Vital’s Bikes: Unaffiliated Podcast - Community Conversation

“1:00:53 - Does Santa Cruz Sell More V10s Than Any Other Pedal Bike in Their Lineup?“

I was the one who posted this. It was from an Instagram reel i saw that seemed like a clip from a bike shops podcast. Pretty sure they were saying the blur and v10 were their biggest selling non-ebikes for last year. Also think they said that’s what their sales rep told them. I wish i could find the reel again but it hasn’t come across my feed again. No idea if it’s true but does make sense to me that those ends of things might be selling better while everything in trail/am/enduro is sales are going toward e-bikes. Also, in the case of specialized besides the Bronson, most their bikes are due for an update, which would also makes those stats a bit more believable. 

Definitely the hodgepodge that i need. Catheter Talk / Vital Rodcast had my stepdaughter calling for a fast forward in the car! Strongest reaction to a bike podcast in a while. Excellent work, keep it up. 

name it:

No Pod No Ride

Vital Stream Rumors 

Dem Knobbly Tire Boiz

Upvote

I can relate to the catheter talk.. Been there.. But, mine came out before I left the hospital. Don't  lacerate your kidney,  kids..

As for the title, Bikes unaffiliated : The Unofficial Vital MTB Podcast. 

I thought "Bikes Unaffiliated" was a really good name. It immediately and directly says to the listener that they can trust you and that you "don't have anything to sell." 100% adding to credibility. If that's an important part of "the brand" then it's worth considering keeping some of that. Or maybe there's an effort to eventually become "affiliated" and that's less of a concern.

MTB Unaffiliated: The VitalMTB Forum Pod

Winch & Plummet: VitalMTB Unaffiliated

Push Back Up - The VitalMTB Podcast

The VitalMTB Push Back Up

VitalMTB Freehub

Risk/Reward Ratio

3rd Year Junior

These are terrible and came out during a quick freewrite but I'm adding them below for funsies and to see if it sparks any other ideas:

Geo Chart Jerks

Freeride Freechat

Catching Backside

 

PSA: Peeing while sitting causes your blood-pressure to drop. I know this because I did it up in Mammoth and apparently dropped like bag of cement when I stood up. Bounced my head off the toilet and tagged the baseboard on my way down to the stone floor and opened up a 3" gash in my scalp. 

My poor wife found me in a pool of blood on the floor and thought I was dead...

The ER doc who stapled my head closed told me that it's called micturition syncope, mediated primarily by the vasovagal reflex, and was likely caused by altitude + plus slight dehydation from altitude + peeing. Add in already lowered BP from any meds and yeah, you're likely to get dizzy at the very least.

To make it extra fun for my family this was right before Christmas and our dog managed to eat an entire box of Sees candy (for those who don't know, chocolate is toxic for dogs) so they were also managing a mobile chocolate-vomit fountain on top of everything else...

As for names:
- Chainstay Chat
- Bike Bits
- Words to Ride By

Vital Rawcast?

How about... Vital Bits

My original idea was Vital Signs... but it's not really in line with the theme of the show.

I thought Spomer’s story would be the worst thing I heard this week but these names are terrible. Stick with the original 👌🏻

Come on now... Vital Bits is pretty good... and it also alludes to Spomer's misadventure with his own vital bits. 😇

I was absolutely rolling laughing while listening to the last podcast.  Never before would I have thought a discussion about catheters on a mtb podcast, would have been something I was into lol.  

Podcast name ideas:

Vital's Mostly Bikes Podcast 

B Lines & Good Times

Vital MTB - What's In, What's Out

Vital Tech News and Pontification

Considering the nature of the podcast it should be named something along the lines of offtopic or a pun on forum threads that always descend into offtopic rambling. 

holy crap! that's brutal! 

EMS squads respond to a surprising number of people wedged between the toilet and wall for this very reason.

I wanna hear what you guy think of that Arid bike that was on pink bike the other week: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/a-peek-at-arid-cycles-carbon-prototype-enduro-bike.html

I saw the kid in Bham this weekend with it and it looked sick but he wouldn't say anything with it it was mostly covered up. I'm kinda skeptical about it because usally it takes a team of a lot of people to make a carbon bike like that but he just made it himself? how? 

You can do it I a garage. Sure, you need to know quite a few things and have either a lot of cash to throw at a project or have a lot of tools and equipment at hand, but you can do it. 

How did 3d violet not get mentioned as a color option?

Supercross has been so hot.. 

Will continue to listen on the drive home today..

Bring all the kooks and ride-casts to the show. You never now what might slip out for the forum sleuths to dissect.

Sad y'all didn't go with Vital Stream Team. But I get it. 

Have to start over my part 2... Distracted by the Lawrence Indy vlog..

The Kyle story had me laughing so hard in the truck! 

The website beef amongst the users is comical.. It's a small industry and pretty much everyone knows everyone. Do a pod with the PB crew.. 2 parts.. One part on each site..

32in wheels.. Why not test it? I'm not sure how much I want it for a MTB, but the idea of a gravel bike might be something that I would try.. But, like Spomer, my inseam isn't overly long..

Anyone else think that any trail bikes that might use a 32 F and 29 R will be designed with more travel in the rear? I'm thinking 10 - 20mm more

That's a great point. What if they're just made with the same amount of travel? Overforking by 10-20mm has become almost an industry standard (i.e. 140 front/130 rear, 140 front/120 rear, etc). I wonder if the mega mullet with the same amount of travel front and rear will feel like a 29er that's overforked.

I love this podcast, I just hope it’s not dead!

I’d love a frank discussion about the differences between the major suspension brands and their pros and cons. As someone who has invested money on tools for a particular brand I find myself oddly loyal to it, and since the barrier is so high to just “try” a suspension product out I have to attempt to determine performance through reviews and their marketing hype. So I’ve tended to stick with what I know vs trying things that I might actually like more.

Thanks!

Great topics,, I’m sure we’ll fit this in somewhere.

The pod’s far from dead, latest one is dropping soon. We’re all quite pinned atm. More soon!

-Lars

New Bikes Unaffiliated is up. Watch (why would you?) or listen below

Schroeder, Spomer and Lars get back together to discuss big wheels and weird bikes taking over.

• 00:00 Reflections on Sea Otter 2026
• 09:59 The Future of Wheel Sizes
• 13:09 What's In and What's Out
• 34:52 Innovations in Mountain Bike Technology
• 42:09 Health Scares and Personal Stories
• 44:00 - Neko Mulally and his Sea Otter Winner 32"
• 59:15 Exploring the 32-Inch Wheel Debate
• 1:05:04: Reece Wilson's Setup
• 01:19:56 World Cup Predictions and Insights
• 01:23:09 Logistics of Racing in New Venues
• 01:25:03 Vital DH Fantasy Poll

it was mentioned on a youtube comment that a stage of the cape epic was won on a 32" wheeled bike, so that rules out neko being the first-ever 32 winner.

Neko got the first 32in "dh" win...

As for Johan not being at Otter, next year im available.. Similar age, huge bike geek.. I just don't have the cool accent..

If we're going off of that. The Cape Epic was a 4 part race and that was that team getting first in stage 3 but there were 7 rounds in total. Overall at Stage 3 Honeycomb 226ers placed 28 and final over all they weren't listed. But at the end of the day Neko got a win by .3. So if we go by overall crossing the finish line Neko would be first. 

Love Bruni's intensity and competitive spirit. I also appreciate how polished he is with his answers.   Maybe it's just me, but the mindset of some of the WC DH riders ("I just want to have fun on my bike") is just so....unprofessional and uninspiring. To be fair, this mindset has crept into other professional sports over the years (NBA comes to mind) and it seems that professional athletes have lost a bit of the competitive spirit that former generations have had (think Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant).  As someone who grew up in the 90's and played sports at a high level, my teammates and I HATED our opponents on the field/court and wanted to crush them during every game. That was the FUN part of the experience for us...not just participating and hoping we beat them.  

EDIT: my rant is in regards to the UCI press conference that Vital posted up today 

What is best in life?

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women