Welcome back to Geek Warning. This week, Dave Rome and Ronan McLaughlin talk through Shimano’s new road pedal system, which will eventually supersede the now two-decade-old SPD-SL. Dave has been hands-on with the new pedals and offers insight into how nuanced the differences are.

Dave is then joined by Suvi Loponen to discuss the new Canyon Grail gravel bike along with a number of other standout bits of tech news from the week.

At the end of the episode, and for those listening via a member-only feed, we have an interview with Bill Alcorn of BikeFlights about how air freighting and door-to-door bike delivery have changed, and potentially how to mitigate those increased costs.

Timestamps:

• 02:00 - Shimano SPD-SLR, ridden and explained
• 18:00 - The potential performance gain of lower stack height
• 22:30 - Shimano’s three shoe widths, wide going wider.
• 25:00 - Suvi joins to discuss the new Canyon Grail gravel bike
• 37:00 - Scott’s interesting return to cable routing options
• 41:00 - Specialized goes internal routing with Future Shock
• 43:30 - Wolf Tooth gets into hubs
• 48:00 - Members-only section: Talking bike freight

This week, Caley Fretz returns to Geek Warning alongside Jack Duncan and Dave Rome. It’s been a week full of big new bike launches (all of which Escape Collective attended) and there has been some equally big industry news.

The geeks discuss new bikes from Scott, Factor, and Enve, and how each finds (or doesn't) a balance between performance and enjoyment. Plus, there’s a shift in product from WTB, some somewhat sad news out of an Australian business, and we speculate over why Specialized’s founder has returned to the helm.

As usual, members of Escape Collective have access to the exclusive member-only feeds of the podcast, and in this we answer a number of technical questions in the Ask a Wrench segment.

Happy geeking!

Time stamps:

• 00:02:00 - New bikes, new bikes everywhere
• 00:03:15 - Talking two different approaches to gravel with the Scott Addict Gravel and Factor Elara
• 00:16:30 - Adding the new Enve Melee to the conversation
• 00:20:00 - Feelings or performance. Can it be both?
• 00:29:00 - WTB doing aero wasn’t on our bingo card
• 00:38:00 - Sad news from Fumpa
• 00:44:15 - Big changes at Specialized and a fun theory from a dude
• 01:02:00 - Members-only section and Ask a Wrench
• 01:05:00 - Our thoughts on running mismatched tyres
• 01:11:20 - “Critique my chain waxing”
• 01:12:15 - Gravel handlebar recommendations that keep the levers straight

This week sees a big first for the Geek Warning podcast as the entirety of Escape Collective’s tech crew meet up in person over in Takayama, Japan. With that, we recorded live in front of a select group of Escape members!

It’s certainly been a huge week on the tech front for our entire tech team to be away riding bikes at the annual Member Summit. Not only is the Vuelta a España in its first week (where new Dura-Ace prototypes were seen), we also had the last Mountain Bike World Cup round prior to the World Championships. And if that wasn’t enough, MADE was held over in Portland, Oregon, the past weekend.

Given the special circumstances, our usual member-only ‘Ask a Wrench’ segment was replaced with an ‘Ask us anything’ from the live audience. Be sure to listen on the member-only feed for the full episode.

So with that, join the tech crew of Alex Hunt, Jack Duncan, Ronan Mc Laughlin, and Dave Rome to hear about the week in tech. And yes, Suvi Loponen was there, but sadly couldn’t jump on the recording.

Time stamps:

• 00:03:30 - New Dura-Ace R9300 breaks cover
• 00:23:00 - Leadville wasn’t the expected 32er domination, and that doesn’t matter
• 00:33:05 - Fox is seemingly returning to electronic suspension for cross-country
• 00:35:00 - Abbey Bike Tools’ new budget disc brake mount facer isn’t quite it
• 00:40:30 - Going into the member-only section with a live audience
• 00:42:00 - Ask us Anything!
• 00:44:00 - Are carbon spokes a fad?
• 00:50:00 - Silca’s entry to tires
• 00:53:00 - Can grease be too thick?
• 00:55:00 - Is there any further tech that road should expect from MTB?
• 01:03:30 - How are we addressing the spectrum of gravel?