Avsnitt
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Intense is one of the oldest, boldest and storied frame brands in mountain biking. That said, it certainly hasn't been plain sailing for the Californian company. While their ever-present race teams have enjoyed success at world cups, with their race-focused approach providing clarity and intention, the brand's aims have been a bit harder to discern.
Regardless of whether it's the 951 deal with Costco, or a greater reliance on carbon manufacturing outside of the US, the brand is going back to its roots and putting the frame-first. As such, their new distribution model takes the same name, and looks to give riders greater freedom with how their bike rides, and their dealer network more agency and freedom when selling an Intense. Brian Park and Henry Quinney sat down with Jeff Steber, Mike Carr and John Hall to talk through the changes. -
How light is too light? And what does "instant engagement" really mean anyway?
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Dario, Kaz, and Henry gear up for another content tsunami.
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We round up this week's news and answer your questions.
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This week's podcast brings you Jessie-May, Dario, and Henry to talk through their Show-and-Tells and answer some of your questions.
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We used to fight over a degree, and now some bikes can offer a degree in either direction with a headset, 10mm on the chainstay, progression adjustment, and smaller geometry tweaks—all from the stock platform. But does this help or hinder the consumer's riding experience?
Dario, Daz, and Denry show us their current favorite parts of biking and discuss whether a bike can ever be too adjustable. -
Is oversharing a thing in mountain biking? Kaz, Dario, Henry and Matt talk about the ethics and considerations behind pirate trails. Plus, we cover EXT latest DH fork, a steering damper and the Slash+ before answer questions, giving terrible relationship advice and talk about whether the E13 Sidekick hub is a worthy investment.
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Last year we visited Specialized’s eMTB facility in Cham, Switzerland to ride some bikes and poke around their ebike innovation centre. We sat down with Jan Talavasek, Marco Sonderegger, and Joe Buckley, three of the key people behind eMTB development at Specialized, to talk about past, present, and future. We also got a special appearance from the venerable Marketing Todd, who swears Specialized is done making new bikes and that we should stop asking sneaky questions about future models.They had a lot to say, and we got a few tidbits out of them, so the pod runs a bit long. Alternatively, you can read the article + photos here. This was recorded before we'd figured out how to press the big red button to do video podcasts, but we'll be back soon with our regularly scheduled podcast.03:07 The Evolution of E-Bikes & the Development of the Turbo Levo14:58 The Shift in Perception of eMTBs30:52 Brand Equity & the Levo's Original Name33:51 The Swiss Office44:02 Future Developments in eMTBs50:20 Understanding E-Bike Performance Metrics56:51 The Impact of Market Timing01:00:00 Engineering for Performance, Legislation, & Consumer Safety01:12:04 Charging Technology and Battery Longevity01:15:59 Data-Driven Design and Testing01:24:02 Field Testing and Component Tracking
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In a special end-of-year podcast, Henry is joined by Kaz, Matt, and Dario to talk through the winners of each category, as well as explain the rationale behind the choices.
00:08:50 Value Product of the Year
00:14:31 Value Mountain Bike of the Year
00:25:16 E-MTB of the Year
00:45:13 Innovation of the Year
01:05:42 Suspension Product of the Year
01:22:01 Product of the Year
01:32:41 Mountain Bike of the Year -
After a whirlwind 2024 Season, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jordi Cortes of Fox Factory and Neko Mulally of Frameworks Racing to debrief on the latest tech, the incremental changes that riders are now making to maximize setup, and ask whether aftermarket performance devices are really worth it.
Have we got to the stage where it isn't about only setting up your suspension well, but rather setting up your bike to get the most out of your suspension? -
With eight different bikes and several pieces of supporting content, this Field Test has certainly been a big one. Now, it's time for its final piece - the Roundtable discussion, where we answer the ultimate question - how likely are we to recommend these bikes? And what would our order of preference be?
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When Greg Minnaar left the Santa Cruz Syndicate, it was about as big of a news story as you get in mountain bike racing. A rider who went against the very best of each generation, it was at one time impossible to think of him racing for anyone other than the Californian brand. One season later, to say he's landed on his feet would be an understatement. His 2024 racing season didn't unfold as he would have hoped, but he rounds out the year with a World Cup podium, fresh motivation, and a partnership with a brand he seems to be very well aligned with, even if now it's about helping other riders win, and not his own racing ambitions.
Brian and I caught up with him to talk about old bikes, blank chequebooks and the lucky number 13. - Visa fler
