New climbing bikes are being seen, but rarely raced

New climbing bikes are being seen, but rarely raced

From Geek Warning by Escape Collective

June 11, 2026 · 1h 1m

About this episode

Dave and guests discuss new climbing bikes and related technology in the context of current racing events.

New bikes are now rolling in from all directions with both the road and mountain bike race seasons in full swing. In this week’s episode, Dave chats with new hire Jack Duncan about what he’s been seeing at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (aka, the Dauphine). Later in the episode, Jack and Dave discuss new cross-country mountain bikes from Orbea and Lapierre. Then Alex Hunt joins to talk about his experience with the new Scott Spark. Not even prompted by Dave, the geeks also cover space and weight-efficient tools for travel. And as per usual, members of Escape Collective get access to our popular Ask a Wrench segment at the end of the episode. Time stamps: 00:01:10 - Pre-Tour tech at the Dauphine 00:09:00 - A tangent on big brand wheels 00:14:00 - Mystery new shoes 00:15:20 - New climbing bikes are being seen, but rarely raced 00:23:30 - How to pack tools for travel is on our mind 00:41:00 - It’s a week of new 29er XC MTB, starting with the Orbea Oiz and Lapierre XR 00:49:30 - Alex Hunt joins to talk about Scott’s Spark update 00:59:00 - RIP Charlie Cunningham 01:01:40 - Ask a Wrench with Colin Williams (members only) 01:03:00 - Small electric inflators where low pressures matter…

People in this episode

Host: Dave

Guests: Jack Duncan, Alex Hunt

Topics covered

  • climbing bikes
  • mountain biking
  • road racing
  • bike technology
  • travel tools
  • cross-country mountain bikes

Keywords

  • climbing bikes
  • mountain bikes
  • Scott Spark
  • Orbea
  • Lapierre
  • Dauphine
  • bike tools
  • travel

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Escape Collective

Products: Scott Spark, Orbea Oiz, Lapierre XR

More episodes of Geek Warning

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Geek Warning podcast page.