The Pinkbike Podcast

Last week's episode saw us spend far too much time talking about spy shots, embargoes, and how we handle all that stuff, but it's time to shift gears. I don’t know about you guys, but being serious is too serious; I can do that once every three or four episodes, which is why number 52 sees us talking about our most embarrassing mountain bike moments.

There are a few different kinds of so-called 'spy shots,' be it a brand rolling their unreleased bike through the Whistler village during Crankworx in the hopes that someone will snap a few iPhone photos for their guerilla marketing campaign on Instagram, to the honest-to-goodness spy shots that a brand begs us not to post on the homepage.

We are currently on the Sunshine Coast, BC, where we're testing ten price-conscious mountain bikes. Not only that, five of them are hardtails that all cost way under $2,000 USD, while the five full-suspension bikes start at $2,099 and top out at $2,999 USD.

It's about time for us to test some of the latest downhill bikes, which is exactly what our own Dan Roberts has been up to for the past few months with Specialized's Demo Race, Canyon's Sender, the Commencal Supreme DH 29 27, and Cube's cleverly named TWO15 HPC SLT.

Of the thousands and thousands of rides we've been on, it's often the ones that went completely south that we remember first. 

With all these high-pivot bikes out there, it's probably time for us to dig into the design and talk about inherent traits, what they can excel at, their weaknesses, and why you may or may not want one for yourself.

Fox's new 38 and RockShox's also-new Zeb are both burly single-crown forks that employ 38mm diameter upper tubes, high-end dampers, and a lot of travel to be ready for the rowdiest of riding. Our own Dan Roberts has spent more than the last six months riding both, including countless back-to-back laps on the local steeps of Champéry, Switzerland, and all over Europe. We sat down with Dan and did a...

For some of us, it's all about the conversation, while others enjoy riding with someone who's pedaling too hard to eke out more than a few grunts on the way up. And who doesn't like riding with a buddy who always brings the best snacks?

Mountain bike suspension can offer impressive performance and adjustability, and you can even get it in a package that's been optimized to within a few grams of its life. In other words, things are pretty damn good... But we still have questions. So many questions. Good thing we have Chris Mandell, RockShox Rear Shock Manager, in to answer some of them.

There are bike dorks and then there are bike dorks. Today's podcast sees Gustav Gullholm, AKA Dangerholm on Instagram, take us through some of his wildest creations. How about a sub-30lb Scott Gambler downhill bike? Or his take on down-country, a 100mm-travel Spark that employs an ingenious dropper post integration system that ties it into the bike's rear-suspension? Of course, all of these crazy...

It's safe to say that all of us have at least one or three guilty pleasures, things that we're into but maybe we'd rather not broadcast to the world. You know, like how you can't stop watching Bachelor in Paradise. Or drinking fizzy energy drinks at 7am. Or insisting that Erector Set-looking linkage forks are surely the future. Wait, that's just me? Today's episode sees us put our guilty pleasures...

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 o...

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...

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 inj...

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 gu...

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...

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 Cycli...