get the inside story on how his new Partnership with Revel came to be.

And it’s not all bike and sponsor talk. Fans of Red Bull Rampage have been listening to Cam’s commentary for years, and today he also talks about how hard it was being on the mic when Adolf Silva got injured, what he thinks about the future of Rampage, and much more.
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TOPICS & TIMES:
Cam & Simon’s Elevator Show (3:27)
Signing with Revel (6:09)
Cam’s Take on MTB Design (16:46)
Broadcasting (19:59)
Kissing the Blarney Stone (21:21)
Stunt Work (24:10)
Adolf Silva’s Rampage Injury (36:34)
The Future of Rampage (42:34)
Worst Injury (47:42)
What Gets Cam Fired About Bikes? (51:23)
Cam’s Music Recs (1:00:10)
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Hunt Bike Wheels has been building durable, affordable wheels since 2015, so Simon caught up with their Brand Manager, James Stokoe, to talk about about their early days based in a garage, their first gravel wheels, moving into the MTB market, rider-focused engineering, why wheels make the most sense when upgrading a new bike, some highly entertaining stories from James, and more.
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Hunt Bike Wheels
TOPICS & TIMES:
Hunt’s History (3:41)
First Gravel Wheels (8:36)
The move into MTB Wheels (13:31)
Rider-Focused Engineering Approach (15:40)
Aluminum & Carbon Wheels (20:01)
Hub Design (27:40)
Why Durability is so Important (35:08)
Hunt’s Customer Service (45:07)
Upcoming events for Hunt (52:29)
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In the midst of some of the most dangerous fire conditions ever seen in the American West, Mike and Simon discuss wildfire prevention and what the different levels of fire restrictions mean.

From the bike industry, there's the shocking news from Cannonale to shutter their factory racing program next year, SRAM’s plan to build a massive factory in Portugal, and Mike gives a heartfelt tribute to the late Charlie Cunningham.

The World Cup DH and XC stop in Lenzerheide delivered exciting racing, giving Mike and Simon plenty to get fired up about, and with the La Thuile World Cup right around the corner, they offer up some predictions, too.
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Mike’s The Grimy Handshake Substack
TOPICS & TIMES:
Monarch Crest Ride (1:24)
Wildfire Prevention & Fire Restrictions (7:18)
Tribute to Charlie Cunningham (19:30)
Cannondale Shutting Down Factory Racing Program (23:00)
New SRAM Factory in Portugal (28:00)
Overlanding E-Bikes (30:31)
Lenzerheide World Cup Recap (39:39)
La Thuile World Cup Predictions (49:57)
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