SRAM Recalls ‘Unsafe’ Levers & Are Cycling Influencers Overrated? – The Wild Ones Podcast Ep.35

Check out the audio versions of the podcast here: https://podfollow.com/the-wild-ones/view

We’re back, and this week we’re chatting Gladiators, SRAM’s lever recall, men’s health, cycling influencers, and allegations of modern slavery at a Shimano manufacturer. Here’s the full breakdown:

00:00 Our Gladiator names
02:53 SRAM’s recall over ‘unsafe’ levers
08:32 The Tour of Britain lives on!
10:17 Do men do enough to look after their health?
16:06 WHY isn’t this health screening happening for men?!
17:41 Check your nuts
19:55 The biggest killer of men aged 15-45 *TW: suicide*
28:12 Mental health support resources
29:06 Are cycling influencers overrated?
37:53 The best kept secret for 2nd hand cycling kit?
39:19 Nic’s opinion on ceramic bearings
47:59 Nic’s magic winter gloves: we failed (FUOTW)
48:39 Shimano modern slavery allegations

If you’d like us to send in a question, story, some good news, things you’d like us to discuss or anything else, email us at wildonespodcast@cademedia.co.uk
Thanks and see you next time.

For mental health support, visit:
samaritans.org / call 116 123
sossilenceofsuicide.org
mind.org.uk
Movember.com
Standtallwales.co.uk
USA: www.nami.org

Check out SRAM’s lever check video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2zyJQOhg6l/?hl=en

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Sit down strap in listen up it’s time for the Wild Ones podcast it’s episode 38 it’s the show where we chat about bike stuff I’m Jimmy this is Emily that’s Nick the bike mechanic I’m feeling good you are feeling good it’s episode 35 not 38 but you are feeling

Good did I say 38 you did yeah don’t I need to redo that no no it’s fine let’s keep going we’re going to go with it you’re on a roll I feel right so I’ve been watching a lot of Gladiators this week and I am fired up what do you mean

You’ve been watching a lot of Gladiators you just been watching the movie over and over and over no not the movie the re rehashed relaunched TV show where very large humans in very small amounts of clothes Lyra like we all like to wear uh beat up

Members of the public do you think you would be a good Gladiator Jimmy I don’t necessarily think I’d be a good Gladiator but I would love to go on the show what would your Gladiator name be my Gladiator name um Jimmy I don’t know I haven’t really thought about it uh for

For those who don’t know it was it’s like a reboot of ‘ 80s ’90s ’90s I think TV show and the Gladiators all have very impressive names like giant Rhino wolf Goliath Platinum I don’t is this like a British thing though like did they did they have this in South AF in South

Africa I think but I don’t think I really watched it when I was a kid it must have been like one of those global shows I reckon everywhere had it potentially yeah well what would you gladiate name be uh my Gladiator name would be I’m still just stuck with

Jimmy I think I think that Nicks would have to be titanium he is he is obsessed with titanium I like that that’s very good that’s very good I was waiting to see what you come up with you got one for me in which case yours could be steel or I do like steel

But steel is good but then titanium and it’s a bit too it’s a bit too obvious maybe I think Ox would be a good one Fe ox o it’s like short and stocky I don’t know sorry Ox Spartacus I would call you Spartacus what’s Emily what’s

Your I don’t know I’m not very I can’t be very objective with it if was really it would be have to be wimp but maybe it could be like a bluff although it would actually be a Double Bluff because I am actually a wimp I would like to be the

Referee three two one exactly but the the new ref is also from the Northeast as well we found out as well as you as well as me so we could swap out what you and the ref yeah I think we should do a Gladiators with all

Of us get Chris Hall up here as well Francis back and then we Chris is the wallus and we all just fight it out Chris on I’ll take Chris on my side you take Francis right let’s get into some news so sram’s back in the headlines this week over a safety recall they’ve

Issued on loose brake levers they’ve admitted there’s an issue with a faulty clamp inside the brake lever hood on some of their products it appears the faulty bolts aren’t tightening properly and SRAM admits there’s a risk that the levers could move causing a rider to crash samam says the recall affects all

12s speeed EAP axis red Force rival and Apex shift brake levers produced before the 1st of July 2023 they say This only affects aftermarket products and that bikes assembled by a qualified mechanic are not affective however we’ve already seen a couple of comments online from people saying they’ve had this issue with levers

Installed by a mechanic customers have been warned to stop using the recall break levers immediately and expect inspect them even for tightness the company has asked concerned customers to check the tightness of their brakes sharing a guide and video tutorial on Instagram and we’re going to share a

Link to anyone listening on our video podcast so you can check if it affects you I don’t think this is a real recall at all what does that mean I mean it’s literally a recall it is a recall but it’s not in the sense of if we take for

Instance last one shimano’s crank setes were cracking these there’s nothing wrong with the bolts there’s just too much Loctite on there so when you tighten it up if you’re using a torque wrange you’re going to get a false false torque reading it’s like wet talking and

Dry talking so that sounds like a fault to me yeah that is a problem it is but what I mean is it’s not going to snap but that’s still a fault generally speaking different handlebars are different so in the bike shop we you use talk as an idea of what the maximum is

But you in Essence really you have to tighten the levers up and then slight apply a slight bit of pressure to see if they move or don’t move you don’t want them too tight because if they’re too tight uh you can crack the bars or if

You crush your lever is going to break so I actually on my own bike make my lever slightly looser just so that in case if I have a crush they move so it’s the whole thing of a competent mechanic would tighten it up and just feel put a

Bit of pressure okay they’re moving or they’re not moving and then based off that decide if it’s tight enough so the other thing is I know speaking to Shrine before um all you’d have to do is loosen the bolt tighten it loosen tighten it about three times and that will just

Weigh off the excess locktite and that’s your problem fixed so you don’t really need new bolts tram has made them available they’ve told us they they are there if anybody is insistent that they want them um but it’s not a you don’t need them if that makes sense for us in

A shop I’ll never order the bolt and we will just fix a problem by loosening and tightening them I guess that’s why they’re saying if it was installed by a qualified mechanic you’re probably not going to have a problem because they’re going to understand that the talk reading isn’t matching what’s happening

And that’s not Just sh that’s that’s all leevers um the other thing is that um why are they saying it’s for aftermarket I think this is aimed at people that have gone on the Internet or at a shop and bought a set of lever in a

Box and walked away if they tried to fited themselves at home that’s what it’s actually aimed for yeah which guess you have to you have to deal with these kind of things I think this trying to get ahead of the so that it’s not a problem obviously don’t what you

Leave us to slip yeah way where I disagree with you is if something has a torque rating and you fix it to that torque rating and it isn’t attached to the bar with the torque rating that you fixed it to then there is a fault with

It but the whole talk rating thing is a massive fast really if you think about it so the big thing is talk ratings are thrown up by manufacturers all over the place some manufacturers don’t actually give you torque ratings but there’s a difference so if you’re a mechanic and

There’s a torque rating on a bolt for a set amount but a mechanic then takes that bolt and greases it that talk rating changes completely um so it’s a bit of a it’s a guideline it’s not actually a a set truth so you need to see some manufacturer will tell you whether it’s

Wet talking or dry talking whether it needs Lube or doesn’t need Lube because all of that changes Loctite completely changes the torque because they’ll get to that Max torque much quicker than if it was a greased bolt bear in mind we’re not talking about mechanics now we’re

Talking about members of the public no no but that’s what I mean this but this is this is is a problem so it’s one of those things of you need to take everything with a pinch of salt it doesn’t work it’s not an exact science well it is technically exact science but

The cycling industry is all over the place and it’s not giving you the exact things I I I think what I’m getting from what you’re saying is just because a torque rating says 7 newton meters you still have to check stuff yeah because you you’ll get loads of seat BS seat

Post slip and you’ll you’ll read the torque rating 7 Newton M you talk of seven new slips bring the manufacturer you know what they tell you I try 8 to9 newm well is it seven or is it 8 to9 it’s more of a Dark Art than this whole wheel building thing that people

Say is a dark art that’s one of those that it comes with a bit of experience you’ll just realize everybody will still get it wrong sometimes but it is well yeah that’s ultimately why they’re working on the basis of if a mechanic’s installed it they should have the

Experience and expertise to be able to work out what’s going on yes and your levers aren’t going to just slip off the hleb bars and be gone it’s literally going to be it’ll slide down half a centimet or so for was to lose which can cause a crash I was about say we

Shouldn’t under play this because samam themselves are saying stop using the levers they might cause a crash it’s good that they’re taking responsibility for it as they should I wonder whether uh the crank gate thing that happened with Shimano is pro it’s probably one of the driving forces behind why they’re

Getting in front of this early they’re going they’re making sure that they’re yeah yeah resolving it which they should cuz crank was a was denied for months and months or for years years yeah next it turns out the tour of Britain and the women’s tour will happen in 2024 after

All so British cycling has stepped in and taken over both the tour of Britain and the women’s tour they said the men’s tour will take place in its regular September slot they’re going to ensure the women’s race can take place this June 2 but the short time frame means

That the women’s race may need to be shorter than originally planned so it’s great that the races are going to happen uh obviously it’s I’m sure very disappointing for many people including the people racing in the women’s tour that it’s going to be made shorter perhaps um but it’s good that it is

Still alive I I think it’ll be a shame if it’s shorter because surely they don’t have to restart the planning they’ll be getting I mean the previous owners of the race must have done some planning and there must be some format they can set in and just carry on with

We rennessy so I mean I might be completely wrong but I’m just saying like I hope I just don’t understand how it’s it’s not a thing of you’re starting new fresh it’s things carry on I guess it’s probably to do with like raw claes and that kind of thing with oh yeah like

There’s probably minimum periods of time that they have to announce stuff and make public information available of road closures and stuff yeah it’s what five months so perhaps talking to councils and getting because yeah fair enough they might have done the planning but then if you say actually it’s not

Happened anymore then people do other things don’t they so perhaps it’s a getting councils on board and a road closure thing but that is pure speculation it’s good to see back isn’t it yeah it could it could even be like a financial thing like it’s going to take

A while for the money to move across and stuff costs money you know at the end of the day but yeah it’s it’s great that it’s it’s happening Bravo bit recycling they’re the heroes of the hour well now on to our big question do us men do

Enough to look after our health so if you listen to this podcast you probably enjoy exercising or at least tolerate it and you’re probably male there’s loads of information out there about the benefit of a healthy diet and exercise and we all know cycling is good for our

Health in loads of ways however there’s also so many studies that show that men are much less likely to get medical help when something’s wrong in fact one study found that men are 50% less likely to seek medical attention than women another revealed that nearly 2third of

Men said that they avoid going to the doctor as long as possible 37% said that they had withheld information from their doctor in the past specifically because they weren’t ready to deal with the potential diagnosis experts say that this is an ongoing issue that keeps doctors from detecting and treating lifethreatening

Issues early well I think I’m terrible for this I haven’t been to a GP for anything other than I don’t know if I can say it but my my snip I’ve not been to a doctor in since 2014 and that’s worth broken bones and ribs I just wait until I’ve got a

Customer comes to the shop that is a got some medical background and just ask is this serious enough to go to the hospital or not and generally they just say it’ll heal by itself when I put an A in my toe uh Andy helped me by taping it

Up and gluing it and said it was just going to fix itself so yeah Jesus to be fair I have to say I am actually the same as well I would rather um avoid going as well mainly because I just decide that oh it’ll probably be fine which is definitely not a good

Attitude to have um but yeah there’s there’s so much research that shows that statistically this is it’s more likely to be guys who do this um there was a new study that came out this week actually talking about how cycling could help reduce the risk of prostate cancer by up to

35% prostate cancer is actually the most common cancer in men affects around one in eight and if you’re a man over 50 you’re at higher risk you’re even higher risk if you’re a black man or if your family has a history of prostate cancer so we thought would be a good idea to

Mention the symptoms and how you can get tested so symptoms include needing to pee more frequently often during the night needing to rush to the toilet difficulty in starting to pee straining or taking a long time to pee weak floor feeling like your bladder has not

Emptied fully or blood in the urine or semen these symptoms do not always mean that you have prostate cancer but if you’re worried you should speak to a doctor because the earlier the detection the higher chance of survival um you can also get a thing in this country and I’m

Sure it’s available in other countries called PSA testing so if you’re over 50 and you live in the UK you can ask your GP for regular PSA tests and this is a blood test it’s called a prostate specific antigen CH a prostate specific antigen test which may help detect for

Early prostate cancer and my dad actually had one of these and it saved his life uh so he had absolutely no symptoms at all but he had started to just generally lose muscle mass um so my mom sort of suggested maybe you should get some HRT so HRT is really common for

Women hormone hormone replace replacement therapy and especially when you going through menopause it’s something that was some women choose to get but you can also get it as a guy as well and it’s a prescribed testosterone gel but to get that you have to have regular testosterone monting and and PSA

Tests so as part of that he when he was getting his uh testosterone gel they were doing PSA tests and his went from normal to basically life-threatening in like four months and it was detected in November 2015 and he had surgery in 2016 and he’s still alive and to be honest he

Probably wouldn’t be had it not been for PSA testing so guys if you’re over 50 get a PSA test it’s a blood test um and you can also if you are worried about any of the symptom mentioned you can go and have exams as well and you should it

It almost feels like one in8 men is a load I I feel like the statistic would be higher than that cuz I don’t know loads of people that have been impacted by cancer but I do know multiple people that have been affected by prostate cancer cancer yeah me too actually yeah

That’s why I left the Army why so they thought I had prostect cancer yeah because of all the symptoms and then uh bizarrely just after my own man that ran uh they did a test and they thought it’s from cuz I was riding back in the day I

Don’t know if it’s directly from that but they think it’s pure speculation but my subtle without a cutout Groove from years of riding and how was riding and things I was doing uh I had crushed my urethra so it started developing so then all the symptoms of struggling to pee

And all these things was a big thing right so I had my surgery scheduled uh after they did the PSA test and they said it’s too low they don’t think it’s prostate cancer but they’re going to have to keep checking because my family’s got a really bad history of um

Cancer like everybody in the family’s had something so I had my surgery too quick after that Iron Man and flip-flops um well once again this is what the doctor said afterwards and while the surgery was happening to fix my urethra uh I got an infection and

Then I was in and out of hospital for the next six months with being ill and then I got medically discharged because of that and ever since I’ve never never been back to a doctor really yeah which I know is not a good I’m probably gone

The other way like somebody has had all the things yeah uh so now I have to get regularly tested just to make sure that obviously all these PSA tester levels are right yeah it’s good to know though isn’t it like I always think okay from a women’s perspective cervical cancer and

Breast cancer and in this country on the NHS women are regularly screened for both cervical cancer and breast cancer you have a mamogram which is a scan of your breasts and you have a surgical smear which is um a thing goes up inside you and they take a swab and then they

Test the cells from it and I get a letter every three years if you’re more highrisk it can be every year whatever um and that’s just like a screening process as standard and there was a lot of campaigning to bring the age of that lower and it now starts from something

Like 25 and it’s interesting that they their female specific very high rate Cancers and they’re screening and there’s nothing equivalent for guys maybe we should start a campaign yeah I think it needs to be campaign but you know if guys don’t want this to happen then I can see why it hasn’t been

Campaigned against but you know I think you’re right I think I mean if I got a letter through the door saying come in you know we schedule you for this like I go to the dentist every six months it’s not because I remember just because the

Danst sends me a letter every six months before you’ve got an appointment on this day I just going to show up obediently and pay him M money to tell me everything’s fine yeah so yeah I think it’ll be good cuz like I say I don’t I

Think I don’t go to the doctor because I only strainer on the NHS yeah or cause any like take up someone’s time but if they just book the appointment and tell you it’s there then essentially it’s like well then I’ll go cuz it’s there they’ve they’ve decided to invite me in

Um I should probably go get test done do it please yeah do it uh wel on the subject of men’s health I think we should talk about a couple of other things an obvious one is testicular cancer do you check your nuts uh so testicular cancer is one of the most

Common causes of cancer in young people but it is treated with a high success rate which is great symptoms can include a swelling or lump or heavy feeling in your testicles testicular cancer is usually diagnosed with blood tests ultrasound ultrasound scan and a CT or MRI scan I remember when I was youngish

I it was actually when I was living in London with lwis and I thought I might have I basically I I convinced myself I was going to die and I remember being too scared to tell anyone about it and then eventually I told my flatmate Lewis

And he was like just going and get it checked so then I remember being probably like 25 or something rather and a weird man in a hospital fondling my nuts and I was just cuz I had an ultrasound scan and I was like this is this is an interesting experience

Getting uh lubricants put on my my balls with bom man but thankfully it was fine it sounds really horrible but I think you just kind of like it’s in a medical situation amount of people had their fingers up my you know I mean after the Army I I think

I counted like 14 different people in like the space of one month this this is it like it is embarrassing obviously I am not a guy however I routinely have checkups as you know a letter gets sent to me and I go and do it there’s a lot of conversation around Women’s Health

You know I think in the past women have been taught to be very very um embarrassed of their bodily bits and there’s been a huge movement to get women talking about their bits and I don’t think that it’s starting to happen more for men but I think almost the

Women’s movement of that has come along far more than the guys and it is embarrassing having a person you don’t know do stuff to your private parts but your life is too important to be embarrassed about that and you know you get it done and then you know you don’t

Have to worry for a little bit but you can’t bury your head in the sand yeah if you leave it too long like say 14 people in less than a month you know it could have just been one for did earlier trigger warning for this next section we

Are going to be talking about Mental Health and suicide so three out of four suicides are men it’s the biggest killer globally for boys and men aged between 15 and 45 that is an outstanding stat isn’t it that that is just wild like the biggest Global killer for 15 to 45 year olds

It’s really sad isn’t it so in 2017 91% of middle-aged men who died by Suicide were in touch or had been in contact with the healthare system to ask for support and I I think this makes me think of two things one I know for a fact the system fails people from

Someone that we know that used to be in the cing scene that ended up killing herself she was completely failed by the system um but this also perhaps Taps into what we’re talking about here in general is 90 91% of middle-aged men who did kill themselves were in contact with

The Healthcare System were they perhaps not actually telling the were they not tell talking enough were they not telling the truth were they going I I don’t feel great whereas actually what was happening was much more severe than that so if you are going to go to the

Doctors if you have got the confidence and you have got to the point that you able to do that just be honest you know they’re not going to look at you weirdly or or think down upon you tell them the truth tell them everything don’t hold back because they are the people that

Are going to be able to help you also I mean this seems like a very Doom and Gloom section but the message you’re trying to get across is early detection has a much higher success rate and that’s true of these cancers but I also think it’s true of mental health don’t

Let yourself get so bad that it feels Beyond repair you know what I mean again I think that in society it’s much more accepted for I’m a person who hides my feelings but I know if I do cry I’m probably not going to be laughed at and

I think that those things still exist for men with other men yeah yeah definitely so me Nick one of our mates Scott tat tattoo artist Scott who I love and your dad IA and now Mark and Mark brimham photo guy we I actually started a alternative to go into a pub on a

Friday because none of us really drink some some of us some of that group don’t drink at all I like we’re not big drinkers we’re not the kind of people which go down the pub have a couple of beers and just chat about stuff so I was like well what

Other alternatives are there I was like well driving range like it’s it’s a skill-based thing which is macho anyone can do it it’s not actually about the golf uh so we go a couple of times a month uh and it’s just an excuse to kind of chat about stuff that’s not work and

I’m very like I I think it’s a really good thing having a group of males having a space that they can just kind of talk about anything and I I push that and I and I encourage that and when inevitably Nick starts talking about work I tell him to shut up because it’s

Not about work he can talk about like challenges and issues that are bothering him but I don’t want to know about the latest SRAM group set when when I’m relaxing on on a Friday evening are you trying to tell me that we are not going to the PJ to because that’s the only

Reason I’m showing up to this every well you can you can with the other guys but I’m not interested so a friend of mine as well Paul rean in South Wales he’s a mental health nurse in the NHS in South Wales uh he was actually the frontman in

The band I used to be in when I was young he started a not for-profit called standup Wales or Stand Tall Wales and the whole principle of that is it’s 8we courses for anyone it’s free of charge and in that eight weeks you go once a

Week uh it’s a group of guys that some of them may know each other a lot of them don’t know each other and they do an hour of weightlifting with a qualified weightlifting coach and then following that they then do a session where they talk about you know he he’ll

He’ll run courses on how to deal with stress how to do this how to do that so it’s essentially an eight-week course to bring a group of guys together to give them something to bond around which is weightlifting and also to have a safe space to talk and they’re finding that

Off the back of those courses a lot of these groups are then still staying together they forming what groups Facebook groups and still having then this space to be able to talk about stuff and I think that is one of the things that men do rubbish and women do

Better and I and I act I’m actively trying to encourage more people to create spaces that are not about being like let’s go watch the football and neck some beers and eat some pies let’s actually kind of go like how have you been this week you know fine well tell

Me more about that you can do that as well while you’re eating and watching football but well but but the environment of that is a mat environment yeah but it’s uh so I’m being sou African Africans kind of like talking about feelings seems like the biggest no

No no ever like I just wouldn’t do it yeah but how much more do you do it now that you KN me than you know what I think is cuz it’s just growing up it’s like the stick it’s just not done M kind of thing you just get on with it kind of

Every single day just get on with it which I know is wrong but like obviously in My DNA it’s like that’s just how it’s done Chris Hall I think is the one that’s changed it for me y cuz he’s like very open and you think like I I’ve sat

In like the cafe before and listened to like guys talking about stuff and I just think like my brain just kind of can’t seem to get around it but then watching Chris more and more do it and like the amount of people following support kind of shows that it isn’t actually I’m

Wrong if that makes sense and that kind of thing is nobody’s going to I think yeah I don’t know well I don’t know how to explain it better but yeah Chris is a really good example of like I’m glad I’m glad you brought him up because I was going to reference him in

This as well because he’s it’s good to see how things have changed because even six seven years ago there are various like Chris is very comfortable showing his emotions and he does some really epic stuff and gets emotional and cries which is perfectly fine and I remember very early on when we were

Doing some of these massive challenges this is me and Emily being involved with Chris and some of his challenges what in whatever capacity and I remember he used to get haters where people would like call him a wuss and call him soft because he was like showing his emotion

And what I love about Chris is he’s doubled down on it well not double down on it but he’s he’s he hasn’t gone like oh God yeah people people are reacting going be like I don’t I don’t care I’m going to keep demonstrating that you can show emotion but he’s got a true

Following as well so you can see there’s loads of people supported and it’s like it’s one of those yeah he’s he’s amazing he’s absolutely amazing mean I would be the first to say when I before I’d met Chris and seen the stuff online I’d be like I wouldn’t get on with him because

It’s just completely different to my mindset but I love Chris I mean we’re doing batt lines together this year well yeah you go R you realize he’s absolutely double hard yeah this which is like is a massive U-turn so just kind of like I think people’s minds need to

Be open to stuff I think you you get preconditioned into a thing and it doesn’t mean you’re right kind of be open to try stuff and that can be detrimental to you if you’re going through a mental health crisis if you’re not I think that kind of just get on

With it you’re affecting your peers at the end of the day like you can choose to be I don’t get this it’s uncomfortable it’s too walk for me whatever but it’s the biggest killer of boys and men between 50 15 and 45 people in your peer group or in your sort of Outer

Circle will be struggling and its attitudes like just get on with it that are potentially very very harmful really mhm we should also say if you feel like you are struggling then um please please get help seek support the Samaritans a really good charity mine.org.uk movember as well is a really good one

They they look into prostate cancer testic cancer Mental Health also speak to your doctor and at the absolute worst case scenario even if you’re too scared to do any of the bigger steps speak to your family and close friends and they as happened has as has happened with me various points

Of my life they will give you that confidence and support to be able to have those conversations which you probably think are going to be horrible and the worst things ever but they’re just not you know like I I’ve had some lows and the most sign some of the most

Significant parts of my life are making the changes that have got me past something which I thought was going to be horrible yes don’t think that you just have to get on with it okay so time for another round of overrated or underrated I’m going to read out a list

Of things and you’re going to tell me if they’re overrated or underrated so first up we have a suggestion by Luke and he has titled it content creators cycling influences he says I follow a few of them such as yourselves keep smiling Adventures some of Lawrence’s stuff and

Some of Trey’s fellow I find the content put out to be useful inspiring and I get a genuine feeling that they are thankful to be lucky enough to earn a living doing what they’re doing it gets me excited to ride my bike and plan my next adventure then I flick over to Instagram

Which is saturated with hundreds of other content creators posting videos and them getting dressed to go out for a perfect ride in perfect weather with perfect kit while Brewing an expensive coffee it instantly turns me off of everything I like about cycling I think these sort of images and Outlets are

Hugely Jam damaging to people looking to get into cycling it feels like it almost makes cycling more elitist than it already is I’d be interested to know what your thoughts of this kind of cycling for likes culture is and may just be an age thing but I just don’t

Get social media anymore it’s difficult for me cuz it’s like I hate that word influencer yeah now doing more stuff with you guys and France sticking his camera on my face every few days in the bike shop it’s like Lo of people coming you’re influence and like to my core I

Hate it but then do think about like we’re selling bikes and we we’re kind of influencing people to buy stuff or to do things so yes but it’s it’s a difficult one cuz like I agree with him I mean I just unfollow loads of people now that if if they’re

Doing stuff where I just kind of think that’s not for me or I just kind of back in the day I used to kind of hate on it where now it’s more just don’t follow watch I don’t understand why people are so aggressively against influences

Because you can just not look I know but I get it but it’s it’s the term that’s cause a problem if that makes sense so it is a thing of like and they are don’t get me wrong there’s loads of people on there that I think what they’re doing

Like it annoys me massively but it’s taken me quite a while I stopped looking now because you guys telling me to just stop looking but I get that as a problem um on the kit thing and perfect weather it’s just England where the weather is well it’s not just England weather is

Terrible back home isia a road in perfect weather every day so I miss that you say some people have better lives yeah I just just move back I do think Instagram is not real yeah but short for as well yeah and we’re all we’re all programmed whether we consider ourselves

Influencers or not um we are all programmed to show our best selves online it’s like a first date you show your best self and you don’t put in the not even the bad bits but just the boring bits most people’s lives are incredibly mundane I think back to Chris

Hall Chris Hall is a good example because he will he takes people through his his lows as well as his UPS yeah he’s he’s really good he’s he’s a really good influencer if you want to call him that because he’s he’s honest but you’re not getting whole you’re not getting the

Entirety of anyone’s life ever because there’s Lord of mundane parts that are just boring as well and if you s at home going my life is so boring and you’re seeing people riding in amazing places all the time there’s a there’s a disconnect and a jealousy and a booger

Off kind of thing and I guess we have to acknowledge that some people well probably a lot of people are going to see us as being that although most what most of what we do is just sit in this this room and talk about cycling rather

Than cycling but do I wonder often like with Francis whether that is cuz the Channel’s done well whether that is purely based on when you do Instagram so I mean I’ve posted what like a hundred times ever on Instagram terrible for it Instagram like you say it is true what

Uh Luke is it Luke over you’re saying where it’s put people just post their like perfect lives not everything where I think on YouTube generally with the Vlog the longer ones like France used to post quite often it’s like there’s quite a lot of stuff that he’s doing you

Couldn’t just it’s relatability isn’t it you’re always going to have more relatability when you’re vlogging your life every single day versus putting up a picture doesn’t actually see anything I think not even part of the problem but I think one of the reasons that people get their backs up about this space is

Influence has become a style of content which it was never meant to be it’s not meant to be a style of content it’s meant the whole function of it from a marketing perspective is identifying individuals that have an influential following uh as social media grw so historically like Nick’s a great

Example of it he owns a bike shop which have customers he has influence because he can say to them you should buy these products cuz I think they’re great or because I’m being paid to to sell these products for whatever reason it doesn’t matter the point is you have influence

Over people buying people that run cycling clubs probably have influence over the the members of that club the thing with social media is you all of a sudden had people which had followings of random people from all over the world and marketeers or marketers wanted to

Look for people that had an element of influence but the the the thing that’s got really weird is that it’s now a style of content it is so how many cycling YouTubers are there that create Vlogs that just because I don’t even know why just because it it’s they want

To be I don’t even know how to explain it you know it’s almost the the OG influencers have influenced people into becoming influencers or making influencer style content do you know what I mean it’s like meta isn’t it my advice to anyone listen to this that is a content creator SL cycling influencer

Or wants to be one is don’t look at stuff and go oh they’re wearing this thing and they’ve got this camera and they’re doing it in this style and they’re using this kind of music and therefore I’ll do that look at it learn how to make good video learn how to make

Film tell your story tell the stuff that you want to tell don’t go bike packing vlogging a bike packing trip is going to make me an influencer and make me loads of money like well no it’s boring to most people unless you have skill or a

Story or a method work out look at it look about what is unique about you what do you bring why would someone want to give a about you rather than anyone else don’t just do stuff just for the sake of it also to to non-influence regular people if you dislike content

Creator influencers you your viewership your attention is like your currency so just don’t give them your currency you know you for a content creator influencer you are made or broken on your engagement your likes your views whatever it is so if you don’t like them don’t watch them scroll on I I recently

Took myself off Instagram I’m technically still on there but I’m not I’m not looking at it I don’t really post I don’t really do anything you’re not on Instagram anymore I don’t you can have a lot of reals when you log in next then oh he always send he always sends

Meu so an iron he just forwards you at the thousands I send him every day I only use Instagram for reals I’m obsessed I don’t even look at yours anymore but I’m not P what I’m saying is I’m not actively posting and I’m not really actively looking at people on there

Either because and don’t and all for the keyboard Warriors out there just remember your negative comments actually makes these people more money because it’s true that’s why some people are professional agitators for a living that that is the reason I don’t use social media as much as I used to

Yeah but literally like you can grow a YouTube channel just on hating on other people because it you know gets like whatever gets likes and engagement and comments Works what are we saying overrated or underrated I think at the moment the majority is overrated yeah you can’t say underrated they’re

Everywhere I’m going to say underrated because they have changed so many people’s lives and that doesn’t that doesn’t mean all of them that doesn’t mean even the majority the point is there are cycling influences out there how many of people listen to this have been influenced by francis’s Adventures

Over the years the stuff that Francis has done how many people have leared from videos that Francis has made in the past tens of thousands hundreds of thousands maybe even millions and therefore underrated because they do make people’s lives better there’s just a lot of rubbish onoa it’s a shame he’s

Gone forever now like where he he been we haven’t seen him once this year he will return next week right so we have another suggestion from Luke and this one potentially is sick uh Vinted for cycling kit so also suggested by Luke who says I think it’s massively underrated have had some absolute

Bargains on there all with the bonus of being more sustainable I’ve not personally used Vinted before because I don’t have any clothes that are worth selling because all of my stuff is junk um but that I bet there’s some I bet there is some absolute bargain on there

And I bet you can get some really cool stuff so maybe that’s something worth checking if you’re looking if you buy secondhand kit I know aot people uh a lot of people we know do buy kit on eBay secondhand maybe check out vintage because you might get yourself a a

Banger of a deal I’m about to list like my entire wardrobe on there are you I’ve just got so much stuff that I never wear like I’m really boring when it comes to clothes have you been on Vinted before uh Lauren’s on it so I’ve been watching

Her thing I’ve been trying to do stuff on eBay a little bit which is good but I want to try vented out cuz it’s more clothing specific it is more clothing so I have sold and bought things not of the cycling variety on Vintage and it is

Good I mean it’s it’s no different I guess from eBay other than it’s clothing specific and what I have found specifically is if you have branded stuff um it goes for a decent price I’ve I’ve spent my entire life specifically not buying branded clothing and therefore all of my wardrip has no value

Underrated vented underrated yeah definitely underrated next on the list is and this is one for you to talk about Nick ceramic bearings I’ve never used ceramic bearings I am definitely not the target uh customer for s parents cuz I would never buy them so you and I were

Talking this morning about a sustainable bike B drives and all these things you want to build something that’s going to last and not be as wasteful and I think for that topic ceramic is massively underrated uh if you buying it for Speed and what actually everybody’s marketing

It at it’s overrated cuz it Doesn’t offer that much speed I mean full disclosure I’m sponsored by uro bearings but it’s not because I’m not saying this because I’m ceramic in general the issue is that they all claim these speeds and things like that but uh Matt from Andro

Has done some tests where they’ve from a basic normal bottom bracket to a full ceramic top of the range can I can I ask you a question first before you dig into the detail of this Endura do they do ceramic bearings yes they do do they do non- ceramic bearings

Yes do they do cheap bearings yes do they do expensive bearings yes very so essentially they’re the whole of Market they do everything yeah yeah yeah okay okay okay cool so but the whole thing about it is that ceramic doesn’t give you the speed a full ceramic bearing

Versus like a normal basic Shaman bottom bracket is only going to give you about one wat so what people are advertising buying it for us for the wrong reason one one what though that’s the difference between winning or losing that is the comment whenever there’s a challenge on weight or Arrow there will

Always be a comment where someone says but that’s the difference between first and second place okay I know for you and me that’s like doubling our FTP but I mean for for your average likey actually rides a bike um it’s not going to make any difference um yeah so I wouldn’t if

You buy ceramic bearings for durability then that’s great but then you need to make sure the ceramic balls will never corrode but you need to make sure the races that the bearings are set in satin is also made of a material that won’t corrode so once again like ceramic you

Can’t do ceramic right es effectively I don’t have the engineering know how to explain this properly but think of it as glass so to do the shape to make a round ball out of glass is really easy because it’s a spherical um design but to make the

Races out of it there’s a risk that they will explode so once again I’ve seen photos of where people have tried to do it but at speed and with load when it goes wrong it goes horribly wrong so so no one sells or at least to your knowledge sells a ceramic bottom bracket

Where the bearing and the race both I’m pretty sure there some companies in the Far East that probably do it but nobody’s making one that is safe or that’s reliable but like the big brands that are out there you’re not they don’t no they don’t do it but injo for

Instance they do a thing called xt15 which is a nitrogen infused stainless steel it will never rust and it’s incredibly hard so something like that I’ve been riding my bike just won’t ever weigh out so if you’re buying and I’ve not got it for Speed cuz I’m not fast

I’ve got it purely in there so I don’t have to wash my bike and look after it properly every time I’ve talked to you about my bikes and bearings you said we’ve got to get you some of these bearings cuz they got a lifetime warranty and to be fair lifetime

Warranty is something which is pro cropping up more and more in cycling and it’s I’d never really considered it before but it does influence me now it does it does like for example Zips zip wheels and MV they’re too expensive in the first place mine but ultimately if I

If I’m buying if I’m going to be buying stuff for a bike now I am looking at two things is it durable is it going to last me forever and how sustainable is it and then when you start looking at things like bearings that are designed to basically live forever then that seems

Like A’s 90% of all bearings fail because of corrosion people got all corrosion is what kills bearings so if you live somewhere really dry and warm and dry sorry not humid don’t buy ceramic bearings don’t buy stainless steel just buy a basic bearing save your money cuz

That’ll last incredibly long um if you live somewhere in wet weather at least go for something that stainless steel Chris King all these guys make really good stuff um make sure it’s a good grade of stainless steel and will just last much longer but also be careful

With lifetime warranties not just on on everything it’s a very loose term Browns throw out there so they’ll say for instance uh I’m going to use Canal as an example they did on a while there was lifetime warranty uh but it’s the expected lifetime of the whatever

Product it is the frame set and that expected lifetime could be 3 years oh its lifetime not your lifetime not your lifetime that’s you need to be careful on these things also ceramic speed for instance they give you uh lifetime warranties on the bearings but there’s a

Massive disclosure in there if there’s a single Speck of rust in that bearing when it goes back to them and the races your warranty is canceled because you didn’t look after it fact or speculation fact so it’s it’s essentially a it’s a conditional lifetime warranty meaning

You have to look after you can’t just go wild on it zip for instance they technically speaking the warranty on the wheels the crash warranty only counts if you on the bike riding it so if you put your bike at a CFE and somebody rides into it and breaks a wheel technically

Speaking zip could just say no it’s not a warranty or if the bike’s in the car’s roof and you’ve driven into a wall with it it’s they don’t have to warranty it yeah but if you sat on the bike and you rode into a ptle or your mate rode into

You while you’re sitting on the bike then obviously it’s a loose kind of term to give them exit Clauses MH on this xd1 though it’s an unconditional warranty we’ve done some stupid things with it I’ve taken the seals out of bearings and just let it run open James been running

Bottom bracket for a year with no SEALS or grease in it just to see what happens um because the seals will actually the reason took the seals out wasn’t because of trying to get a dirt yet the seals will cause more drag when they’re dry than

A ceramic bearing ever would give you an advantage of I think something like 20 times slower a dry seal than a wet seal what’s a dry seal and a Wet Seal so if your bearings in your bike has got seals in them yeah if the seal dries up so

Your grease is completely gone that seal will will have 20 times more drug than a wet seal so if you’re going to run something like those bearings without any seals in them or sorry any grease in them it’s probably best take the seals that as well why is James running the

Bearing without any grease in it we want to test it oh just toak just to try and trash it I’ve not seen a single thing that James hasn’t broken that kid ruins everything we’re testing warranties with him because it’s literally zip he’s gone through three wheel sets from zip in one

Year crashes that’s not the wheels failing but that’s just him hitting pottles or in races he hadit a brick with both Wheels ones um and they’ve been really good but yeah it’s James is my my test dummy on how things how long things last we’ve just found out a sh

Rival cassette on his bike uh 135,000 km which I was actually quite shocked at but yeah so back to ceramic bearings overrated for Speed or what everybody’s buying thing for m ly underrated for Longevity if they’re made correctly um but in that in that sphere stainless

Steel is really good as well if you look after it what what’s what’s the price point on cheap bearings stainless steel bearings ceramic bearings just in general so this is wild because it depends on bottom brackets to headsets to Wheels wheel bearings is probably the best example generally speaking as a

Cheap bearing is going to be about5 you could get I’m just averaging out over different sizes yeah stainless steel uh we sld injur ones they are about 15 bearing so it’s not massively more and you’ll get your money back fairly quickly on that um and then up to

Ceramic you’re looking at about 80 100 pound bearing so for Wheels it’s really expensive so I it’s the last place where you I we suggest go stainless steel there um for bottom brackets you’re looking from 50 Quid for standard bottom bracket up to about 280 for ceramic and

Then it goes up there up to 400 if it’s ceramic speed right so yeah it’s it’s not a cheap thing I guess I guess it comes down to as a consumer as as a person that rides a bike how like how much riding do you do what conditions do

You ride in and then you can make a decision on whether it’s a good investment or not the main thing I’m trying to say is if you live somewhere dry it’s overrated don’t waste your money I guess the point of what you’re actually making here is if you’re looking for performance look elsewhere

There’s better places to spend money 100% it’s just a waste of money okay so keep sending your suggestions to Wild On’s podcast at Cad media. co.uk and we might read yours out in the next show next up we have fluff up of the Week we got loads of messages after last week’s glove affiliate link post where people were emailing us saying like Well Done Cade meia the gloves are sold out and then very shortly after those emails started coming through I got an email from Amazon saying our affiliate link

Wasn’t set up so uh someone has well we’ve made absolutely nothing from it unfortunately he’s paying for this coffee L me courtesy a Fluff up of the week now for more listeners takeover so we have an email from Matt which says Hey longtime listener first time caller

Good good very good a few times you guys have mentioned some of shimano’s suspicious business practices and after the recent scrutiny of crank gate I was surprised you hadn’t discussed the Daily Telegraph in investigation that came out in December which found that one of shimano’s suppliers was exploiting its

Workers and using modern slaves it’s interesting because while ethical sourcing of materials has certainly become a major selling point in other Industries clothing in particular comes to mind I’m guessing not cycling clothing and more specifically to like Mass Market Brands yeah uh cycling manufacturing amongst group sets frames

And even clothing is pretty opaque curious to hear all of your thoughts and whether learning this would give you pause about buying Shimano aside from evangelist Nick who would likely not buy it anyway love to listen to you all you’re the only thing that makes my turbos more tolerable in Winter cheers

Matt first of all thank you Matt for listening you are a legend love you can I just say one thing before we car on with this segment uh yeah I’ve got Shimano and both my Ms and bikes so I do like the Shimano mon by group says I

Haven’t actually tried well I’ve got the Shram on gravel but yeah shano isn’t all bad well well now you’re going to have to give them all cuz they’re cancelled this story uh so we missed this at the time but let’s talk about it now so firstly let’s go over some of the

Details of that investigation by the telegraph it all centers around quangle industry or kli for short a Malaysian Factory which was a supply for Shimano they have been accused of exploiting Migrant workers from Nepal staff at the factory say that they’ve been subject to physical abuse and threats unlawful

Salary cuts and recruitment freeze and unpaid suspension due to the salary deductions those workers earned less than the Malaysian monthly minimum wage the telegraph article also explains how Malaysia’s labor sector has a history of importing migrants on cheap wages to work in its factories the article says these workers are recruited from the

World’s poorest countries and promised employment in well-paid jobs the workers are often charged expensive recruitment fees to cover things like medical screenings flight tickets service charges Etc and some say they used High interest loans to pay these fees but when they get to Malaysia they’re often

Put to work in positions that pay less than minimum wage they also have their passports taken off them meaning they can’t leave those trapped in this situation known as debt bondage carry on working in an attempt to pay off the debts the phenomenon was apparently Rife in Malaysia’s rubber glove industry

During the pandemic K denied the allegations and Shimano said they were investigating the matter yeah it’s an interesting one this I’ve definitely heard about similar things happening in Eastern European factories too particularly turkey with migrants coming into the EU I think that some big organizations have policies about things like this but

Ultimately if they’re employing third party companies they I guess rely on too much faith in my opinion I think they rely on too much faith that that company is doing what they say they were doing if if I had an unbelievably huge organization that worked with multiple

Factories I would want like it doesn’t cost much for someone like Shimano to have one or two members of permanent staff that are solely responsible for going through these factories visiting doing spot checks like making sure that everything is as it’s meant to be like that in my opinion they should be doing

That stuff and a lot of businesses do have that I don’t know whether Shimano does we reached out as Shimano directly to give them a right of reply which is something that we’re obligated to do when reporting on allegations like this so they said the allegations stand against shimano’s beliefs and their

Vendor code of conduct they told us that in 2022 they had kli and their other suppliers sign a new vendor code of conduct agreement which promised that they would comply with Fair working conditions including no Force labor and fair and legal wages they said we have demanded that kli take immediate action

To thoroughly investigate and address this we’ve been clear with them that fair treatment of Migrant workers is essential and that any abuse in our supply chain will not be tolerated and that we expect to be kept updated they’ve also launched their own investigation and said they’ll take appropriate action as soon as possible

You’re totally right though when when you get to a size where your businesses you’re never going to be using One Source or factory you’re going to have multiple factories for different ranges and I think a lot of this was done this Factory the problem was through recruiters so kli

Was paying recruitment companies to Source their workers and a lot of this actually had to do with the pandemic as well because they had to recruit more labor um so it’s it’s almost it’s going right down the chain Shimano are employing kli kli are are employing recruiters and recruiters are recruiting

Workers MH so it’s almost you can see where things fall through the cracks but you can also see where you can get away with responsibility for those things as well yeah and and I guess at no point are we s suggesting that anyone knew was knew or was actually you know take

Turning a blind eye but I don’t think that that whether they were looking or not looking orware or not Weare I don’t think that means that they are not resp responsible they are responsible for knowing their supply chain and that the people that are working in those factories are working in appropriate

Conditions and being paid fairly well in Shan’s defense I don’t mean obviously they’ve not well saying obviously but I I’m going to assume and give them benefit of doubt that they’re not happy with this yeah um and they didn’t know about it it’s not like theyve knew this

Was happening and just carried on and if they knew it wouldn’t be as an organization it would be a couple of bad apples in there I mean will be happening a lot of I’m not saying it’s okay but as long as they I’m more interested in do

The act on it that’s that’s the main thing kind of like how do they fix a problem if that makes sense and somebody needs to go do a followup if in a few months time another story comes out that is still happening over there and Shan

Is still using them then I would say yes 100% I would definitely agree with you Jimmy that I do not think a code of conduct is enough I think what you have to do is employ people to actively be supply chain managers ultimately overseers not for you know if you’re

Employing if if it’s someone from their own company kli or whatever that is an overseer that’s they’re not acting in the interests of Shimano if it was my business I would want people a team of people depending on how big your supply chain is to be overseeing that I I think

There should be uh rules that say that if a business’s revenue is over a certain threshold they have have to know that every single step of their manufacturing is legit I agree and I think what would help that if there was independent bodies monitoring that and if there were heavy fines for

Breaches MH whether it was third party or not I think there has to be accountability with the original I guess part of the challenge then though becomes um how do you enforce that globally yeah no totally and and that that’s where it all then starts to fall

Down again isn’t it yeah I mean that that’s what it comes down to isn’t it as a consumer we really don’t know the supply chains in any detail of anything and I think just knowing where something is made in terms of country doesn’t actually tell you that much either

Absolutely not that because like you say you get some frame sets would be made somewhere and other frame set from the same company in a production loan would be Far East some things like Forks lot of me most bike manufacturers don’t make their own Forks so they’ll be buying

That in from somewhere else it’s it’s bit of a it is a difficult thing but I just say we wouldn’t rely too much on where it was made it’s just do you like the bike does it ride nice is a good quality totally and I think companies

Generally and this is not just cycling but definitely applies to cycling companies get away with not divulging much because no one else is and it’s in a way it’s almost like what we were talking about earlier about the lifetime warranty is like an extra thing they add

On to appeal to Consumers I imagine if there were brands that started revealing more about their supply chains then it would make them look more appealing I definitely do think there’s an appetite for people to be more sustainable and more ethical in their buying I think the reason they wouldn’t in the cycling

Industry is there is such a humongous anti-ar East Movement in in just people and practically everything in cycling and a lot of the stuff in the world is manufactured in in the Far East so I think the reason that Brands would wouldn’t do that is you would actually

What they would act ultimately be saying is 99% of everything you buy from us is manufactured in the Far East and for some people that means they would stop buying it even though they would then go to a different brand where they would be buying stuff from the Far East and are

Already buying stuff from the Far East and using their telephones that are made in the Far East and watching this yeah let let’s summarize this then I think would it make you think twice about buying from Shimano possibly but I think until you know more about the manufacturing processes of anywhere else

Any competitors then yeah I mean you can’t you can’t just assume everyone’s by because they’re not telling you anything but as a consumer generally I would like to know more about everything I hope they sort this out um and I hope they actually present some findings of their

Investigation and it would be nice to see more about Supply chains generally what I am starting to feel I was actually talking about to Nick about this earlier and we’ve spoken about these kind of weird little projects I have in my head every now and again I am

Starting to have a bigger desire to look at like small independent local businesses so say for example uh I need new chain rings I could get something made by hope tech for example which are you know where are they in Yorkshire or leads or something like that Peak District Peak District so they’re

Literally manufacturing them in the Peak District I could walk into the factory if I wanted to Hope Val actually and then and then well that makes sense now uh I could literally walk into their Factory and buy one of their chain rings so I know exactly I could probably speak

To the person that’s machined it so like there are ways that I can buy stuff and that isn’t again that’s not again being like anti-foreign that’s just going on well I know I can literally see with my eyes the supply chain or what’s happening with that that product so I I think I’m

Going to spend more time considering the stuff that I buy in future and try and buy stuff the metal has come from somewhere though yeah that’s true the slavery for me is a big no no anything with this slavery I’m like massively against but then talking about Far East

Some Far East produced products are better than anywhere else so are you zip as an example I I personally feel the Zip’s quality has improved massively since they’ve moved the wheel manufacturing from America to the Far East I don’t think you can assume just because stuff’s made in the Far East

That it’s better or worse better or worse in terms of Labor practices and also as I said there was a massive investigation on places in Eastern Europe that were employing migrant workers so it’s just because something says it’s made in Europe doesn’t mean it’s any better as well we really can’t

Know can we that’s all for us from this week that is Nick’s last show as Francis will be back next week so thank you very much Nick thanks Nick um I’m hope well it seems like you’ve been less offensive than we were expecting you to be and

Everyone now loves you which is also a surprise which I’m going to have to reverse all the way back again so thank you to all the listeners and for your continued support keep sending your emails to Wild Ones podcast arcad media. Cod we love you and we love to read them

And we love you it doesn’t even say we love you on the it doesn’t I just wanted to say it okay uh please drop us a like if you’re listening leave us a five star review uh no other reviews please just five star ones thank you and we’ll see

You next week and Jimmy loves you I love you love you bye bye Nick bye bye bye everybody byebye