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!