Nerd Alert Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Inside the mind of mad scientist custom builder Rob English Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

Rob English is one of the most highly coveted builders of high-performance steel bikes these days, and he’s also an elite athlete in his own right. His distinctive function-over-form style is very much rooted in his engineering background, but much of his vision and creativity comes from his eclectic experience in folding bikes, tandems, recumbents, unicycles, and even HPVs.

What makes English tick, and where does he get his ideas from? How much skinnier does he think his seatstays can get, and what does he think of the UCI? It’s definitely an entertaining and enlightening conversation that you won’t want to miss.

High-end aluminum bikes and dropper posts for everyone? Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

Things have been a little wacky in the road bike world lately, with Specialized launching a new Allez Sprint high-end aluminum race bike that’s both heavier and more expensive (but potentially better?) than the one it replaces, dropper seatposts in pro racing, and bikes that positively laugh in the fact of that 6.8 kg UCI weight limit (how about 3.3 kg instead?).

Plus, ever wonder what word sets off Zach? Yeah, we were a little surprised, too. Add in another round of Ask a Mechanic, and you’ve got the makings of yet another fantastic episode of Nerd Alert.

Confused about tubeless and tire pressures? You’re not alone. Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

This week’s Nerd Alert episode came about after consumer-direct wheel company Hunt released a 1,213 g ultralight disc brake road wheel with a hookless tubeless rim.

Where some of the other more prominent hookless road wheels have 23 to 25 mm internal widths to supposedly support the tyre at lower pressures, Hunt’s have a marginally narrower 21 mm figure. And with that, some readers raised questions through our Mailbag column over whether the recommended 72.5 psi maximum pressure actually makes sense for riders of average weight and on popular road tyre widths of 25 and 28 millimetres.

As a technical consultant to some winning WorldTour teams, Josh Poertner of Silca flicked us a message with some thoughts on the matter that only raised more questions. And that got us thinking, perhaps it was time to check-in again on where we’re at in the world of road tubeless, what’s new, what’s coming down the pipeline, and what still needs to be fixed.

Join Dave Rome, James Huang and Josh Poertner as they discuss all things from hookless road woes, tyre pressure calculators, and how tyre sealants work (or don’t) at road pressures.

Finding the best chain lube for your needs Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

This week we’ve got a deep dive episode on a topic that’s applicable to everyone that rides a bike. Chain lube. As we’ve covered plenty before, the difference between running a good chain lube suited to your riding conditions versus a poor lube can come at an enormous financial cost to parts replacements, and that’s if you can find the parts to begin with.

Unfortunately, there’s no doubt a load of BS floating around when it comes to chain lubes and what’s best. In August 2021 we had independent chain lube tester, Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling, on the podcast to dive into the murky world of chain lube testing and why many claims just don’t stack up. This time Adam joins the pod again with a practical list of useful take-aways that your drivetrain will love and a few popular myth busters.

LeMond is back in the road business, but is it for real? Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

We’re back with another group show this week, and taking a hard look at the new LeMond 8 carbon aero road bike that was announced last week.

It sounds sweet, and includes a lot of intriguing features like structural foam filling, internal carbon truss reinforcements, size-specific chainstays, and — get this — carbon threads in the bottom bracket, bottle mounts, and derailleur hanger. There’s so much we want to love about the thing, but also a whole bunch of red flags.

We also discuss the pros and cons of Wahoo’s new Kickr Rollr smart trainer, imagine a world with wireless e-bike chargers, and then finish off with a whole bunch of reader questions in our Ask a Mechanic segment.

Custom options are great, but only if you’ve got the parts on hand Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

Lots of things have been hard to come by over the last year or two, and while it’s definitely been a big inconvenience for a lot of us, it’s potentially crippling if you’re trying to sell bikes — and maybe especially so if you’re a consumer-direct brand like Fezzari that has a full range of bike types and also prides itself on offering a huge list of custom options.

Ever wonder what the logistics look like for such an operation? It’s as complicated as you might think, but thankfully, it turns out some people actually enjoy figuring that stuff out.

OldGrumpyH8ters gonna hate Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

Roval and Specialized appear to be returning to road tubeless after last year’s curious non-tubeless tubeless wheel launch, we question the merits of Ratio Technology’s latest 12-speed conversion kit, and — no surprise — Shimano made a heck of a lot of money last year.

But we also now have more concrete proof that the Covid-fueled bike boom might finally be cooling off a bit. And what’s Dave Rome’s favorite chain checker? What’s on the Nerds’ wish list for internal cable routing? How do you graphics off of DT Swiss hubs? And do Cushcore gravel inserts work with all rims?

We tackle all of that in this week’s Ask a Mechanic segment.

Maybe slower is better when it comes to cycling clothing? Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

Apparel — apparel in general, not just cycling-specific stuff — is predominantly manufactured in bulk, with orders placed through contract factories well before anything will actually be offered for sale. It’s done this way because it’s cheap, but it also carries a lot of downsides, like the uncertainty of forecasting, long lead times, and literal mountains of waste. Maybe there’s a better way?

US-based brand Kitsbow certainly thinks so, and while their sewn-on-demand business model has hurdles of its own, there certainly seems to be an awful lot of upsides.

Will all bikes eventually be sold consumer-direct? Feb 07, 2022

Show notes

Specialized rocked the industry last week with the announcement of its Rider Direct program, which allows buyers in select markets to have complete bikes delivered right to their door — either by a participating dealer or in a cardboard box.

Dedicated consumer-direct brands like Canyon and YT bike brands already do this, of course, but Specialized is the first major traditional brand to go that route.

Without question, the world has gotten used to buying anything and everything online, so this is clearly where things are going. But is it a good thing or a bad thing for consumers and bike shops? And when might other brands follow suit? We discuss this — and more — in this week’s episode.

How do you know you’re not buying a used bike lemon? Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

Former MTB pro Nick Martin started The Pro’s Closet out of the back of his old VW van 16 years ago, and now it’s a multi-million dollar operation with nearly 200 employees, a monstrous warehouse, and roughly 2000 used bikes for sale on any given day.

TPC’s ace-in-the-hole is its Certified Pro-Owned program, which promises you’re getting a used bike that’s been fully inspected, serviced, safe, and ready to go — and it even comes with a 30-day return policy.

The CPO thing has worked wonders for the used car industry, but does this it sense for used bikes? In this uncertain world we’re living in these days, maybe a little certainty is what we need.

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