Reviewing the News w/ Mike Ferrentino & Simon Stewart (May, 2026)

Mike had to make a trip back to Mexico to help his 97-year-old Mom move, and amidst spider bites, broken windows, explosive dog diarrhea, and the usual technical issues (he needs his own full-time tech support department), he miraculously joined Simon to go over a very busy month — from racing to the courtroom, they have a lot to get through. Paragon Machine Works' reopening is the best news, and looks poised to keep frame builders stocked with crucial parts. Niner Bikes has been “paused”, whatever that means. Kona has a new boss (Mike is skeptical). The Loudenvielle DH World Cup was a crash-fest, but Luca Shaw emerged from the carnage on the top step, and Vali Holl continued her dominance on the notoriously tricky track. SRAM’s legal win against the UCI sets a precedent, and tons more. Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please let us know if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover or a guest you’d like us to have on Bikes and Big Ideas. Email us at [email protected] to weigh in.RELATED LINKS:Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideGet Our Free Newsletter & Gear GiveawaysBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredMike’s The Grimy Handshake SubstackManitou on the New Mezzer & Mezzer LT (Ep.328)TOPICS & TIMES:Mike’s Dumpster FireLoudenville World Cup HighlightsLuca Shaw Finally Gets a WinVali Holl DominatesNova Mesto XC World Cup Insights Tom Pidcock Owns the Nova Mesto CourseGiro D’Italia Recap & Durango’s Sepp Kuss’ Stage Win SRAM’s Precedent-Setting Legal Victory  Leadership Changes at KonaIndustry News: Company Closures and ReopeningsNew Products: Manitou’s New Mezzer Upcoming RockShox Flight Attendant Video TeaserCHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The long-travel single-crown fork landscape has shifted a ton since Manitou unveiled the original Mezzer in 2019, and the new second-generation version has seen a lot of changes to better match modern bikes — including splitting the lineup into the standard Mezzer and the beefier Mezzer LT. Both get a host of intriguing performance-oriented changes, too, so we brought Manitou Product Manager Phil Ott back on the show to discuss them, and tell the development story of the new forks.Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected] LINKS:Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Goals for the Updated Mezzer (2:29)Versions & Splitting the Lineup (4:39)Chassis Stiffness & Friction (8:50)Dropouts & Alignment (21:41)Spring Design (28:14)Damper (35:42)Adding High-Speed Rebound Adjuster (42:20)Compression Damping (47:35)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spot’s Ryan Palmer and Simon Stewart have been talking about bikes for years, so when Spot dropped their new Diggity 125 Trail bike, Simon quickly wound him up for a chat. Ryan shares details about their design decisions, why Spot’s Living Link suspension layout gives them more kinematic control throughout the travel, their interesting take on size-specific chainstay length, the lightweight Trail bike trend, and a whole lot more.Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected] LINKS:Spot BikesOuterbikeBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:What’s With the Name Diggity? (2:40)What Were the Design Goals? (8:13)How Did You Land on 125 mm? (13:06)How Important was Weight? (14:35)Why it's More Than a Shorter Travel Mayhem 140 (23:17)Geometry (29:43)Spot’s Take on Size-Specific Chainstays (32:44)Where Can You Ride One (50:47) Spot’s 30 Day Return Guarantee (53:15)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gravel Hall of Famer Yuri Hauswald is coming out of retirement at age 55 to raise money for the Life Time Foundation by racing the Unbound Gravel 200, a race he won over a decade ago. Tune in to find out why he’s starting dead last, what’s changed in his training approach, his bike setup, and why he’s passionate about kids’ charities, plus some bonus gravel tips & tricks for one of the most challenging gravel races in the world, by one of the best to ever do it. Don’t miss this one. Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected] LINKS:Donate to Chase The Race with Yuri HauswaldLifetime FoundationBlister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Specialized’s Ride to Vegas (1:18)Yuri’s Bike Racing History (3:13)Winning the Unbound 200 in 2015 (5:35)Why Come out of Retirement to Race it Again (9:23)Why Emporia Kansas Changed Yuri’s Like (11:53) Training & Fundraising (18:37)Having a Coach and Fueling (26:43)What the Hell is a Mud Stick (30:21)Yuri’s Unbound Gravel 200 Tips & Tricks (33:16)Bike Setup & Tire Choice (41:47)How Can We Find You in the Race (46:52)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike and Simon unpack the first DH and XC World Cup of the season, and there’s a whole lot to talk about, including course drama, fast Frenchies, DH hardtails, belt drives, tons of flats, just as many crashes, and Vali Holl and Asa Vermette's insane winning runs, not to mention the XC race mudfest the day after. Plus, we sprinkle in a bit of industry news, and Mike lays out his plan to make poison oak pepper spray.Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please let us know if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover or a guest you’d like us to have on Bikes and Big Ideas. Email us at [email protected] to weigh in.RELATED LINKS:Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideGet Our Free Newsletter & Gear GiveawaysBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredMike’s The Grimy Handshake SubstackTOPICS & TIMES:Air Travel & Spirit Airlines (2:36)Mike’s Poison Oak Spray (13:20)The 1st World Cup DH of the Season (17:00)Course Drama (30:56)Asa Veremette has Arrived (31:37)Women’s Elite (34:52)Vali Holl’s Run (39:18)The XC Race Mudder (43:18)Mike’s Sea Otter Recap (50:21)The Evolving eMTB Landscape (57:44)Another Surron Parent Charged (1:08:15)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hannah Otto has been reeling off an impressive streak of mountain biking FKTs over the past few years, and now she’s added a road bike one to the list: the 14,000’ climb up Mauna Kea, Hawai’i. So we brought Hannah back on the show to tell the story behind the effort, discuss the differences in FKT culture across disciplines, and a whole lot more.Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected] LINKS:Hannah on the Whole Enchilada FKT (Ep.143)Hannah on the Kokopelli Trail FKT (Ep.232)‘Chasing the Triple Crown’ (Blister Cinematic Ep.49)Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Taking on Mauna Kea (2:17)The route & elevation profile (6:43)Choosing which FKT to attempt (10:11)The Mauna Kea FKT history (13:15)Weather concerns (14:41)Pre-riding & prep (18:59)Pacing & power numbers (25:08)The turn & getting back on pace (28:25)Bike setup (33:06)Road vs. MTB FKT culture (35:13)Training on a road bike as a MTB / gravel racer (47:17)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re back and (mostly) recovered from Sea Otter, so David and Simon sat down to discuss the highlights and main trends from the show. And we’re busy as ever testing bikes, so we give some updates on a bunch of them, from the Pivot Mach 4 SL to the Devinci Spartan, the Specialized Levo R to the Pivot Shuttle AMP’d, and more.Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected] LINKS:Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredHans Rey (Ep.319)Chris Cocalis (Ep.321)TOPICS & TIMES:Sea Otter Recap (1:37)Transition Spur (9:31)Pivot Mach 4 SL (12:37)Atherton A.150.M (19:25)Specialized Turbo Levo R (26:29)Devinci Spartan (34:04)Pivot Shuttle AMP’d (39:54)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There aren’t a lot of options for truly custom full-suspension frames out there, and the few that do exist tend to be very expensive. But Vessel Bike Project is offering US-made high-pivot steel frames with truly custom geometry and kinematics (and a massive amount of adjustability) for a surprisingly modest $3,300. So, how are they doing it? What does the customization process look like? And what is the general design philosophy behind Vessel? We dive into all of that and more with Vessel Founder, Jack Harle.Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected] LINKS:Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Vessel’s backstorySuspension kinematics & the baseline Vessel frame designFrame layoutAnti-rise & its impact on performanceSelling bikesThe customization processLeverage curves & tailoring them for different ridersJack’s philosophy on bike designGeometrySuspension setupPricing & the ordering processCHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pivot just launched their new Avinox M2S powered Shuttle AMP’d, so today Pivot founder Chris Cocalis talks us through the development process, the decision to spec the controversial high-powered Avinox drive system, early prototypes, and the challenges of implementing a motor with that much power. He also gets into why he loves XC bikes, his thoughts on 32” wheels, and who he thinks is going to win the Supercross title, Eli Tomac, Ken Roczen, Hunter Lawrence, or?Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please let us know if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover or a guest you’d like us to have on Bikes and Big Ideas. Email us at [email protected] to weigh in.RELATED LINKS:Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:New Shuttle AMP’d (1:58)Why Avinox? (2:13)Motor Swaps & Early Prototyping (5:52)Adding Some Beef to the Chassis (8:57)New Shuttle LT (28:59)New Mach 4 SL (32:45)Chris’ Take on 32” Wheels (42:11)Who’s Going to Win Supercross (48:42)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicGEAR:30Blister PodcastCRAFTED Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The frame building community lost an integral parts supplier with the closing of Paragon Machine Works, so today, Mike and Simon talk about what happened and what's next for frame builders. The first race of the Monster Pro Downhill series had some surprises, leading them to throw out some predictions for what is shaping up to be one hell of a World Cup DH season. We also discuss the dangers of kids riding Surrons and why parents might want to pay attention, plus a solid rant on crazy high hotel pet fees, and more. Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please let us know if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover or a guest you’d like us to have on Bikes and Big Ideas. Email us at [email protected] to weigh in.RELATED LINKS:Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideGet Our Free Newsletter & Gear GiveawaysBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredMike’s The Grimy Handshake SubstackTOPICS & TIMES:Hero Dirt (3:28)Crazy High Hotel Pet Fees (5:17)32” Wheel Momentum (16:38)Paragon Machine Works Closes (26:47)Knolly Bikes Restructuring (32:16)The Danger of Kids on Surrons (33:52)More recalls (41:14)Racing updates (42:38)Will this be Luca Shaw’s Year? (47:11)Mike Waxing His… (51:12)What we’re reading & watching (1:03:20)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTEDGEAR:30Blister Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.