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MTB’s Best Value Wheels, Choosing the Right Tires, Pedal Longevity & More... Ep. 170 [Podcast]
Today on the podcast, the guys discuss some epic recent rides and future plans, plus some fresh new stuff from Revel before jumping into a classic set of listener questions ranging from the best wheels for your budget to the correct tire for your bike & everything in between. Tune in!
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If you are one strange human that would like to read a transcript of the podcast above, continue reading below!
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 170 of the MTB podcast presented and
hosted by Worldwide Cyclingery Ketl Mountain Apparel and Trail One Components. I'm Jared. I'm Liam. And my name is Trevor.
That is right ladies and gentlemen. We are back and in this episode we
are going to discuss some exciting new stuff from Revel plus some classic listener questions ranging from the
right tire for your bike to emergency tool kits servicing your pedals and
everything in between. It's not something you hear every day servicing your pedals is it? No, sometimes you got to do it though.
Sometimes you do have to do it. Um I mean granted I was at a Stram event who owns time.
Mhm. But they said, and it is true, that the pedal is probably the most
underlooked at part on a bike because it does the most rotations and
handles the most stress. The most neglected for sure. Most neglected and just like Yeah. A lot of stress on a pedal.
A lot of stress. You forget about them. They're literally unseen under your feet. Yeah. And you need them really bad.
You do. You can't ride a bike without them. The unsung hero of your bike. Yeah. And if have you ever broken a
pedal or a crank arm? It is terrifying. I've had a Shimano pedal like freeze up on me
or the whole I've had the whole body like slide off the axle of the Shimano. Yeah. See, this this ladies and gentlemen is
why you want to give your pedals love. Yep. That's some words of wisdom. But how about Zach's words of wisdom? You got a
little something more a little deeper for you from Zach today. I still love riding bikes and I always will. But
running genuinely changed the trajectory of my life. It reshaped how I think, how I deal with discomfort, how I show up
when things get hard. In a real way, it altered the course of my world over the past few years. This quote is from a
book called The Longest Run, and it really nailed something I've felt ever since getting into running. Endurance sports, whether it's running, cycling,
or anything that asks you to keep going when quitting is easier, build a mindset that goes way beyond sport. They don't
have to save the world to matter. They change people, and people are what change the world's course. the quote,
"Ultra running won't save the world, but it's a practice of the kinds of skills and outlooks that could ultimately help
change the world's course and will almost certainly change yours." Sounds solid.
Yeah, that's pretty deep. Pretty solid. That does directly translate to cycling as well, just mountain biking in
general. Like, you're kind of faced with a hard task in front of you. Whether you want to do it or not, it's going to be
difficult. You're going to suffer a little bit. and you kind of uh it's delayed gratification, you know, especially with training too. And you
get past like that certain point and then it's like you've done it some done something hard, accomplished something and like little wins like that I feel
like translate to life pretty well. Yeah. I was at PT today and uh it's more like
for my wrist, but more I'm getting on the point of like personal training, not physical therapy. There's this thing
called blood flow restriction. So it's a band that restricts your blood flow. It's it's a machine, not just like tying
up a band on your upper arm. It's monitored to restrict a certain amount of blood flow based on your body. Um,
but it sucks. You're like, you have these cuffs cutting off your circulation essentially and then you're doing like
curls and supernation pronations with weights and all this stuff and you do high reps. So, it's lightweight high
reps. I'm doing like 30 reps. You do like the craziest pump. Yeah, you get the craziest pump. And my
PT was saying that uh she's like, "Oh yeah, a lot of people don't like this and you know they hate it and everything." I'm like, "Why?" They're
like, "Well, cuz it's hard." Like, "Yeah, but like you're not going to get stronger by doing easier stuff."
No, it doesn't work that way. You know what I mean? Like I have friends, you know, further back, like when we were all riding bikes together,
starting out, they would just stop when their legs burn. Yeah. Burns. What do you mean?
Riding a bike. Yeah. You got to push past it. kind of reminds me of David Gogggins, you know, a little bit. We've all I think we've all read the, you
know, David Gogggins books. Yep. Um, but yeah, it's like you you don't realize like after you push past the
point that you think you're going to tap out and like how much more left you have in the tank. Um, and how much you can really
accomplish. So, that's pretty cool. That kind of that's what kind of reminds me of that. Yep. But, you know what that didn't remind me
of at all is Daniel's fun fact. Your stomach gets a new lining every 3 to 4 days. This keeps it from digesting
itself. Nice. Eat your fascinating.
Eat your probiotics, kids. Yeah, for real. It's fiber. Eat your yogurt. And now a word from our No.
Introducing Pactivia. Yeah, right. Insane.
Yeah, that is crazy. Stomach acid is crazy. Apparently, it can um you know,
eat through metal. I just do know that like it's it's uh the first point of like what predicts
your mood is like what you're putting in your stomach. Yeah. Because it's like it's the first like part of your digestion to like your blood brain
barrier. Um so like yeah what you put in your body directly directly affects your your
mood and positivity and like your energy. So um yeah feed yourself good. Your body's a temple.
I learned that recently as well. And I also learned that that's why they call it like going with your gut or your gut
feeling. Mhm. Oh, isn't that just mindb blown? Well, and gut health is super important.
Yeah, you know a lot about gut health, Liam. I I don't know a lot about it, but I know when it's bad.
Not an expert, but yeah, I know when it's bad and it sucks.
That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. Um, speaking of this, speaking of things we're talking about, this is an
excellent, fantastic testimonial. Gentlemen, I've been a customer and fan of Worldwide and Your Pod for years.
Unfortunately for you and other retailers, I'm also notoriously cheap when it comes to MTB apparel. I'm
usually rocking gray shorts that were once black and a mud stained short-sleeve cycling shirt. Recently, I
splurged on a pair of Skidmark pants, and I couldn't be happier. The best thing I can say about them is they
aren't noticeable at all. Nothing binds, sags, or gets in the way. The fit is perfect, even over knee pads. Clearly,
they've been designed by people who ride and have thought through all the details. Thanks for making such a great
product. I'll be buying more Kettle Mountain when the rest of my clothes finally fall apart. Kevin, thanks Kevin.
Thanks Kevin. Honestly, without Kettle, I would be wearing gray shorts that used to be black and
honestly just cotton t-shirts. Yeah, some cycling stuff you can kind of make last a long time. But yeah, I'm
stoked on this on the Skid Mark shorts or Skid Mark pants specifically for sure. Those were kind of a long time coming,
but um they're awesome. Yep. Me too. It's It's tough to find that perfect like um you know like blend of
like pedaling in a pant like a trail friendly pant. Yeah. Not like downhill or gravity pant or XC
pant like those Yeti pants that you know Yeah. They're great but they're a little I don't know if you call them fragile but like they're not as durable or like I
don't know. Well, yeah. And they have that fabric change on the back of the knee and it frays out really weird. Yeah. Yeah. Mine got melted in a in a dryer.
Really? Yeah. That's crazy. My dryer stopped spinning but it stayed on. Oh, they melted those and a
Patagonia hoodie. Dang. Yeah. Expensive expensive mistake. Yeah.
That actually wasn't a mistake. Yeah. Mountain bike pants in general have come a long way. I remember like they used to kind of be like moto style.
Even shorts. I remember like like Troy designs all have like those moto the moto short things.
The huge patches that would flex at all. Kind of crazy. Um, but then and then
yeah, I've had pants that have been like yoga pants and I've had pants that are just downhole pants and these are kind
of a happy medium. It's kind of good for everything. They really are. It's it's pretty awesome to go back and watch like old
mountain bike videos and just like the mountain bike fashion and like style has changed so much. Like the huge baggies
and like the World Cups from like the early mid 2000s, you know? My favorite are those long and skinny
full faces with the '9s speed glasses. Insane. So sick. So sick. Yeah, you can always really
kind of tell the era just from the fashion, which is pretty cool. And now they're back into spandex.
The speed suits. Yeah, you could say things have come full circle. Um, speaking of full circle, the bikes and
rides we've been enjoying lately. Trevor, what have you been getting into lately? Um, I've been riding a little bit. Uh,
went on a night ride a couple days ago, which was pretty fun. Um, just got a big group of us together and went for a big
night ride, which was cool. Um, recently went on a hike in Santa Cruz Island. Um, that was kind of nice. Just something
different. I don't think you can ride bikes there. No, it would be pretty sweet to do.
I'm thinking, dang, this would be a fun bike trail. The whole thing would be a fun bike trail. Yeah, you can ride on Catalina. That's what I was going to say. You
could do I would love to do like a bike. It made me want to do a bike packing trip in Catalina cuz I've actually never
gone bike packing before and I think that's something I just need to do as a avid cyclist.
Kind of a bucket list thing. I'd love to. I think Catalina right now it's it's like super beautiful and green out there and would be super cool cuz
most of the year it's just brown and probably hot. So that'd be pretty sick. I actually looked into that recently but those campgrounds
talk about like high demand. They book out like literally I think what is it like a year or something or like 6 months?
6 months. So you have to be on it like I was today. Yeah. I was even looking at like you
know just like midweek and those are all booked too cuz a lot of people uh not only bike pack but backpack across the
island. Definitely. Um, and there's some really cool ones. It's cool. There's like buffalo out there and stuff and
um it's just there's like there's no one out there which is, you know, it's rad. Yeah. Super cool. Yeah, that's what I've been up to.
That's pretty rad. Did you use those exposure lights on? I did use the exposure lights. Yeah, we I've been testing those out a little
bit. It's nice to have some lumens, man. Yeah, they're so legit. the the like
Yeah. I've I've run a bunch of different lights before in my cycling career, but
this is the most amount of lumens I've ever had. Yeah. And it's super nice to have just a big fat light on your
handlebars and then to also have a small one on the on the head, too. Um cuz a lot of times I'll just have one
light and like you're just compensating a little bit. Yeah. You can't can't really ride a mountain bike with one light. Yeah. Like it's you can but it's just
it's lowkey dangerous. You're not going as fast as you want to go. You turn and you All you see is black,
right? It's true. It's scary. Um it's kind of fun, but it's also dangerous. So, it's
not not ideal. But yeah, the the the uh bottom light cuts through the dust really nicely, and the top light you can
just look ahead and see where you're going. And yeah, so far those lights have been awesome. And and then the I'm really impressed by the battery life on them.
On the on the big light, you can see how much battery you have left. And you're on full blast. And it says like 3 or 4
hours and it's it's accurate, too. And it's like, all right, cool. I'm just going to keep it on full blast cuz normally you're kind of conserving the whole time
and there's no need to do that which is awesome. I guess there's also modes like it has like an accelerometer or something so it
can notice when you're going downhill and it makes it brighter. Wow. Which is insane. Like I still there's so many modes like
I was reading into it a little bit when I when we first got them. I was I read the manual and or online at least and
there there was a lot to it and I just wanted to figure out the basics the basics of it and just figure out how how to turn it on and off and change the
different change the dimness of it and whatnot. But yeah, there's like timer modes and um strobes and there's a bunch
of stuff. I didn't realize there was a like accelerometer or downhill mode kind of computer. It's insane.
I like that though. I would be into that. Like if your speed gets higher, have it go brighter. I'm into that.
Yeah, for sure. Because you don't really want it to be bright all the time. Like Yeah. Yeah. Cruising the climb.
I remember back in the day we would like to save battery. We we would just turn the lights off on the climb on a fire road if you're climbing for like 30
minutes. Like that's cool. And you can see your eyes adjust and you can kind of see the moonlight. It's kind of fun. Yeah. I thought I thought it would cool
be cool to do like a full moon ride. It is. I've never done that. Mhm. Um we're going to have those lights on
the site soon, right? Yeah. I'm working on it. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. I have I have a lot of listings to get
through. It's all good. It happens. What about you, Liam? What kind of rides you been getting into? Smooth ones.
Nice. Mostly road. But, uh, but more importantly, you've been riding. I have been riding. That's good.
Been been riding quite a bit actually. Like last three three weeks, I've had like
I think a 12 and a half, 12, and 14 and 1/2 hour week on the bike or I guess overall that includes strength and
running and everything, but more than most people. That's a lot. No, it's solid. I'm back to like real training numbers again.
Um, not in the dirt yet. I did ride the hard tail and fire roads on Saturday. Nice.
So, the wrist is like not stoked, not strong, but I did 6,000 ft of climbing
and ascending, like majority on fire roads. Wow. So, um on Sycamore?
No, I was out I I rode from Tidman's uh and we did uh like Po Mar
um uh he just called it trailer climb. I don't know the real name of it. That's like out in the valley kind of,
right? Yeah. Kind of valley like Santa Monica Topanga. Okay. Um, cool. And then uh we added in like
forgot we did something else over and then we did like Saddle Saddle or Peak to Peak or whatever. Oh, we went
up uh Chzbro Peak the backside and stuff. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry for the rest of the country. It's uh insane in California right now.
You know, the rest of the country is getting nuked by snow. It's like it was like probably 75
degrees here. Yeah. It's chilly mornings and chilly for us we're meaning like 40 like
probably like low 40s in the cold part of the canyons like no no no sun but yeah the you know I got a tan after
that like in on the weekend. So yeah it's crazy. Um yeah it was really nice this weekend
I did that and then Sunday a Tidman just text me some uh some of his friends were
in town and he text me 10,000 ft 8 a.m. from pedlers and I was like okay.
So, we did uh that make me nervous. I did 9,000 ft. Um it was just kind of
getting long in the tooth the ride. It was like a lot of breaks and some people. So, I uh just went kind of skipped out
on the last little bump and went straight back to the car. It was 5 and a half hours moving, 7 hours a lap. So,
9K. That is a lot. I think my back would leave the chat on that one. Yeah. No,
that good. Yeah. Yeah. Legs were tired yesterday. I'm a little tired today, but like I spun this morning and
nice feel good. Yeah, that probably hit a leg workout good. Feels good to use your body, especially when you haven't been using
it. Yeah. No, I'd say fitness is like pretty much back to to baseline mostly.
Um, just got to get this wrist wrist strong enough to ride in the dirt. But hop in like a few weeks. I have a couple
like gravel events I'm going to do the next two weekends and then after that MTB solid. Yeah,
pretty legit. About you, Jared. Jared, it's a good question. I too have just been trying to be consistent riding the ASR a little
bit. Mostly actually riding the ASR. Um, yeah, nothing crazy. Nothing too
exciting. I'd like to go I'm planning on going to Ohigh in a couple weeks. Um, do
a little bit of Downyville training. Oh, yeah. That's what I'm I'm just trying to get real comfy on the ASR
and uh you know just like pretty much just be able to be confident pointing it down like whatever. And
oh it's a great place to train for Downville. Yep. It's like the place to do it. Just it's kind of like the biggest mountains in the area. Biggest
climbs and big descents too. You can do it all on a cross country bike for the most part for sure. In like 15 20 minutes you're
just away from anybody. Yeah. You'll you'll hardly see anyone after that. C
sees our fire road's pretty sweet. Yeah, I'm stoked. Uh cuz last time I rode that I was on my Druid and I was like I want
an XC bike. So yeah, but I mean I'm sure the Druid is awesome when you do more of
on some of the trails. It's what you want. But um for for just climbing that fire road, the ASR is so awesome on that
just cuz or just an XC bike cuz it's really not that steep and if you if you have a light XC bike that rolls fast,
you can just go for um otherwise you're just being dragged down. Yeah. So, I'm looking forward to that.
Um, but yeah, you know, just trying to train for Downville because the uh it's
not the competition, but like the anticipation is really heating up. Well, I mean, it's the more fit you are,
the more fun you're going to have. Yeah, that's definitely a fact. And we have kind of made a competition. We don't know what the competition is yet,
but we're going to make something of Zach versus Jared. Yeah, I'm being pitted against Zach. It's a classic.
Yeah. A classic duo or battle. You guys You guys get pitted against each other a lot. You guys are You guys are similar sized
as well. Maybe. No. Yeah. I guess I guess Zach has a few power.
Um but you guys used to be more similar. It seems like similar in size. It seems like whatever whatever event is
coming up, we always get pitted against each other and it makes for some friendly competition. So you you ride a lot. Zach runs a lot now.
He rides a little bit. I know he's doing this thing. I'm very confident that you can beat that you can beat Zack. I'd be
disappointed if you don't beat him. Zack has the five years under his belt to dar. He also knows and last year he did
pretty well. He did he did decent. Yeah. So, we'll see. That's why that's exactly
why it's Last year he was he was a in in my eyes a certified athlete with his with his
finishing time. Yeah. It's a it's a tossup and uh I think we need to dial it in. I mean,
this isn't we're in January now. This is happening August. Yeah. Um I'm I'm already
No, you you got to be training now. That's that's the thing. But like as far as our plan goes, Yeah.
cuz Tyman and I are going to make a video and then I think we might make a video of you two as well. So like
we're just going to be filming every minute of this and running GoPros all day long and charging them and it's going to be super fun. And like
we'll have kind of the Jared vers Zach fun take and then mine and Tideman's like,
"Oh, I don't know how fun it's going to be. It's going to be fun, dude. It's going to be fun. But no, like the whole week's going to be
fun and you guys are going to be messing around. There's so much like volume involved in that week that you really do need to
have some miles under your legs just to hang and just to be able to recover. Like for
sure and not just miles, but like push-ups, too. Like Yeah. You're riding downhill a lot. Like you
got to you got to be ready for that. Oh yeah. I'm doing full body um 906. You know, I'm I'm getting after it and I
got my eyes on the prize, as you might say. It's really It's really good to be motivated for Downville because it it
makes training easy because you know it's going to be hard. So you just have like if you're not training or anticip if you're not
training for the anticipation for it like you kind of get FOMO. You're like I'm I'm screwing myself over right now.
And it uh it's like basically end of summer so it keeps you motivated all summer. Yeah, I'm definitely motivated and
looking forward to just having a great week on the bike and camping and everything. just going to be amazing sick
cuz Zach is doing that Sea Otter. Well, he hasn't signed up for it yet, but he says he's going to
I think he's going to do it. He says he's going to do the Fuego XL, which is what 70 miles and like seven or eight or 9,000 ft of climbing or
something. Mountain bike on a mountain bike. Damn. And uh that's big. Mhm. Well, he hasn't ridden a mountain bike
in a month. Just saying. He rode the first day today. Yeah. He rode the rascal today.
Yeah. Um which hey, props to him. I was like, for a second I was like, "Hey, this could be fun." And then I'm like at I'm
like mathing and I'm like okay uh I've for like for all intents and purposes on
most of my rides on my SR I'm averaging like 10 miles an hour. So if I keep that pace for 70 miles
you'll you'll bump it up to probably 12 at sea otter cuz also probably will have a I'll have a little faster tires for a ride like
that. Is that No, I'm not. But I was like thinking about it. I was like oh maybe I'll go do this with Zach and like you
know and then I was like actually it's going to be probably hot at in. Always hot as
sea otter. It could be. It's going to be sunny. It's It's give or take at Sea Otter. It's usually foggy in the morning and
then you're baking by 2:00 p.m. Yeah. Yeah. So, in my head I'm like, "Okay, this is And it's like it's going to be six or
seven hour race." Yeah, for sure. Dude, that's a big mountain bike ride. That's a big mountain bike ride and in
the heat and like I don't know. But you know what that is? That's good base training. That is good base training. You're
right. It absolutely is. or um crack wide open and hope.
Whoopsie. Whoopsie. And uh you know, it could be super demoralizing or it could be super fun.
So, who knows? It'll be fun. It's a hard challenge, but there's nothing more gratifying than than finishing it. Um it's pretty funny.
Like Liam, you you showed me that uh that Michelin site today. Um, they put
like a quote on one of my blogs on their on their site and the picture was from me post Downyville bonk.
Sweaty, salty, dirty, salty. I had some crazy hair going on. Um, that's just like the best right
there is like the best feeling in the world. You've like accomplished something super hard like you were saying and uh and you're done. You can
go drink some beers and have some pizza and hang out by the river and it's like cool for that's like you've earned it.
Yeah, I can't wait. I can't wait for that. But you're right. It's like it would be great baseline training, but it's also
sounds like hell at the same time. It is. Uh, you know what you should do, though? And Zach should do it, too. The Great
Descent, cuz that's in June. Yeah. And that's a good I I just always think
it's good for any level you're at to do a race before you race.
Yeah. even if it's not necessarily the same exact style, but like helps you kind of get those race nerves out, flush
the system, like what what routine you need in the morning, you know, like Yeah, cuz last year Tyman and I didn't race
until Great Descent and we both showed up there and it was eye opening. Eye opening. We died literally.
I pass I caught Tyman puking in a shadow on the side of the side of the mountain.
So I thought you were going to say Moab Rocks because well that would be funny. We all fell apart on that race.
We did all fall apart on that. Yeah. Um cuz that race looked pretty cool. Yeah. Speaking of the people who put on
Moab Rocks, Trans Rockies, um have a little gave us a little discount to give
everyone. So they put on Trans Rock uh Trans Rockies puts on Moab Rocks 3-day cross country race in Moab. Super epic.
I did it in 2024. They moved it a little bit later this year. Um that's probably a good play. Yeah, cuz
it uh there was snow at the top of Porcupine Rim when I did it and the nights were like 29 degrees.
Yeah. So, it's a little cold. So, now it's in May. Um I'm not going to do it this year
cuz I have something else that week. But, um so they have that. They have
single track three, which used to be single track 6. It's three days of single track racing in uh Fernie,
British Columbia. I know, dude. That's cool. Real sick as well. Wow. Um, and then they're just opening
up a new New Mexico single track race, which I believe is also three days of racing in New Mexico. So,
if any of those float your fancy, I feel like a lot of our listeners love a race and it's three days. So, it's like
you get more bang for your buck cuz you're not It's not all in on one day. You get three days, you camp, you hang
out, you like become more friends with people, right? Because like you're racing and you end
up racing like near the same people three days in a row. You're also just riding like all the trails in the area.
You're exploring the whole area like more than you would in any other scenario. And you're and it's just a cool way to
do it. Yeah. I think like we we talked about this before, but kind of just like forces you to not only be motivated and
train, but also like you're forced to go have this epic weekend. Yeah. And like ride bikes in a sick place.
Yep. Yeah. Signing up is kind of the hard part. But if you want to sign up, uh discount code is Liam W15
off. So 15 off LMW15 off. It makes it a little easier. Yeah, it does. That's pretty cool that they
did that. That's a blow. And it's super super fun racing. Uh I would like to put one of
their races on my calendar for next year. Yeah. Make it happen. Especially since they moved Moab Rocks back into May. It's
also better for like my fitness building because it was in March, I believe, and
it's a little early. So now it's in May. So yeah. Yeah, that could be pretty cool. definitely on
the radar. Um, speaking of trips and stuff, so we have an update for all
mountain rides trips for 2026 this current year. So the Tasmania trip is
next. Yes. Is no longer going down as well as Nepal, right? Yeah. both Tasmania was not filling up
enough um and getting pretty close to like we had to give up the spot
basically the the reservation. Um and then Nepal, there's kind of a lot of stuff going on
with Nepal right now both internally as a country um and traveling over there.
So, we pulled the plug on that one. But we added a second week to Italy. Yes.
Which has a lot of people signed up for it already. We've done it and we can
certify. Yeah. That the Italy chip is it's a luxury mountain bike trip.
You know what I mean? Yeah. It's the best blend of like comfort and like Nepal we going in blind. I'm not
sure what we were sleeping on. Yeah. Uh Italy chance of food poisoning. Yeah. Italy your chance of uh food
poisoning is z like close to zero but uh can't be zero. Come on. You know what I
mean? Yeah, it's 100 different, but your chances of eating good food is 100%.
100%. Well, not only that, but the place, the hotel of Villa Eden is I can't believe
we didn't go to like they have the whole recovery center in the basement, which we I think we went like once or No, dude. We were in there like four
times. Were we? Yeah. Oh, I feel I feel like we went there like, why haven't we been doing this every day? It was like the cold plunge and the showers and the
jacuzzi. Too many cold plunge sauna, steam room, jacuzzi. Yeah.
In the hotel every night after you ride. There's a little bike garage. We dial in our bikes.
There's three course meals every night. Sick breakfast spread. And then we did 7,000 ft of climbing
over 5 days and 70,000 ft of descending. Yeah. Over 5 days.
That's the kind of ratio I'm talking about. Yeah. Like like a straight 1 to 10 ratio of climbing to descending.
Yeah. And it's luxury and you're in the Dolommites and Yeah. So, we have a whole another week open for
that trip. Uh, I'm rough. I don't think we've dialed in who's going on what week. You
said the first week works better for you. I'm open. Um, but one or two of us will be on both
of those weeks. Yeah. Yep. So, can't wait. That is creme to the creme.
Yeah, we'll have both the Trans Rockies link and all mountain rides link in show notes.
Yep. Um, come ride bikes with us in Italy. Yeah, it's so I'm so pumped for it. Yeah, me too. It's It's amazing.
It truly is. Um, you know what else is amazing is
Revel is dropping some pretty cool Yeah. Pretty cool colors yet, huh?
And I have not seen the colors. Let me Let me get them to you guys. Jeff is building up one of these fresh
rascals with these new colors. It was kind of like It's like a rock carbon. It's kind of like his Ranger that he
built. Was that two years ago? The carbon with the with the copper
with the copper on it. Yeah, that was the That was the first Ranger B2 colorway,
right? They had that and the orange. That and the Was it Tang or It was kind
of Tang adjacent. Can you guys pull that up? Yeah, it was close to Tang. Yeah.
So, maybe I'll uh maybe we'll pop some of these photos on the video while we're
Yeah. So, there's for the podcast. three new bikes or three new colors. Not bikes, they're
same bikes. Um yeah, so there's a Rover, a Rascal, and a
Ritual. Um all of those are getting new colors. So,
we'll start with the Rascal. This is like a ched out
kind of pearlescent almost like a rainbow logo. That's cool. On the ritual.
Uh it just says carbon here. Oh, okay. Rascal. Rascal colors.
That's the new color teaser. Make sure you're looking at the right bikes here. I didn't organize this.
So, Rascal, we have what they're calling Pulp Friction. It is a Tang. It's orange as well. Um, I have that bike showing up
in a couple days. Nice. And I'm stoked. It's a little loud for me,
but so was this prickly pair bike that I built up and looked really sick. So, they have the Pulp Friction Orange and
they also That's a great name, by the way. Yeah, I know, right? Pulp Friction. Are you kidding me? Pulp Fiction is my favorite movie, too. Pulp Friction. That would be a great
trail name, too. Um, right. And then they have Copper Head, which is raw carbon with bronze decals.
So, a big thing they're doing is just changing up the way the frames look. I think they look way more classy with
this graphic design, like the OG Rebel. Also, like logo on the underneath the
down tube and the Rebel logo, Rebel name underneath the top tube. Yeah. Looks
just like a little more subtle and a little less boxy and in your face. And um I I appreciate stuff like that.
Yeah. Yeah. It's it's subtle yet um Yeah. If you go if you just click the
watermarked one, you can see all the colors in one shot. Perfect. Nice. Actually missing the the raw copper
rasco, but we just talked about that. So yeah, we'll get some photos up on the podcast video so you can check it ritual
comes in a pewtor pan which is like a champagne as well as a raw carbon and like a rainbow not even rainbow like
Peter pan looks pretty sweet. It looks like kind of like Yeah, those are cool. And then some Rovers in Augusta green.
Shout out to the golfers. And uh Sin City, which is just white and black,
which I'm grabbing one of those, too. So dang, those both look really nice. Yeah, new colors. The that white and
black uh Rover is calling your name, Liam. Yeah, I have that one coming, too. Ah, do you really?
Yeah. Nice. I love the green on the on the rover, too. The uh that's like one of my favorite colors is like kind of a green
like that. I'm going to call it British racing British racing green. It does look really good. I just I want all my all my things to
look like. I want a British racing green car so bad. Yeah. Uh yeah. So, all these are the same
frames. They didn't update the frames. They just updated the colors. But new colors, new graphics, and then getting
in the weeds, but the Rascals uh are just now coming with spec with a 150 mil
fork instead of 140. Nice. Um I approve of that, too. Yeah. And it's the way we all run them mostly. Like we all bump them up. Um
everyone at uh Revel bumps them up. So, um yeah, fresh colors from Revel, which look
great. They always do really good on their colors, I think. I have to say, too, they did their the their new um Love Your Brain. bike as
well this year cuz they've done that the past couple years. So sick. And the one that they came out this year looks awesome.
They're giving away just one bike, right? Yeah. And by the time this podcast go live, I think it's over. Yeah. But it's worth mentioning cuz it's
pretty sick. But yeah, go back and look at it. And it is so sick. I would I wish that was a production color. I would
It's insane. It's like a purple dream or something. Yeah. It's like a purple fade to white, but it's so sick.
Very sick. So yeah, couple new colors from Revel. um keeping it fresh and
yeah, you love to see it. Yeah, keep keep on going. So nice. Well, speaking of keeping on going, how about we take a quick break
and then we hear a word from our sponsor. And now, a word from our sponsor. Ladies
and gentlemen, thank you so much for tuning in. If you didn't already know, we just launched the Nevada Treasure
Hunt for Kettle. So, you should go check that out. kettle mountain.com/treasure. There just might be a few jars out there
in the middle of nowhere. So maybe check that out and get yourself some hidden treasure. Also, if you are planning on
joining us on our incredible Italy trip this summer, you should let them know
that Worldwide Cycler Essentia because you'll get $250 off of that trip. So
check it out. Uh and we'd love to see you out there. Cheerio.
And now back to the show. I'm a catman. I'm a catman. What a great song.
I don't I don't know what that is. Never heard. Oh, Scatman, but I'm a Scatman.
That's insane. That is so good. What you guys tune in for listener questions. Howdy pod nerds.
I'll read this one. Pod nerds. Howdy pod nerds. It's kind of a long one. Not really a question, but more of a commentary, but
it's worth worth mentioning. a contribution. Is there a question in this? There's no question. Okay.
It's actually at the end there's a little bit of a question. How do you pod nerds? I was uh inspired by the recent question about pressure
gauges/minflators to actually contribute to the podcast instead of just consuming it. Not that
there's anything wrong with that. In my mind, mini inflators are the Reese's peanut butter cups of pumps. You have the solid fundamental peanut butter of
inflating your tires and delicious chocolate of getting the exact tire pressure you want. On top of that, you
can slip it in your pocket in case you want to adjust the pressure on your ride. I don't know if you can do that with a peanut peanut butter cup, but
I've uh I've been using mini inflators for the past year. They've become a regular part of my pre-ride prep. Since
I can set the pressure and it remembers it, I can top off my tires to the exact pressure I want in 10 seconds per wheel.
No compressor, no pump, just grab the inflator, turn it on, and boom, perfect pressure every time. I like them so much
I have two. One for my gravel and mountain bikes since they run similar pressures and one for the road bike. I have a Cypus AS2 Pro and the Silka
Ultimate. Um, and they're both great, but I prefer the Cypus because it's smaller and quieter. But whichever brand
model you get, make sure it has a pressure gauge, then calibrate against your regular pump. Thanks for keeping us
entertained and informed. Um, and Fudgy Potato, one of my cats, would like to get an update on bean, please. Wow. So,
all that for a bean question. Yeah, that's and that that's what you said. There's kind of a question in here.
A question about bean. Yeah, question about bean. I want to try one of those inflators. Um, I think that's actually cool that you can
calibrate it to set that. That's actually super smart cuz it is a lot of waste of time pumping and pressure
gauging. If you can do it all in once, that saves a lot of time and it's kind of will just be accurate. Yeah. Um, I'm I'm I'm cool with that.
Especially for the road bike would be nice, too. Seems pretty cool. Seems pretty nice to just carry uh either on you or in the
car or whatever. Um, as far as an update on Bean, uh Bean is doing fantastic. We
were just up in the mountains over the weekend uh up at the cabin and that's just her favorite place.
You brought Bean. We brought Oh, always bring Bean up to the cabin. Yeah. All the squirrels running around up in the trees. You
know, Bean's not going outside. No, but she likes to Oh, there's a lot for her to look at.
Gotcha. Yeah. Trapped inside. I think she likes it that way. I mean,
she'll like We take her outside for a second, but as soon as there's a person inside, she's like, "I'm out of here." Very shy with other people. If the doors
open, will she just run? Will she run outside? I think she's curious to like check it out, but uh doesn't want to do it though.
Doesn't want anything to do with any other people. Yeah. Yeah. Funny. Cats are funny. Hopefully,
Fudgy Potato is doing well. Also, I think that's a great name for a cat. I don't Yeah,
that's not like it's too many syllables. Are you a cat person, Trevor, or you a dog person? I'm I'm a dog person, but I don't think
I can own a dog in my current stage of life right now. Um I do love dogs. I think cats are
awesome though cuz cats you can kind of just like they kind of just do their thing and they're chill and um but I
there's nothing like the love of a dog. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's interesting the different bonds you can have with different
animals, you know? Like if you're like the dog's owner, it is like the best thing ever, you know? Like they just want to be they want to
make you happy. Yeah. Which I I think cats don't care about that. Yeah. It's interesting you say that cuz
Bean would beg to differ cuz like she's like so comfortable with us that it's like she's like you guys are my people,
you know? She's like anybody else like nah. Yeah. Like she'll, you know, curl up and cuddle and stuff and super sweet.
You if they're like on your bed or whatever, you can just kind of throw them off and they're good to go. You know,
cats do whatever. You could you can't force them to do anything. I guess I'm on to the next thing. You know, well, I just got a king-size bed for my
dog. Nice. Just for the dog. Well, to share with the dog. If the dog wasn't in a bed pushing me
and my girlfriend off the bed, we would have been fine with a queen. Yeah. But because the dog
takes up it takes up like a third or like a quarter, right, dude. It takes up a whole human's worth of stuff or more.
Yeah. Like neither me or my girlfriend are like big people. No. Yeah. We don't need a king, but now we do cuz
a dog. Yeah. Yeah. This is the perfect segway to this next question. If all animals
were the same size, what would win in a fight? I have a My answer is going to trump all yours. Okay, let's hear it.
I don't even have an answer right now. You have one? I personally think that it would be a
cat. Match yours up. Okay, but what size are we talking here?
Like if all animals were the same size. You pick one. Like if it was the size of like a I don't know, like a small dog.
Like 40 pounds. Yeah. Big cat. Honey badger.
Cuz that literally I think the dead honey badgers don't care. Like the deadliest animal like pound-for-pound is like a small cat is a
small hunting like a small wild cat maybe. I don't know man. Honey badgers.
Honey Honey badgers take down like hyenas. Yeah. Yeah. Think about honey badgers don't care.
Think about like a mountain lion. Honey badgers will take down a mountain lion. Really? Poundfor-pound. Yeah. Small mountain
lion. Dude, honey badger is taking down a cup cuz they're so fast. Cuz a the small mountain line is basically a bobcat.
Yeah. And bobcats are cute. Now I wouldn't want to mess with I don't
I don't like house cats. Like they scare me. So you put you put 20 lbs on a house cat. Terrifying.
Yeah, for sure. But honey badger I don't know. I don't know if I've ever seen like a honey badger like actually
in the hunting form, you know? Oh, dude. Go go go down a YouTube rabbit hole. Yeah, there's like an iconic video you
need to watch. Really? There there's a few. So, there's one where like it takes on like a pack of like four hyenas and it just doesn't
stop or like or like snakes and stuff. Yeah. See, I also had snake as a contender, but cats will take out a snake.
Uh cats reaction times are something like five times faster than a the best snake. Really? Wow.
Like a house cat, like a a snake will um strike at a house cat and house cat's
reaction time just like messes with it. It's like it was, you know, I guess I have seen it be like if I jumped in the ring with
Conor McGregor, you know, it' just be like, "Dude, you're you're so slow." Yeah.
Yeah. I think I think I'd be really if they're all the same size, I think a mountain line would scare me a lot. Yeah.
I mean, they're scary anyway. I don't care what size a mountain line is. I mean, you do put 20 pounds on a house cat. Terrifying.
It's a mountain line. Mountain line. Yeah, for sure. Some people said spider, but I
don't know. Spiders are fragile. You could squash them. Yeah, but also the think of like Harry Potter and a 40 lb
spider though. That would That's horrifying. That's horrifying. Think of like Harry Potter and I think Harry Potter defeated a snake. Big snake
he defeated. I think a big spider. Maybe that was Lord of the Rings. No, it isn't Harry Potter. I think the
big spider is in the chamber secrets or something. Prisoner of But I don't I didn't see him fighting a big mountain lion.
No, you did not. Oh, what a good question. All right, how about this next one? Good
morning, guys. listen to every episode. You guys are awesome. I am having a decision-making issue related to wheels,
and I hope you can help. I ride in Northern Virginia and have a 2023 Trek Top Fuel 8 with a Pike, not a SID, and
want to swap out the Bond Trackger stock wheels for a better set. I use it as my trail bike, not really just XC. I'm
looking for uh speed, snappiness, and quick engagement. Weight is not my focus. 6'1, 210 lbs. Looking for a set
of wheels under $1,000 that complements the trails I ride and my love for this short travel trail bike. Not scared of
carbon, but my wallet is. I don't hit big jumps on this thing. Looking at DTSwiss X1900 or EX1700 with DT Ratchet
DG9 to hub, Industry 9 Hydra 2 Trail S, Reserve 30 SL with DT Swiss 90 to hub,
or Hunt Trail wide. I want the reserve based on reviews, but I have a question for you guys. Is it weird to put Santa
Cruz wheels on a track? And are they just another set of takeoffs like my Bontrager line 30 wheels? Feel like
buying an in-house brand is a waste of money, but everyone who reviews these wheels or their carbon version description of them fits what I'm
looking for. Am I looking at this brand wrong? Please share your thoughts and any other recommendations for wheels I
may have missed. This is a onetime purchase for me, so I don't want to get it wrong. Yeah, as far as like in-house brands go
for like wheel companies, I think Reval is kind of a little bit of the ex or sorry, not Revol, Reserve is kind of a
little bit of the exception. Um it's it's very common for people to put reserve wheels on any kind of bike
for sure. Um it doesn't like they're it's kind of their own thing. Yeah. Um even though it is part of the whole
like Santa Cruz and Curvell and all that stuff, like um yeah, putting reserve wheels on on
any kind of bike is a pretty normal thing to do. more normal than let's say you put a a Bond trigger wheel um or
even I mean revolve is a little bit more common than that I would say but even even then I think it's more common to
put a reserve on a different style of bike or a different brand bike than definitely
most in-house brands we see them on all like on Crest lines you have one on a Specialized back there
um you know Reserve wheel definitely like they have a really great reputation
I think they're solid like they're their uh their downhill wheels is pretty beefy.
Yeah. And then their their new alloy ones too are are um are pretty good and they're affordable and I think their warranties
insane. So yeah, great warranty $6.99 for those with 350 DG. That's
for the reserves. That's crazy. Yeah, they have the new Yeah, reserve with the 350 is is uh it's hard to beat
that anywhere. For sure. For a trail wheel. Definitely. That's not carbon though. Yeah, it's not. Um
looking at it's 1840 g. Uh that I was actually going to say he said EX for the
1700s. Uhhuh. I think you should do XM. XM. Yeah. So those are the more trail.
Yeah. So the the rim on the EX is a 511. The rim on the XM is a 4 A1.
So it drops the rim and some weight. Um Yeah. It'll be better for like a trail bike. Yeah. Yeah. You can't go wrong with TTS
either. Um but the warranty isn't really The warranty is not that I don't really have a warranty for
aluminum wheel, right? For I don't think so. Um, but I want to look at weight real quick.
I mean, i9 uh Hydro 2 Trail S. That's also one of our top selling wheels as
well as the Reserve 30. Yeah, those are all and I don't know a ton about the Hot Wheels, but I know
they've just from friends like they're super good wheels as well. But all those options are super good.
Good bang for your buck. I mean, if you wantough if you want more of like a set and forget and good peace of mind. I mean, it's hard to beat the reserves
with the DT hub. Yeah, I was going to say it's hard to beat the DT hub. The i9's are good, too. Yeah, the new Hydro2 definitely have a better.
And yeah, I also just read the the Reserve is is coming with they're upgrading to the 90 to right, of the DEG
hub. Um, without without any like extra cost. Yeah, the XM and the Reserve about even
on weight. Um, man, yeah, you kind of I'm I don't I
don't know if I'd normally say this, but I'd go with Reserve over the DTS. I think I would too. Um,
yeah. I don't know how they're doing it, but they're having it's a it's a great bargain. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz you also get a Jbend spoke on the
Reserve versus a straight pull, which I just kind of prefer more. It's easy to work on and travel with.
Yeah, I prefer that, too. Yeah. Um Yeah, that is interesting. I'm normally all about full DT wheels,
but yeah, these Reserves are good cuz isn't it like if you if it doesn't hold air, then they'll replace the rim.
Well, I was I was going to say like when it when Reserve like first came out on the market with these wheels, they had
um yeah, like a kind of a no questions asked warranty at first and they would send you you would like submit a
warranty and they would send you a new wheel like next day and you send your old wheel back and then they just take
care of all that stuff. So, I would imagine I don't know how they did it, but they I would imagine there was a warehouse full of hubs,
right? Broken rims. I'm not sure what they did with that, but it's a little harder to find now, but you can find it. Aluminum rim warranty.
Following damages covered under warranty. This is for what? Aluminum rims reserve.
Dented rim not holding air covered under warranty. Seam separation covered under warranty.
Crackout spoke hole covered under warranty. Wow. Wow. Pretty much covers it. Dented rim not holding air is pretty
savage for a warranty. Honestly, like if you're riding an aluminum wheel on an ebike, it is so easy to do that on any
bike. if you have the wrong pressure, like you can't prove that. So, it's tough. I mean, and then they have a crash
replacement as well. Yeah, if it was my money, I mean, that's probably what I'm going with, you know, as a costconscious
consumer. Um, yeah, I like the hub it comes with as well. Yeah, that's a that's a tough one, but
all great options for sure. You can't go wrong, but if you are abusing wheels, then, you know, it's kind of hard to
pass up a warranty like that. If you're serial wheel abuser
or you can buy a trail one wheel set and you won't have any issues really. True. Yeah. I I mean I would like to plug my
own thing. They're just 200 g heavier. They're heavy. So he's also not he's also not worried really about weight. So
true. True. And I we could do a pretty good warranty on those. Comes with 350 deeg hub JB
spokes. Yeah. Laced up by me or Trevor. You know that you know the guy's making it happen. So it's cool.
That's true. That's true. Very true. Yeah. for the weight. Those reserves are solid.
Yeah. What you said like 1,800ish grams. Yep. Yeah. Nice. Well, Liam, you want to read
this next one? Yeah. It's not too long. I'm I'm officially a hair's breath away
from booking the extra date dolomite trip. Oh, there we go. Did you plan this one?
Maybe. With all mountain rides, I'm told yourself and Liam are also on the trip. Yourself as in Jared?
I think. Yeah, this was sent to me. Yeah. What I'd like to know is, am I good enough? Or more generally, how is it best to gauge one ability when
signing up for one of these organized rides? I think fitness-wise, I should be fine. I have lots of time before
September to make damn sure I do. But when it comes to technical skill, it's hard to know. I think surviving Monet
Crest and Chasing Epic with Lame and Jeff is also a good marker. I'm not overly concerned, but there's some
anxiety there, right? There's a lot in the line, a whole group of riders. How does one know? Also for the Dolmmites, I
better bring in my stock rail 29 lowerend spec higherend travel or my end
of the line V1 rascal which came with upgraded forks, shocks, brakes. Where would you compromise? Um,
that's a great question. Javal, oh, it's Javal. Javal. That's Oh, Javal, you should definitely come.
Yeah. Um, you're plenty skilled on a rider. Like, is this Jioval like our customer in the
shop? Cool. Yeah, I moved to Ireland, but he still comes back. I work on his bikes all the time. Yeah. Um,
yeah. No, like Monarch Crest, uh, the stuff we did there, the downhills and
everything are the same. Comparable difficulty. Comparable difficulty to like 90% of the
stuff we're going to ride in the Dolommites. There's a few optional, not forced, like uh, double black EWS
trails. We'll ride in Valdafasa area or Canaz. Um, but those are all optional. Like there's a there's a blue to the right
and a black double black to the left and you pick your poison. That's awesome. Um, and they're that's like a bike park.
So, yeah, you you go left or you go right and we end up at the same at the bottom. Yeah. Um, I you should definitely go fitness
fitness is you need to be able to ride every single day. Yeah. But you're not like pedaling massive
days. We rode way more in in Monite Crest than we would have here. And now's the elevation.
Different type of trip than a chasing epic. Yeah. This is descending heavy versus, you know, climbing. Um, I brought my
Rail 29 there last year or last time and it was awesome. It was so good. Uh,
right now I'm I don't know. We'll see when I get closer. I'm between a Rascal beefed up
or a ritual with like lightest tires. Yeah. Depends what I'm going to do before
after if I'm going to ride and how much I want to ride can. Yeah. I think if I were Joval, I'd bring a
real T9K 100% bring. I think for someone else, I'd bring a
real T9. Just to have that extra comfort on the gnarlier trails. Exactly. Um cuz like I said, you're not pedaling.
Yeah. So I don't need to worry about like these huge climbs. Yeah. And some of those descents were
kind of technical on some of those ZWS stages like And would you would you run like bigger tires too?
Thicker tires. I run like a EXO plus front double down rear. Yeah, I'll probably bring my SP165 and
then probably a tire combo like that. Um yeah, Max grip front. um or or radials.
I guess we'll see. Um but yeah, nothing not like super heavy like downhill racing downhill casing
probably not like you know you're not racing super you're not racing and like there is a
handful of stuff that's like pretty mellow riding where like a heavy tire is just going to like feel
sluggish. Yeah. Yeah. Like kind of pedaly like not climbing but like meandering or like undulating. Yeah.
Um like when we did the Celeronda Yeah. um where you basically circumn
uh the mountain with a glacier on it. Rhonda the rangeella. I remember seeing the video of that like
drone footage or something like that. Yeah. Which is it was sick. I mean you go around the entire mountain range
which has like a huge plateau basically. Um but yeah, there's definitely just like some flatter like you know you're
eating up a couple miles here and there. So, in that regard, I think Rail 29 is probably perfect cuz you got the you got
the cushion for the fun downhill stuff and then efficiency for when you want it. And the Rail 29's not sluggish anyways.
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Nice. Well, how about this one? Hey guys, thanks for the pod. Great online
shop and service. How often do you service your clipless pedals? Months or miles? Or do you simply replace them
because they're so cheap? I run Crank Brothers Candy Pedals. Can one simply drop some chain lube on them to help?
Thanks again, Travis in Tennessee. Uh, well, Crank Brothers also sells a
rebuild kit that have little bearings and bushings, and they're not too hard to swap in. Um, I think it's like 20
bucks for the rebuild kit or something like that. But Trail One includes a pedal rebuild kit.
Doesn't include Doesn't include We offer Oh, the rebuild kit for both our flat
pedals. Um, yeah. Nice. So, uh, when you hit the year mark, reach out. Look on our website. We
have a page of how to do it. Reach out to the email and you get a code for one
free rebuild kit. Nice. And they can rebuild them. There you go. But yeah, I mean, we were just saying
earlier, they take a lot of abuse. A lot of abuse. A lot of abuse. I don't run Crank
Brothers. Jared does. So, you can speak to both rebuilding the internals of the pedal, but also the springs, right?
because you kind of have two things going on with the Crank Brothers. You have the springs that clip you in and then the
bearings that make the pedal run smooth. Mhm. Um I've been running times for like the last 3 years. I haven't touched one.
Yeah, they are it's pretty solid. So dialed like um I Yeah, they they they don't have any
play. They don't make any noise. They are amazing. I was running Shimano before that and I'd probably say you
need to do some love to them like maybe once a year. Yeah. um to some Shimano deal and all you have to do is crack the seal on
those, clean them out, put some fresh grease in and tighten them back up and it's easy. But
you do have to do it though. You do have to do it. I've been I've been running like XT and XTR trail clipin pedals, clipless pedals
my whole life, and I'm pretty particular about it, too, because a lot of times people run the pedals and they have a little bit of
play on them. It'll actually make your bike sound pretty clapped out. Um if you're not if you don't notice that, it'll make a
dialed bike not dialed. for sure. Something simple like that. Um and it also is annoying when they're when they
move around a lot too. Yeah. Um but I I they've gotten better. Like the new XTR pedals I've been running
have been perfect, but pretty much everyone every single one before that will develop play. And yeah, it's not
the most it's not the hardest thing in the world to tighten them up and it's a little lock nut and stuff and clean them
out and grease them and takes like 10 minutes. You can do it. I did it at Downville. I remember like on the back of my truck.
Nice. Um, but yeah, you do have to do that and it's worth it. And also it's like if you have them bad and there's a
lot of drag. It's a lot of drag you're putting throughout your whole system. So it's like you're just it's just free free watts if you can avoid that.
Yeah. So I'd say crack them open once a year. Yeah. Whether you're a spring cleaner or end
of season, put it away. Perfect. Once a year. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can tell with the Crank Brothers or pretty much any
pedal if the bearings are, you know, totally It's like a skateboard bearing when you spin it.
The HTS do a pretty good job of that. Oh, HTS go fast. Yeah. Yeah. Like the spin. Yeah. It just sounds
horrible. Mhm. Try. I mean, I would say it depends on um if you feel like the pedal, like the
body and everything itself has life left in it. Like do does it make sense for me to spend,
you know, whatever? Maybe an hour or two like rebuilding these. And maybe not. Yeah, whatever. It doesn't make sense
for me to spend the time. Yeah, probably an hour, right? But what? They're 180 bucks. God, are they
um for a Mala E? At least 100, right? Honestly. Yeah. And I can't speak for
Crank Bros, but the Shimano pedals kind of last a lifetime. They last forever. They'll get beat up and scarred up and stuff, but
Shimanos. Yeah, you can you can just rebuild them and they're good to go. I I have I still have like five or six XT pedals in my
like toolbox at home that are just zip tied together for like a rainy day and I just I'll never use them, you know.
XT trails are 150. Um XTRS are 220 and the new ones are 260. So yeah, it's not
cheap to replace. They're not cheap at all. No. So yeah, I mean I mean again it's two set. It's almost two tires. True. And so it's
it's not crazy. But you know what does look cool though? We have none of us have ridden them. We should try to get a
set. The new Wolftooth ones. Oh, yeah. The control all delete ones. Yeah, Wolf Tooth always has
That's a great name, right? Uh, great serviceability on their product
and they're usually pretty like planned out and have, you know, quality stuff
going on. And they're already like floating to the top of our bestselling when I just type in pedals.
I'd actually like to get those for my gravel bike because they have some sick ones. M
um they have one-sided for gravel. You can go one-sided SPD pedals. If you're racing and clipping, you know,
that's the delete. That makes sense. The control is the delete yourself.
The control is the trail. It's like it's like down country. The alt is your standard two-sided and the delete is a
one-sided meant for gravel. Yeah. If I'm like not unclipping ever,
that's cool. Then it makes sense. But like I just I hate clipping in and out of road pedals. Yeah.
And I'm so bad at that. It's annoying. It depends on crashed
like a street light. I'm such a goon when it comes to that. Such a goon. It's a It's a stressful situation too.
It is. It straight up it is never fun to clip back into a like Shimano road pedal.
I will say like on this topic of this question um just to like buy extra cleats too and just replace them. Yeah,
like you'll think like, "Oh, my pedals are worn out." Or like sometimes you'll like I've almost crashed pretty bad just
from accidentally unclipping and your cleat totally worn out. So just do yourself a favor and just change them
and your life will be way better. Yeah, that's what I was going to say too cuz Liam had mentioned about the springs in the Crank Brothers pedal and I find
more often than not it's just the cleat that is wearing out and it's like there's nothing left on the cleat and then you put a fresh cleat and it's like
oh that's what I'm talking Shimanos last a little longer, but Crank Brothers and Time cleat are brass, so they don't last
a long time. Yeah, not at all. Um, yeah, I was just Look, Times are $200 a pedal, too, for like the like
quality ones as well. So, I let my roommate borrow my pedals like the other day and he was like, I can't
believe you run these so loose. Like, he's like the No, just like Yeah, the like clipping and out. He's like, how do
you run it so loose? And I'm like, I don't. I'm like, your cleats are just worn out. Like they're just different pedals. like it's used to
one pedal and then you go to a different one and it's a little different and I was like, "Yeah, just change your cleats, dude." I have been kind of curious to try those
new XTR pedals, too. The ones that you've been running. Yeah, they're good. They uh their the
platform is huge on them, which is nice. Um I It was a little bit weird with the shoes I'm running, too. Like, um it kind
of makes you like rub a little bit on the crank arm, which I don't really prefer. Weird. Um, but it is a huge platform and
when you aren't clipped in it is like actually noticeable and it's like I've always liked the Shimano Saint pedals.
It's just a huge platform but they're really heavy. That's like the new XTR. And these new XTRS aren't exactly light either. Um, but they're like a mini a
mini S pedal which I think is pretty cool and fits my style of riding perfectly. Um, I just use it on everything. Yeah. I
think that my main um barrier to doing that is just like having whatever three
bikes that all use Crank Brothers. When you're into a system, you're into a system. Yeah, for sure. Like I have like six pairs of time
pedals. So yeah, what am I going to change after that? Get all new pedals for all the bikes.
Do you think you could ride Shimano pedals and feel confident like pretty pretty fast? I don't know. I haven't I tried Crank Brothers one time
and I couldn't do it. really sketch three times and I can't do it. That's crazy. It's crazy how
the fastest guys in the world run either or, you know, it just depends on what you're used to. I find that wild to me though. It's such
a different feeling. That's crazy. But I could go time SPD back and forth pretty easily
cuz they have a similar similar somewhat similar mechanism, right? Um yeah. Well, cuz with the Shimano
pedal, you can kind of adjust the is it the float or like the the tension? Yeah,
the float's the same based off the cleat. Um, you can have like multi-release or just like one-sided release.
Yeah. Um, but like before the big the big kind of debate was like um with the Crank Brothers, you can kind
of step into it. And now with the new Shimano cleat, you can step into it. So, it's like I don't know. I really I
really like the Shimano. Yeah. Maybe it's time for me to give it a shot. I've been Brothers for like 10 years now.
And you can also just like change like your shoe and your cleat real quick and just do just try one ride with it. Yeah.
All good. Yeah, true. Well, maybe I'll report back. Um, Liam, I think this is the perfect
question for you to read right here. What kind of tool kit do you prefer to
carry on an XC race bike? Um, XC race bike? Like, are we racing?
I mean, I would that that question kind of implies some sort of race. Well, I kind of carry the same thing all
the time. is my ride wallet which has dina plug standart
CO2 CO2 head and
maybe that's probably it in my wallet. Dino plug and a dart. Yeah, got them both in there.
Is it because they're different size plugs? Different holes for different different plugs for different holes.
Mhm. I rarely use the dart, honestly. That's for like a big hole on It's a big hole. Like you can't really like if you have a
small little puncture, you can't really even get it in. No. No, you can't. you'll break the the post on it. But um
with a big hole, every hole will plug. You just need enough plugs. Mhm. So that's where the dart comes in.
Yeah. Um and then on my bike, some depending on the race like down evo, I'll just put
like two extra CO2s taped to my bike or or in my pockets or something just cuz like that's a race that's like plugs and
CO2. You're you're Yeah. That's it. you well you also just like you don't also just don't want to be
stranded out there it's pretty far away from camp yeah but if you're doing like an adventure XC race right like big race
and like you know you want like more stuff in your backpack you want a tubalito on the bike you want
more plugs on there you want a tire boot chain chain link master link uh and a chain breaker
so that kind of stuff on a bigger ride but like to me XC race you don't bring a chain breaker in
master link No, not on Downeyville. Really? Chain breaker.
Yeah, dude. I will say on this last night ride on Thursday, I I broke my chain on my
druid. Whoa. Um on a downhill. What? Without rocks, too. It just like we hit like this like
I I was I felt like I was ripping and then just hit like a G out and didn't shift or anything. I just went to go pedal out of the G out and then chain
just like lost. It just like fell off. That's so weird. It was super strange. And yeah, broke at
a link. So, I don't know what happened with that, but um so I guess at the bottom of the trail, no chain,
everyone's like, "What happened? What happened?" There's like 20 of us. There's also like four four mechanics that are all my buddies on the ride,
like legit mechanics. Legit mechanics. And they're they're all like looking at me like, "What? Well, you got the stuff or what?" And I
was so stoked. I had like my whole kit ready and like nice. Um had a chain breaker and and um and a
master link. And yeah, master link's not too uh helpful if you can't break the chain either.
Yeah. That's like those Wolftoothoth pliers that came out with just the the chain master link.
That's what I use thing. Yeah. Yeah. They don't break a chain. They don't break a chain. Most of the time you need a chain
to break the chain to fix it. Yes. Almost all the time. Almost all the time. You're not You're not going to have two male ends. You're
going to have a male and a female end. So, yeah. I had the I had the the Wolftooth um
chain pliers. Nice. And then with mash links in them. And then I had um from just this just the
end of the little crank brothers tool um with with that has a little chain breaker on it and yeah that worked out.
I have a um multi-tool with me. Yeah. Nice. And good to go. You know everyone was kind of the guys who weren't mechanics
were like mind blown. They're like how how did you just do that? Um it's not too difficult but if you know
you know I also really like using the day saver Allen like the central eight and the
co-working five I believe they are. Yeah. that has like the tire lever and those have everything chain breaker on
it. Yeah, the co-working five has a chain breaker and a spot for for links as well. So, I think that's worth having with those
two combos in my ride wallet. I'm good all the time. Yeah. Um I like for a race, I'll take that out
and just have like, you know, minimal. But yeah, everyday riding. Yeah,
I think the Daysaver is worth it cuz I'm carrying a bunch of random different tools with me that just happen to have
everything I need. But if you have it all in one tool, especially if you can integrate it on your bike and like an accessory mount or or even like yeah
your wide your ride wall and it's all low profile like I think that's worth it cuz otherwise you're carrying around a lot. I just put it in like yeah trail
one stem bag or even like I've got some like Oakley glasses case bag put it in there
and just keep it rumbling around everywhere. Just keep it insane. Daysavers essential weight is 50 bucks
and the co-working 5 is 33. Yeah, it's not too bad. 83 bucks. You have everything you need right there.
And then you throw it in a little ride wallet, traveling bag, sunglass case. I use like a Topa Designs like 3x4
wallet. And then I just shove everything in that wallet. Plugs, dino plugs, access battery, chapstick. Yeah.
Nice. Is the chapstick an essential? It is. I have chapstick on me.
In my pocket on you. It's honestly funny how that's my key. how little I have learned because every
ride I go like I forget chapstick more than half the time. Oh, it's and I have I have multiple
chapsticks. I have car chapstick, I have pocket chapstick, and I have bike chapstick. Like us humans are so fragile. Like we
need to moisturize lips. When I was just in New York, I got my lips got like I think windb burned or something cold
and like Yeah, my lips were chopped for like 4 days. It was super annoying. That's insane. Yeah, I hate how we have to moisturize.
That's so dumb. What really grinds Jared G. Just have Well, especially if you're riding a lot, like in the road. In the road or like
being in the sun, too, for sure. Um, it's just more more wind uh than the average human, I would say.
Yeah. And sun, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. You need one. SPF probably helps, too. Yeah. All right. I think we have time for one
more. Yeah. Yeah. Last one here. Number seven. All right. I have really liked your Maxis article from a few years back.
Pairing different combos for grip versus rolling speed. Liam, I believe you wrote that one. My question is, when do you go
too far on a given bike? I'll obviously experiment, but I have a 120 millimeter travel bike and a 150 millimeter travel
bike. Does putting something like a dissector/recon on the 150 mil bike make sense or am I neutering the bike? The
opposite I would assume is true that putting an Asagy DHR on my 120 mil bike will slog it down and make it more of an
unforgiving enduro bike. Any thoughts or guide here on when to hold off or just send it if needed? I'm an intermediate
rider in the Northeast. My two bikes are a Rimmo and a Tall Boy. Well, he kind of spelled it out.
Yeah, I think he's kind of on the right track. If you had one bike, then it's like, yeah, you can like get through
some rides by really putting on like a dissector recon on your ribmo
or you know, you have a 120 mil bike, but you're like, "Oh, I'm going on this trip and all my friends are enduro bikes." And you put on enduro tires. But
if you have two bikes, my kind of hard line on that is like a dissector.
Yeah. Like dissector could float on the front of a 120 mil bike or could be like
a faster tire on a 150 mil bike, but uh like I want to go more dissector on the
120 or less dissector on the 150. I think that's a great way of putting it. Yeah. Put the fast tires on the tall boy and
the thicker slower tires in the rim and you have a great combo right there. Exactly. Yeah. You're kind of ready for whatever
at that point. And just do what to whatever your trails demand. Yeah. Yeah, like if you're if you're riding the
trails and you're thinking to yourself like, "Oh, I need more grip." Then put more grip on it. If you're if you're like, "Oh, I have all the grip I need. I
need more speed." Then put faster tires on it and and find that balance between grip and speed because there's always going to be
kind of a um give or take, you know? Yeah. Um but find what's op
ideal for your terrain and go for it. Even if you want an ASA guy on your 120
bike, just do a exo casing. Yeah. Max like a Max Terra too. Yeah. Max Terra EXO and it'll roll like
the fastest you can with the biggest knobs. Mhm. And then on the Ripmo, you can put like a max grip double down and have
protection and grip. Yeah. So, like you can have the same tire on both bikes, but like different casing
and rubber. Even that new dissector probably perfect on that Tall Boy.
Yeah. And don't they have EXO Max Grip as well? Yeah, I have one in the Mac. Yeah, that on that thing would be insane
on the front. Yep. I think I remember seeing Sam Dale race a tall boy at Downyville. He did.
He was He had really thin tires on that thing, but he was ripping it. Yeah. I think Dario Dario does race tall
boy there, too. Yeah. With like four casters or something. I can't remember. But, uh, it was just funny to I just thought an
expert. Funny to see that just uh Daddyville brings out the craziest tire bike combos. Like even me, I had a crazy
combo, too. But yeah, Sam Dale was running a crazy combo. And I think of him as like the 50 to1 guy ripping
ripping turns and stuff, not in a full speed suit with a tall boy in some skinny tires.
That's awesome. Yeah, it's cool. That's what's cool about it, though, right? Brings out all the crazy wacky
setups that are optimized for one. That's what's fun about bikes, though. You can kind of do whatever you want to do and who cares what people think. Just
do it. Yeah. If it work, if it makes sense and it works, go with it. If it works, it works, right? Put a dual crown on your XT bike.
Maybe not that far. Yeah, it would be the first time you've seen that. I know. Uh, well, I think that just about wraps
this one up, wouldn't you guys say so? Yeah, it was a good pod. Yeah. Thank you guys so much for tuning
in. We truly do appreciate it. And gosh, I guess we'll see you guys in the next one. Cheerio. Peace. Love you.
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