Welcome back to the Nerd Alert podcast! This week we have a deep dive episode about something that’ll likely bring positive change to the helmets we all wear. Our guest is Peter Haldin, the Chief Science Officer and a Co-Founder of MIPS. However, in this interview, Peter is wearing another hat (helmet?) and speaks about his role as the Convener of the Working Group 11 (WG11). In short, WG11 is working to bring rotational-based testing to helmet safety standards, and the goal is to help reduce...

So much to talk about this week! Colnago's new C68 is more modern-looking than any C-model that came before it, but it's also lost much of what made its predecessors unique. Headset bearings are still a pain to service on modern bikes, though at least they're lasting longer. And what's going on at Wahoo? Caley unfortunately had to skip out for this week's Ask a Mechanic segment, but that's ok; none of the answers required hammers, anyway.

The topic of sustainability and carbon fiber has long been a black eye on the bike industry, but one company in Tennessee — called Carbon Fiber Recycling, of all things — is seemingly turning that around. Old broken frames? Random components? Scrap uncured pre-preg? It’s all good, according to CFR: just stick it all in its magic machine, and usable raw material comes out the other end. Best of all, the process is supposedly quite economical for everyone involved, there’s almost no waste...

This year’s Paris-Roubaix was all about tubeless tires and foam inserts — so much so that it’s easier to talk about who wasn’t on them than who was. But the best part of modern Paris-Roubaix tech? The fact that it’s all so normal. The Nerds also bring on the owner of a small brick-and-mortar shop to talk about the state of retail in the bike industry, and then he joins us as a guest wrench on a super fun segment of Ask a Mechanic.

Caley promised to be more prepared for our second Sea Otter episode, but his list of neat new stuff that he found at the show was a little… questionable. Luckily for him, we had a special guest on hand: Orucase co-founder Isaac Howe. Isaac gave us plenty of detail on the magical folding full-size travel case Orucase has in development, shared with us a bunch of tips on how to pack your bike for a trip, and described how he sees the future of traveling with your bike in general now that most...

The Sea Otter Classic trade show is back for 2022, and the Nerds are on site with a special episode, recorded right on the expo floor! James, Dave, and Caley talk about the coolest things we saw at the show on day one — like lower-priced 3D-printed saddles and one seriously sweet garage door opener, of all things — and then we chat gravel tire trends with Vittoria’s VP of product development, Ken Avery. 

Rob English is one of the most highly coveted builders of high-performance steel bikes these days, and he’s also an elite athlete in his own right. His distinctive function-over-form style is very much rooted in his engineering background, but much of his vision and creativity comes from his eclectic experience in folding bikes, tandems, recumbents, unicycles, and even HPVs. What makes English tick, and where does he get his ideas from? How much skinnier does he think his seatstays can get,...

Things have been a little wacky in the road bike world lately, with Specialized launching a new Allez Sprint high-end aluminum race bike that’s both heavier and more expensive (but potentially better?) than the one it replaces, dropper seatposts in pro racing, and bikes that positively laugh in the fact of that 6.8 kg UCI weight limit (how about 3.3 kg instead?). Plus, ever wonder what word sets off Zach? Yeah, we were a little surprised, too. Add in another round of Ask a Mechanic, and...

This week’s Nerd Alert episode came about after consumer-direct wheel company Hunt released a 1,213 g ultralight disc brake road wheel with a hookless tubeless rim. Where some of the other more prominent hookless road wheels have 23 to 25 mm internal widths to supposedly support the tyre at lower pressures, Hunt’s have a marginally narrower 21 mm figure. And with that, some readers raised questions through our Mailbag column over whether the recommended 72.5 psi maximum pressure actually...

This week we’ve got a deep dive episode on a topic that’s applicable to everyone that rides a bike. Chain lube. As we’ve covered plenty before, the difference between running a good chain lube suited to your riding conditions versus a poor lube can come at an enormous financial cost to parts replacements, and that’s if you can find the parts to begin with. Unfortunately, there’s no doubt a load of BS floating around when it comes to chain lubes and what’s best. In August 2021 we had...

We’re back with another group show this week, and taking a hard look at the new LeMond 8 carbon aero road bike that was announced last week. It sounds sweet, and includes a lot of intriguing features like structural foam filling, internal carbon truss reinforcements, size-specific chainstays, and — get this — carbon threads in the bottom bracket, bottle mounts, and derailleur hanger. There’s so much we want to love about the thing, but also a whole bunch of red flags. We also discuss the...

Lots of things have been hard to come by over the last year or two, and while it’s definitely been a big inconvenience for a lot of us, it’s potentially crippling if you’re trying to sell bikes — and maybe especially so if you’re a consumer-direct brand like Fezzari that has a full range of bike types and also prides itself on offering a huge list of custom options. Ever wonder what the logistics look like for such an operation? It’s as complicated as you might think, but thankfully, it...

Roval and Specialized appear to be returning to road tubeless after last year’s curious non-tubeless tubeless wheel launch, we question the merits of Ratio Technology’s latest 12-speed conversion kit, and — no surprise — Shimano made a heck of a lot of money last year. But we also now have more concrete proof that the Covid-fueled bike boom might finally be cooling off a bit. And what’s Dave Rome’s favorite chain checker? What’s on the Nerds’ wish list for internal cable routing? How do you...

Apparel — apparel in general, not just cycling-specific stuff — is predominantly manufactured in bulk, with orders placed through contract factories well before anything will actually be offered for sale. It’s done this way because it’s cheap, but it also carries a lot of downsides, like the uncertainty of forecasting, long lead times, and literal mountains of waste. Maybe there’s a better way? US-based brand Kitsbow certainly thinks so, and while their sewn-on-demand business model has...

Specialized rocked the industry last week with the announcement of its Rider Direct program, which allows buyers in select markets to have complete bikes delivered right to their door — either by a participating dealer or in a cardboard box. Dedicated consumer-direct brands like Canyon and YT bike brands already do this, of course, but Specialized is the first major traditional brand to go that route. Without question, the world has gotten used to buying anything and everything online, so...

Former MTB pro Nick Martin started The Pro’s Closet out of the back of his old VW van 16 years ago, and now it’s a multi-million dollar operation with nearly 200 employees, a monstrous warehouse, and roughly 2000 used bikes for sale on any given day. TPC’s ace-in-the-hole is its Certified Pro-Owned program, which promises you’re getting a used bike that’s been fully inspected, serviced, safe, and ready to go — and it even comes with a 30-day return policy. The CPO thing has worked wonders for...

The Nerds had quite a few new bikes to talk about this week, and a lot of details to debate, especially regarding Cannondale’s new Synapse. On the one hand, it’s strikingly normal now with no proprietary fittings whatsoever (even a threaded bottom bracket — from Cannondale!). But there’s now also a fully integrated onboard battery powering built-in lights and a custom rear-facing Garmin Varia radar. Is this a good thing, or is it a little half-baked? Meanwhile, Canyon has moved away from...

It turns out Canadian pro Geoff Kabush is pretty good at racing bikes — first in XC MTB and cyclocross, then more recently, gravel and enduro — and throughout it all, he’s never been afraid to speak his mind. But along with chasing podiums, Kabush has always also put his engineering degree and technical mindset to good use in a product development role, providing valuable feedback on what works, and what doesn’t. So what’s he think about gravel gear? James and Dave ask the questions, and...

There are all sorts of awards handed out in the cycling industry. There’s the Arlo Pfeiffer award for most convoluted cable routing; the Emma Stouffy prize for the more pungent tire; and the David St. Hubbins trophy — the “Hubby” — for blackest paint. But when all is said and done, none of these matter as much as our annual CyclingTippies tech awards. What was the best bike we rode this year (and the worst)? Who shook up the industry the most? What new trend had us really scratching our...

If you’ve tried to buy anything bike-related over the last couple of years, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that no one has anything in stock — like, ANYTHING. But why is that? Has the pandemic really disrupted global production that much on the supply side, or is it that so many more people are trying to buy stuff on the demand side? James and Dave sit down with the CEO of SRAM, Ken Lousberg, to get the inside story from one of the biggest players in the industry to get the full story. You won’t...

The Nerds are finally back with another group show! This week, one of the things we’re discussing is one of the hottest trends in gravel bikes: adjustable frame geometry. On paper, the idea of having multiple bike personalities in one sounds awfully appealing, but how much of a difference does it really make, and how many people are actually going to use it regularly? Is it a way to really make bikes better, or is it just a way bike brands can hedge their bets? And what happens if it’s done...

The Nerds are finally back with another group show! This week, one of the things we’re discussing is one of the hottest trends in gravel bikes: adjustable frame geometry. On paper, the idea of having multiple bike personalities in one sounds awfully appealing, but how much of a difference does it really make, and how many people are actually going to use it regularly? Is it a way to really make bikes better, or is it just a way bike brands can hedge their bets? And what happens if it’s done...

3D printing is the hottest new development in manufacturing, and as far as cycling goes, saddles have curiously emerged as an area that has seen the most widespread application with several models on offer from both Fizik and Specialized (and more to come, surely). Although they’re horribly expensive, 3D-printed saddles have also proven to be freakishly comfortable while still being extraordinarily light and highly supportive. But what makes them so comfortable? When might they become more...

3D printing is the hottest new development in manufacturing, and as far as cycling goes, saddles have curiously emerged as an area that has seen the most widespread application with several models on offer from both Fizik and Specialized (and more to come, surely). Although they’re horribly expensive, 3D-printed saddles have also proven to be freakishly comfortable while still being extraordinarily light and highly supportive. But what makes them so comfortable? When might they become more...

This/next week’s episode of the Nerd Alert Podcast has dropped a little early. That’s because it’s a timely chat about the new Cervelo R5-CX cyclocross race bike that was just announced.  Our guests for this episode are Cervelo’s director of product management, Maria Benson, and the company’s engineering manager, Scott Roy. Dave Rome fills in as host and chats about all the nerdy details of the new model (such as the new threaded bottom bracket!) that was designed specifically for Marianne...