Bikes & Big Ideas

Coming straight to Crested Butte after an amazing World Cup season finale, Claudio Caluori sits down with Jonathan Ellsworth in BLISTER HQ to recap this incredible World Cup Downhill season; discuss whether this was the best WC DH season ever; talk about Loic Bruni and Amaury Pierron’s epic battle; and frame Danny Hart’s season. Claudio also offers his biggest takeaways from the men’s and women’s...

What do politics, religion, and e-Bikes have in common? They’re all topics that get people extremely worked up, often result in name calling, and are rarely productive. And this needs to change, because e-Bikes are not going away, so we need to figure out fast how to have more constructive conversations about e-bikes — and, in particular e- mountain bikes. To this end, we’re talking today to Dave...

For many of us, bikes are primarily fun . But for many others, bikes are major drivers of economic development, critical sources of transportation and health care, vehicles of educational opportunity, and instruments of equality. World Bicycle Relief was started by the founder of SRAM to provide bikes to some of the communities around the world that could use them the most, and in today’s conversa...

Sometimes, “different” is better. Other times, it’s just dumb. So today we’re discussing a number of very unconventional bike products and asking: Why does this product exist; what problem is it trying to solve; who is its target audience; and … is the product more likely to become the next big thing, or, is it more likely destined for the dustbin of history? Jonathan Ellsworth talks to Blister’s...

Anthill Films recently released their latest movie, Return to Earth , and it once again displays the sick cinematography and sick bike riding that Anthill is known for. But in Return to Earth, the guys who brought us breathtaking bike films like unReal are going after some bigger stakes. So we talk to Anthill’s Darcy Wittenberg and Ian Dunn about those stakes; the origins & early days of Anthi...

We talk to Dave Wiens about skiing with Doug Coombs; participating in the early days of mountain biking; winning the Leadville 100 six times in a row — while beating Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong along the way; and we get a fresh update from Dave on the current agenda and plans of the International Mountain Bike Association. TOPICS & TIMES: Dave’s background in adventure sports (1:58) Extre...

How do you square the fact that a small bike company with a very heavy-metal vibe is making extremely big claims about the cutting-edge materials they are using to manufacture bikes — right here in the USA, in Denver, CO — and doing all of this at a pretty modest price point? Are these guys full of crap, or are they truly onto something here? And if so, how big of a deal is this? Jonathan Ellswort...

We talk with BLISTER senior bike editor, Noah Bodman, about Guerrilla Gravity’s modular designs; the emerging category of ‘Downcountry’ Bikes; whether ‘mullet bikes’ are just a fad; and whether the lingo used to market and sell bikes is in need of a refresh. TOPICS & TIMES: Guerrilla Gravity’s modular design (1:55) Downcountry Bikes (8:27) Which bike categories are shrinking? (15:20) Mullet Bi...

We talk to Bikes & Big Ideas co-host, Claudio Caluori , about the origin story of this podcast; his background in XC & DH racing, how Velosolutions got started, experiments with food & diet; the #pumpforpeace project, and more. TOPICS & TIMES: Biggest takeaway from the World Cup in Maribor (2:16) Origin story of Bikes & Big Ideas (4:00) Claudio’s background in XC & DH racin...

BIKES & BIG IDEAS is the new podcast from BLISTER that will be focusing on both of those things — bikes AND big ideas. The bike world is full of a lot of smart and fascinating people who are really passionate about bikes. But so many in our community are also really passionate about protecting and being good stewards of the places we love to ride, and finding ways to create a more sustainable...