Escape Collective

Geek Warning: A wrap on MADE with Rob English

Two episodes of Geek Warning in one week? Oh yes!
This second episode has a more familiar format, but there’s still a twist. First, we have James and Dave chatting about what’s new this week and their thoughts from the MADE bike show.
And then, you’ll hear from famed frame builder and Escape Collective contributor Rob English about the show, plus thoughts on the handmade scene.
Timestamps:
2:35 – A brief recap of new gravel and road groups from Shimano14:57 – Layoffs at Wahoo17:50 – James and Dave chat Made.32:18 – Hello Rob English!

Placeholders: Evenepoel the patron?

Kit Nicholson and Jonny Long join Caley Fretz on this week's Placeholders to discuss whether Remco Evenepoel is growing into patron status, a saddle height kerfuffle at DSM, and more.
Plus, we hear from Tour de l'Avenir winner Isaac del Toro, and Dave Rome tells us more about a new wheel size.

Geek Warning: A deep dive on new Shimano GRX and 105 12-speed mechanical

Welcome to a special episode, brought to you by the geeks of Escape Collective. In this deep dive, tech editor Dave Rome interviews Nick Legan and Dave Lawrence from Shimano about all that’s new (and not) in the latest GRX 12-speed mechanical groupset.
At some point in the chat it’s mentioned that new 105 12-speed mechanical is also inbound, and so the conversation covers that, too.
Tune in to hear about all that’s new, how HG+ works, an explainer on freehub compatibility, cable durability concerns, and a few bad (excellent) puns.

Wheel Talk: A new G.O.A.T. in the making

Loren Rowney, Abby Mickey, and Matt de Neef get together to talk about the Tour of Scandinavia on this week's episode of the Wheel Talk podcast.

Pretty Serious Bike Racing: Plenty of drama to kick off the Vuelta

Ruth Winder joins Dane Cash and Cosmo Catalano to discuss the many talking points in the early goings of the Vuelta a España, a strong showing by Annemiek van Vleuten and a gutsy performance by Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig at the Tour of Scandinavia, and more.

Geek Warning: 750D wheels and questionable cockpits

This week’s Geek Warning episode sees James and Dave hanging out in a hotel room together with plenty to talk about and not enough sleep to do it professionally.
The MADE show is on the horizon, and James and Dave touch on some of the things they expect to see. There's a good conversation about the restraints that modern road design is forcing on consumers. And of course, much more.
Enjoy!
Timestamps:
2:35 – Driven raising equity.4:15 – Moots teases a new wheel size.9:48 – Trek’s Madone gets a slightly cheaper choice.16:13 – New things from Wolf Tooth.20:49 – Leap Components doing cool things and wobbly derailleur pivots.25:45 – Still thinking about the woes of certain internally cabled bikes, proprietary cockpits, and fit limitations.34:43 – James goes on an AliExpress shopping spree.41:59 - A PSA to keep those freehub internals fresh.

Placeholders: Trouble in Rwandan cycling

Iain Treloar and Dane Cash join Caley Fretz on this week's Placeholders to discuss news out of the Rwandan cycling scene, the Tour de l'Avenir, Jumbo-Visma's recent doping positive, and more. 
Plus, this Weekly Pain quiz comes down to the wire ...

Overnight Success: Building CyclingTips

This month's episode of Overnight Success is a bit different. For a long time now, we've been asked to share the origin story of CyclingTips in this podcast, but we always knew there was more to come in this journey. But now that the story is complete, we figured this is a good time to tell it.
Instead of this being a monologue, Wade asked Mitch Docker (from the Life in the Peloton podcast) to host this episode. Mitch's journey with Life in the Peloton is similar to my own in many ways, and I'm enjoying seeing him take his own path and making a success out of it.
It's hard to say if CyclingTips was a success or not. It depends on how you measure it. Like countless other media brands, CyclingTips is no longer in existence. But at one time it was a daily destination for cycling enthusiasts around the globe, and had a strong place within the cycling community that everyone involved was proud of.
The version of CyclingTips that died a quick death was a very popular one. Each year millions of people visited the site. There were thousands of paying members. We ran events. We supported local events whenever we could. We contributed to charitable and social causes. We tried to give a voice to those who didn’t have one. We weren’t the biggest, but we liked to think that we made an impact in our little corner of the world.
From the outside, it might have looked like a straightforward path, but as you'll hear it was anything but...

Wheel Talk: Transfers, relegation, and women’s football

Abby Mickey, Loren Rowney, and Gracie Elvin answer some listener questions and go on some tangents in this latest episode of the Wheel Talk Podcast.
 
 

Pretty Serious Bike Racing: Can anyone beat Vingegaard and Roglič at the Vuelta?

Abby Mickey joins Dane Cash and Cosmo Catalano to cover some interesting talking points after an intriguing finale at the Bemer Cyclassics and then to preview the route and favorites for the Vuelta  a España and the Tour of Scandinavia.