Crankbrothers launched its tuned carbon wheels for the hard hitting end of the market back in October last year. ‘Reinventing the wheel’ headlines abound, with the news that the rims were ‘tuned’. Front and rear specific tuning – what did this mean? The idea came…
2019
Race Face announces Next SL Crankset with Shimano 1×12 compatibility
Race Face has just furnished us with the details of it’s latest (greatest?) carbon fibre chainset aimed at XC and trail riders, the all-new Race Face Next SL Crankset. Shopping for a new, lightweight, carbon fibre chainset just became a little more tricky today with…
Review | Nukeproof ARD Tubeless Inserts
Tubeless tyre inserts claim to offer additional protection for your mountain bike rim, so you can run lower tyre pressures for improved traction. Nukeproof’s Advanced Rim Defence (ARD) system is one of the newer inserts on the market, so we got our local rim-dinger, David…
Review | Shimano goes for mega bearing durability with the tough-as Saint M828 flat pedals
For over a quarter of a century, Shimano has held an unwavering reputation for producing some of the most functional and durable clip-in mountain bike pedals on the market. Curiously, the dominating popularity of its SPD system hasn’t exactly translated through to its flat pedal…
Gallery | NAHBS Brings Out The Freaks And The Geeks
It’s been the North American Handmade Bike Show this week. Sadly we’re not able to fly out there and fondle the bikes, so we’re left to rely on the official press release and images to satisfy our freak needs. What we get is a huge…
Skinny Dipping #003: British mud, South African dust and Brazilian firsts
From the mud of northern and middle England to the dust of South Africa and Brazil, we’ve got it here in this month’s round-up of XC and endurance news. Rain in Manchester shocker! We start up in the glorious setting of Whitefield, Manchester and hand…
FGF 440 – The Magazine Is At The Printers, We’re Hungover Edition. With Added SRAM AXS!
Yep, the magazine is safely off to our printers, Warners in Bourne, Lincolnshire. And, so it seemed only logical that a couple of evening beers were consumed. Perhaps that after-midnight pint of Jaipur was one too many though. So, today, assembling Fresh Goods, we’re steering…
Matt Stuttard and Sophie Tyas Join The Hunt Wheels Racing Squad
Hunt Wheels announces sponsorship of Matt Stuttard and Sophie Tyas for 2019 read the full press release and details below. “Race season. As riders it gets us excited; signalling the end of winter it brings with it fresh motivation to ride. Anticipation to witness edge…
Interview | Monē Bikes Reveals US Made Fillet Brazed Steel Full Suspension Bike
Some people think social media is a waste of time, that it’s a vortex into which your soul and time will rapidly disappear. It depends what you’re looking at – if it’s cats, the naysayers are probably right. But if it’s bikes you’re looking at,…
Singletrack Newsdesk 4: New Bikes And Old Legends
Hannah runs through this week’s bike related highlights. As always you can watch the Singletrack Newsdesk video or you can skip it and read the highlights below. Orange Alpine 6 Launched More different than you might think to look at it, this long travel 27.5…
Review | The Calibre Sentry is a wallet-friendly enduro bike
For a brand that didn’t even exist five years ago, Calibre Bikes has shot to stardom pretty darn quickly. In its short history, the company has been breaking new ground in the mountain bike market with its mix of low-cost high-performance bikes, with the popular…
The new Calibre Sentry is the longest, lowest and slackest 29er we’ve seen for £2K
Calibre Bikes launches the all-new Calibre Sentry a 29er full-suspension bike with impressive geometry and components from just £2,000. Calibre Bikes, the same crew that brought us the popular Bossnut full-suspension bike, has just announced an all-new model for 2019, and it has all the…
British Cycling Wants YOU To Shape The Sport’s Future
British Cycling got in touch specifically to ask us to run this press release, because it thinks you, Singletrack readers, can help it improve the breadth of representation on their MTB commissions. TLDR? Need a summary? They’re looking for people to represent different cycling disciplines…
The New Orange Alpine 6 Is Exactly The Same. Until You Look Closer And Realise That Everything’s Changed.
Orange Alpine 6 2020 Look once and you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s just another Alpine 6, Orange’s flagship 27.5in wheeled enduro and hard-hitting trail bike, but you’d be mistaken. Every tube on the 2020 bike has been changed from the 2019 with…
Review | The Ergon SM Pro Men’s Saddle Wins A Singletrack Recommended Award
Rarely do mountain bike saddles attract the attention they truly deserve. Then again, perhaps nobody really wants to talk about saddle sores, ingrown hairs and numb genitals. I’m no advertising guru, but I suspect that sort of thing is impossible to market in a way…
Merida Factory Team racing modified One-Twenty trail bike at Absa Cape Epic
Known as one of the hardest mountain bike stage races in the world, the 2019 Absa Cape Epic is currently being raced right now in South Africa. The Cape Epic attracts a combination of the world’s fastest XCO and XCM racers, who team up into…
Trek’s new WaveCel helmet technology finally unveiled – and it’s not what you think
Trek sent ripples throughout the internet earlier this month, after launching a vague online advertisement that included this rather cryptic message; “Cycling’s most important change in 30 years. On 20 March, we’re unveiling something that will change cycling forever.” That bold message was accompanied by…
Mountain Mayhem 2019 Sponsors Announced
Mountain Mayhem, the longest running 24hr mountain bike endurance event in the world, has today announced their sponsors for 2019, to be held at the magnificent Marston Lodge in rural Northamptonshire on 21st, 22nd and 23rd June. The sponsors are: Cycle Surgery – Official Retail…
Santa Cruz Megatower first ride review – The big wheel Nomad we’ve been waiting for.
We ride the first Megatower in the country!
All Hail The Megatower – Santa Cruz’ Brand New Long Travel 29er Enduro Bike!
Well a long-travel 29er is THE bike that everyone has been expecting from Santa Cruz Bicycles. But did anyone expect it to be called the ‘Megatower’? Too bad if you didn’t (and bonus points if you did!) because that’s the name of Santa Cruz’ brand…
Stan’s NoTubes Unveils Strongest Rim Yet – The Flow EX3
Sick of trashing rims? Then you’ll be eager to learn more about the brand new Flow EX3 from Stan’s NoTubes – a super tough alloy rim designed for enduro, downhill and e-MTB use. As the newest mountain bike rim to come from Stan’s NoTubes, the…
Video | Veronique Sandler ‘Vision’ Freeride Documentary Coming This Summer
All you can see for now is a sneak peek of a teeny tiny trailer, but we’re told there’s a documentary called ‘Vision’ coming this summer, and we’re pretty damned excited to see it. Promising to be an action focussed documentary about bringing her dream…
First Ride Review: 2019 Sonder Transmitter First Impressions
Sonder’s popular Transmitter alloy hardtail returns for 2019 with a fresh lick of paint and updated geometry, but how does it ride? We sent Andi to the woods to find out. Just over a week ago we reported that Sonder had refreshed the popular Sonder…
Pipedream Cycle’s 2nd generation Moxie hardtail gets new geometry, still bonkers
Pipedream Cycles debuted its prototype long-travel steel hardtail back at the 2017 Eurobike show – in a retina-burning hot pink no less. Designed to accommodate a 140-160mm travel fork, and your choice of either 29in or 27.5+ wheels, the Moxie was pitched as the ultimate…
Building Our Test Bike | Stanton Switch9er FS – Full Suspension British Steel
Any new bike day is pretty exciting, even if it is a test bike that you’re going to have to bid adieu to in due course. This one, however, is a little more exciting than some – it’s not every day you get to have…
FGF 439 | Where Have All The Good Words Gone? At Least We Have The Goods. It’s Fresh Goods Friday 439!
Where is Barney when you need him? We need words of wonder and wibble to kick this thing off here, and if you’re looking in ST Towers for them, you’re looking in the wrong place. We have used all the words. We’re left with the…
Goggle Grouptest | We ran 5 pairs of goggles through the winter, and this is the result
Riding in the winter can be pretty shit. So with the hope of trying to make it less so, we’ve put five pairs of goggles to the test through an English winter. Goggles may be more associated with racing, but for a change from specs,…
Atherton Bikes Unveils 2nd model, a Titanium BMX with 22in wheels and disc brake!
Atherton Bikes, or more correctly, Dan Atherton has just unveiled the second Atherton Bikes prototype, a titanium BMX with disc brakes. We didn’t see this coming, but perhaps we should have. After stepping away from racing, Dan Atherton has spent a lot of time building…
Singletrack Newsdesk 3: West Yorkshire’s New Bike Park and more
This week Andi reports on a brand new bike parking opening in West Yorkshire, fills us in on the £2500 Trust Message fork and explains how subscribing to Singletrack Magazine will save the planet. As always you can watch the Singletrack Newsdesk video or you…
#MakingUpTheNumbers | Ae-bandoned – SDA Round 1
‘What’s your favourite season?’ MrsMakingUpTheNumbers asks.Every fibre of my being wants to respond with ‘race season’ but as I open my mouth, I think better of it. ‘Spring’. Tension has been building over the past few weeks. We’ve not talked about it but we both…
Trust Performance Message linkage fork goes on sale in the UK for £2500
The Trust Performance Message linkage fork is now officially available in the UK, but you’ll only be able to buy one at physical bike stores and it isn’t particularly affordable. Like them or not, linkage suspension forks are making a bit of a comeback and…
Review | The Scott Prospect Goggles are about as ‘shouty’ as they come
What are the best goggles for mountain biking? We brought together five pairs from 100%, Dragon Alliance, Julbo POC, Scott, and put them in the hands of our goggle aficionado and all-round jumpy rider, Rob Mitchell, to see which ones we’d recommend for UK mountain…
This 2019 Whyte S-120C RS packages enduro bike geometry into a lightweight 120mm chassis
Some bikes just seem to stand out like a sore thumb. And it would appear that Whyte has developed itself a nasty habit for producing sore thumbs. As the latest full suspension bike from the UK brand, the S-120 is propped up with 29in wheels…
Review | The POC Ora Goggles surprised us with both their price and performance
What are the best goggles for mountain biking? We brought together five pairs from 100%, Dragon Alliance, Julbo POC, Scott, and put them in the hands of our goggle aficionado and all-round jumpy rider, Rob Mitchell, to see which ones we’d recommend for UK mountain…
Video| Fire up this miserable Monday with a second Slice Of Ariegeoise Pie
The Commencal crew follow up their Slice of Ariegeoise Pie edit with a second helping featuring World Champ Amaury Pierron, and Commencal riders Thomas Estaque, Hugo Frixtalon, Paul Couderc, Pierrick Lannes and Leon Perrin. Us Brits might be the ones who popularised short video edits…
Review | With photochromic lenses, the Julbo Bang NXT Goggles automatically adjust to the light – at a price
What are the best goggles for mountain biking? We brought together five pairs from 100%, Dragon Alliance, Julbo POC, Scott, and put them in the hands of our goggle aficionado and all-round jumpy rider, Rob Mitchell, to see which ones we’d recommend for UK mountain…
Review | The Dragon Alliance MXV Max Goggles come with two lenses and very good ventilation
What are the best goggles for mountain biking? We brought together five pairs from 100%, Dragon Alliance, Julbo POC, Scott, and put them in the hands of our goggle aficionado and all-round jumpy rider, Rob Mitchell, to see which ones we’d recommend for UK mountain…
Review | The 100% Racecraft Goggles have literally 20 options for you to choose from
What are the best goggles for mountain biking? We brought together five pairs from 100%, Dragon Alliance, Julbo POC, Scott, and put them in the hands of our goggle aficionado and all-round jumpy rider, Rob Mitchell, to see which ones we’d recommend for UK mountain…
Forget Trump and Brexit: Niner Has Made A 27.5in Bike! Proof We’re Living In Different Times…
It seemed a normal day at Bike Connection Winter 2019. A day like any other, until we met with Niner. The boys at Niner started showing us the new RIP 9 RDO, covering the benefits of 140mm travel of Niner’s CVA suspension on its flagship…
International Women’s Day | A year of Inspiring Women
On International Women’s day last year we didn’t want to just do a one-day thing to say how awesome women riders are so instead we launched a year’s worth of interviews with inspiring women within mountain biking or people who have done lots to promote…
2019 Sonder Transmitter updated with new geometry, colours and more
Sonder’s highly popular Transmitter alloy frame has undergone a refresh for 2019 with new geometry, a longer reach, new colours and more. The Sonder Transmitter is one of those bikes that spans genres, it’s a bike that appeals to mile munchers, bike packers, park riders…
FGF 438: The Elbows Out And Lean In Edition of Fresh Goods Friday
What a week. Totally Mega. Chipps was away at something secret. At least he says he was. Being at something secret would be good cover for just lounging around in a hot tub. The rest of us have been beavering away at our computers, and…
International Women’s Day: Why We’re Launching Singletrack Women
Singletrack women – A new channel Here at Singletrack we’ve always had women writing about bikes. All bikes – not just ones with women’s specific geometry. We’ve had women working as part of the editorial team for many years, contributing to the daily news, industry…
Singletrack 124 | Subscribe Now And Get A Potato Through Your Letterbox!
We’ve been so distracted with extreme weather changes, new bikes and Chipps’ holiday photos that this issue really has crept up on us. That’s not to say we aren’t prepared though – quite the opposite. This one is a belter! And we’re rather excited to…
Review | The 2019 Focus SAM 9.9 delivers a few surprises for a 170mm travel enduro bike
Focus launched its new SAM enduro bike in late 2018, so we got one in and put it in the hands of our local Calderdale tester, Rik Legge. Over to Rik for the full review. Focus bikes are a familiar sight to anyone who follows…
Top 5 Lock-On Grips | The Cheapest Upgrade For Your Bike
What are the best mountain bike grips? Wil’s tested a bunch over the years, and here he’s put together five of his favourite lock-on grips. Over to Wil. Just think about this for a moment. Your hands – those fleshy starfishes at the end of…
Leatt’s New Goggles Are Bulletproof, And That’s Not Even The Best Bit!
Today, Leatt has added to its range of protective gear with some new DH/Enduro/Motocross goggles called the Velocity 6.5. They have been designed from the ground-up with several neat features. There are nine lenses available – from 20-83% light transmission (plus clear, which are 100%).…
ST Recommended | The Ergon GE1 EVO Factory lock-on grips go one better than the original
What are the best mountain bike grips? Wil’s tested a bunch over the years, and here he’s put together five of his favourite lock-on grips. Over to Wil! German brand Ergon may be best known for its popular flared grip design, though it also offers…
Review | We Test The Carbon Specialized Stumpjumper EVO Pro 27.5
In case you hadn’t heard already, Specialized has just announced the Carbon Specialized Stumpjumper EVO Pro 27.5. You can get all the details of the bike right here, though read on for our first ride review from local Calder Valley tester, Nick Cummins. Over to…
Specialized Launches The Outrageous Stumpjumper EVO In Carbon Fibre
In a hotly anticipated (though very much expected) move, Specialized is going all carbon fibre with the raucous Stumpjumper EVO platform. Launched about this time last year, the latest Stumpjumper EVO came screeching sideways into the 2019 Spesh lineup as the foul-mouthed, tattoo-toting, bird-flipping half-sibling…