We’re in thick of race season and there’s plenty to discuss on the tech front. The mountain bike world is rubbing their eyes at the sight of a 32-inch-wheeled full suspension. Meanwhile, on the road, it’s the Time Trial that continues to tease future tech trends. Join Ronan Mc Laughlin, Dave Rome, and Alex Hunt as they discuss these new sightings. Outside of racing, you’ll also hear the geeks talk about a revised scoring system from the helmet test lab of Virginia Tech. Meanwhile, Dave has a PSA closely related to the latest edition of his Threaded workshop series. Plus there’s chat about news from DT Swiss, Pinarello, and Lightweight. Members of Escape Collective get access to the popular Ask a Wrench segment at the end of the episode. This week, pro race mechanic Brad Copeland joins Dave Rome in answering questions related to narrowing down choices in buying a gravel wheelset, how to go about converting a certain suspension fork for use with dropbars, and whether there’s a difference between Shimano GRX and Ultegra brakes. Time stamps: 2:00 - BMC’s big wheel testing 13:40 - Tour Time Trial tech 23:40 - Virginia Tech updates its helmet star ratings 32:00 - a PSA that every part is safety critical 41:00 - Lightweight’s big update 47:40 - Pinarello’s new gravel bikes 49:20 - DT Swiss’ stop ride notice 52:30 - Alex’s new bike day 53:30 - Ask a Wrench with Brad Copeland (member only) 54:45 - Thoughts on upgrading gravel bike wheels 1:10:00 - Converting a MTB to dropbar with a remote lockout suspension 1:20:00 - Shimano Ultegra versus GRX brakes
