The Roller Door is a podcast from Santa Cruz Bicycles, where they talk to the people behind the bikes, the riders who ride them, and hear from their extended family of trail builders, visionaries, and champions for the sport of mountain biking.
It's a behind the scenes look and what’s going on at the company, while giving Santa Cruz the chance to sit down and chat with the company they keep.
August 3rd 2023 | Out to Lunch™: all about the Santa Cruz Stigmata with Josh Kissner and Tobin Ortenblad
In this episode of the podcast we chat with Santa Cruz htSQD athlete Tobin Ortenblad, and Santa Cruz director of product Josh Kissner about the recently revised Santa Cruz Stigmata: where it fits in the gravel world, suspension forks on gravel bikes, Tobin's experience at Unbound, and more. For you Santa Cruz owners, Josh and I even get into some Glovebox hacks. There's a lot in here that just doesn't make it into website copy, so if you're hungry for more information on the new bike, this is the place for it. We hope you enjoy.
July 13th 2023 | Out to Lunch™: Kiran MacKinnon on mixed wheels, MX specific geometry, and headset spacer etiquette
Today we're Out to Lunch with Kiran Mackinnon, on the subject of MX wheels. The nerd alert is blinking bright on this one-- we chat about the benefits, drawbacks, and nuances of mixed wheel bikes. We talk bike geometry, from how geo changes from MX to full 29er's, BB drop, to Butt Reach, Kinematics and more -- this is a wormhole for those looking to define the subtle differences from bike to bike. We hope you do enjoy!
June 15th 2023 | Data Dweeb and Rider Support Lead Chris Naegele on what's warranty and what's not
Chris Naegele is a father, a rider, and a self proclaimed data dweeb. As head of Rider Support, and by wrangling the data points taken from thousands of rider inquries, his department has been able to inform what information should be featured on santacruzbicycles.com, the way we display it, and even influence the design of our bikes.
On this episode of the podcast Garen and Chris define what's warranty and what's not, chat about the early days of GoPro, tough conversations with riders, common questions and about the way Chris rides. We even vist New Dad Corner, and get to soime listener mail.
If you have questions for Chris or anyone here at Santa Cruz Bicycles, email us at podcast@santacruzbicycles.com
June 2nd 2023 | Santa Cruz Bikes Director of Product Josh Kissner on riding mullet bikes... exclusively
In this episode of the Podcast we've got Josh Kissner. As director of product, Josh has been involved with every bike Santa Cruz has made in the last decade or more. We talk about... well, bikes. Which ones are good for which kind of riding, how the product team goes about producing this stuff, Josh's personal bike preferences, and more. A couple of dorks chatting away. We hope you enjoy-- and if you do, please subscribe, and rate, or like, or whatever. It makes the robot happy.
May 3rd 2023 | Ebike tech (and technique) hacks with Danny Macaskill
In this episode Garen's true identity (trials kook and absolute fanboy) breaks cover for a wide ranging chat with the one and only Danny MacAskill. I took this episode as an opportunity to grill Danny about a handful of moves that have baffled me over the years. We also talk trials in general, stuff Danny looks to achieve in his video projects, and how he keeps his head in the game when it sometimes takes a few hundred attempts to get one clip. We talk about Danny's latest video, Postcard from San Francisco, where injury, permitting, and mechanicals made for a particularly long and difficult production before Danny starts in on the ebikes... this guy is a fanatical ebiker, in fact, after the podcast, we burned another hour talking about tech climbing, 3- battery days, and ebike tech. Sorry for any poor audio you might hear-- we recorded this in late 2022 with some old equipment. Finally, if you wanna dork out in the particular moves I asked Danny about, there are links and time stamps in the shownotes below:
Inspired - 2009 --> wall 180 to bike racks: 3:14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o
Industrial Revolutions - 2011 --> steps: 1:51
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShbC5yVqOdI
Cascadia - 2015 --> wall madness: 3:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL0rbxB9Lqg
Postcard from San Francisco - 2023 --> upstairs 180 hop: 2:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIBldkWO9a4
April 21 2023 | Ben Cathro on changes to World Cup Downhill regs, riding technique, bike setup, and the Pinkbike DH team
In this episode Garen Becker— today chats with a true champion for the sport of mountain biking-- Ben Cathro is a longtime downhill racer, mountain bike skills coach, creator of the excellent video series How To Bike, and team manager-- and racer for Pinkbike's world cup downhill team. We chat about technique, bike tech, ebikes as a training tool, changes to the world cup race program for this year, and more. Links to Ben's youtube channel and the How to Bike series are below. We hope you enjoy!
For more on "How To Bike" with Ben Cathro --> Click HERE
APRIL 13 2023 | Out to Lunch™: nothing is ever good enough for Kiran MacKinnon
This episode is the first in a series we're calling Out to Lunch: In these episodes we'll dig into a particular subject with the people behind the product: in todays case, that subject is the Santa Cruz 5010, and that person is everyon's favorite human dyno, Kiran MacKinnon. Is there something you'd like to know about Santa Cruz Bicycles? Or mountain bikes in general? Don't forget to write in with questions, statements, judgements, accustations, and musings that pertain to our beloved sport of mountain biking . It's what we're here for. The email is podcast@santacruzbicycles.com. We hope you enjoy, and we hope to hear from you.
MARCH 31 2023 | Why Santa Cruz Product Manager Jack Russell rides e-bikes exclusively
In this episode Garen talks with Jack Russel. Jack's an industrial designer turned product manager here at Santa Cruz. Wide range of topics today, and big time nerd alert-- we talk about the evolution of bike geometry, aluminum vs. carbon, Jack's move from engineering to product management and what those two jobs mean here at Santa Cruz, airplanes, and of course, ebiking! Jack and I share an office, so he's an easy guy to get on the podcast-- so if you have any questions for Jack, or if you think of any topics you'd like us to cover, please let us know by emailing us at podcast@santacruzbicycles.com.
Check out the Santa Cruz range HERE
MARCH 16 2023 | Keegan Swenson recaps winning the Belgian Waffle Ride and sets his sights on the Cape Epic
MARCH 2 2023 | JT Barse, Production Manager at Santa Cruz Bicycles follows heart, moves west, finds home
This time on the Podcast we’ve got JT Barse. JT talks about a crazy couple of years-- moving to Santa Cruz from the mid west, running the wheel department and eventually the whole of production here at the Santa Cruz HQ. We talk about changes to process over the last few years, the glory of e-bikes, and meeting his life partner.... while becoming Boy George. Jt's always a pleasure to talk to. so if you have any questions for him about the cogs that keep this machine turning, please let me know by email at podcast@santacruzbicycles.com. We hope you enjoy!
Questions? Email us -- podcast@santacruzbicycles.com
FEBRUARY 15 2023 | Greg Williams explains the ambitious goals of the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship
This week Greg and Garen chat through Greg's journey to the Downieville area, how SBTS was founded, and what they're up to these days, like rising from the ashes of the Dixie fire, the connected communities project. If you'd like to find out more, SBTS can be found at sierratrails.org. We hope you enjoy!
FEBRUARY 3 2023 | Peter Mueller Wille of Santa Cruz Bicycles: mad, then glad about e-bikes
Peter is a senior design engineer at Santa Cruz Bicycles. Garen and Peter chat about Peter's development path at SCB, our design process, changes to the Santa Cruz Highball, e-bikes, and a bit about what makes Peter tick outside of bikes. We hope you enjoy!
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