Chipps reports back after a couple of days of riding on GT’s newly launched trail bikes. Over the course of a couple of days I had a chance to ride both the GT Force and the GT Sensor. Both bikes were the top of the…
July 2018
Trickstuff Maxima Brakes Spotted At Eurobike
Back in issue 115 of Singletrack Magazine we tested the Trickstuff Direttissima, and we were simply blown away by the amount of power the German brakes had on tap, but that wasn’t enough to keep the Trickstuff team from working on something even more powerful.…
Hayes has a new brake called the Dominion A4, and it looks superb
It’s been a little over 20 years since Hayes entered the disc brake market with the original HFX-Mag. Though there were other brands offering disc brakes at the time, it was Hayes that popularised the modern hydraulic disc brake, changing rim, fork and frame design…
Five Ten Goes Retrotastic
Looks like our Amanda might have been right with her predictions, as sticky shoe makers Five Ten has brought out some retrotastic casual shoes which bring together ’90s retro with modern technology. Harking back to the days before Five Ten made bike specific shoes, the…
More Kicks For Kids – 3 Kona Bikes For Your Offspring
We’d already seen the bikes for big kids at Sea Otter: a carbon Process 153, a Big Honzo 27.5+ hardtail, and a nice Honzo ST in a special 30th birthday limited edition. Like many other 30 year olds however, Kona has started to turn its…
Take that SRAM & Shimano – Rotor goes 1×13 with HUGE 10-52t cassette!
Rotor Components has shown off a brand new 1×13 drivetrain, which includes an enormous 10-52t cassette! SRAM already has its 12-speed Eagle groupsets with XX1, X01, GX and NX, which are built around a 10-50t cassette. Just last month, Shimano just came to market with…
Eurobike 2018 LIVE Archive: Watch all our broadcasts from the world’s largest bike show
Hannah, Amanda, Wil and Andi comprise this year’s Eurobike team out in Germany. They are writing, shooting, tweeting, ‘gramming all week. Check this page for all the latest live broadcasts the team are sending out from our Facebook page. Like and follow our page to…
Computer says yes? Lezyne has a huge new Mega GPS that boasts offline navigation and longer battery life
Lezyne has introduced two new GPS units today, both of which belong to the ‘Mega’ family and come dripping with ‘mega’ features. The two GPS units are named the Mega XL and Mega C, and as the name suggests, both are a little larger than…
What’s going to be hot this year? Here’s our 10 predictions for Eurobike 2018!
Ah, Eurobike. It’s the humongous bike show where tons of brands, media, buyers and even the public come together to check out all that is new in the bike world. It’s not just mountain bikes – there’s every sort of two wheeled pedal powered (and…
Testing Formula’s new Selva R fork and those funky Neopos volume spacers
Two years ago, Formula introduced its first Boost compatible suspension fork called the Selva. We’ve tested and reviewed one already, and it’s an absolutely brilliant fork with a tonne of adjustability. Formula is keeping that Selva in the lineup, but it’ll now be called the…
Throwback: 14 Highlights From The 2017 Eurobike Show
In less than 24 hours, the world’s biggest bicycle industry show, Eurobike, will be kicking off in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Notching up 26 years in 2018, Eurobike is known as THE show for all things cycling. Whether you’re a bike brand, an accessory company, or a…
Love Mud Distortion pedals – a mid-price pedal that’s not too budget, not too bling
Our resident bargain hunter, Antony, has been testing out a set of flat pedals from UK-brand Love Mud. The Distortion pedals are great value on paper, but are they any good? Over to Antony for the review! There’s a dilemma with pedals. They’re a part…
Fresh Goods Friday 403: Apparently this is the underwear and gardening tools issue
Between the heat, the many (many) products, and the excitement about football Eurobike, we can barely think. SOme of you are probably past thinking anyway, since the Scottish school holidays have begun. The rest of us are frantically searching for improbable costumes for end of…
How Far Can You Go? A myth busting e-MTB adventure
In association with Canyon Bikes UK This is not how I imagined it. I’m pedalling hard, e-assist off, into a rain-bearing headwind, downhill. Not pedalling downhill in a full-enduro race-face way, but in a the-wind-is-blowing-me-up-the-hill kind of way. And my face is more of a…
Twice As Much Bike, Twice As Much Good, Same Amount Of Money
World Bicycle Relief provides bicycles for people – usually young girls – in developing nations, and those bikes are rugged, high quality machines designed to stand up to rural commutes. Hannah previously did a bike check on one of the Buffalo bikes they give. The bikes…
The New Bronson Is So Good It Might Kill Its Sibling, the 5010
After a too-short afternoon on both bikes, Chipps gives us his Santa Cruz 2019 5010 and Bronson first impressions… A week or so ago, I got a brief chance to ride the new 5010 and the Bronson on a visit to Santa Cruz UK. There…
Lezyne launch new GPS units – meet the Mega XL and Mega C
Will the Mega XL and Mega C see Lezyne go toe-to-toe with the big boys?
GT Bikes’ brand new Force and Sensor, and the return of LTS – but not as you know it!
Chipps reports from Norway as GT launches some new suspension bikes that it is very proud of. The new GT Force and Sensor bikes aren’t just last year’s bikes with a bit of a tweak, they’re a complete ground-up redesign with a new suspension system…
First Ride – WTB introduces new Vigilante, Trail Boss & Judge tyres
WTB has got some brand new tyres and rims to show off, so we sent our resident rubber nerd, James Vincent, down to Bikepark Wales to see what he thought of the new treads and casings. He only managed to destroy one tyre and a…
Bamboo, Sweat & Tears: Attempting To Build The Bamboo Bastard
Back in February for issue 117 of Singletrack Magazine, we decided to see if a self-confessed perfectionist who’s terrible at woodwork make a bamboo bike from scratch at home? Well, the answer is ‘sort of…’ Read on for the full story and watch out for…
First Ride Review: The 2019 Marin Alpine Trail is a big travel 29er that is tough & simple, but it’s also really good
Brand new from Marin Bikes for 2019 is this long travel 29er called the Alpine Trail. Replacing the outgoing Attack Trail 27.5, the Alpine Trail is an all-mountain bruiser equipped with a 160mm travel fork, 150mm of rear suspension travel, and big 29er wheels wrapped…
Review: Motion Ride E18 Anti-Dive Linkage Fork First Ride
Motion Ride is a new French suspension fork company that has taken a fresh piece of paper to design a fork from the front hub up. The main design brief? Create a fork that doesn’t dive. After determining out that it could indeed build a…
We Bet You Didn’t Know There Was This Much To Know About Fabric: An interview with 7mesh
Enduro baggies, XC lycra, gravel shorts, merino baselayers, merino boxers, waterproof jackets, windproof gilets…the list of possible ride kit is pretty endless. How much of it do you need? How much is just nice to have? And is ‘nice to have’ actually a need when…
Could Shimano’s E7000 STEPS mean e-Bike prices to rival standard bikes?
Shimano’s STEPS range grows to 3 models with today’s announcement of the STEPS E7000; an ‘affordable’ drive system for the e-Bike and e-MTB markets. The new E7000 drive system sits slap bang in the middle between the E6000, a system designed for trekking and commuting,…
First Ride Review: Quiet hubs and smooth shifting – Shimano is BACK with new XTR!
Just over a month ago, Shimano unveiled the most anticipated product launch of 2018: the brand new 12-speed M9100 XTR groupset. Took ’em long enough eh? We brought you all the juicy details in our news story here, and then we gave you a virtual…
Moots Routt Range: USA Made Titanium With 3D Printing
Moots is a relatively small brand based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, that started life in 1981 building steel frames, but for the last ten years has been specialising in titanium. Using tubing from American mills, which have consistent tubing thicknesses and strength, Moots builds beautiful…
Wanna win a £2700 Pivot 429 Trail Frame? Enter the 2018 Pivot TwentyFour12 right here!
Looking for that ideal MTB party weekend for you, your family and friends? Then look no further than Twentyfour12! The event is a 4 day festival of fun, centred round a little bit of mountain bike racing. There’s something for everyone; young and old, slow…
DT Swiss has a new fork! Introducing the 130-160mm travel F 535 ONE
DT Swiss has finally unveiled its new trail fork, and it’s called the F 535 ONE. Featuring 35mm diameter stanchions and up to 160mm of travel, the F 535 ONE is the biggest and burliest fork to come from DT Swiss. The F 535 ONE…
British Edition Commencal Meta TR 29 Released Along With 2 More 29ers
Commencal has finally released official details and specifications for 3 versions of the Commencal Meta TR 29 including the much drooled over British Edition which we had a first look at during Fort William. The ‘TR’ in the name stand for Trail and in this…
Fears for classic Lake District trails as diggers move onto Helvellyn
The work of Lake District conservation group Fix the Fells has been in the spotlight recently, after controversial repair work was carried out to the classic trail of Boredale Hause. Now fears are being raised that some of the best descents on Helvellyn, the mountain…
The Santa Cruz Bronson Is Dead. Long Live The Bronson! (And the Roubion)
Along with Shimano’s new XTR groupset, the new Santa Cruz Bronson’s release this year was always going to be a definite, and much anticipated event. It wasn’t a case of ‘if’ but of ‘when’. What Santa Cruz fans wanted to know, though, was whether the…
Santa Cruz 5010 – All New For 2019
While the Bronson is dramatically different, the 130mm travel 5010, and its Juliana stablemate, the Furtado, don’t look that different in silhouette from what went before. However, a whole lot has changed from the previous two iterations. While not changing travel for next year, the…
What Can This New Orbea e-Road Bike Teach The e-MTB Market?
Today Orbea launches its new carbon fibre Gain – an e-road bike. Looking as close to a normal road bike as possible, it’s only the small button on the top tube and the rear hub that give it away as being something different. But it’s…
Longest Day, Longest Ride – the British 24 hour race championships were epic!
Held this year on 17 and 18 June, Longest Day, Longest Ride is an annual 24 hour endurance race which also doubled as this year’s UK championship. 24 hour racer and new dad Matt Jones was there to try for the title, and sent us…
David Turner Talks E-MTBs: ‘We First Worlders, We Want More’
If you’re not familiar with David Turner, then it would be worth reading Chipps’ interview with him from Issue 109 of Singletrack Magazine. He’s a guy that designs bikes that he wants to build and he wants to ride, and he rides because he wants…
Turner Launches New Titanium All Road Bike: CyclosisCXR
David Turner is one of those bike industry characters that’s never been afraid to stand away from the crowd. Indeed, he seems quite reluctant to be part of the trends and fads of the bike industry – check out Chipps’ interview with him from Issue…
NICA: American High School Mountain Biking – sport done right?
America has a long tradition of highly organised, competitive almost to the point of professionalism, school and young people’s sports. Track and Field, American football, swimming, basketball – many of which dangle the carrot of lucrative (or at least cost saving) college scholarships. In such…
Interview: David Turner – “You’re either ‘enduro’ – or you’re not”
This article was first published in Issue 109 of Singletrack Magazine. Subscribe today from just £1.99 Chipps tracks down the quiet man with his name on the frames at Turner Bikes and finds out that you’re either enduro, or you’re not, why Turner was forced…
Review: Shimano’s Powerful Deore XT M8020 4-Piston Disc Brakes
I’ve been a fan of Shimano brakes for quite a few years now. After trying numerous different brands I always seem to gravitate back to the modern Shimano’s – their predictive feel and ease of maintenance being hard to beat. My go to brake of…
Review: Scott Addict Gravel 30 Disc
Tested: Scott Addict Gravel 30 From: Scott Price: £3,099.00 Tested for: 3 months Gravel comes in many flavours How else do you explain the diversity of the machines that the industry markets as gravel bikes? One label encompasses all manner of variations, from burly steel…
Reviewed: Ring-a-ding. In praise of the simple bell, and the story of how Lezyne won me around.
It may never be the coolest of accessories, but Tom rings the praises of a simple bell.
