The BikeRadar Podcast

Both your fork and shock rely on their spring to support your weight. This comprises of either a pressurised air spring, or a steel or titanium coil spring. While air springs dominate, for good reasons, it’s not a foregone conclusion as to which may work best for you. Technical Editor Tom Marvin and BikeRadar’s tech guru Seb Stott introduce you to both types, their pros and cons and, ultimately, which you should pick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

E-bikes; are they an industry conspiracy designed to sell you yet more bikes, or just another way to enjoy yourself out of doors? We’re certainly in the later camp and, in this week’s podcast, Matthew Allen, Tom Marvin and Jack Luke discuss their undying love for the most controversial subject in cycling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Debates over wheel size in mountain biking seemingly never end. First there was 26” wheels, then 29er stormed on to the scene – their larger diameter finding fans in the XC world, but older geometries just didn’t work out when travel numbers grew. Then, out of nowhere the 650b wheel arrived and killed off 26” almost instantly. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the aftermath of the Eurobike trade show, BikeRadar’s Jack and Matthew discuss some tech highlights including SRAM’s solution to bent derailleur hanger woes and an exciting new bearing design from SKF. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mountain bikers have been rolling without tubes for over a decade, with less punctures, more speed and more grip, so why has it taken their skinny tyre’d brethren to ditch the tubes? Tom, Matthew and Jack discuss what’s happening in the world of road tubeless tyres. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you've got a suspension fork on your mountain bike it's most likely to be a telescopic fork, whereby the stanchions slide in and out of your fork's lowers. However, the past year or so has seen a number of linkage forks come on to the market. Check out the associated article on BikeRadar.com for a full set of show-notes, with links to relevant articles and videos. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

'The Rules' are a set of maxims by which the keen road cyclist often feels he or she should live by. It could be argued as a tongue in cheek dig at the MAMIL who wants to emulate their road racing heroes, but there's some method in the madness because many of the rules are actually rather sensible. That said, there are numerous that clearly poke fun at the over-keen amateur cyclist, so we've picked a few of our favourites and delved deeper into their meaning. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, BikeRadar's technical editor Tom Marvin and technical writer Seb Stott cover the somewhat huge topic of mountain bike geometry. While Tom advocates for slightly 'smaller' bikes, Seb is definitely a fan of the super long and slack. Geometry is key in dictating how a bike rides - long, slack bikes tend to be calm, confident and fast, whereas shorter bikes might be a touch more agile and involving to ride. There's no right or wrong, but that's not to say that Tom and Seb don't have opinions on the subject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This month Tech Ed Tom is joined by senior writer Jack and tech guru Seb to discuss the finer points of bicycle design – why is that all road bikes these days look the same, and yet all mountain bikes seem to be unique in their aesthetic? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Tech Editor Tom and Tech Specialist Seb discuss the intricacies of suspension damping. Suspension dampers are there to control your fork or shock’s action through its stroke – without them your suspension would effectively be like a pogo stick, so they’re very handy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices