The Pinkbike Podcast

With many top-tier racers changing teams or finding themselves without a sponsor for the coming year, this might be the silliest of silly seasons. We’ve seen Loris Vergier move to Trek, cross-country powerhouse Pauline Ferrand Prevot go to Absolute Absalon, Emily Batty leave Trek after forever, Zink off YT, and many other moves. Number 41 covers all the big team news, from racers to freeriders.

The Pinkbike Awards are our way of highlighting the people, performances, events, and gear that stood out to us over the previous twelve months. Categories include Mountain Bike of the Year, Value Mountain Bike of the Year, Suspension Product of the Year, Component of the Year, Value component of the Year, Innovation of the Year, and a bunch of others that we talk about in episode 40. We explain our nominations for each category, why we chose each winner, and answer your questions from the awards articles.

The end of the year means that it's time for us to make a bunch of predictions about what 2021 holds for mountain biking, from racing to sales to new gear and more. Will bikes continue to fly off showroom floors? Will Greg Minnaar win his 23rd World Cup and morph into an actual goat? Are we going to see new drivetrains at opposite price-points from SRAM and Shimano?

The end of the year means two things: it's time for a bunch of resolutions that definitely won't pan out, and every website doing a bunch of questionable best-of lists. And while our annual Pinkbike Awards are our official way of recognizing some of the year's most impressive products, people, and events, each editor also puts together a list of their personal favorites from the past twelve months. Thing is, we pretty much all disagree with each other, which brings us to the theme of today's podcast.

Ben Cathro had been part of our downhill coverage for multiple seasons prior to him officially joining the Pinkbike team as presenter and race correspondent, and 2020 saw the return of the Privateer video series with Cathro as the focus. But with Corona throwing a wrench into basically everything world-wide, Ben's season of World Cup racing didn't exactly go as planned. Closed borders, serious injuries, suspension testing, and double-header events on borrowed bikes that lead to a first-time podium all made it an unforgettable year.

How many enduro races did he win on the Altitude? What was the highest wheelie drop he did on the Norco Shore? Why the heck does the Propane Spindrift climb so well? How come he put the Nomad's Fox 38 on backward? And is the Trek Slash his favorite Halloween-themed enduro bike?

If you spend enough time in the forest, you’re bound to see or hear something that gives you the heebie-jeebies. Maybe it’s a set of eyes that followed you, or maybe you’re convinced that those eyes belong to a Bigfoot. And were those lights in the sky just a plane… or was it an alien mothership from Alpha Centauri? Today's podcast sees Mike Levy, Mike Kazimer, Brian Park, and special storytime guest Richard Cunningham talk about naked cyclists, plane crashes, car chases (RC, who knew?), a few AK47s, and unmarked helicopters patroling semi-abandoned rocket testing facilities.

Is the Salsa Blackthorn really just a purple all-mountain bike? How is the Stumpy even rideable without Horst Link suspension? Why didn't we get a Trance X to test without Fox's computer-controlled Live Valve suspension? Where does the new Mojo 4 excel? How was my bonspiel? Do the P-Train's steel tubes make any difference on the trail?

Find out how the contestants were chosen, the best moment that didn't make the final cut, the answer to the most-asked question in the comments, and more. As always, we also chatted about the latest mountain bike news, and answered a few listener questions.

Mountain biking is pretty great right now, but there's still a lot of room for improvement.

For episode 31 we turned our attention to some helpful hints for enjoying those cold and muddy rides.

Would you rather wheelie like Wyn Masters or corner like Bryn Atkinson? Ride anytime you want or have one perfect ride per week? Episode 30 will make you ponder some difficult choices that you're unlikely to ever have to make, but that doesn't make choosing any less difficult.

If you've been riding for a couple of decades or more, you might remember the golden days of freeriding where it seemed like new heights (and distances) were being reached each month. The days of shoprats playing New World Disorder 5 on repeat endlessly are long gone, but does that mean freeride is dead? Or maybe it's just slopestyle? Speaking of that, what's with Crankworx not including skinnies and teeter-totters on the course anymore? Only joking...

Inspired by our "Things We Were Wrong About" podcast, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages to different approaches that brands take to women's bikes. We also interviewed three of the industry's leading female marketers from three brands with very different approaches. We chatted with Kelli Emmett, the Brand Manager at Juliana Bicycles, Brook Hopper, the Global Marketing Manager at Liv Cycling, and Elorie Slater, the Marketing Manager at Pivot Cycles. All three came to cycling from different backgrounds and work for brands that have entirely different approaches to designing bikes and marketing to women, which made for an interesting conversation.

With everything delayed or outright canceled due to the pandemic, it's been a lean year for race fans. But when it rains, it... snows? The World Championships saw racers face some of the muddiest, trickiest conditions in years, with rain and snow turning the usual Leogang hardpack into a wild event for everyone. Episode 27 is all about the stripes, with us unpacking the weather, the gear, and the unexpected results.

While mountain biking doesn't have the long history that most mainstream sports can brag about, our gear-centric niche has seen plenty of notable and important mountain bikes over the years. What makes a bike important? Well, that's up for debate, which is exactly what we do in episode 26.

The trail-ish category that I'll be on includes Giant's Live Valve-equipped Trance X Pro Advanced, Salsa's very purple Blackthorn, Ibis' fourth-generation Mojo, Actofive's P-Trail for a wildcard, and another soon-to-be-released machine. On the enduro front, mikekazimer has got himself Trek's new Slash and Rocky Mountain's new Altitude, Propain's big-travel Spindrift, Kavenz's high-pivot machine, and two more mystery bikes that you'll find out about in a few weeks.

If you've spent any time on a proper downhill bike, you'll know why we love 'em. All that suspension, traction, and geometry, combined with more reliable components, can turn seriously scary terrain into a good time, and any downhill bike on the market can make you feel like a World Cup pro. So how come we're wondering why you'd buy one?

The Grim Donut's conception was equal parts tongue-in-cheek and genuine curiosity, but we never thought it'd actually work. Fine, it doesn't work everywhere, but if you watched the video, you'll know that it certainly seems to work well when pointed down some steep, fast terrain. In timed testing, ex-EWS racer and full-time maniac Yoann Barelli went six-seconds quicker on the Donut over just two-minutes; that's a massive improvement in this world. Oh, and that was also his first time on the bike. And the chain jammed off halfway down

We've all got a buddy or two who seem to depend on nothing more than luck to hold it together, be it their life or most of their rides. They usually pull it off somehow, but 'disaster pending' is probably the best way to describe, well, most things about them.

We weren't there when a teenaged Mike Kazimer said, ''Disc brakes won't ever be a thing,'' but we can certainly remember working on some examples that made us appreciate the power and reliability of V-brakes, as crazy as that sounds. Speaking of questionable choices, it sounds like Sarah Moore still wants to use her Shimano Dual Control shift/brake levers, and Levy once preferred old-school geometry.

While Levy would have loved to talk about Bob Lazar, tic-tac UAPs, and strange US military patents, Kazimer insisted on keeping it about bikes. So, is there really a derailleur cabal? And what about all those so-called "spy shots" that sure seem staged? Does Pinkbike really have a stake in Scribd? And are bike companies planning to screw you over with hub spacing?

There isn’t a ton of hardtail content on Pinkbike, but that doesn't mean we've completely forgotten about them, especially as we're aiming to put more time and effort towards value-minded bikes and products in the future. After all, ditching rear-suspension is a sure-fire way to save some big coin. Of course, there are more reasons to ride a hardtail than the price tag, as anyone who spends all their time on one might tell you...

No, we're not talking e-bikes today. On the long list of topics that we riders seem to have strong, heartfelt opinions about, electronic components probably sit closer to the top than the bottom. Especially when that new battery-powered thingy costs four times as much as the battery-less thingy you already have that does the job just fine. Hmm, so what's the point?

We're only halfway through our cross-country Field Test series, but this week's podcast is all about exactly that. Sarah and Levy answer a bunch of questions about our nine bikes, including favorites and least favorites, surprises, and whether we've changed our minds about the future of cross-country bikes. Warning: plenty of spoilers in this one.

Is there anyone in the cycling universe that you'd call a hero? What about someone you looked up to and took inspiration from? Kazimer, Brian, James, and Levy talk about who they look up to from the mountain bike world.

Modern bikes are better than ever, but that doesn't mean there's no more room for improvement. In this episode, Brian Park, Christina Chappetta, James Smurthwaite and Kazimer discuss what could be changed to make mountain bikes, and the sport as a whole, even better. Grippy tires that don't go flat, inexpensive bikes with good geometry, investment from larger corporations, and building a more supportive, inclusive riding community were just a few of the suggestion that came up.

In case it wasn't already obvious, mountain bike editors have it very, very good. We at Pinkbike, along with a relatively small group of equally spoiled people around the globe, get to ride and write about the latest and most interesting mountain bikes. A lot of them cost more than anyone in their right mind would ever spend on a bicycle, but a lot of us aren't in our right minds, are we? Halo-level bikes with five-digit price tags are often what brands prefer to send us to be reviewed - they don't want a set of inexpensive, troublesome brakes or low-end wheels dragging their frame down that's been in development for the last two years - but the more sensible out there understand that you usually get diminishing returns after a certain price point. Beginning with the idea of assembling a capable, reasonably priced trail bike for our needs, Episode 14 of the Pinkbike Podcast sees Kazimer, James, and myself talking about what'd we'd purchase with our own limited funds.

Did you see that so-and-so released a brand new bike? It has some pivots, a shock, and even comes with geometry. Wheels, too! You can get it in that low-key color that everyone's sure to be a fan of, and I can pretty much guarantee that it'll easily outperform anything that wasn't made within the last couple of years. Wind back the clock a decade or two and magazines were showing us a future that would surely be full of wild machines; two-shock suspension designs, CVT transmissions, carbon leaf springs, and who knows what else?

Our dozenenth episode is all about hallowed ground: The local bike shop. With over thirty years of shop experience between us, Brian, Kazimer, Jimmy-James, and I look back at what our local shops meant to us during the grom-years, recount some of our most memorable customers and stories, and really embrace that ''back in the good ol' days'' vibe.

With the heavily revised schedule running from late summer through early fall, will 2020 be known as the muddiest World Cup season ever? Will the condensed, all-European calendar throw up any unexpected curveballs?

If there's more than one way to skin a cat then there's more than 1000 ways to set up a bike. Is Levy's rebound too slow? Are Kaz's brake levers too high? The answer is probably.

Last week's show looked at Trek's experiments with both 32" and 36" diameter hoops, a topic that was always going to rustle people's knee pads but also one that, given they're one of the largest bike companies in the world, can't be ignored. That said, how about we don't talk about wheel sizes, and especially new, weird wheel sizes, for a little while? Something else that can't be ignored is the host of all-new cross-country and short-travel shredders debuting for 2020, many spurred on by this being an Olympic year. Well, it was supposed to be an Olympic year...

The idea of a new, larger diameter wheel standard will have many people reaching for their pitchforks and the caps lock key, but what if there's a good argument to be made for a 32" wheel? Or even a 36er?

Whether you're a lifelong shop mechanic, a diehard DIYer, or still looking for that left-handed 5mm hex key, many of us enjoy working on our bikes nearly as much as riding them. That all begins with the basic skills needed to get yourself out of the forest, like fixing a flat tire or repairing a chain. From there, maybe you learned how to adjust your shifting, bolted on a new handlebar, or had a set of ISCG tabs welded onto your frame before you faced the bottom bracket shell back down to accept a modified Hammerschmidt crankset that's controlled by a fork lockout lever that you mounted on the underside of the bike's top tube like a suicide shifter... No?

If you're in the market for a new mountain bike, one of the first things you need to figure out is how much bike you nee... Want. Are you the type who sees no downsides to pedalling a relatively long-travel, heavier machine around all day, even if it's "too much bike" for the terrain? Or are you the opposite, preferring a relatively light-duty machine that might be more exciting to ride, even if you're going slower down the sketchy stuff? It's the old under-biked versus over-biked argument for episode six, with Kazimer and Levy looking at the situation from completely different angles. Of course.

Can you trust bike reviews? The short answer: Yes. But also no. It depends. We look at the different types of reviews out there, talk about how we like to do our reviews, and some of their shortcomings. And we can't do any of that without getting into biases (we've all got 'em), embargos (review tomorrow!), and some tips on making sense of it all.

What defines a trail bike? Travel? Geometry? Acronyms? Levy, Kazimer, Brian, and James get together and try to determine what exactly a trail bike is.

Trade shows are being cancelled left and right so we decided to round up all the latest and greatest product and have our own virtual trade show. New suspension, drivetrains, apparel, and more! Welcome to the Pond Beaver special.

Ever since the release of the Grim Donut you guys have been hounding us for part 2 so we're here to pull back the curtain and explain what's up with the monstrosity we created. We also have James Smurthwaite on air with us to discuss all the big news stories from the week. Trust ceasing operations, a new AXS app, and more.

Normally the spring is a hectic time in the mountain bike media world—endless travel for trade shows and races and press camps. But this year is different, and we're all staying close to home. So, just like every other group of cooped up millennials, we're kicking off a podcast. Hosted by Mike Levy and featuring a rotating cast of the Pinkbike editorial team and other guests, the Pinkbike Podcast is a weekly update on all the latest stories from around the world of mountain biking, as well as some frank discussion about tech, racing, and everything in between. That said, we're all sick of hearing about Coronavirus, so for this first episode we're skipping the news and kicking things off by jumping straight into a discussion about value bikes. What did we learn from our value bike Field Trip? Why are bikes so expensive? Where should product managers be putting their resources? What are the best parts to upgrade?