The Pinkbike Podcast Pinkbike

Orbea has over 180 years of manufacturing heritage, starting as a gun and ammunition manufacturer in the Basque Country of Northern Spain way back in 1840. When the business of gun making waned, the company pivoted and began using the tubing machines and raw materials they'd acquired to manufacture bicycles. In the 1930s, Orbea made the switch to bicycle manufacturing entirely, and by the time the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, they were producing 50,000 bikes per year.

It wasn't always easy going however, and in 1969 the company found itself on the edge of bankruptcy, which would have caused 1,500 workers to lose their jobs. To prevent this, the employees purchased the company from the founders and set it up as a cooperative, which allowed the company to stay in business. A few years later, the company moved their headquarters to Mallabia, where they are still located. To this day, they are still a cooperative, which means that the employees own the company and have a very real say in how it is run.

Last month Dario and Brian traveled down to Auburn, California to tour Specialized’s new facility and record a podcast. We were the first media through the door of their new Auburn Innovation Centre, and got to peek behind the curtain of the Ride Dynamics team—arguably the most influential product development team in our industry.
The office itself was still under construction. In contrast to Specialized’s Morgan Hill headquarters, this new office in Auburn feels much more practical, with less glamour. A place where things get done with a minimum of distraction.
We recorded this podcast with The MTB product team of Sam and Brad Benedict, as well as the Ride Dynamics R&D manager Chance. They had a lot to say, and we got a couple of secrets out of them, so it runs almost two hours long. Visit the full Pinkbike article for in-depth photos and more context to the discussion.

Both forks will prove to be very popular, not least because one of them could likely feature on your next enduro bike. Which do we prefer most, and why?

The tenth-anniversary edition of Red Bull Hardline Wales took place over the weekend, and so Mike Kazimer, Dario DiGiulio, Christina Chappetta join Sarah Moore to chat about the progression, the insane runs, things we noticed from the sidelines, and whether we think we could ride the 2024 course if it was all we focused on for the next five years.

Bang-for-buck bikes, ever-improving geometry and some terrible naming conventions, it's never been a better time to get an entry-level mountain bike. And that's not even factoring some of the post-pandemic deals that are on offer. Kaz, Sarah and Dario fill you in with all the details from their test.

We catch up with the tech team to talk all about what they're reviewing, what we're seeing at races and what they would love to ride.