The Pinkbike Podcast

The news of Outside acquiring Pinkbike saw nearly 1,700 comments posted under the July 14th press release, with most being equal parts surprise, disapproval, and ''spirited debate.'' And while that concern is no doubt justified, I'll be honest with you: we didn't have the answers to most of your questions and concerns, and we had plenty of questions ourselves.

There are all sorts of complicated laws and rules about these things, of course, with long-winded explanations when copyrights, trademarks, and patents are involved with intellectual property, but the last thing we want to do on this podcast is to put you guys to sleep, so we’re not gonna go down those boring roads. Instead, we've come up with a bunch of examples of products that have been imitate...

Have you ever looked at a bike and thought, ''What the hell were they thinking?'' Because we have, and not just about bikes. From 80lbs of cardboard packaging to pricey video shoots to the costs of running a factory World Cup team, brands can sometimes seem like they're burning money and getting a questionable return on their investment.

A 5,000-foot steep ass climb up a gravel road in the blazing summer heat while wearing oversized knee pads and riding an overweight trail bike with DH tires and an idler pulley? We’re happy to do it if the singletrack is good. Today’s podcast is all about the trails; we’re gonna talk about the singletrack that each of us loves and why, the factors that make a good trail so good and less good trail...

Tire pressure and suspension sag, of course, but do you also need your cable housing to be perfectly parallel or your dropper post to sit flush with the top of the seat tube?

We discuss being acquired by Outside and what that means for the future of Pinkbike—how things might look like down the road, mean comments, and why we're cautiously optimistic about all this.

RC tells about his time at Mountain Bike Action and testing some of the wildest - and most unreliable - bikes ever created, his opinion of the internet before and after joining Pinkbike, his most important lesson for writing bike reviews, thoughts on e-bikes, and he answers a handful of reader questions.

Today's episode is the second part of our bike ownership history chat, with the first covering Kazimer's Spooky Junebug hardtail, rattle-trap RM7, and his Iron Horse Sunday that was powered by Loctite. My old Giant ATX DH and heavily modified Prophet and Remedy made the list as well, but today's episode sees us get much more modern. But don't worry, there are still some sketchy hardtails, exotic d...

Sarah Moore joins us to rate each bike according to our three choices: 'Trade it for an Xbox' if the bike is really scary, 'Hang on the wall to admire' if it's a piece of history, or 'Take it for lap' if deemed safe and interesting.

Episode 68 is all about the unsung heroes of our sport, from the pioneers in the early days, under the radar ultra-distance racers, talented photographers, underappreciated event organizers, and even a brilliant freerider-turned-rocket scientist who wheelie dropped the Large Hadron Collider while interning at CERN. Yes, that's a true story.

Episode 68 is the first of a multi-part series of talking to RC about his love of flying, building his own planes and teaching himself how to fly (yes, you read that correctly), his father's secret work for NASA, and even a massive (and very secret) explosion of a Saturn V rocket engine.

Today's podcast is all about working on and repairing bikes, from the fun jobs to the dirty ones, to having to install twenty tire inserts for the Field Test, to spending ten hours installing Di2 only for it to rattle apart on the first ride, to our favorite tools, to our most embarrassing workshop injuries... Including the time some scary chemicals messed with RC's, er, "component."

episode 65 sees us talk about the pros and cons of riding without rear-suspension, why there aren't many hardtails reviewed on Pinkbike, and how to get the most out of your hardtail.

The massive faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln on the real Mount Rushmore are meant to represent the first 150-years of America's history. Specifically, the country's birth, growth, development, and preservation. With that in mind, who - or what - do you believe represents those four points well enough to deserve to be up on mountain biking's hypo...

When you really boil it down, it seems like there are two types of purchasing people: those who buy with their head and those who buy with their heart. And while Mike Kazimer might usually make more informed, "better," decisions when spending his money, Levy would argue that he has more fun burning through paychecks while taking the latter approach. But when it's time to spend a big chunk of hard-...

We all have our preferences, and no matter how objective and impartial we are, they can still color our reviews. That's why we try to be transparent about those preferences when writing a product review, be it a fondness for a certain suspension trait, an unexplainable love for headache-inducing internally routed cables, or maybe only liking blue bikes. Number 62 is all about editor preferences an...

With our State of the Sport Survey, James Smurthwaite and Henry Quinney reached out to nearly 200 top professional riders. The goal was to piece together the largest public snapshot ever taken of professional mountain biking in the history of the sport. What'd we ask them? Topics included media and filming, home country support, physical and mental health support, athlete pay, opportunities and eq...

Today's podcast sees Mike Kazimer, Alicia Legget, Brian Park, and Mike Levy talk about being a certain type of rider, why we used to think focusing on a single discipline was key, and the factors that cause most of us to evolve into different types of mountain bikers as the years go by.

Podcast 59 sees Sarah Moore and Mike Levy talk about how the Field Trip bikes performed, our winners and losers, some surprises, and where we think some value bikes are still coming up short.

In this episode, we debunk some of the most common myths, including the idea that you need to learn how to ride on a hardtail (you don't), that "no brakes and pull up" is helpful advice (it isn't), and that the front brake should be avoided at all costs (definitely not true).

For this week's podcast, we decided to take a look at the trends in mountain biking over the years and decide which ones might be ripe for a comeback.

For this week's episode, we decided to take a look back at the most important inventions in mountain bike history. Our special guest this week is Richard Cunningham, who's been involved in the sport since the beginning, and has amassed an incredible wealth of cycling knowledge. RC is also a master story teller, and his tales and recollections of everything from the invention of index shifting to d...

Everyone has different motivations for getting out on a ride. Some riders use spreadsheets and cycling computers to chase goals, whether that's a certain number of vertical feet each ride, or a larger, season-long target. Others are happy leaving the screens behind, motivated instead by progression. Trying a new move, working on those cornering and manual skills - sometimes mixing it up is all it...

Mountain bike marketing is a balancing act, and companies are constantly trying to find the recipe that will attract the attention of savvy riders in a positive way. Those efforts don't always turn out as planned, and in this week's episode, we delve into the hits and misses that we've seen over the years.

Traditionally, downhill riders have been told that the uphill rider has the right of way. After all, the descender has gravity on their side, and it can be tricky to regain that uphill momentum if you're forced to pull over. But is that the way it should be?