The Pinkbike Podcast

With everything delayed or outright canceled due to the pandemic, it's been a lean year for race fans. But when it rains, it... snows? The World Championships saw racers face some of the muddiest, trickiest conditions in years, with rain and snow turning the usual Leogang hardpack into a wild event for everyone. Episode 27 is all about the stripes, with us unpacking the weather, the gear, and the...

While mountain biking doesn't have the long history that most mainstream sports can brag about, our gear-centric niche has seen plenty of notable and important mountain bikes over the years. What makes a bike important? Well, that's up for debate, which is exactly what we do in episode 26.

The trail-ish category that I'll be on includes Giant's Live Valve-equipped Trance X Pro Advanced, Salsa's very purple Blackthorn, Ibis' fourth-generation Mojo, Actofive's P-Trail for a wildcard, and another soon-to-be-released machine. On the enduro front, mikekazimer has got himself Trek's new Slash and Rocky Mountain's new Altitude, Propain's big-travel Spindrift, Kavenz's high-pivot machine, a...

If you've spent any time on a proper downhill bike, you'll know why we love 'em. All that suspension, traction, and geometry, combined with more reliable components, can turn seriously scary terrain into a good time, and any downhill bike on the market can make you feel like a World Cup pro. So how come we're wondering why you'd buy one?

The Grim Donut's conception was equal parts tongue-in-cheek and genuine curiosity, but we never thought it'd actually work. Fine, it doesn't work everywhere, but if you watched the video, you'll know that it certainly seems to work well when pointed down some steep, fast terrain. In timed testing, ex-EWS racer and full-time maniac Yoann Barelli went six-seconds quicker on the Donut over just two-m...

We've all got a buddy or two who seem to depend on nothing more than luck to hold it together, be it their life or most of their rides. They usually pull it off somehow, but 'disaster pending' is probably the best way to describe, well, most things about them.

We weren't there when a teenaged Mike Kazimer said, ''Disc brakes won't ever be a thing,'' but we can certainly remember working on some examples that made us appreciate the power and reliability of V-brakes, as crazy as that sounds. Speaking of questionable choices, it sounds like Sarah Moore still wants to use her Shimano Dual Control shift/brake levers, and Levy once preferred old-school geomet...

While Levy would have loved to talk about Bob Lazar, tic-tac UAPs, and strange US military patents, Kazimer insisted on keeping it about bikes. So, is there really a derailleur cabal? And what about all those so-called "spy shots" that sure seem staged? Does Pinkbike really have a stake in Scribd? And are bike companies planning to screw you over with hub spacing?

There isn’t a ton of hardtail content on Pinkbike, but that doesn't mean we've completely forgotten about them, especially as we're aiming to put more time and effort towards value-minded bikes and products in the future. After all, ditching rear-suspension is a sure-fire way to save some big coin. Of course, there are more reasons to ride a hardtail than the price tag, as anyone who spends all th...

No, we're not talking e-bikes today. On the long list of topics that we riders seem to have strong, heartfelt opinions about, electronic components probably sit closer to the top than the bottom. Especially when that new battery-powered thingy costs four times as much as the battery-less thingy you already have that does the job just fine. Hmm, so what's the point?

We're only halfway through our cross-country Field Test series, but this week's podcast is all about exactly that. Sarah and Levy answer a bunch of questions about our nine bikes, including favorites and least favorites, surprises, and whether we've changed our minds about the future of cross-country bikes. Warning: plenty of spoilers in this one.

Is there anyone in the cycling universe that you'd call a hero? What about someone you looked up to and took inspiration from? Kazimer, Brian, James, and Levy talk about who they look up to from the mountain bike world.

Modern bikes are better than ever, but that doesn't mean there's no more room for improvement. In this episode, Brian Park, Christina Chappetta, James Smurthwaite and Kazimer discuss what could be changed to make mountain bikes, and the sport as a whole, even better. Grippy tires that don't go flat, inexpensive bikes with good geometry, investment from larger corporations, and building a more supp...

In case it wasn't already obvious, mountain bike editors have it very, very good. We at Pinkbike, along with a relatively small group of equally spoiled people around the globe, get to ride and write about the latest and most interesting mountain bikes. A lot of them cost more than anyone in their right mind would ever spend on a bicycle, but a lot of us aren't in our right minds, are we? Halo-lev...

Did you see that so-and-so released a brand new bike? It has some pivots, a shock, and even comes with geometry. Wheels, too! You can get it in that low-key color that everyone's sure to be a fan of, and I can pretty much guarantee that it'll easily outperform anything that wasn't made within the last couple of years. Wind back the clock a decade or two and magazines were showing us a future that...

Our dozenenth episode is all about hallowed ground: The local bike shop. With over thirty years of shop experience between us, Brian, Kazimer, Jimmy-James, and I look back at what our local shops meant to us during the grom-years, recount some of our most memorable customers and stories, and really embrace that ''back in the good ol' days'' vibe.

With the heavily revised schedule running from late summer through early fall, will 2020 be known as the muddiest World Cup season ever? Will the condensed, all-European calendar throw up any unexpected curveballs?

If there's more than one way to skin a cat then there's more than 1000 ways to set up a bike. Is Levy's rebound too slow? Are Kaz's brake levers too high? The answer is probably. 

Last week's show looked at Trek's experiments with both 32" and 36" diameter hoops, a topic that was always going to rustle people's knee pads but also one that, given they're one of the largest bike companies in the world, can't be ignored. That said, how about we don't talk about wheel sizes, and especially new, weird wheel sizes, for a little while? Something else that can't be ignored is the h...

The idea of a new, larger diameter wheel standard will have many people reaching for their pitchforks and the caps lock key, but what if there's a good argument to be made for a 32" wheel? Or even a 36er? 

Whether you're a lifelong shop mechanic, a diehard DIYer, or still looking for that left-handed 5mm hex key, many of us enjoy working on our bikes nearly as much as riding them. That all begins with the basic skills needed to get yourself out of the forest, like fixing a flat tire or repairing a chain. From there, maybe you learned how to adjust your shifting, bolted on a new handlebar, or had a s...

If you're in the market for a new mountain bike, one of the first things you need to figure out is how much bike you nee... Want. Are you the type who sees no downsides to pedalling a relatively long-travel, heavier machine around all day, even if it's "too much bike" for the terrain? Or are you the opposite, preferring a relatively light-duty machine that might be more exciting to ride, even if y...

Can you trust bike reviews? The short answer: Yes. But also no. It depends. We look at the different types of reviews out there, talk about how we like to do our reviews, and some of their shortcomings. And we can't do any of that without getting into biases (we've all got 'em), embargos (review tomorrow!), and some tips on making sense of it all.

What defines a trail bike? Travel? Geometry? Acronyms? Levy, Kazimer, Brian, and James get together and try to determine what exactly a trail bike is.

Trade shows are being cancelled left and right so we decided to round up all the latest and greatest product and have our own virtual trade show. New suspension, drivetrains, apparel, and more! Welcome to the Pond Beaver special.