- Continue Shopping
- Your Cart is Empty
Our Favorite MTB Things of 2025 Plus Classic Listener Questions & More... Ep. 167 [Podcast]
Today on the podcast, the guys chat about their favorite mountain bike things of the year before they get into some classic listener questions ranging from eating Taco Bell for a year to servicing a bike that's been sitting for a long time and everything in between. Tune in!
Worldwide Cyclery YouTube Channel
Submit any and all questions to podcast@worldwidecyclery.com.
Join us on epic mountain bike trips that you will never forget in locations like Tasmania, Italy & Nepal. Grab $250 off any All Mountain Rides trip by just mentioning WWC: https://worldwidecyclery.com/blogs/worldwide-cyclery-blog/all-mountain-rides-all-inclusive-mountain-bike-guided-trips-w-worldwide-cyclery-crew
Get your off season training program dialed with Train to Ride with Dee Tidwell: https://traintoride.com/programs/mtb-strong-worldwide-cyclery/
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 167 of the MTB podcast presented and
hosted by Worldwide Cycling, Kettle Mountain Apparel, and Trail One Components. I'm Jared. I'm Liam. And I'm Trevor.
That is right, ladies and gentlemen. The three Migos are back. And in this episode, we discuss our favorite
mountain biking things of the year, as well as some classic listener questions ranging from eating Taco Bell for a
year, oh, surfacing a bike that's been sitting for a long time and everything in between.
Interesting. I'm I'm curious about those questions there. Everything in between. That's the the question from the not to
read. That's the question I told you not to read. Exactly. And speaking of things, Zach's words of
wisdom will jump right in. The best revenge is to live a better life. I like that. Profound. Yeah,
very profound. Take the high road. Wise words. Yeah, take the high road. Live a better life.
Um, I'd love to know the context. I'd love to know more about where this came from, but I guess we'll have that part
of the fun is the mystery, right? We'll ask him tomorrow. Yeah, we'll ask him tomorrow. That's right. Speaking of fun things, Daniel's
fun fact. You were once the youngest person on Earth. For at least a fraction of a second after you were born, nobody
younger than you existed. Peing. Wow.
Peing early. It's pretty cool. Yeah. Peing. Yeah. All downhill.
Yeah. For for a fraction of a second, we were we were peaked. You know, that's
pretty cool. Pretty soon your back starts hurting. Oh god. M right after,
which brings us to our fantastic testimonial. I bought a Revel Rascal from Worldwide Cycling before the announced changes at Revel. The bike was
literally shipping when the closing down announcements went out. I was immediately worried about my new bike, warranty support, etc. I reached out and
Aiden calmed my nerves warranty-wise, called out the UDH, and eased my concerns. I didn't know if he knew about
Adam taking it back, but big thanks to him as the bike has been amazing and I just finished a 40-mi race this past
weekend on it. Nice. That's pretty legit. Shout out to Aiden. Shout out to Aiden. And yeah, shout out
to our boy Danny who sent over that fantastic testimonial. Hope you are enjoying the Rascal. Sounds like you
are. Pretty sweet bike. You just got a Rascal. It's on the way. It's on the way. I don't have it yet. Tyman got a rascal.
Tyman got the rascal. Yeah, you guys both got Rascals. And also, what amazing timing. Adam is going to be
on the podcast our next episode. Some some would say I did that on purpose
with that fantastic testimonial to to tea up to to grease. Yeah.
Grease the rails. The rails grease the hands of those coming. That's right.
Yeah. Grease the hands. Say something else. That also wasn't appropriate.
Isn't that what it's called? You're greasing someone's hands. Uh it's like um like you're kissing butt.
Yeah. Yeah. It's like like politician talk. I'll take it. Grease in someone's hand.
I'm not sure I've heard it, but I like it. All right. Yeah, it works. Okay. Uh, speaking of things that work, bikes
and rides we've been enjoying lately, Trevor. Um, what have you been up to? I've been riding the Druid still. Um,
as you should. Yeah, been pretty stoked. Been pretty much constantly changing wheel sets on that just depending on
where and how I'm going to be riding it. So, normally I have just like a DT
aluminum set, the uh those are the 4A ones and then with laced system 240
hubs. So, they're pretty light and I have some lighter tires on them. I'm testing out the Schwabby radial trail tires right now, the Alberts.
Albert's front and rear. Front and rear. Super soft front, soft rear. And um yeah, I wasn't really jelling with those
at first, but now I actually really like them. I just had to figure out the PSI. So, it's very precise. It's Yeah, I was
going because because apparently you're supposed to run them a little bit harder than you should. So, um I was running
too hard and I was going like 3230 or something like that just to see and it was like this sucks.
And then I went and then I went way too low which is like the normal pressures that I would run and it uh felt horrible as well.
They were just super squirmy and then I kind of got into the zone. This is for the trail tires too. So I'm
at like 26 28 front and rear. Yeah. So, um, that seems like a pretty
good balance cuz normally I'd run a little bit lower than that. So, we're about like 3 to 4 PSI higher.
You found the Goldilocks. Yeah. And that seems to work on trails around where we are, like just single
track, some rocky, some rocky stuff. Nothing too crazy. Nice. Um, yeah. I wouldn't want to ride those tires on anything too gnarly cuz they
just would just, I think, squirm. Yeah. So, I'd be curious to try the gravity casing eventually. Maybe maybe next
summer at the bike park just to try those. But yeah, I just don't know how those would work on gravity type stuff,
but I mean, apparently they're good. A lot of people like them and people are racing on people are racing and winning races on
them, so they must be doing something right. It's true. Yeah. So, I've been riding um yeah, lighter weight wheel set on just some
single track stuff, bigger rides. Me and Tyman and uh Sophie and um Tyman's dad
went out out on a big ride two weekends ago and um we just did just a huge fire
road loop because all the trails were too wet to ride. M. Um, so that was cool to be able to do that on the Druid. And
then the next weekend, uh, rode locally this trail called Suicide and, uh, which is extremely rocky, extremely gnarly
downhill trail. So, I put the trail one shed wheels on it and I've been trying the cast tires. Um, so those have been
interesting, been super good. But I think I found the limit of the Druid on that trail full-on like downhill
downhill trail. Super rocky. It's pretty much pretty much tearing your bike apart. Yeah. And it's like
cuz you ride a downhill trail next to it, but it's a different style. Different style. There's two other trails in the area that the Druid is
like awesome for. It actually works pretty damn well. Um but on Suicide specifically, it just does not is not
very happy. But no bike's really that happy on it except for like a downhill bike, maybe. It's the bike destroyer.
It is the bike. It's not even steep enough for a downhill bike as a That's the thing. Yeah. Like it needs like an enduro race bike,
like a 170 170 long board. The ebike the crust line's pretty good on it. Yeah, I've done pretty well doing
I've felt pretty good riding that trail in the Crest line, but it's 180 180 travel with downhill tires and cush and
all those things. So, yeah, the Druid even with the downhill kind of casing tires and downhill wheels, it was still
um outgunned a little bit, but it's a that's pretty good for a 130 bike. How do you like the cast tires? Pretty good. Yeah, the uh it's I think
they have a nice balance between the front casing being a little lighter duty and the rear being kind of like a like a
downhill dual ply setup. Mhm. Um, so yeah, so far so good. I don't really have any complaints about those
yet. I'm running typical pressures in those as well. Like I think 20 24 to 23
in the front and then like 26 28 in the rear, something like that. Um, so but
it's just nice to ride that bike with that tire setup and just not really care
about what I'm going into. Just go um full of confidence. I can huck to flat.
Doesn't matter. And uh I' I've uh pretty happy with that. So, it's cool to change the wheel sets on that bike and
completely transform the ride feel. That's what it's all about. That's what I've been up to. That's really nice.
Um, Jared, well, you know, kind of same as last time we chatted, but I've just been
ripping the ASR, man. Just trying to get miles in and uh, you know, that's kind of what that bike is all about. Like, it's kind
of why I got it is just to ride it all the time and put a ton of miles on it. Um, and just kind of like, you know,
just kind of remove any barrier to like wanting to go for long rides. just like this. Like I have the super light fast
bike like that's that's the point, right? To go to go ride all day to go ride and just carry speed everywhere.
Y and you can ride pretty much any trail in the area until you get to like suicide zone.
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. And but everything up until that it's all good. Yeah. Yeah. And you could ride some of the
other trails around there on it too. Yeah, for sure. So pretty stoked on that. The dirt was super good. Was that
last week or last weekend? Uh I guess two weekends ago, right? Like little few days after the
rain. and the dirt was amazing. Um, so I just went out on like a big sycamore ride and just got all the downhills in. Nice. I'm headed out to Tucson this
weekend and I'm going to bring out the ASR uh demo bike that we have cuz the last couple times I've been out there,
I've brought like Druid, SP40. Um, I think that's that's all I've brought on SP130 as well.
And um I've kind of ridden all the gnarly stuff there is to ride there. And so I'm kind of over it. It's very
technical. It's pretty hard. It's kind of some of it's a little scary as well. So, I really last time I was out there,
I noticed there's just a bunch of green and blue trails out there. So, I just want to just do a bunch of ribbon easy
single track where I can just like bust out a bunch of miles and kind of shred the ASR out there, which I think will be
super fun. So, that sounds like a blast. Well, Liam, you got back on the bike. I'm on the bike a little bit.
Nice. Um, yeah, I guess two weekends ago. Two
weeks ago. Uh, I got cleared to ride lightly. Nice.
So, I took out the hard tail. The first day it was really windy. I was like, I'll just take out the hard tail. Rode
that around a bit. Felt okay. Not great, but got to ride for an hour. Next day,
took out the road bike, which I was thinking, a be better, and like I set up the position pretty nice, but it's a
little bit too much pressure on that wrist. And then I have to look out for every single road bump or debris or
pothole. So then since then I've just been riding the hard tail. Um I got this
little uh what's that brand called? SG. They make saddles and like
oh SQ maybe SQ Lab. I got this little SQ Lab inner bar end. So it goes on the
inside of your grip and I have that so I can hang my hand on that with like
you know inside of the grip. It thumbs kind of looped around it and then the side of the palm resting on the grip.
That was like a little nub. What's the name of those? Inner bar end. I thought it was like I thought it had like a like a name. Not like
I want to call it a pogy, but it's not a pogy. Pogies are like the big things that go over your Oh, that you're thinking of a different thing.
Yeah. So, they're like old school bar ends but on the inside. Mhm. Huh. Yeah. I know. I know. I know what else you're
thinking of. Yeah, I did. Just to get your wrist in a more neutral position. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. These are literally
called SQ Lab inner bar end. Oh, nice. Um Oh, yeah. SQ Lab inner bar end.
A lot of a lot of people use it I think more for like super endurance stuff like
uh you know bike packing. Oh yeah. You know Continental Divide. Yeah, that makes sense.
Um you know, Colorado Trail stuff. There you go. But I just put one on the left side and
it seems to help get my hand in like a pretty comfortable position. Yeah. Um it's still not great. It still hurts
on the bike, but I rode 2 hours on Saturday, so I was stoked with that. actually look
look pretty legit. Yeah, I'll try to keep up in it. You know, I'll ride tomorrow for like an hour, hour and a half.
Get the wheel turning, the engine roll, and it's got bad gas in it. I know, man. It's sad. I'm like
stagnant. I mean, I'm still running and working out and hiking and everything, but getting on the bike like my power and
heart rate numbers are way too close to each other. Yeah, it's pretty sad. Like I was telling you guys like my average power
is like 148 and average heart rate was like 135 something like that. Like
pretty pretty sad. Could be worse. Um I know I know slower guys. Yeah. Liam's got expectations though.
Yeah. Liam does have expectations. Yeah. My like normalized power was a bit higher than that. But yeah, still just
like bro I was like Yep. got some work to do. That's where we're starting from.
Just about zero. Well, zero where I've been in a long time, right? So, yeah. But yeah, just keep plugging away. But
it's definitely nice to get on the bike. The hard tail's super perfect cuz I can
I roll pretty fast. Um it's comfortable. I don't have to watch out for like road debris as much. So,
yeah. Yeah. Can you bunny hop right now? No way. No way. No way. Damn. Yeah. Wow.
Yeah. And with all the storms, there's probably been a ton of stuff. There's a ton of stuff in the road. Yeah. Ton of stuff in the road. And potholes, too. Yeah. ples not so
much, but definitely like just sticks and twigs and stuff that you know you
don't have to look for on a hard tail and you do on the road bike. So, yeah, for sure. Even I got a I got a new Revel Rover
um sick gravel bike with like 40 slicks on it, but it's still a little too rough right now. So,
hopefully in like a week or two I can get on that a little bit more and do some like proper big rides. But yeah. Yeah, for now. You know what's funny? My
butt hurts just as much as my hand. Like you need some saddle time, baby. I need some saddle time and I can't uh I
can't really stand either. Mhm. It's weird. Like So you're just constantly Yeah. Yeah. So I can't really stand to like
relieve some pressure and like move around a bit. So yeah, it's like my butt was like pretty unsto
what hurt more, my butt, my hand, or just like it everything. Yeah. It's just really those two things.
Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy how quickly you lose that on your your butt rather your your your
bike butt, you know. Yeah, I know. Just like a couple weeks. Honestly, I feel like it's all it takes, but a couple months will definitely do it, you
know. We have to build build that leather. Yeah. Yeah. Build up our thing. Got on the bike riding. I got new rival
Rover that's still coming out and a rascal on the way. So nice. Yeah. Soon. A refreshed uh a refreshed quiver.
Yeah, that's pretty legit. So you'll have you still have the Banshees. You'll have hard tail, Rover, Rascal, Banshee for
ASR. ASR. ASR. I might I might take the parts in the Banshee to build the Rascal for now. Oh, yeah. Until next season.
For sure. Yeah. Nice. Cuz I'm not riding that Banshee anytime soon. No. Enduro bike.
Yeah. Yeah. Fair enough. But sweet. Well, that's pretty legit. I feel
like that kind of is the perfect segue to for us to talk about our favorite mountain bike things of 2025.
It's been a year. It's been a year already and now we're in December. That's insane. Yeah,
that is absolutely insane. Just craziest December. I know. But uh you know, it's been a
pretty solid year. It's been a good year. You got to you got to look back and and and appreciate everything that
uh you know we've done and all of the sick rides that we've got to go on and uh you know could be a lot worse.
Yeah, we get to try we get to try out a lot of cool stuff between the three of us which is pretty rad
and uh I think it's cool to come up with a little list of kind of things that stood out to us more or less for the
year, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Some things are impressive, some some things not so much, but things that stand out we
pretty much ride with every day, right? Yeah. And yeah, we put together a list of our stuff and we have a blog up.
Jared's is live. Mine's live. Mine will You'll Yours will be live when this goes live.
Yeah. When the podcast goes live and Trevor, yours is going to go after that. But we can still talk about give
everybody a nice little tease, little, you know, a little prequel on the podcast. Um, you know, it's funny
because we we talk about these things a lot, right? Like everybody who listens to the podcast like pretty much knows,
but it's this is all in like nice concise form, you know? Yep. Standouts of the year.
Standouts of the year. What's your list, Jared? Here we go. Number one, Schwabby tires. Radio order.
Not necessarily in order. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I mean, in, you know, Yeah. Not in order of importance or anything, but doesn't be the first one. Yeah. Schwabi
radials, Magic Mary, and Albert. super stoked on those and we've talked about
them several times. Um, that's what I have on my SP140 right now and actually
I have the also on the SP165. Um, but the gravity casing on the SP165
so pretty stoked on those as Trevor as you know you know those are pretty legit, pretty solid tires.
Um, number two, Shimano XTR Di2. Um, which I
probably have like maybe 6 or 700 miles on at this point. Um, so I'm pretty
stoked on that. I feel like it's still extremely dialed. I mean, still kicking.
Still kicking extremely well. Um, after going through a couple different like
combinations and permutations of the, you know, the chain ring and cassette
and long cage and short cage. Super interesting and cool. I like how you can just kind of change it around based on,
you know, whatever bike or setup you're going for, you know? Yeah. Maybe not the easiest thing to change around, but but you can do it.
It's not the quickest, but it's doable. So, right now, I have the 30 to on the
ASR with the 9 to 45 cassette and the shortish cage. Yeah, but it's kind of a cool setup. I
think I would like that as well, especially on the ASR. I think it's perfect for that bike. Um, and even on
the SP140, it worked out great with the light wheels and stuff like that. Um, I think like a regular or, you know, trail
bike, you'd probably want to go maybe even, it sounds horrible to say 28 to chain ring, but
30 to with the 945 is pretty cool. I kind of like that. 32 to 945 is I'm pretty much always a 32 guy. Yeah,
I think 30 with the cuz you have the nine. Yeah. And you're just in that gear rarely. Rarely ever. And 945 or sorry, 3045 sounds pretty
nice actually. That's actually what Jeff has on his ASR, but 11 speed. Oh yeah,
he has a he sized down to 30 uh with the 946 E13 cassette. So he has 46, not 45.
Okay. Um he had a 32 on that setup for a while, but with all his adventure racing, he went down a tooth.
Yeah. So he's on 30. It's reasonable. Yeah. And I I really tried to man up, you know, and just keep
that 32 on there, but like kind of do it. It's just It's so nice to have a bailout gear when
you're just bogged or in the in the end of a ride. I'm a big advocate for that.
It is really I'm a little wussy about it, but I've always run a 32 cuz of that. On the XC bike, I always have a 34.
Yeah. Just cuz I'm like just doing it, but I never have bigger than a 34 on like a trail bike or
bigger. That would suck. Yeah. And that's with a full Stram cassette like 1052, right?
32 50 34 52. Yeah. 34 on a XC bike does make a lot of sense though. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And like if I
had a, you know, a bigger You're right. if you had the bigger granny gear, like that'd be fine. Um, but yeah, I just
found that like with the 30 to I feel like the cassette, like more of the gears are usable, you know, like whereas like I feel like
with the 32 and the 945, I feel like I was in like either, you know, too high
up it. You also have like way tighter gaps on that smaller cassette than than the 50 51 to Yeah.
Yeah. I also don't know if there's anything to this, but I feel like it shifts a little bit better with a smaller front chain ring. Is there
anything the chain? There's a chain line difference. Like a chain chain.
Yeah, I don't think I don't know. Like I just feel like it's a little quicker and crisper. But that could just
totally be in my head or the fact that like I just changed it and then something got
the only thing I can think about is is uh just where you are in a cassette generally is going to have either
tighter tighter uh shift points or not like this the the ratio between each cog
is going to be a little bit tighter, right? Rather than on the bigger cassette or Yeah. Even if you're like on average one
cog down, your shifts will be a little tighter. little which will be should be a better shift,
right? So there you go. Um so yeah, long story short, Shimano XTRD2. Super stoked
on it. U shift's amazing. It's been super durable. Loving it. Um next up we
have Shram Mavens specifically been running the Maven Ultimates on the SP165
and uh you guys are pretty familiar with the Mavens as well. Pretty amazing brakes. Um, I think once you get them
dialed out or dialed in and figured out and used to them, it's like I'm not sure there's a better bike for an enduro bike
or trail bike even. Um, they are they're insane. Super good. And like just seeing them on all of our
like demo bikes and ebikes and stuff like that, it's just like you just hop on and you're just like super familiar and you know it's like super powerful.
So that's awesome. Um, Fox Neo dropper post. I'm just like, you know,
continuing the theme with being spoiled. Seriously, wireless, wireless, wireless.
Jared's got a bougie list. Got a bougie list. This of course it's stuff I love. It's bold bougie. The This
is legitimately the best driver post um I've ever used. I'm super stoked on it. Um
even just like I rode the mte earlier today. I did a little bit of trail work and I was like I took that bike and and
I don't know something about the new reverb axis. I don't like it as much as the as the original. Well, the Neo just sounds insane.
It's very crispy and the top out is very audible. Very like it slams up there which I like because then then you know
I feel like quiet. Yeah. I feel like it also requires less force to compress or like to get down
you know. Feel like when I was like the rock shocks you almost have to I was like what the heck? It's like you really have
to kind of muscle up. Speaking speaking is kind of like just very niche, but like when you when you are like tired after a long ride, like
your ass is sore, that does make a difference if like the dropper is hard to push down or not.
Like or you have to be like sometimes you're if you're off the back, it'll be like putting too much flex in the post and you can't really get it down. You
got to like scoot forward and then get it down. It's kind of a weird thing, but it can make a difference on a long ride.
Yeah. For me, I always uh that's like where I notice I'm going to cramp on on a ride
sitting down. No, when I go to drop the dropper and I do I have to do like a mini squat. That's where I can like and I stand up
real quick. I'm like, whoa. Okay, we're going to be careful from here on out, you know? Yeah. Yeah. A couple years in down evil cuz
you know the the end of the downhill you're that dropper's up and down like 20 30 times
and then you you do one you like get some twinges. like, "All right, I'm not I'm not going to see if I can drop it for a while and just keep it up."
That's Yeah, nothing worse than a dropper post. That doesn't really work too well either. It's like doesn't come up all the way or just It's just so annoying.
So frustrating. And that's literally what I was about to say, too, is like the um consistency of the actuation is
like every time I've never had a single missed, you know, top out, whatever. Like,
you know, Fox doesn't have like the best track record with like, you know, transfer serviceability or like, you know, out of the boxy whatever. Um,
never had that issue ever at once with this. And also like kind of you're talking about like fatigue, you know,
deep in the ride or whatever. Like it's a very minor thing, but just having like this much button to push versus the full
throw. It sounds pretty saddening until you get really used to electronic buttons.
It's it's on on either on a shifter or a dropper. Yeah. You get used to them and then you go back to mechanical and you're like,
"Oh, I have to push this lever all the way." That's insane. It is so true. It is so
true. I love like Yeah. being tired on a ride, every little thing you do makes a difference. And just pressing a button
is great. It is. And the Neo is insane cuz you can just spam that thing for sure. And also the uh controller for
the Shimano Di2. I feel like it's it kind of mimics the um the
tactile feel of the Neo and the Shimano. Like they're kind of similar versus the Pod and the
Yeah. in the Neo. You know what I mean? It's like the clicking is is comparable.
It's very nice. Um yeah. So, next up we have my SB165 which
has been one of the best bikes um I've probably ever owned. We, you know, I took it to Whistler, Tasmania. Um gosh,
I mean it just absolutely eats up anything in its path and it really just encourages you to make very silly
decisions. Gives you some confidence on the trail. It absolutely gives you the confidence that you need, especially like on those,
you know, trails like in Squamish, um like extremely steep and like riddled
with features and stuff like that. It just kind of is like, "Yeah, do it." Just kind of eggs you on a little bit, which I love. Um, yeah,
Jared was definitely sending it sending it on that bike in Squamish.
NBC. Yeah, we were having a great time. Yeah, we rode some rode some trail. Yeah, we wrote some stuff where I I look
out there fast, too. like, oh man, some of those slabs like was that one trail called like Schlloy slabs or
something like that with the insane like I don't know vertical shoot into that corner with
like massive rocks and roots in it and uh not rusty trombone. What was the other
one? PhD. Oh yeah, PhD had some gnarly slab work on it that were just really steep and gnarly.
It doesn't even compare to anything around here. Like stuff we have here is like oh it's gnarly but like it's not
compared to that stuff. like like not the closest we have is like Rocky Peak. Yeah, Rocky Peak or like some stuff in
Laguna is pretty scary. Yeah, that too. Um or like uh STD in the dry, you know,
that's gnarly. Yeah, but still like Rocky Peak in the dry. It's like Yeah, sketchy gnarly, not
like calculated gnarly. And it's like this is just dumb. Um but yeah, love that bike. Really
stoked on it. Wish I could just have it forever. Honestly, I wish I could just live in BC and ride it because that's like where it belongs. That's where it
belongs. Um, next up, it doesn't like living down here. No. No. That's why I ride the ASR all
the time, you know. I don't want have to drive 20, 30 minutes just to ride the bike. Mhm. Um, next up we have got the Kettle uh
what do we call them? Skid mark. Skid mark pants. Love the skid mark pants and the nofry long sleeve/short
sleeve. Like go-to riding kit pretty much every ride. Super stoked on that stuff. Um,
yeah. During the summer, I live in no fries. Yeah. Every time I'm on on the bike, it's a no fry in the summer.
I worked out in a no fry this morning. Did you? Yeah. I run andile, man. Yeah. Great for running, great for
riding. Um, even in the winter time, you know, I'm a sweaty guy, so the no fry goes on
as well in the winter time. Mountain bike pants are awesome, too. I'm excited to wear those more this winter time. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't worn them.
Yeah. Haven't been able to. No. Yeah. Dang. Well, hopefully soon. Hopefully soon. Yeah, I mean I've worn
prototypes and seen them and everything. They seem awesome. So yeah, they're good. Yeah, you're going to love them. Uh next
up we have got the Crank Brothers Mallet Boa shoes, which I've been running these very same pair of shoes I think like
three plus years strong now. And uh the same exact ones. The same exact ones. The the ones that I
ripped the boa off in Squamish like a few years back. Three years in one shoe.
Well, two shoes technically. Two shoes. two like two shoes make one pair, you know.
My brain just broke. Yes. The same very same pair of shoes.
Nice. That's pretty impressive, man. They last the long time for mountain bike shoes. That's pretty good. Yeah, I'm stoked. And I don't really
want to get a new pair cuz they're just like so perfectly broken in, you know? That's going to be annoying to break. Breaking a pair of new mountain bike
shoes kind of sucks. All right, we're going to wrap the rest of this up here quickly. So, uh, mte,
Yeti mte, that is, um, probably my favorite ebike that I have ridden all
year. And stay tuned for our favorite ebikes of 2025 video dropping end of the
month. That's going to be a good one. And probably the favorite thing of all is mountain bike trips um, that we have
been very lucky to go on. And those have just been extremely awesome. It's so
cool to go in different parts of the world and experience the trails they have to offer. It's a great way to do it.
And uh it's like the it's like how people say music is like, you know, the world's language or something like that.
I feel like mountain bikes in the same vein, you know, like everybody can get along with the mountain bike. It's cool to like go to different
cultures and ride bikes and, you know, you get at the bottom of the trail and it's the same language at the end of the day. Everyone's smiling and stoked and
having fun and it's just the coolest thing ever. For sure. It's a great way to like explore land, too. Yeah. But yeah, long story short,
yeah, mountain bike trips are awesome to meet people. I feel like we go on these trips and we become friends with everyone
always. And uh yeah, and even like literally universal language, me and Trevor in
Mexico City. Um and some of the people were riding with they knew very little
English, we knew very little Spanish, but like it didn't really need it on the trail. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's you're you're doing the same
thing. This is pretty cool. Yeah. Everybody knows a sick end when you see one and everybody knows how
knows everyone knows a good you versus oh crap you. You know what?
Yeah. Oh, that's so true. All right, Liam, what do you got?
Um, first off, I have my Yeti ASR again. I wanted to put my frameworks on there.
Mhm. And I to between the two, but I just felt like I spent more time on the ASR.
Um, and I love the way my ASR is set up right now. Yeah. So, I have a full blog on that of how I set it up this year and
what I've changed from previous to current ASRs, but yeah, XL frame 130
fork 115 plus all back. Um, I love that bike and it's ride it.
It's my third ASR. Third ASR. Third setup. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Third one's charm.
Nice. Um, on that bike I have the Ser Motive brakes, which are the Maven's
Little Brother, but they feel so good when they're set up well. They have enough power for the little bike. Um,
but they're pretty light. Uh, also in the close running was the Stram Maven base model that I had on the frameworks.
Super consistent. I bled those one time setting them up before Tasmania and never bled them until I rebuilt the bike
to sell it. Wow. Never did a piston massage, nothing. One set of brake pads, one bleed for an entire summer's worth of
riding. Pretty good. It's all you can ask for really out of a break. It's insane. Those are going on my next
trail enduro bike. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The motors are pretty awesome as well for like an XC brake. They have
uh power that you need for an XC bike at at this point in how XC bikes are going.
They have enough power to like make you confident on it. Definitely huge cuz like the levels before just weren't cutting it.
They were not. And likewise with the Mavens, you can really tune rotor and and brake pad. And same with the
motives. Like I'm on HS2 rotors, 180 mil front and rear with centered pad. So I have them like pretty much beefed up as much as
possible. Mhm. But also on the my hard tail, I have 160 160 with centerline rotors.
With motives as well. With motives. Yeah. Wow. So it's like the two ends of the spectrum.
Cuz you also have like super slick tires on the hard tail as well. Yeah. So like it wouldn't make sense to have
beefy brakes. Really? No. Cuz that's another thing I've been saying is like you can only break as well as much tire as you have.
Yeah. So like if you have bald tires and you have mavens, you're just going to lock up and it's not going to work.
You're just it's just going to require you to have like more brake feel and like more finesse with like modulating
it. Y cuz you you're just you slam on those, they're going to lock. Yeah, for sure. Uh the next one on my
list is the Day Savers Essential 8 and Co-working Five Multi-tool. Ooh. Um,
these have ever since they came out, I think Jeff found them on like an Instagram ad or something like that. Um,
and then we put them on the site and now we like talk to the guys. But, uh, the
Essential 8 is a 8bit multi-tool, but it's all with like flippable bits in the
shape of a normal L-shaped Allen wrench. Um, everything from a two to an 8 with a
T-25 on there. Um, and it's so nice. That and the co-working five, which is
like a tire lever, chain breaker, like two other things on there. Um,
there's five tools on there. So, there's five things. That's pretty sweet. Um, those two live in my ride wallet, which go in my pocket every time I'm on
the bike, no matter what bike I'm on. And I can't even tell you the times I pulled it out this year on every bike
trip, every ride, you know, toss it to a friend. and the 8 mil. It's a little
tricky, but you can get a uh derailer t-type derailer
Oh. adjusted with it. Oh, wow. It's a little tricky. You have to use a foot, you know, but get some leverage. You can't really do that with a normal
multi-tool. No. No. I've tried to take pedals off with a multi tool and it just doesn't work. Yeah. It's annoying. So, so the way this one's shaped, you
can step on it and you can actually get like um you know, enough torque. Yeah. Yeah, I saw recently like on a certain website
they like were talking about the Days Saver and the comments were not very happy with it, but I from what I've seen
it's awesome. Yeah, it looks good. It's like it's pretty sleek where they just talk about like the bits not be bits being soft.
Yeah. Not being soft, but just like like maybe falling out easy. Oh. Um but I think I feel like that could be
also user error. Yeah, I you know like that with all the all the tools. Yeah, I do keep mine in my ride wallet.
So like you know it's always in an enclosed zippered pouch. There's like a little case for it too
there. You can get a case. Yeah. Yeah. Um so I don't have it like strapped on the bike or the co-working five I think
can bolt onto the bike or something with the the accentuate like plugged into it. Yeah. So I could see how that could lose bits.
But I just have mine in the ride wallet with you know dino plug and spare access battery and chapstick and whatever else I have in
there. It's awesome. Yeah. It's nice if especially if you're riding different bikes too. It just makes sense. You don't want that to be living on your bike.
No. I just have the wallet and that goes every bike to bike. So, I love that tool. It's a good idea. I got to make one of
those myself. I was literally just thinking the same thing. Like, I need to make a little I have like a uh like a Shramm
multi-tool like that came with like axis stuff. Yeah. And uh a Wolftooth tire lever uh chain
breaker kind of deal and like a Tubelo. I just keep it in my helmet. Oh, yeah.
But I need a ride wallet. That makes so much more sense just to have it in something like tangible.
Like a Topo Designs little like 3x4 square wallet. Yeah, that's way too Yeah, I've been looking for like the
perfect size little pouch. I guess I should just get the same one. Top of Designs. Back B back country. Is
that who makes the straps? Back Back Country Research. Backount research straps. They made a good pouch, too.
Oh, nice. Um that I have. It has like grippy on the back. So, I don't like it as much cuz it's hard to get in and out of the
pocket. But there's a bunch of little pouches like that. Mission Workshop makes some of Designs. Yeah.
Uh next on my list is Martin. Martin nutrition with the 160 gel and solid
bars. Uh solid 160 bars as well. Uh those are like key for anytime I'm doing
training or racing. And the new 160 gel is awesome for mountain bike racing. Um
cuz you get 160 calories, 40 gram of carbs in one gel shot. Wow. So when you're doing a mountain
bike race, you can't always take your bar like your hands off the bar every like perfect interval when you need to
eat or drink. So like I feel like that's big enough that you know you can go five or 10 minutes extra or just eat it
sooner and you're good. Um and then yeah, the solid bars have like a little kind of split notch in the middle so you
can kind of like eat half and then shove it in a pocket or something and then eat the other half.
Nice. Um, yeah. So, it's it's nice that you both are very I I found both are
really good for uh mountain bike racing when you can't like
always take your hand off the bar. Nice. So, yeah, I did I had one of those pouches like what was it the um carb and
caffeine mix? Well, like when I did that big sycamore ride the other day and I was it's like impressive. It I mean yeah, of course it
works but um it's it's fun to play around with like whoa. Okay. like let's go.
I love I love the gels. They're good. Yeah. I actually put the uh test packets
test collection on the site. So, you can get a test collection on the site now to get like kind of one of everything.
Sample pack. It's I think it's like $17 or something. You get kind of like one
of each. That's pretty legit. Um and I'll tell you something else at the end of the episode that you can do for that. So
Oh, wow. Yeah. Uh the next one you rush eight vest. Uh yeah, this vest is awesome. Uh
it has a US chest strap which is really good. Like it doesn't bounce around or anything, but it also has a ton of
storage. So you have chest pockets, a 2 L bladder in the back with a pretty big expandable mesh packet pocket. Um I
carry everything from all my food, an extra layer like a windbreaker, small medical kit to even some camera gear and
all the food for the day and nothing. I brought it to, you know, every trip I went on. Huge enduro rides we did this
year. Um, or XC rides. Uh, done hikes with it. I did that big hike with Jeff.
I wore that. Nice. Yeah. Medical kit's a good idea. Yeah, I always have a medical kit when
we're in the bush. That's smart, mate. Yeah, it's a good idea. Bush. I just went dirt bike riding and one of
the guys had a medical kit. One of those small ones. I'm like, I should probably put one of those in my pack. Little yellow one or something.
Yeah. Small guy. It's like why why do I not have that? You know, we're in the middle of nowhere, right? I don't know how good it'll do, but it
can't hurt to have. Can't hurt. And it's one of those things that if you have it, you won't need it. Yeah. You know, and if you're wearing a pack, you might
as well. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, that's in a real nice um next is WTD Peacekeeper tires.
Ooh, I was really stoked on these. Um came out middle of the year. Uh they have
high grip and fast rolling. And now they also have a 120 TPI that I'm keen to try soon.
Um, yeah. I was so stoked on these that I chose to ride them for all next year.
So nice. I think that's going to be my next tire for the ASR. Yeah, especially get a 120 TPI for the
front. We have already nice. It's a big pretty big deal for the tire guy. Yeah, they have high grip. 120 TPI.
Yep. Yeah. Yep. Nice. Yeah, that's the new one, right? Yeah. That's the That's the move. They're like
in the 700 g range, too. Really? Yeah. So like a forecaster is 900 g. And this is in the seven. So it's like
Do they have 120 TPI fast rolling as well? Yeah, I think so. Really? Yeah. Wow. Yep. Um so yeah, really stoked on those.
Tidman wrote a whole blog that's on the website, too, if you want to check that out. I believe I did. Oh, you're telling me or the listeners?
I'm telling the listeners, but you should check it out, too, Jared. I saw that as well.
All right, the last two. Uh Kettle Breakwin jacket. Ooh.
Um, yeah, it's part of the new VF series, which is the high-end Kettle series. But I've
been waiting for a really good windbreaker from Kettle for a long time. Like the two products I've been waiting
on are mountain bike pants and a windbreaker cuz those are probably some of my most used pieces of clothing that
we did not make, especially for the winter in SoCal, you know, quote unquote winter. That's all I mean, yeah. The winter here
is like all you need is a pants and a windbreaker. It's insane. It's true. But when you have good ones,
they're so nice, especially because they breathe well. The brake wind packs down really small. Um, has all the features
you want. Pockets in the front, pocket on the chest, has thumb straps, so you
can it won't blow up your arm at all. Um, which is really nice. So, I've been
stoked on that. And yeah, packs down small so you can throw it in your backpack or even in a a bib pocket. So,
stoked on that one. Nice. And last, my Garmin Epics Pro Gen 2 Sapphire.
Oo, yeah. Wow. I just use it every day. It's on my wrist all the time. All the time.
Uh, I'm so committed. I've tattooed a unt I tattooed a circle. I didn't tattoo
it. My tattoo artists did. I tattooed a circle around where the heart rate monitor reads so the tattoo doesn't
interfere with my heart rate monitoring. It's pretty sweet. Committed to the bit. Cuz it probably would, huh?
It does. It won't work on my left wrist. Wow. I used to wear the watch on my left cuz cuz it goes off of like ultraviolet light or whatever whatever it is.
Send some some type of probably not great light into your body. But um yeah, I mean I use this for every single ride
I do, every workout. Uh tracks my sleep, HRV, all the goodness. So yeah, I
literally like yesterday or the day before I almost I was charging and I almost left home without it and I got
out the door and I was like and I like went back naked. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You probably look I mean you don't as
much but like people without tattoos it just looks in the tan line is insane. Yeah. Well you can still see like under
where it is is super white in that little hole. That's funny. So yeah it's been now been replaced by
the Fenix 8 but uh still a great watch and yeah
nice bougie. Sweet. That's pretty legit. Trevor, what do you got? All right. So, my list is not too
dissimilar from your guys' list. Turns out these things are pretty good. Um, first uh first item is the Forbidden
Druid. It's a bike I'm currently riding as well, and uh yeah, I test rode it as
a one of our demo bikes earlier this year, and I liked it so much I wanted one for myself. So, um built built that
up with a 160 fork and Maven brakes. Just kind of a unique setup, which I'm
very stoked on. Just very versatile. And yeah, the more I ride it, the more I fall in love with it. I've totally
gotten used to the high pivot kind of style of riding and the the noise that the chain can make on that high pivot
idler as well. Um, totally ignore that now. And um, yeah, it's just a weapon.
So, super stoked on that and it's just been awesome. Gio on my bike is so good.
Yeah, with the and with the 160 fork like it just kind of works for me pretty good. like just like slackens it out
just a little bit and makes it a little higher and just the things that I want for my body body style as well. So yeah,
that's been super cool. Second on the list is Trail One Hell'sgate grips. They are the only grip that I can run now.
It's crazy cuz I came off of ODI Elite Pros forever and now I just run the Hell'sGates and I I put my hands on
those and I'm like, I don't know if I can do this anymore. And I love how thick the grip is. you can just
eliminates arm pump completely. Um, yeah, barely have to hold on to the thing and it gets better as time goes on
too, which is like, yeah, I I run them pretty damn low. I love those broken in. Yeah, the best.
Mine are pretty insane right now. They're they're super good. And I've actually been running gloveless a lot recently if I'm not doing something
super gnarly. And um, with it being cooler outside, I'm not sweating as much or at least my palms aren't sweating as much, so I have
a ton of grip and a lot of trail feel with that. Um, but I I'll put gloves on as soon as it gets gnarly just so I can
really hold on. Um, turns out when I rode suicide the other day, I didn't have gloves on and I got really bad arm
pump on that because I was holding on for dear life. But every other trail was great. So, just I think it's that trail. But
yeah, trail went hell grips. Only grip I can run even on all the bikes that we ride or demo bikes or testing bikes, all
that stuff. Like that's the that's the one thing I is a mandatory swap is putting those grips on cuz just
eliminates a really huge variable is your first contact point of the bike, right? Yeah. Um third thing is also Garmin watch. I
have the 4ERunner 965. Um I was the last person in the company at least at the West Coast shop to have
a Garter watch. That's true. Um late to the party. Yeah, late to the party. I didn't really realize like how amazing it was before.
I had like I had a Whoop strap a couple years ago and I didn't really like it that much. Thought it was kind of fake
news a little bit and I didn't also like how it wasn't a watch or anything productive on it. You had to go on your
phone to wear kind of stupid and there was a subscription like it just it was expensive for no reason like that. So,
um yeah, Jeff was like, "How do you not have one of these? You're like so active. Like you're crazy for not having one." And I'm like, "Oh, just kind of
raw dogging it." just like I still used to like straw on my phone and stuff and and now
that's how you have all those k and uh so now it's awesome. I can yeah
track my calories and sleep and all my workouts different whatever and um I
love being able to have like a log of all that stuff is super helpful. So yeah, that's been kind of a game changer
and it's helped me sleep a lot better too and kind of understand what my vices are
like if you have a drink or whatever and your sleep's kind of screwed or it's made me really drink less since I
got a watch. Yeah, I'll probably say the same honestly. And just like uh okay, you know, yeah, I'll have a I'll have two drinks
tonight. I'm not doing anything, but if I'm doing something, I'm like nah, not worth it. You know, if I'm like planning like to have a fun, good, long, hard day
the next day, I'm not going to go out and I'm not going to drink. I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to go to sleep. Yeah.
And sleeping consistently, I can see all that stuff has been a total game changer as well. I have a ton of energy. So,
not to interrupt, but to piggyback on the Garmin. Yeah. Uh I forgot today I was showing my PT,
she's talking about Garmin watch, and I've shown her my all my sleep history from my injury. Yeah. And it's very interesting on
yours. My sleep history you can and my resting heart rate. You can see where my resting heart rate gets jacked up from
being injured and surgery and everything. And my sleep just tanked down to the 50s and then it slowly was
horrible. They've both kind of now they've crossed and I'm getting great sleep again, like 90 sleep scores and my resting heart
rate's almost back to normal and everything. My body's kind of balancing out a little bit but you can totally tell like that's where I got injured to the day.
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I know. I love seeing when I wake up what the sleep I got and I love seeing
my resting heart rate because I just know if it's low it's time to get after it. Yeah. Um next thing was a recent thing that I
got turned on to by Liam and Titman was the US Rush vest as well. Nice. I've been wearing US packs for years
now. Probably had like five different ones and I I've always loved them. just I love the X strap and they called no
dancing monkey and um yeah, it doesn't really dance around, but if you do have it weighed down, the X straps can get a little bit tight on
your traps and your shoulders and can kind of just weigh down and be weird on your back a little bit. And then saw you guys
running the vest, so I got one for myself. Total game changer. I love it. I've
literally ridden it three times now and I've been in love with it ever since cuz it kind of hugs your chest and it takes all the weight off. There's
no weight on your shoulders actually. It's all in your kind of your midline and your chest. And that's just awesome,
especially for mountain biking. And I also love how the pockets are right in front so you can have snacks or whatever
you want just like on the fly as you go. You don't have to take the pack off and flip it around and all that stuff.
Um, and you can also put a lot of stuff in the back. So, I can't wait to use that more. I'm really excited to use that for winter time. Like before, like
it'd be like, "Oh, I don't really want to wear a pack. Like, I don't really like wearing a pack if I don't have to." Now, it's like, "No, I'm going to bring
everything." And there's no downside to me yet. And you can still get in bib pockets,
too. Mhm. So, you can run the the kettle bib bib pockets and the pack. Mhm. You got You literally can go Sunrise
Sunset. Yeah. So, pretty happy with that. Um that's been a a recent thing for me. So, uh
number five on my list is Stram Maven Brakes. I've been running Mavens for the past two years or so, or I guess since
they came out. And um I was a little bit hit or miss at first because they were a little inconsistent for me.
But um I can't emphasize enough like the importance of having a good bleed. It's just like so important and having the
pistons massaged on those. If you can nail the bleed and like really just take your time and get all the air out of it,
which is pretty difficult sometimes cuz the caliper is just complicated. It's big and pistons are huge and air
gets trapped in weird places. Even if you think you've bled it, like try again. and really get all the air out of the caliper. Once you do that and you
massage the pistons, we made a video on it so you can see. They are insane. They're like like by
far the best brake I've ever ridden. Um I put them on my Druid. I'm running 180 rotors on that bike and I've been able
to do some pretty crazy stuff with 180 rotors and previously on any other brake that I've ridden with rotors that small
like they just get burnt up bad. Yeah. Um especially the rear. I'm pretty rear heavy when I ride rear brake heavy. So,
the 180 rotors are cool. And then, yeah, tuning them. Sometimes I'll put a 200 rear 200 mil rotor in the rear for like
the bike park or for long descents, and it doesn't even get that hot, which is awesome um for a trail bike and for for
brakes like that. So, yeah, just super happy with those. And it's allowed me to
be a lot more confident on the bike cuz I know I can stop like in an instant. And um just be comfortable. just the
better your brake is. Like I've never heard someone say, "Oh, my brakes are like too strong." You know, like it's
like, "Oh, I don't have enough travel or I don't have enough enough brake." Like, no, you want good brakes. It's like
super important. So, um, and last on my list is the Trail One shed wheel set. Um, been testing this out like for most
of the year really, all summer, just abusing them. You have the most time out of anyone on that wheel set. Out of anyone for sure. And still using
them. And um yeah, I have just like haven't had any issues, which is awesome. Um so I've been building a
bunch of them up for customers, which has been cool. And um yeah, just stoked to have a downhill wheel set to just
trash and not really care about and it just does the job. Y so it's pretty nice like coming off of
like Harbor rims and stuff. It just gets nerve-wracking sometimes like you kind of will go into something a little bit
with some hesitation, which is not the safe thing to do. I think I think the the the safe thing to do really is is
like don't think commit just go for it. And with these wheels like you can just in proper tires of course like you can
just do that and that just makes the riding experience for downhill at least way better. Yeah. So I wish it was summertime again so I
could just like it's hard for me to ride them now cuz like you have to be riding the proper trail for it. Yeah. And I'd rather I'd rather pedal
around a lighter tire, lighter wheel set. But when it comes summertime or for shuttling riding the bike park, like
those are going to be on the bike the whole time. So, are you going to run those in the big Santa Barbara ride?
Yeah. So, we're planning to do a big Santa Barbara mission like end of December and it's going to be like all
the front side trails, climbing up three laps, climbing up Gibralar three times, which is going to be like I think a 10k a day.
Um, so I'm planning to do that. So I've been working out and riding to train for that. But,
um, yeah, I'm going to need to put those wheels and tires. I'm going to run the same stuff I've been running, the shred wheel set with those cast tires. I think
it'll be perfect for that. So, wow. Um, yeah, just, uh, you need trails like that. Gnarly,
rocky, fast, rough to really use those wheels and tires.
Sick. But see, descending uh, tunnel and cold springs. Yes. and tunnel called S Sanro,
I think. So, yeah, I'm not really I don't have a ton of experience on those trails. I've ridden those all those trails maybe once.
Tunnel is pretty gnarly. Yeah. And it'll be interesting to see how I how that goes on the Druid cuz I've only
ridden that on my like old enduro race bike. It was 180 180. Yeah. With downhill tires and slack and it was
an S5. Huge. Some people fully ride downhill bikes on that, don't they? Yeah. Yeah. Uh yeah, you can shut definitely
back in the day. I say now they're like proper enduro trails. Yeah. Yeah. And like now people are just riding big
ebikes. Yeah, that's that's kind of replaced the downhill bike a little bit. So for sure.
I'm sure those those the new ebikes are just as capable as old downhill bikes anyways. So it's crazy.
Um yeah, be cool. I'm exc I'm excited for that ride. Nice.
Great list. That's my list. Great list, boys. Mhm. Good stuff. Good parts. Good year.
Yeah. It turns out we all like Mavens, I guess. Yeah. I like the Maven base, though. Yeah, it's pretty good. I like Maven
base, too. Yeah, especially on that uh forbidden druid core that you just built up for the
customer. Yeah. And like fresh crispy mass. Like I was like, "Ooh, these feel really good."
Like, and again, like another thing about emphasizing the bleed. Like I set that bike up and I I did like a lever bleed
on the front or the rear brake and then he went to go try and ride it and then the the the one of the front levers just
went to the bar cuz there was a little air bubble hiding in there that I couldn't I didn't know about. It felt good. I test rode the bike and
everything. It felt good and then go home and ride it a little bit and it goes to the bar. So you do another bleed and get a bunch of air out and then it
feels insane. So just like another emphasis on how important the bleed is on that. But once you get that good just
like with any other break is they're insanely good. Yeah. So don't judge it without having a good
bleed. For sure. I would say. And uh spend time on it. Don't rush it
on the blade. That is Yeah. Don't Yeah. It's not just like it's set and forget if you have a good setup. Yeah. Nice. Well, uh, what do you
boys say we hit a quick break and then we jump back in with a few listener questions? Let's do it. Let's do it.
And now, a word from our sponsor. Ladies and gentlemen, listeners of the podcast, just wanted to pop in here and
say thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts. If you shopped with us or,
you know, spent any of your hard-earned money with us, uh, whether that was Worldwide Cycle, Trail One, or Kettle,
you know, we truly do appreciate it. uh your support means the world to us and uh you know it allows us to keep on
doing the things that we are doing. So just wanted to shout out all you guys, give a heartfelt thank you and uh we
appreciate you tuning in. And now back to the show and we're back
with some epic listener questions for you all. Listener question number one.
With my new Revel Rascal, I'm thinking of what to do with my old 2017 carbon stump Jumper. I can certainly
sell it, but what if I just wanted to put a smaller, more XC friendly fork on it and tune it for more XC weight,
tires, and terrain? Looking to do this more on the cheap versus selling and getting another new bike, plus avoiding
the wife aggro of two new bikes in the same year. I don't race XC much, so a full bike investment is also
challenging. Let me know if you have any innovative ideas. Thanks. I have a very innovative idea.
Do you? Yeah. Just get a bike that looks just like your other one and the wife will know.
That looks just like the 2017 Stump Jumper. Yeah. If you So, if you plan smart, you just buy a bike that's all black. Yeah.
And then you just buy another bike that's all black. You're like, "No, it's the same bike, babe." Yeah. Just gaslight him.
That's extremely innovative. Yep. That's bad advice. Um, I think I
think he should skip the fork thing with the same fork on it and get XC tires and
and wheels if you can afford it. If it's worth the price, that's what I was going to say. Yeah, just tires are going to make the
biggest difference. Get some like uh some like Recons on there. Recon Recon Race or something. Is this bike Do you think this bike is
boost or non-boost? 2017. That's kind of on the fringe. I'm wondering if it's like a six fatty.
Whoa. You know, no. I looked at this is what six fatty like the fat bike.
Oh, no. I don't think so. It's just a Stumpy. Oh, yeah. It's just like has that classic like X.
Yeah. Honestly, it probably doesn't even have that heavy a fork. It probably just has a pike on there from the images. Something like that, right?
Um definitely like Recon Recon Race like you said. Or if you want to go crazy, I
mean, you could get even lighter tires like But that that could be kind of weird with that bike that much travel.
Yeah, but it's it's not that much travel. That's true. It's like 135. Keep it.
I I had this bike actually. You had this bike? Yeah. That's the only stump jumper or only Special I've really ever had in my
life. Wow. I had it for 3 weeks and I started here and Jeff made me sell it.
That's what happened to me with my Santa Cruz. Yeah. Started working here. He made me sell it. Uh yeah, it's like 135140 or 135150. I
wouldn't even do a fork. I would do tires for sure and maybe wheels if you could afford them. Yeah. Um, and even like some like Hunt
XC alloy wheels that are pretty affordable, like six six 700 bucks.
Oh, wow. Sweet. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, just spend uh spend a few hundred bucks and then you have got
a XC ready rig. And that's probably a pretty light bike. Like that's before they started making carbon bikes super
heavy, I feel like. Yeah. So, like the first bike ever with SWAT. Oh, wow.
Yeah, that was a good bike. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like that'd be a perfect uh application for that bike and then just kind of, you know, make the
rascal a little more trail, you know, trail plus, if you will. Yeah, there, you know. Nice. All right, here is the
million-dollar question quite literally. I mildly enjoy your podcast. Just joking. And I noticed in last podcast
that Liam said he will eat the same thing for three days. I was wondering if he had a challenge to eat either Del
Taco or Taco Bell for dinner for a week and win $100, one month for a,000, 6
months for hundred,000, or the whole enchilada. That means one year for $1 million. You can eat whatever you want
for breakfast and lunch, but dinner has to be from one of those establishments. Even on holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July, and so on. If
they're closed, then you buy extra the day before and eat it up the next day. By the way, I do not have the money for
this challenge, but if I win the Powerball, it's on. If you want to come down to South Florida and ride in the swamps, let me know. August, uh, July,
September are especially brutal with humidity and heat. Keep riding and sharing your energy for the sport. Brian Brewer.
Mr. Brewer. Mr. Brewer, would he do it? How long do you think you could last? See, cuz
so here's the thing. You said if you've said before that Mexican food would be the one.
Is that Mexican food? Is it Is that food? Is is Taco Bell food? But doesn't have Del Taco have like
burgers and stuff? I haven't had Del Taco in a very long time. And last time I've had Taco Bell was at in Havisu at
like a party weekend and a bachelor party like last year or two years ago. So it didn't matter. So it didn't matter. That's the last
time I've had Taco Bell in probably last 5 years. Um so you're you're the perfect candidate for this question.
Yeah. a week. I wouldn't see to me I'd either commit and do six months or a
year or nothing because like it's not worth it to me to ruin my stomach for 100 bucks or a month
for a,000. Like screw that. Yeah. But and I have Crohn's disease so like it might mess me up long term. But um
dude the the money the money is so legit in this though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that's what I mean. 6 months for 100 grand.
This is like some sort of Mr. Beast challenge. 100 grand would like legit change my life
and a million definitely would. So like Yeah, go for it. Yeah, I would. And you can eat whatever you want for breakfast and lunch.
Yeah. Meaning I mean this this like a little gaming system.
Yeah. I could just go there and get one taco for dinner. I could put down taco. Oh, so you're saying just get like
filled up on breakfast and lunch. Yeah. And eat a taco every night. That is kind of game. I think I'd go for a year as I think I
have no problem eating a breakfast taco or breakfast burrito every day and then
having a soft taco. No, you you can have whatever you want. You can eat whatever you want for breakfast and lunch, but dinner has to
be from Taco Bell. Yeah. So, you could make your own eggs and whatever. We're rich.
He's like, I do that already anyway. Trevor's like, this is my week. He's like, where's my money?
Yeah. Yeah. I think Okay, if we change the challenge to like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's what I thought.
Yeah, that would be lifechanging. Maybe a life changing commitment, but I still think I'd go for a million dollars to that. I think I could do it.
Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm going to I'm going to side with you guys. I think I'd go 6 months. You got to just send it 6 months or a
year. You got to send it. And like uh I feel like there's got to be enough like menu options. You know
what some people say is like everything from Taco Bell kind of just like tastes the same because it's like all the same different ingredients just like packaged
differently. Well, I don't do cheese, so I would avoid like half the menu because of it. But yeah, and taco.
All right. What's real quick? What's the What's What's the go-to Taco Bell? What's the favorite menu item at Taco Bell? I mean, I don't go there that much, but
I like a soft taco. Soft taco. When I was a teenager, eating it every
day, cuz it was closest thing at a skatepark. Cheap as well. Well, it was Taco Bell. Used to be cheap. Yeah, it was Taco Bell or Subway. There was
two things next to a skate park. Um, back in the day of $5 foot longs. And
you remember that game they had at Taco Bell where you could drop the quarter in? Dude, I could do it every time.
Every time. And get like a quarter for like a free taco or something. Oh, there you go. Yeah. But my my order was like two
double decker tacos. Oo. So you get the hard shell with a soft
shell with beans that's wrapped over the hard shell. That's kind of like a cheese or Yeah.
Honestly, I want to make that at home now that I think about crunch supreme. Crunch Supreme is great.
Those are pretty good. Um, so my go-to is either Crunch Wrap Supreme or a Cheese Gordita Crunch, but
with the Doritos Locos Taco. Okay, Doritos Locos Taco is pretty good inside the cheese crunch. A lot of
people don't know you could do that, dude. Doritos Locos Tacos. They're good. You might have to be on something to get them better, but
yeah, you should try that. Doritos. I haven't had either of those menu items. Cheese Gordita Crunch. Cheese Gordito Crunch. cheesy gordita
crunch with the Doritos Costa. It's basically what you're saying. It's like the soft tortilla with like but cheese
though. So, it's like a quesadilla wrapped around the taco hard taco shell with like a you know.
Wow. Yeah, it's actually quite good. That sounds like a blowout.
And on that bomb shelf. Yeah, man. We could have a whole podcast just talking about Taco Bell. Oh, for sure. Um All right. You guys want to read that
last one? Yeah. I bought a 2013 2023 Trek SL8 Gen
5 at Mammoth Bike Park this summer. It had only been ridden once before I bought it. I got for 1,700 bucks. It's a
steal. However, there's just sitting in storage for a year when I bought it. I'm wondering if I need to replace/service
what I need to replace/service. I have gotten some good rides in on it, but I'm thinking the brakes might need to be
rebled and suspension might need to be serviced. Do you think those would be good things to service or have any other
ideas? Uh, I think you should do both those things.
It certainly won't hurt. I would agree. I would like I mean, if you're airing on the side of caution, like just make like see if they work
first. Like feel the brakes. They might actually feel good, but there might be an air bubble in there. I'd probably flush fluid on the brakes.
Yeah. I would also look to get rotors and pads. The seals may have dried up.
And I'd probably do just just uh seal service, but on the fork and the shock. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then check make sure
your tires are good, but their tires probably fine. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say it could be old or just like hard from, you know,
sitting for a year. But um that is a steal, my man. That is for
1700. The Gen 5 is the non- high pivot, I think. 2023. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. After that, I think. Great. Great bike. A sick bike. Sick bike. I would also I mean obviously basically
things that you would do for like a basic or protein, right? Like you know, bolt check. Yeah. Um, obviously go through
everything and like maybe, you know, lube the cables. Um, yeah, just make ride around like see
what's not feeling great and that. Yeah. You know, obviously you just like got tune up, check headset, all that
stuff. Check all the safety bolts, you know, like your stem bolts and everything. And, you know, it's like the
one time you don't check those is the one time they're loose, right? Yeah. when uh I first went out to like ride
the road bike after I built it up and I'm like I hadn't ridden a bike in 8 weeks. I rode it and I came back and I
was like I don't even know if I checked the stem bolts. I did I guess but yeah.
But like you imagine you go out go out your garage door and all of a sudden the the stem slips and you crash again.
Well yeah imagine if I went out the back of the shop with you know test riding it.
Yeah. And like you know I'm first pedal stroke back and I just stem goes sideways and I
time to hang it up. Seriously, that's so that's a sign right there.
That would be so extremely demoralizing. Um awesome. Well, since we went a little
bit long, that's going to wrap this one up. Uh thank you all so much for tuning
in. We truly do appreciate it. Yeah. Um gosh, you said you had something for
people. So, if you leave a review Uhhuh. you get what for the podcast?
Yeah. Um, you get a what was it? $15 gift card or something like that. We Nobody's
written a review in a while. If you I thought it was 10. Get on it. Might be 10. I thought it was 15.
Okay. Either way, um, if you Oh,
read if you leave a review. I see what you're I see what you're So, leave a review. Rate us please on
wherever you get your podcast. Spotify, YouTube, wherever. Something Soundcloud.
Yeah. Jeff or Jared. Yeah. Um, screenshot it. Send it into podcast
at worldwide cycling.com. That's right. We give you the the gift card. Yeah. Your Martin test collection is now well,
depending on what you decide to give them, $2 or $7. I'm I could have sworn it was at least
15, maybe even maybe even more than that. Well, hey, if you send it in now, you'll get $15 gift card.
Or maybe mention it and we'll hook you up. Yeah. Well, yeah. Mention it and we'll you'll get the Martin test collection.
That's right. That's a That's a great idea. Absolutely great idea. Leave a review, get the test collection,
try out the Martin. Yeah, you you'll like it. It is 15. It's 15. I just confirmed that. All right.
Yeah. So, you get the test collection for $2. Basically free. Basically free. What does $2 get you these days anyways?
Nothing. Nothing. doesn't even get you Taco Bell. Doesn't even They don't even have a dollar menu that I know of. I don't know. That's sad. But the boys say Taco
Bell is expensive. You might be able to get a soft taco. Maybe a soft taco should be a dollar.
It should be. It should be. It used to be like 89 cents. You can get a street taco for two bucks still. Like at a street vendor.
That's true. Yeah. That's where I'm headed to after this. All this all this talk is making me real hungry. And on that note, thank you all
so much for tuning in. We truly do appreciate it. And we'll see you in the next one. Cheerio. See you.
© 2025 Worldwide Cyclery
