What with Good Friday last week and the Royal Wedding thing today, you’ve probably been missing your dose of Fresh Goods. Well, to make this special day that bit more special, here’s a round-up of all the nice things that have landed in the office…
April 2011
iXS MacAvalanche kicks off this weekend…
Never mind the Royal Wedding and all that nonsense, something really important is happening in Britain. The first iXS Mac Avalanche race will be hitting the slopes of Glencoe Mountain in the Highlands this weekend. The invitational race will see 120 riders racing from the…
Second round of the ChainReactionCycles MTB Marathon draws near
Second round will hit Llandovery on the weekend of the 22nd May
First round of the 661 Gravity Enduro at Ae almost full
If you want to enter the inaugural round of the 661 Gravity Enduro taking place at Ae Forest up in Scotland on the weekend of the 7th May, you’d best get a wiggle on. There are only a few places left and entry will close…
Chris Akrigg Broken!
Left with a shattered leg and broken arm after attempting particularly hard cliff drop
Camelbak Office (And Test Lab) Visit
Chipps visits Camelbak's California office and secret test lab and blows stuff up!
Access All Areas: A Rights of Way Officer’s view – Part 2
Our discussion of the issues surrounding access in the UK for mountain bikers continues with the second part of an in-depth article from a Rights of Way officer, we talk about Local Access Forums, what they do, why bikers are under-represented on them and there…
Nutcracker XC Gandale report
The opening round of the Nutcracker XC race series took place at the weekend on MOD land at Gandale, located on the outskirts of Catterick Garrision in North Yorkshire. It’s been over a decade since Gandale played host to the old NEMBA mountain bike race…
Video: Labyrinth Agile Review
Labyrinth Bikes are a relatively new brand to these shores but they have their origins all the way back in 1991, hailing from the Vosges region of France. We’ve had their 150mm travel, all-mountain focused Agile to test and we’ve been putting their proprietary ‘Adapt…
Access All Areas: A Rights of Way Officer’s view – Part 1
A professional's view on the Right of Way system and how it relates to mountain bikers
A NEW START LINE….
WHERE DO I START……my golly gosh I’m well over due in the blogging department. Since returning from guiding and coaching in Portugal it has been full steam ahead in the AQR guiding, coaching and riding department in more ways than one…plus there is a new…
Mountain Biking in Scotland Hits Sky TV
Ooh! Mountain bikes on the telly! Okay, you’ll need a Murdoch-dish to be able to see it but Sky Sports have launched their new series, Cycle Sports World, with a two part documentary following Steve Peat, Danny MacAskill and Hans Rey on their ‘Three Legends’…
Brownbacks Hope XC Series returns…
Lee Quarry sees another season of cross country racing; organisers say it'll be bigger and better than before
Team CRC/Nuke Proof at the Pietermaritzburg DH World Cup
Team mechanic Dave Garland runs us though the track and bike setup for the first race of the season
Anthill announce new film – and it’ll be free…
The crew behind Follow Me, Roam and the Collective are about to start filming on a new project
Fort William World Cup tracks get makeover…
Rowan Sorrell tells us what's going on with the four cross and downhill tracks for this year's downhill World Cup
Sea Otter: Random Roundup #3
More random Sea Otter sightings: MRP, Specialized, Light and Motion, Grammo, Foes...
Sea Otter: Banshee Prime (and Spitfire)
Banshee (Mythic in the UK)'s new Prime 29er and (not as new) Spitfire 26er
Midweek Mini Movies
It’s the middle of the week and it’s time to be distracted from whatever pressing work matters you have. Rationalising the workflow and managing throughput will have to wait. Jack Reading and the boys from This Is Sheffield have had a sunny trip to Malaga.…
Shimano Singletrack Classic Weekender – The Trials Video
If the word ‘trials’ conjures up images of Danny MacAskill pulling backflips off trees and riding incredibly narrow railings with massive drops to the side, then you shouldn’t let the ‘trials’ element of the Shimano Singletrack Classic Weekender put you off entering. Benji, Charlotte and…
Countrytracks visit Lee Quarry
The other week a BBC film crew descended on Lee Quarry, our local trail centre and home of the Singletrack Classic Weekender. They were there to film local trials prodigy and Inspired Bikes rider Ali C for an segment of the Country Tracks programme, presented…
Long Termers: Dave’s Kona Kilauea
I’ve been riding the Kona a lot recently, mainly due to my Cannondale Rush finally needing a bit of TLC after two winters of pretty solid use. Similar to my experience with Sram’s 10 speed XX groupset on the Rush, the gears and shifting on…
Premier: Sea Otter Image Dump #3
Here’s some more unedited bling for Singletrack Premier users only to dribble over. Full stories for regular users will follow as soon as we get a minute to write them.
Sea Otter: ‘Shimano’ Electronic Shifting for MTBs
Not from Shimano though, from Ki2Bikes who chop up Dura Ace stuff for you.
Sea Otter: 29er Stuff
Here’s a tie-together of many of the 29er bits and pieces we saw around the Otter. We’ll visit many of them again in future stories, but this is where we’ll keep them all together. Sitting comfortably? Then we’ll start at the top. DT Swiss The…
Black Mountains Three Day course preview
Spring has sprung, the daffs are out and there’s just over 70 days to go until the inaugural Black Mountains 3 Day kicks off on the 1th to 3rd of July. The rider list is filling up nicely so it’s time to get your entries…
Builth Wells CRC Marathon report & video
Here’s a report from the rather sunny opening round of the Chain Reaction Cycles MTB Marathon Series, powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport, at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells with video from the Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport team and the lens of Rob Kitchin… Mike…
South Wales to get gravity bike-park
If all goes to plan, Gethin near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales will shortly see the UK’s first commercially operated gravity bikepark. It’s been two years in the making, but the concept and business plan has been worked on by Rowan Sorrell and the Back…
Sea Otter: Cannondale’s Scalpel 29er
Cannondale has added to its 29er offering with a new Scalpel race/trail bike. Here’s the quick and dirty on it: As seen it’s 21.4lb/9.6kg. Frame and shock are 1900g It comes out in September/October time and will come in Small to XL. 100mm travel front…
Sea Otter: Random Roundup #2
New Blur XC-C, belt drives, 29ers from Ritchey, Intense and Charge, plus more!
Sea Otter: 2012 Fox Racing Shox
For 2012, Fox Racing Shox has some big, dramatic changes to existing models, plus a couple of completely new ones. Just showing that companies do actually listen to riders, and pay attention to how people use their stuff, Fox has changed the ProPedal lever system…
Fresh Goods
Hardcore hardtails, magic watches, new The North Face riding gear and loads more - it's Fresh Goods time...
New Shimano XT Launches
Yep, there’s a new XT groupset out and, quite frankly, we’re not sure why you’d want to go for XTR now – especially because the brakes look very similar and share that same great one-finger power of the XTR groupset. Deore XT is officially 30…
Hope Technology Factory – A photo tour
In a world where mass production and economy of scale is king, where bringing a product to market seems to involves scouring a generic parts catalogue and the hard part of design comes down to which logo you’re going to put on it, there are…
The Good Mountain Biking Guide England & Wales
The Good Mountain Biking Guide is a comprehensive handbook comprising 640 pages of tightly packed information, covering every area that has access to great mountain bike trails.
Two days until the Scottish Bike Show
The first bike show to hit the North of the UK is upon us - and there is loads to see and do
Access All Areas: A Policeman’s View
Harry the Policeman fills us in on what can (and can't) happen to you for riding your bike on a footpath
Fort William World Cup Launches
It's the 10th anniversary of the Fort Bill DH which will be hitting town on the 4th and 5th June
How To Go Tubeless
Are you tubeless curious but put off by (true) stories of milky fluid being thrown into your face from improper technique? Well, rejoice! Here’s XC racer Oli Beckingsale to show you how to fit a tubeless tyre properly without getting latex in your eyes. He…
Easton’s Record-Breaking 26in and 29er XC Wheels
The lightest, UST carbon wheels in the world (so far...)