Geek Warning

Hello fellow bike nerds. This week, Suvi Loponen, Ronan McLaughlin, and Dave Rome are on to talk through the week’s tech plus what’s been on their minds. 

Suvi’s been busy riding in foul weather in order to test a number of premium rain jackets. The chat covers how to get better performance from such technical materials and where the compromises are. 

There’s been some big news on the industry side, including news of Bianchi’s struggles that Suvi was first to break earlier in the week. Then the conversation turns to something on Ronan’s mind: whether even a flawed bike can be perfect for an individual. 

Finally, those on our member-only feed get Ask a Wrench, this week with pro mechanic Colin Williams. Dave and Colin answer questions related to hot-melt wax not lasting in dusty conditions, thoughts on a fancy tyre install tool, and 

Time stamps: 

04:00 - The next generation of rain jackets against the forever chemicals 
21:00 - The current state of Bianchi 
30:00 - Accell Group’s brands finding new homes or fading 
36:20 - Ronan ponders if a perfect bike exists
50:00 - Good Thing: Redshift’s new Mousetrap pedal adapters 
55:00 - Ask a Wrench (member-only feeds) 
01:06:00 - Updated thoughts on the Cushcore Rotary Tire Tool
01:16:00 - Inflators for an air compressor 
01:23:00 - Squealing and glazed Shimano brakes

This week, Escape’s Dave Rome and Jack Duncan go a little behind the scenes of the bike industry. Dave explains how some products come to be, the value of a brand, what open mould means, and how the business of generic products works. 

Later in the episode, the talk turns to new head units from Garmin and Coros, and whether some of this is merely duplicating technology we already own. Then the geeks chat about the closure of Santa Cruz’s women’s-specific brand Juliana. 

That’s it for our free listeners, while those on our member feeds also get Ask a Wrench – where technical questions from our members get answered. 

Time stamps:

02:30 - Brands and manufacturers 
08:00 - Own design versus open mould 
12:30 - Same factory doesn’t equal same product 
17:00 - The value of a brand
23:00 - Price is not always an indicator of quality 
26:00 - Generics explained
35:30 - Outsourced design 
41:40 - Two new big head units and Dave’s hate of beeping noises 
51:00 - Juliana becomes PON’s latest victim
57:00 - Ask a Wrench (Member-only content) 
57:30 - Pedal toggle explained 
1:07:00 - Disc brake calipers that twist upon tightening 
1:11:00 - A follow-up to fixing a torque wrench 
1:13:30 - Fixes for slipping shifters

Recently, Escape’s Ronan McLaughlin surfaced from a multi-month outdoor tyre testing project. That test not only sought to find which fast road race tyres were fastest, but also to study the testing itself. 
All of this was only made possible with the expertise and instruments made available by John Buckley of Streamlines. As a former lead aerodynamicist at Mercedes F1, Buckley brought a unique skill set to cycling, and works with a number of professional cycling teams and national federations to find performance gains. 
In this bonus episode of Geek Warning that crosses over with Performance Process, Dave Rome peels back the layers to better understand the science and methodology behind Streamlines’ approach to outdoor testing. The conversation covers topics such as why drum testing alone doesn’t provide the full story, and where there may be limitations in the Virtual Elevation method of testing (aka, the Chung method). 
Happy geeking!

Every other Geek Warning episode typically ends with the geeks answering 3-4 technical questions submitted by members. This week, we’re opening up our usual Member-Only ‘Ask a Wrench’ section to everyone.
For this episode, Dave Rome is joined by US tech writer Jack Duncan and mechanic Zach Edwards of the Boulder Groupetto. The episode starts with some tech news from the week, and then gets into answering member-submitted questions.
If you like this format, please know we offer a shorter version of it every week – you just need to be on the member-only feed to see it.
Time stamps:

00:02:00 - Cannondale USA headquarters to close 

00:07:00 - Reserve goes 32in 

00:11:00 - Ohlins enters gravel 

00:15:45 - Ask a Wrench, an extended version 

00:16:00 - Why are there so many wheel brands? 

00:23:00 - Is the Corsa Pro Speed causing crashes? 

00:32:00 - Buying a budget e-bike in Australia 

00:36:00 - What else to consider other than the Oneup EDC pump? 

00:40:30 - Better gravel wheels for a heavier rider 

00:47:00 - How should I store my dropper post? 

00:49:00 - Capping open hydraulic brake hoses 

00:55:00 - What to use for sticky SRAM D1/D2 brake lever pistons

01:02:00 - How to fix a torque wrench with a slipping ratchet? 

01:07:00 - Should mechanics charge more for emergency and weekend repairs?

This week on Geek Warning, Dave chats with Ronan about his extremely comprehensive road tyre test, published a week ago. The conversation covers how the test was run and why the data is so reliable. 
Then, Ronan and Dave chat about Silca’s acquisition and re-release of the analogue-watch-lookalike Omata cycling computer. 
Midway, Escape's US-based tech writer Jack Duncan jumps on to discuss Colnago’s new Colnago gravel bike and a somewhat peculiar wheel release from Cadex. 
Lastly, members of Escape Collective (on our exclusive member-only feeds) get access to Ask a Wrench, where we answer technical questions submitted by our members. 

 Time stamps: 

 2:30 - Ronan’s big and tiring project 

25:30 - Silca acquires Omata 

36:00 - Switching locations to Jack

39:00 - Colnago’s new G5-X gravel bike 

45:00 - Cadex’s XC wheelset is a little weird

55:45 - Ask a Wrench with Zach Edwards (Member-Only)