The Inside Line Podcast - Vital MTB

We’ve been minimally interested in the 32-inch wheel topic. It was more fun to hypothesize what they’d ride like when it was a distant rumor. Now that Maxxis has 32-inch tires you can buy , and many brands are currently developing literal wagon wheel models, we don’t know how to feel. Luckily, we tagged in Maxxis Brand Manager, Aaron Chamberlain, to fill us in on the impetus of the 32-inch revolut...

Happy New Year errybody! In this episode, we go through the components, places to ride, and habits Vital users listed as their favorites in 2025. We then touch on what we enjoyed in 2025 and what we are looking forward to in the year ahead. Shoutout to Vital user Ervan for starting the forum thread “2025: Things I loved this year” and giving us the idea for this week's podcast. Read the forum...

The news of Aaron Gwin making a new home on Frameworks TRP yesterday left a lot of unanswered questions. Thankfully the man himself was down for a candid chat to discuss his new future. Cover photo by Callie Horwath Topics 0:00 - Intro and What About Crestline? 9:34 - History with Neko 12:26 - How Can Frameworks Afford Gwin? 15:38 - Does Gwin Have to Race Now? 19:14 - Dealing with So Many Product...

0:00 - Aaron Gwin 8:16 - James McAllister 16:05 - Neko Mulally As the 2026 downhill mountain bike season dawns, Frameworks TRP Racing announces that #USDH superstar, Aaron Gwin will join the team. Aaron, multi-time World Cup-winning downhiller, ran his own team, Gwin Racing, aboard Crestline bikes in 2024 and 2025. The change to Frameworks means a focus on racing, rather than team management, as G...

After an exciting two years with Mondraker Factory Racing, our guy Dak has moved to Scott DH Factory and signed a three-year deal. So naturally, we had to podcast about it. We wanted all the details on what prompted his departure from Mondraker, what attracted him to Scott, his goals and expectations for the upcoming season now that he's mostly recovered from his injury, and most importantly:...

We have a very special, and probably tear-and-laugh filled episode of The Inside Line as we catch back up with Colin Meagher, all-around nice guy, incredible, storied mountain bike photographer and man dealing with the late stages of ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Since Colin’s symptoms have progressed so strongly, he’s not really able to speak, so we have a gaggle of his best buds in Seattle to hel...

Electric mountain bikes. Either you love ‘em, or think they’re wack. Granted, the latter opinion has been losing steam as more brands release good e-bikes, and more riders toss a leg over one. They’re the talk of our industry and are one of the few, if not the only, segments of bikes experiencing significant change year after year. In this show, Vital’s own Jason Schroeder and Shawn Spomer, along...

In this special edition of the Inside Line podcast, Jeff Brines interviews Sam Nicols, the former CEO of YT Industries from 2021 to 2024, exploring his journey from a career at Amazon to leading a prominent bike company during tumultuous times.  He reflects on his experiences as CEO of YT Industries, discussing the challenges faced in the bike industry, particularly around demand fluctuations, inv...

In episode 2 of Bikes: Unaffiliated, Jason Schroeder, Lars Sternberg and Shawn Spomer discuss the evolution of mountain bike technology, focusing on the durability of bikes and components. They explore the expectations riders have for bike longevity, and the importance of community feedback in shaping technology. The conversation also touches on maintenance practices and the balance between cost,...

Join Vital's own Jason Schroeder and Shawn Spomer, along with industry veteran Lars Sternberg, as they discuss the gripping topic of launching new bikes and their embargoes. Why do we have embargoes? What goes on behind the scenes of a new product launch? Are embargoed launches still impactful? How do brands and media make a splash on embargo day to give riders something to get excited about?...

Jeff Brines follows up our " We Discuss YT " podcast with his thoughts after listening to the Markus Flossmann interview on the Downtime podcas t.  Jeff also notes corrections made in our original show after learning information shared in the Downtime pod. Discuss more with the Vital community

Discuss this with our community on Vital MTB We’re back with The Inside Line, BS edition where we talk about the business and economic side of the mountain bike industry with Jeff Brines and Charlie Sponsel. Today is a discussion about YT Industries and the company’s recent turmoil of going through administration, shutting down and then re-opening just the other day. Because they went through the...

This Inside Line podcast explores how mountain biking's newest competitive event, Hard MTB League, has the potential to change the sport. Vital Content Director, Shawn Spomer, met up with Braydon Bringhurst and Adam Pishl, the two visionaries behind the League, two weeks after its inaugural invitational near Boise, Idaho.  Topics include explaining what Hard MTB League is, reflecting on how t...

MSA, what a way to end the season. Grueling and daunting, it's a track that other venues will forever be compared against. It feels wrong that this could be the last World Cup at Mont Sainte Anne for a long time (if not ever). At least the final send-off race was one to remember. For our crew, it was memorable because our guy Dak, against a lot of odds, slotted himself into 4th place less tha...

The B Practice podcast returns! There was a lot of racing the past six weeks or so. Our main man Dak was busy globetrotting and facilitating one hell of a comeback. So we can't be too upset about his lack of availability. Thankfully, we sat down this week to chat about some DH racing and were joined by special guest Dante Silva. We kept the conversation laid-back per usual, breaking down the...

Two years ago to the day, Vital member, contributor and finance specialist, Jeff Brines, posted a question in our forum, " Will more companies be shutting down in the next 12-24 months? " A small, but exciting mountain bike brand, Guerrilla Gravity, surprisingly announced it was closing, and the rest of the industry was in the wake of the Covid boom. It was a dynamic time with plenty of...

Les Gets is now the unofficial Mud Fest of season after back-to-back years of treacherous conditions. It was a spectacle to watch, and delivered a mix of insane bike handling skills and unfortunate mishaps that could have overall point implications as we get to the end of the season.  Dakotah Norton breaks down what it was like to go to battle with such an unpredictable track and the bike changes...

Thanks to Maxxis Tires | FOX | Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line This Inside Line podcast episode, recorded at the Pro Downhill Series in Solitude, Utah, features Shawn Spomer from Vital MTB interviewing Michael McQueen—better known as “The Mangler”—about his pivotal but often behind-the-scenes role in U.S. downhill racing coverage. McQueen shares the origins of his nickname from his BMX d...

Thanks to Maxxis Tires | FOX | Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line Charlie Sponsel, aka Team Robot, sits down with Dante Silva and John Hall of Intense Racing to discuss the current state of U.S. Downhill MTB racing, advantages and disadvantages of racing domestically compared to World Cup DH, normal drivetrain versus gearbox bikes, chain dampers, tuned mass dampers and more.

Thanks to Maxxis Tires | FOX | Jenson USA for supporting The Inside Line Read the stories discussed in this episode and add your own here In this episode of The Inside Line podcast, host Shawn Spomer is joined by Jason Schroeder and Charlie Sponsel—newly dubbed “Hater in Chief”—to share and discuss the most hilariously frustrating "dumb bike problems" posted by the Vital MTB community. I...

Locking down a date and time to record podcasts with Dakotah Norton could be one of the most challenging endeavors Vital has taken on. He's a busy man, and we love him for it. The time crunch between the La Thuile and Andorra World Cups was tough on everyone, so we decided to wait until Dak returned to Tennessee to discuss how his first four World Cups went and what his plans are for the rest...

Vital's Forum Discussion on the FOX Podium Charlie's FOX Podium Review Podium Tech Talk with FOX product developers Vital's FOX Podium fork review dropped on Tuesday and our tester, Charlie Sponsel, encouraged you to leave any questions that remained. Sorting through dozens of great inquiries, the highlights have been pulled and Charlie answers them so you can learn more about this...

After plenty of drama and mild discontent surrounding the first three races of the season, it was nice to have a good old-fashioned downhill race in Val di Sole. No one complained about the track being too straight or too easy. There were plenty of fresh sections and line choices. And the racing was as competitive as ever. Our main man Dak was back for his second race of the season, and his weeken...

Host, Charlie Sponsel Watch this interview - https://youtu.be/Z5CN3pD_7Yg FOX Podium Review - https://youtu.be/UEW1tMYVM20 The Podium isn't FOX's first foray into the upside-down MTB fork market. In 2011, they developed a prototype downhill fork that used an inverted design for 26" wheels. It was heavy and flexy, so they dropped it. Fast-forward 14 years later and their single crown...

A lot of people who mountain bike also snowboard, and vice versa. Two tools with different jobs but a shared goal—provide an experience that evokes excitement and creativity. With so much time spent with a bike or board between our two feet, we were curious if these vessels of stoke had more in common than meets the eye. At the end of the day, they strive to solve many of the same problems, balanc...