Plus why tyres are likely to keep getting wider.

With the road season soon to come to a close, the events in the tech world are unsurprisingly more focused on the dirt. In this week’s episode of Geek Warning, you’ll hear Brad and Dave cover the latest in tech across road, gravel, and mountain bike.

Amongst a number of new things, the geeks discuss a future of electronic suspension and what that could spell for the gravel world. Why tyres are likely to continue trending wider in cross-country racing (among other disciplines). And with Specialized announcing free full suspension frame bearings for the lifetime of its mountain bikes, we discuss new ways to sell bikes in tough times. All this and plenty more!

Time stamps:
1:25 - BMC’s new Teammachine R Masterpiece
7:30 - Sad passing of Bob Parlee
8:50 - Bontrager goes up to 29 mm rim width for gravel
12:40 - Lauf’s first mountain bike raises questions on the future of big tyres
24:40 - BH has an interesting new short-travel XC bike
29:25 - Fox joins the wirelessly-controlled electronic suspension game
36:22 - New ways to sell the bikes that aren’t selling?
47:20 - Ask a Wrench: career mechanic woes
55:25 - Ask a Wrench: storing Di2 for winter
59:10 - Ask a Wrench: keeping alloy rims black

It’s new bike day for Lauf Cycles as the Icelandic bike company launches its first mountain bike. In this bonus episode of Geek Warning, you’ll hear from two key people of the company about the design decisions behind the bike, how Lauf seemingly keeps finding itself ahead of emerging trends, and what allows Lauf to hit some impressive price points. To read and see more of this bike, head to Escape Collective.

Non-members of Escape Collective can still tune in and listen to approximately half of this episode. Meanwhile, the full version is found in our exclusive member feed, something you’ll gain access to through signing up.

This week’s episode is shorter than usual, but no less geeky. Join Dave and Brad as they discuss some of the bigger tech news.

Within, the geeks discuss Mavic’s new US$999 Cosmic S 42 Disc carbon road wheels. Pivot has wholly overhauled its Vault gravel bike. Wolf Tooth has a new free app for dialling in off-road tyre pressures. The iconic folding bike company Brompton goes gravel. And of course, there’s a quick discussion of that new RAF1 backpack thing.

You’ll also hear Dave and Brad share some tips and their favourite bike cases for when flying with a bike. And then, the episode wraps with two member-submitted Ask a Wrench questions.

Time stamps:

4:24 - Mavic’s US$999 carbon road wheels
8:25 - Pivot’s new Vault gravel bike
12:30 - Wolf Tooth introduces a free tyre pressure app for off-road purposes
14:45 - Brompton goes gravel
17:15 - An aero backpack to burn with fire
20:00 - On our mind and picking one: travel cases
29:50 - Ask a Wrench: Why isn’t 650B more popular in gravel?
34:50 - Ask a Wrench: Storing tubeless tyres through the winter