Marketing vs. Engineering and the 32-Inch Bike Debate

We missed last week because we were all deep in the woods in British Columbia testing, among other things, a 32-inch bike. We actually recorded a podcast while together but you will have to wait for that one. For now, we’ve got Lisa Charlebois, Logan Jones-Wilkins, myself (Josh Ross), and host Mike Levy back in our home studios to discuss some of what we found in the forest.

We get rolling with news that Charlebois is riding seven centuries next week. That’s right, she had a surplus of fitness after a planned event fell through, so… why not? Think you could do seven centuries in seven days? We talk to her about how she plans to motivate for it and we all go around the room to share our much lower highest-mileage weeks.

Next we answer listener questions but it’s primarily about the big three aero bikes. I’ve ridden the Factor One, the Cervelo S5, and the Colnago Y1RS, plus we throw the Specialized Tarmac SL9 into the mix. One of you out there wanted to know what I would choose to ride and why given those choices. The team graciously gave me a chance to sit in my happy place and discuss those aero bikes.

Not for too long though. Pretty soon we rolled into questioning marketing vs. engineering in terms of bike design. We all have pretty strong feelings about who drives the conversation and why. Which is, of course, a perfect segue into discussing the 32-inch Salsa Fargo that we rode in Squamish.

Timestamps

00:00:00 – Intro & Introductions
00:00:50 – Lisa and 7 centuries
00:13:30 – Riding in British Columbia
00:29:55 – Listener questions and aero bikes
00:41:20 – More listener questions and marketing vs engineering
01:00:00 – Riding the Salsa Fargo 32