Bikes & Big Ideas

• Best Bikes of the Century, Part 2

  In Part 2 of our series on the Best Bikes of the Century, Simon Stewart, David Golay, and Xan Marshland are back, plus Zack Henderson also joins them to dig into 16 more brands as they continue the hard work of trying to single out the best bikes from the last 25 years. Since they focused on many prominent brands from the early 2000s in Part 1, they take a closer look at newer brands, direct-to-consumer bike companies, plus a couple of OG ones, just to mix it up.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:Best Bikes of the Century SurveyBlister Craft CollectiveBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Pivot (0:59)Canyon (7:03)YT (12:59)Forbidden (16:44)Norco (22:02)Mondraker (27:16)Scott (33:06)Salsa (38:38)Orbea (43:33)Commencal (47:04)Transition (50:15)Evil (56:56)Devinci (59:55)Revel (1:02:13)Marin (1:05:31)Surly (1:12:01)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicGEAR:30Blister PodcastCRAFTED Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Best Bikes of the Century, Part 1

  Today, we’re kicking off a new series for Bikes and Big Ideas: we’re setting out to identify the best bikes of the 21st century from over 30 brands. We’ve done a similar series over on our Gear:30 podcast for skis, but that was easy compared to doing the same for bikes.Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll be hearing about our choices. We’re also including a survey, as we want to hear from you. Additionally, we’ll be sending the same survey to some bike industry luminaries, too.Once we've reviewed an array of brands, we’ll discuss how our selections align with your answers.And for our grand finale of this series, we’re going to offer our choices for the Very Best Bikes of the Century. It may seem like an impossible task, but we’re hoping we can agree on a top 10, maybe even a top 3, and if the stars align, one single bike. Or, we may never speak to each other again, but we’re willing to take that risk.Part 1 kicks off with Simon Stewart, David Golay, Dylan Wood, and Xan Marshland.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:Best Bikes of the Century SurveyBlister Craft CollectiveBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Yeti (1:58)Klein (8:20)GT (11:11)Turner (13:57)Titus (18:40)Intense (22:05)Ibis (23:41)Rocky Mountain (28:05)Kona (31:40)Giant (36:14)Santa Cruz (40:08)Cannondale (49:48)Specialized (54:28)Gary Fisher (1:05:25)Trek (1:08:36)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Reviewer Reports: Bikes Big & Small, Wet-Weather Gear, & More

  The days are getting short and the weather is turning foul, but we’re still testing a ton of new bikes and gear. David Golay and Zack Henderson sat down to discuss a bunch of it, including the very burly Priority Vanth, the super lively Propain Hugene, a bunch of wet-weather apparel, and more.RELATED LINKS:SennzaFinneBlister Craft CollectiveBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Wet weather gear (2:47)Propain Hugene (18:00)Priority Vanth (29:14)FSA KFX i28 XC/Trail wheels (40:05)MRP Lift V2 damper (46:31)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• The Future of Rampage & How to Fix It

  Since its inception in 2001, Red Bull Rampage has demanded athletes walk a fine line between risk and reward, and the unfortunate injuries that go with that have been numerous. But with four riders heli-evac’d with serious injuries, this year’s Rampage was arguably the heaviest we’ve seen, and has left us with many questions about how, and if, the event should continue. Shortly afterward, several of our reviewers weighed in with their thoughts in our “Debatable” series, which asked the question, “should Rampage be shut down?” Today, we continue that conversation with an open (and quite passionate) discussion on what we think needs to happen to make the event safer for the athletes, more transparent to the fans, and ideally better to watch, too.RELATED LINKS:Debatable: Should Rampage Be Shut DownBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideGet Our Free Newsletter & Gear GiveawaysBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Xan: The Venue (1:07)Dylan: Let the Athletes Course Correct (11:04)Simon: On-Site Medical Assessments (19:09)Zack: Expand the Event (28:34)David: Make it a Jam instead of a Comp (35:58)Jonathan: Increase Transparency, Cover Athletes (46:27)The Athlete's Decision (55:12)Our Consensus: Changes for Next Year (1:01:29)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Priority Bicycles on the High-Pivot, Belt-Drive, Gearbox Vanth Enduro Bike

  Priority Cycles may be a new brand to the full-suspension MTB world, but they’ve got a ton of experience building belt-drive, gearbox bikes — and now they’ve launched the Vanth, a remarkably affordable high-pivot Pinion gearbox-equipped Enduro bike. So, why did Priority decide to enter the full-suspension bike market now, how did they come up with the wild-looking Vanth design, and what makes the Vanth so much more affordable than most other full-suspension gearbox bikes? We dive into all that and much more with Eddie Meek of Priority and Mike Schwartz, who served as an engineering consultant on the project.RELATED LINKS:Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideGet Our Free Newsletter & Gear GiveawaysBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Eddie (3:20)The Priority brand (4:38)Introducing Mike (6:34)Why a high-pivot Enduro bike? (11:20)Other prototypes (16:01)Marketing the Vanth as a brand not known for MTBs (20:55)Belt vs. chain drive for a gearbox (27:53)The Vanth (38:10)Kinematic goals (45:00)Frame materials (51:43)Pricing & availability (56:45)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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