Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine

Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine February 2009

In this Issue:
Broken
The Kindness of Strangers
South Wales Route Guide
Disc Brakes Grouptest
Because it Hurts More

Cover Picture: Andreas Hestler on Utah Red Rock by Colin Meagher
Contents Picture: Brett Tipie by Dan Barham
Spineline: There’s a big difference between badass and bad arse

Editorial

Chipps ponders double chins on children vs the unique joy of hurting yourself with a bike.

Broken

Blowing up spectacularly is something that only cyclists and a few long distance runners have in common.

Shenandoah 100

Jon Meredith pitches himself heart and soul against a 100 mile hilly bike race on the East Coast of the States. He loses, despite finishing.

One! Two! Go! Three!

It’s shockingly easy to fool yourself into doing something foolish. And that’s a good thing, reckons Matt.

The Kindness of Strangers

14 hours of walking through streams with your bike in a remote bit of Morocco and now it’s getting dark. Now where can you turn for help?

Bonky the Clown

It’s not just Sunday fun-riders that hit the wall. Professional racers bonk too – as entertainly explained by Joe Parkin.

Bike Test: 69ers

Three 29in front, 26in rear wheel modern penny-farthings from Carver, Singular and Trek. You need to try one…

• Carver 96ER
• Singular Hummingbird
• Trek 69ER 3×9

Minus 40 Meltdown

No matter how prepared you are – riding 135 miles in the blistering cold is not a journey to be taken lightly – or it could be your last.

Gallery

Who needs foreign sunshine? Five pages of uplifting images from our very own island. Photos from: Chipps, Grant Robinson and Sim Mainey.

Through the Grinder

Six pages of clothing and components tested in our Pennine playground.

• Superstar Supperleggera Hub
• Fox Float 36 RC2
• Intense 909 EX Dual Compound Lite 2.35
• Shimano MW80 Goretex Winter Boot
• Sugoi Firewall 220 Bib Knicker
• Unior Fold Up Hex Tool
• Stan’s Flow Rims
• Marmot Spire Jacket
• ProLink Cahin Lube 32oz
• Altura Attack Extreme Waterproof Jacket

Minitest: Pop-Up Seatposts

Seatposts that go down at the push of a switch are the future. Here are three of them from Crank Bros, Gravity Dropper and Pure Racing.

• Gravity Dropper
• Crank Bros Joplin
• Pure Racing i900

Return to Ukraine

Tomasz Debiec takes us back to the gentle pace and huge scenery of the Ukraine – riding the wonderfully named Smooth Polonyna.

Blame the Dog

The murder of nuance. Mike Ferrentino’s regular letter from America.

Fitness: Ride without blowing

Matt Hart tells you how to correctly fuel your body to ward off exhaustion and what to do when it all goes wrong.

Head to Head:

The carbon question. Mark looks at two carbon hardtails from Felt and Merida.

• Merida Carbon FLX 900
• Felt Six Team

Grouptest: Disc Brakes

Benji looks at five examples of he new power generation of disc brakes from Avid, Formula, Hope, Magura and Shimano.

• Avid Elixir CR
• Formula The One
• Hope X2
• Marta SL
• Shimano SLX

Because It Hurts More

Why do people race skinny tyred bikes off road when there are mountain bikes? Chipps uncovers the hidden world of cyclocross.

• Fixie Ine Pure Blood
• Yeti ARC-X

Thank You

We know who you are and you know why. So thanks.

Long Term Test Bikes

A peek into the staff bike shed reveals a lot of change for 2009.

• Genesis Alptitude
• Orange Five
• Intense Slope Style

Subscribe

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Column: Roly Lambert

Our Roly gets himself lost within sight of his house…

Competition – Win a spring makeover from 2Pure!

Win £500 worth of gear to spruce yourself and your bike up ready for that spring sunshine.

Propaganda

Sale now on! Books and jerseys are on discount for you here.

Route Guide: South Wales

Here’s a route guide for the area near Cardiff that you always drive past in your rush to get to Afan. You should slow down and ride…

• Easy Route: As long as you like, as far as you like
• Medium Route: 32.8km (20.38 miles), 3-5 hours
• Hard Route: 37km (23 miles), 4-6 hours

Outro

Christmas time is always good for some off-duty blackmail photos of the team…