The rise of the engineering influencer is a net negative for the profession. By nature, engineering is the study of trades not a study of principles and theories (that's physics!), and I wish PT in particular would have more discussion on this though that might require the engineers on the product side to exchange an email or two with him.
The multiple videos on SRAM Transmission were a great example of how PT didn't understand how that system worked or the tradeoffs that the SRAM engineers' teams made to get there. Without commenting on PT's individual talent since I do not know him or his CV, it would be very rare to find a single engineer who is smarter and has thought through a design more comprehensively than a room full of similarly qualified engineers, which SRAM definitely had working on Transmission. However, I doubt the hubs he has critiqued had a similar level of effort put into their design. He also had those in person and was able to show identify significant issues. I believe he is qualified as a PE.
I would listen carefully to PT if he has a product in hand and is commenting on its actual merits, particularly if his concerns extend to the function of the item he is testing. I would take the theoretical critiques with a couple shovels of salt.
Raul Luescher is pretty approachable as are are other carbon experts like the guys from Ruckus composites, but its hard for them to offer substantive critiques based on photos from a boroscope; so most of them don't.
