“A lot of it was caused by greed”: Factor’s CEO on navigating bike industry chaos, Chris Froome’s set-up complaints, trickle-down track tech, and why rim brakes are never coming back + Scott unveil new superlight Addict RC

We’ve got a cycling industry and bike tech special for you this week on the podcast, as Factor CEO Rob Gitelis joins us to discuss the brand’s history and the latest cutting-edge tech, before we take a closer (audio) inspection of the brand-new Scott Addict RC.

In part one, Rob joins us from sunny Girona to chat about his journey from racing cyclist to working in Taiwan’s fledgling carbon fibre bike manufacturing industry and making bikes for an array of famous brands.

Rob then traces his journey to Factor, the company’s own growth in recent years – which has seen it win grand tour stages and Olympic gold medals – and how it’s been able to weather the storms of the bike industry’s turbulent post-pandemic period. 

He also chats about that infamous Chris Froome bike set-up saga, his partnership with Israel-Premier Tech, the inevitable rise of disc brakes, and why the gold medal-winning track tech we saw in Paris – which Rob claims made the Aussies go three seconds faster – could soon be making its way to a road bike near you.

And in part two, Dave gets up close and personal with the brand spanking new Scott Addict RC, the brand’s new top-end climbing bike weighing in at a featherweight 5.9kg.

Dave is joined by the bike’s product designer Christian Holweck and lead engineer Max Koenen to discuss how you go about making such a light bike, while keeping it comfortable and throwing in a few nods to the aero watchers too.