Paul Aston – Designing Your Own Mountain Bike
Downtime - The Mountain Bike Podcast
Downtime MTB
4.9 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2022
⏱️ 96 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today I’m joined by mountain bike tester, Paul Aston. Paul is going about things a little differently to most with a completely independent bike review channel. We sat down to catch up on progress over the last year. Hear about his experiences of designing his own bike, riding the Starling Spur and hear how the industry has been responding to his approach. Paul and I chat about his incredible Sunn Radical Plus restoration project, the technology on the World Cup downhill circuit, Sur-Ron electric motorbikes and plenty more. So sit back, hit play and listen to this episode with Paul Aston.
You can check follow Paul on Instagram @astonmtb, watch his YouTube videos here and find his website at astonmtb.com.
Supporting Partners
Earshots
Earshots were designed with mountain biking in mind. So, if you want headphones that are the perfect fit for riding, running or training, or just for listening to your favourite podcasts, then look no further than Earshots.
As a Downtime listener, Earshots are offering you 10% off. All you need to do is to enter the code DOWNTIME22 at the checkout over on earshots.com and the discount will be applied at the final stage of the checkout process.
YT Industries
YT‘s bikes already represent great value for money, but as a downtime listener, you can get an extra £100 or dollars or euros, depending on where you are, off of their entire range.
All you need to do is to select ‘I have a voucher’ in the bottom left corner at checkout and use the code ‘Downtime2008’ over at yt-industries.com. Please note that the code is valid for a maximum of 200 uses and runs until 31st March 2023.
Podcast Stuff
Downtime EP
Downtime EP issue 2 is now available at downtimepodcast.com/ep. EP takes inspiration from the guests and topics of the podcast. It expands on them, and takes them into a stunning print-only format. EP is the perfect companion for some quiet time away from the distractions of modern life. Beautiful to have and hold, and a timeless piece of mountain bike history.
Just head over to downtimepodcast.com/ep to save yourself £5 off of the cover price with an annual subscription for just £20 plus postage or you can purchase EP1, or EP2 on their own too.
Merch
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Photo – Rulezman Suspension
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, I'm Chris Hall and you're listening to the downtime podcast where we delve deep |
| 0:07.8 | into the gravity-based side of mountain biking. First up, I want to thank our supporting partners, |
| 0:12.6 | and that's earshots and YT industries who both have great offers for you. If, like me, |
| 0:18.0 | you've ever struggled to find a set of headphones that stay in when you're riding, |
| 0:21.1 | your bike, running or in the gym, then you're in luck because Earshots have solved that problem. |
| 0:25.9 | They're clever magnetic design and the fact that they've been developed with mountain biking |
| 0:29.1 | in mind means that they are comfortable, stay put and are compatible with mountain biking helmets. |
| 0:34.1 | Earshots recently launched an upgraded version of the product which I've been using all year |
| 0:37.8 | and I've been really impressed with. They've got 90% more base response which makes a massive |
| 0:42.5 | difference to how good they sound. Battery life is improved, they fit better and they're more |
| 0:47.0 | comfortable too. For a couple of years now they've been my go-to headphones for riding or going |
| 0:51.7 | to the gym and the latest generation have just reinforced that. |
| 0:55.1 | If you're looking for some headphones for riding, training, running or just listening to your |
| 0:58.8 | favourite podcasts, then Earshots have got you covered and as a downtime listener, they're offering |
| 1:03.1 | you 10% off. All you need to do is to enter the code downtime 22 at the checkout over on |
| 1:08.9 | earshots.com. And the discount will be applied at the final stage |
| 1:12.4 | of the checkout process. That's downtime all uppercase, no space, then the number 22 over at |
| 1:17.5 | earshots.com. As well as having a lot of fun recently on the YT Kappa, I've also had the chance |
| 1:23.7 | to ride their brand new mountain bikers gravel bike, the Scepter, which hopefully you saw launch a couple of weeks ago. Following YT's philosophy, they've created a moment which really goes and means you can easily cover the miles, while at the same time turning the more tame trails of your ride into something that will put a smile on your face. The GEO brings a confidence to the ride that enables you to get over some pretty non-arly terrain too. I rode the scepto with some of the YT crew out in Germany and there |
| 1:48.9 | was a lot of whooping, hollering and laughing as we made our way around a slippery German |
| 1:53.0 | woods with doubles being sent, steep descents being conquered and ground being covered at a ray |
| 1:57.9 | of knots. As always, with YT, this bike really delivers an insane spec for the price. |
... |
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