Podcast: The Category Trap with Guy Kesteven – Why Your Bike is Lying to You
The MTB world loves acronyms, and after decades of new marketing buzzwords like "EVO," putting "aggressive" behind everything, pulling out "Downcountry," and the (now dying) Enduro-"Race," it seems we finally could agree on some parts. At least in the non-motorized category. Only to do it all again with e-MTB.
In our latest podcast episode, I sat down with industry and testing veteran Guy Kesteven to pull the curtain back on the "Excel spreadsheet" side of the mountain bike world. We wanted to know: are these categories solving problems, or are they just a way to stack products on shelves? And Guy wouldn’t be Guy if he didn’t act like a spaniel on a walk, shooting sideways in the bushes and making a random rustling noise. That means we cover way more than just the categories.
Make sure you follow Guy’s YouTube for his famous reviews.
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Guy is never shy to have a blast on something loud.
The Taxonomy of Fun: Classic vs. "Aggressive"
For decades, we’ve operated under a rough agreement. We knew what a Crosscountry bike was, we knew the endurance test of a Tour or Marathon rig (pretty much two gone words, right?), and we knew the high-stakes world of Downhill. But at some point, the marketing machine kicked into gear, and also we humans can't help ourselves from keeping naming things, right?
The industry realized that by adding a prefix—Aggressive Trail, Enduro Race, Downcountry—they could create a "niche" for every conceivable rider profile. Is "Downcountry" a real thing, or just a way to sell a slightly slacker bike to people who are terrified of being labeled "XC"? In our chat, Guy and I explore whether these labels are born out of genuine rider need or just a desperate attempt to keep the N+1 cycle spinning for the sake of the bottom line.
The mountainbike world is full of interpretation for what you might have fun on out there on the trails.
Geometry and the Innovation Plateau
Seems like we peaked already in 2000. No need for further innovation.
We’ve all seen the trend: bikes getting longer, slacker, and lower. But have we hit a peak? When a 0.5-degree head-angle change or a centimeter of reach is touted as "revolutionary", you have to ask: is that worth a 5k investment? We discuss whether true innovation has moved away from the frame and into the motor or if we’re just buying the same capable machine we had five years ago with a fresh coat of paint.
And the fault sits within the MTB culture. We as bikers, the media, and this one guy in your riding group raving about a new product, which is the best-thing-ever-since-sliced-bread… While we have come a long way since rubber-bumper-elastomer suspension, 120-mm stems, and a road bike geometry, which had been taken off-road, the tone we use to praise every fraction of innovation, declaring all now old products as pretty much unrideable, doesn’t help. It doesn’t help people understand the culture of MTB. Getting out there in the woods and just making bad decisions like jeeting it over rock gardens and roots to have a giggle.
The question of when innovation is enough or what kind of bike you need to enjoy your ride appears to be unanswered.
VPP vs. Horstlink vs. DW vs. all the others: The "Truth Hurts" Debate
The recent shift of Santa Cruz away from VPP designs toward four-bar layouts in some quarters has sent forums into a frenzy. As some sharp-eyed commenters noted, the community often gets exactly what it asks for: more seatpost insertion, lower weights, and easier shock maintenance—but the price for those wishes is often the loss of the suspension characteristics we once held dear.
We break down the technical trade-offs of this shift and why "proprietary" is often a dirty word in the workshop. All at a price of less. Less variety, because people think the outliers with less-common suspension designs or classic ones are considered dated. Think of Orange bikes.
The Motorized Frontier
E-bikes have gone through a trial by fire. What started as "bulky" and "lazy" has been transformed into a sophisticated lineup of power-delivery philosophies. From the whisper-quiet TQ HPRs to the raw output of the Avinox M2S, the choice has never been wider—or more confusing. (Read the comparison between the Propain Ekano vs. Sresh SL.)
Is an e-hardtail even an answer? If you ask Guy, he’ll tell you to stick to his lightweight hardtail and leave the charging cable at home. But the mass market disagrees, and the resulting category explosion is changing the trails forever.
The Elephant in the Room: 32-Inch Wheels
Is 32-inch the future, or just another "swine to chase through the village"? (Teaching English speakers German sayings always makes for some good analogies.) We tackle this hot-button topic in the episode, examining if this is a genuine technological necessity or something being shoved down our throats to jumpstart demand.
Want to know how a 32-inch bike feels on the trails? Check out the first conversation with Jürgen Schlender from Alutech and follow up with the commented video of riding the Alutech ePelmo on the Bunkertrail in Nauders.
Is "One Bike to Rule Them All" Still the Goal?
Did we stop to have fun with what we had back then?
As bike nerds, we all have that shed, garage, or basement—a graveyard of "just one more" bikes. But is there a place for the true quiver-killer? Or are we destined to be collectors, perpetually chasing the nuance of steel versus carbon flex? We discuss the enduring soul of "vintage" bikes and whether we're missing the spark by constantly upgrading to the latest, "more capable" iteration.
Ready to stop stressing about labels and get back to the ride? Listen to the full, unfiltered conversation on this episode of the Testpilot podcast. We aren't here to tell you which bike is a "10 out of 10"—we’re here to help you find the headspace to enjoy whatever you're riding.
Do categories help you navigate the shop, or do they just get in the way of the trail? Let us know your thoughts in our Instagram comments.
