Inside Santa Cruz Research and Development With Kiran MacKinnon

Downtime — The Mountain Bike Podcast

Inside Santa Cruz Research and Development With Kiran MacKinnon

Step inside the Santa Cruz Bicycles Research & Development department with Kiran MacKinnon. We find out a bit about Kiran's background in racing at the very top level, then we get stuck into his day job. Find out how Kiran works to ensure that Santa Cruz's bikes ride they way they want them to. We chat about how they design and develop the kinematics for the bikes, how important the shock tune really is, and we get Kiran’s thoughts on bike setup. We also get Kiran’s view on some of the current trends, like high pivot, pedal kickback and faster rebound speeds. This is a rare and fascinating insight into the mind of someone who has a huge input into how our bikes ride, and I really hope you enjoy it. So sit back, hit play and listen to this episode with Kiran MacKinnon.

You can find out more about Santa Cruz's entire range by heading over to santacruzbicycles.com.

You can find Kiran on Instagram @kiran.mackinnon.

Supporting Partners

Muc Off

Muc-Off have just launched Punk Powder, their first plastic free bike cleaner. Punk Powder has enabled Muc-Off to cut down on packaging for their cleaner by 92%. It comes in small sachets that you add to lukewarm water to make 1L of cleaner, and the cleaner itself is readily bio-degradable and made from plant-based ingredients. It also means that we aren't shipping water around the planet unnecessarily.

So you can hop onto muc-off.com and grab yourself a lovely aluminium bottle for life which is perfect to mix and store the cleaner in, along with some compostable Punk Powder sachets, which come in a handy recycled cardboard sleeve that folds into a funnel to help you pour the powder into the bottle. The packaging is also printed with vegetable-based inks!

If you want to try Punk Powder, or get your hands on any of the rest of the Muc-Off product range, then as a Downtime listener, you can get 20% off during the month of September using the code DOWNTIME20 at the checkout over on muc-off.com.

Santa Cruz Bicycles

You can check out all that Santa Cruz have to offer by heading over to santacruzbicycles.com.

Podcast Stuff

My 2021 Spring/Summer merch is here, including our first ever recycled t-shirts. If you want to support the podcast, and represent, then my webstore is the place to head. All products are 100% organic, shipped without plastics, and made with a supply chain that's using renewable energy. So check it out now over at downtimepodcast.com/shop.

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On the Downtime Podcast, we speak to athletes, trainers, mechanics, brands and many others, to take us behind the scenes of the world of downhill and enduro mountain biking, inspire you and give you some hints and tips to help you improve your own MTB riding. Give it a listen and we're confident you'll find something to help you go faster and have more fun on your mountain bike! Don't forget to subscribe, give us a review, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to keep up to date with new episodes.