Can a $600 Pair of Cycling Shoes Really Be Worth the Price?
Can a $600 pair of shoes really be worth the price? Surely not... but also maybe, depending on who you ask.
Today's show sees tech editor Josh Ross and Mike Levy talk about Specialized's new S-Works Ares 2 shoe, as well as how to test expensive bikes and gear, and how relevant that pricey equipment may — or may not — be for many riders who have different priorities.
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43:13
Should Your Next Bike Play to Your Strengths or Fix Weaknesses?
Here's a burning question we've had for quite some time: should your bike complement your strengths or shore up your weaknesses?
Wait, hear us out! We thought about the best bikes we've ridden, and there's always something in common: they make us feel superhuman. But what about that that bike makes you feel that way? Is it how it makes up for your weaknesses on the descents, or is it how it only amplifies what you're the best at?
We have a bit of an argument here, with some of us believing a bike needs to focus on rider weaknesses, while others would rather their bikes help them feel better about what they're doing.
Along the way, we talk about Litespeed's new titanium road bike, which they claim is the lightest titanium frame yet. Then, we get nostalgic about old Cannondales as we talk about the latest Topstone Carbon ahead of its launch
Ah, and as we should, we talk about a big crash that happened while filming our first-ever Velo Field Test. Don't tell us we don't make sacrifices for this job!
Listen to the latest episode of the Velo Podcast below.
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39:28
The Spring Classics Are Here: Pogačar’s Magic, Vollering vs. Van der Breggen, and Milano-Sanremo Predictions
Bike racing is back! With the UAE Tour and Volta in the rearview mirror, it's time to jump feet first into what looks to be an epic Classics season that kicked off with Omloop and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Then, it was off to the rolling white roads of Italy's Chianti region for the Strade Bianche, where the women's race climaxed with a duel between Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen up the steep final wall better known as Via Santa Caterina. And if you were watching the men's race and waiting to see if Tadej Pogačar could best last year's 80km solo breakaway for victory, he did exactly that but in a very different way, overcoming what looked like a serious crash to notch up his third Strade victory.
Today's podcast sees Mike Levy chat with Andrew Hood and Jim Cotton about what makes the Classics so special, how Pogačar could win Milano-Sanremo, and why more people need to think like Tom Pidcock.
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50:55
What the Heck is an All-Road Bike, Anyway?
Some of the Velo team is in the midst of gearing up for a field test, where we're testing all-road bikes and comparing them against a traditional racey road bike and a gravel bike. Between all the testing and riding we're doing, it's got us wondering what the heck is an all-road bike, anyway?
Yeah, yeah, all-road bikes are supposed to bridge the gap between the race road bikes and the performance gravel bikes. They tend to offer more upright body positioning, handling that skews toward safe rather than agile, and often include some sort of feature that promises to dampen road vibrations.
But where did the all-road name even come from? How did we lose the phrase 'endurance road bike' along the way? And perhaps most importantly, is a gravel bike the right bike if you're looking for an all-road bike?
Along the way, we chat about Jim Cotton's excellent story on how breathing sensors are poised to blow up bike racing and why a breathing sensor is a much more reliable indicator of effort and output. We also dig into why Lidl-Trek raced on a SRAM gravel groupset at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
We dug in on this latest episode of the Velo Podcast, and we hope you enjoy digging in, too.
See the latest in cycling on Velo: velo.outsideonline.com
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48:28
Our Biggest Tech Pet Peeves (and What Bike Companies Should Do About Them)
Today's bikes are really, really good. That doesn't mean we don't have major pet peeves, however. Proprietary seat posts and stems, are an easy one, as are companies cheaping out on bolts and bearings. But we went further, talking about the bike industry's propensity to push bikes on us that don't help riders address their weaknesses, and perhaps most importantly, how we wish the bike industry solved these issues.
Look, we said the bikes are good. We didn't say they were perfect!
In the news, we talk about Devinci's latest Hatchet Pro gravel bike that is a whole lot more racey than we'd expect. Is Hope Tech's new carbon gravel crank with a foam core going to be any good? And we talk about why Josh isn't going to stop waxing his chain any time soon.
All that and more in the latest Velo Podcast. See more: velo.outsideonline.com/featured
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