At Singletrack this week it’s Anthony’s birthday. Ant looks after the tech side of Singletrack World. Think of him as the hamster overlord of technical things I don’t understand (Ed…
March 2023
Fresh Goods Friday 646 – The Weird Galactic Soup Edition
Let’s start out with something approaching normal service… For the CNC and skate nerds, it’s kinda cool, but also seems like a vest waste of metal. Beware the wormhole that…
Free Uplifts For Little Legs At Glentress This Easter
Planning a visit to Glentress? This might just help you out – especially if you’ve got kids that you want to get to the top of the hill. From Monday…
Kids Ride Shotgun Dirt Hero off-road balance bike
Say hello to the Kids Ride Shotgun Dirt Hero. The Kiwi company has launched Magura-equipped, off-road balance bike that can be fitted with 12in or 14in wheels. Looks rad!
Red Bull banned from Welsh mansion after Hardline damage
It’s been reported that Red Bull has been blocked from renting its usual accommodation of Plas Tan-y-Bwlch in Wales, due to excessive damage caused over the past two years. Plas…
Bike Check: Hannah’s Schwinn Traveler
This is my 1964 Schwinn Traveler, given to me as a rather special 40th birthday present from my partner. I did protest that he shouldn’t give it to me, as…
Podcast – The Giant Interview
Hannah, Amanda and Mark run through the news of the week, and Mark talks to one of the product engineers behind the new Giant Trance X Advanced E+. In the…
Mental Mondays #5 Crossword & Puzzles by Mark
Mark is the designer of this week’s tricky prize crossword. This week’s test is a mixture of random bike related general knowledge with a few cryptic style questions thrown in…
Sweet Protection Arbitrator MIPS Helmet Review
The Sweet Protection Arbitrator MIPS helmets is the Norwegian brand's foray into the increasingly popular convertible helmet market.
New Rider (battery provided)
A new reader and rider sent us this piece, before he’s even hit the trails. Welcome to mountain biking, Gareth, we hope you like what you find. So I’ve just…
Amanda’s Birthday Bargain: Reclaim Your Youth With Tie-Dye
It’s Amanda’s birthday, so it’s time for another birthday promo in our web shop. Amanda has picked our Tie Dye T-shirts: Why Tie Dye? Because each T-shirt is unique and…
Gravity School Racing: Team Video Portugal Cup Rd 2 Seia
As the pre-season races really start to heat up, the team headed to Seia for the second round of the Portugal Cup, and everyone was excited to visit a new…
Fresh Good Friday 645 – Things that make you go Mmm…
Mmm… Pentax 645. Benji wrote that, and then went on holiday. So who knows? What sort of ‘Mmm’ is it? Perhaps it’s a ‘Mmm’ of the variety you give to…
NBD: Cane Creek Electric Wings, Marin Alpine Trail Es, Bosch x Tektro ABS…
... Liv Intrigue X, SRAM Stealth brakes, BikeYoke Revive 272 dropper and Canyon Exceed. They're are here in this week's collection of Most Interesting Stuff Launched Since Last Week.
Government Changes Policy on Rights of Way: The Deadline is Back
Having previously announced that the 2026 deadline for registering historic rights of way would be removed, the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has taken an about turn and…
How Much?! Why we should care about the closure of Kitsbow
If you’re in the UK, there’s every chance you’ve never heard of Kitsbow, so why should you care that they’re closing? And who even are they? Kitsbow were (or, until…
Transition Smuggler: First Ride Review
Tim Wild gets a sneak ride on the new Transition Smuggler before its UK release. Snozberry Spectacular! The bike is due for release in the UK through Windwave in early…
The Classic Ride Is Coming – with Cycling UK
The next issue of Singletrack World is about to whirl its way around printing presses, and you’ve got until 25th March to get your name on the list if you…
New SRAM X0 Eagle AXS: First Ride Thoughts
The new SRAM X0 Eagle AXS drivetrain requires a UDH equipped frame. Why? To enable a direct bolt-on mounting method that's designed for robustness and ridiculous shift under-load capability.
Canyon Neuron First Look: A Very Rejigged Trail Bike
What sort of bike is the new Canyon Neuron? The simple answer is: it's a mountain bike. The more specific answer is: it's a trail bike. A trail bike with…
Podcast: The budget and click-bait journalism episode
This week’s podcast covers the demise of Moore Large – distributor and supplier of bike parts to many a bike shop. Mark gets Hannah worked up about government spending priorities,…
Mental Mondays #4 Crossword & puzzles by Hannah
Hannah is the designer of this week’s fiendishly tricky crossword and those that know her will not be surprised to discover it’s rather cryptic. The crossword is definitely one for…
The Answer To Everything Is…
This piece was originally published as the editorial in our Weekly Word – a newsletter which brings you a piece like this, plus a round up of news, offers, and…
Singletrack Kitchen: Pub Bike Gumbo
By popular demand, here’s another recipe from Charlie to warm you up and fill you up after a ride. This is a really efficient recipe as it is great for…
Benji’s Bonzer Birthday Bargain Thingy
When a Singletrack staff member clocks up being another year further away from being a teenager, we do a little special Singletrack merch offer. In Sheep We trust I have…
Fresh Goods Friday 644 – The Where Am I Edition
It is, inexplicably, Friday again. The longest fastest week to date. Are we sliding ever faster, reaching terminal velocity, and then about to hit British Summer Time? Hopefully it’s like…
Let’s Go Racing! Tarouca DH with Gravity School RacingÂ
We kicked off the 2023 race season with a visit to Portugal for the first round of the Portugal Cup at Tarouca. This venue always promises exciting racing, with a…
NBD: Ritchey Ultra 50th, YT Capra Core 3, Canyon Grizl CF SL 7…
Cube ebikes with Bosch ABS, 5Dev chainrings and SQlab Innerbarends. They're all featured in this week's handy roundup of the most interesting New Stuff That's Come Out.
After Slashing Active Travel Funding, Government Keeps £4.8 billion Fuel Price Discount
Hannah argues that the 2023 budget is taking us in the wrong direction.
Urgent call on Government to reverse devastating cuts to active travel budget
It feels like, given the response to our original story on this, this press release from the Walking and Cycling Alliance is worthy of a share. For what it’s worth,…
DirtFund Vitus Privateer Programme – 2023 riders announced
Having successfully launched the first DirtFund Vitus Privateer Programme in 2022, volunteers Daniel O’Shea and Tom Scott have announced the three new programme riders for 2023. Leah Maunsell, Ruairidh McRitchie,…
What’s Inside Singletrack Issue 148? Don’t Miss Out!
It’s the shoulder season. Kind of Atlas sized shoulders, that go on forever. Snow, sun, ice, mud, frost, wind… This issue, out early April, bridges the seasons nicely. We’ve got…
First 3D Printed Thermoplastic Mountain Bike: Revel Rodeo
Revel, the Colorado brand behind Revel Bikes and Wheels, has been experimenting with 3D printing in order to make a FusionFiber bike. This is a type of thermoplastic, and using…
After The Storm – #RideOverRacism
I first saw this film at its premier at Kendal Mountain Festival and recommended you seek it out at one of the screenings that have since taken place around the…
Monday Movies: The British Connection Edition
Have yourself a bumper viewing of mountain bike videos – not just two minute shredits, but some longer stuff too. Plus, all of them have a UK connection. Should keep…
Mental Mondays #3 – Crossword & puzzles by Chipps
Chipps is the designer of this week’s fiendishly tricky crossword. You may need to have your MTB historical records to hand to complete this one. Good luck. Todays quiz was…
Full Suspension for Short Riders: What’s Out There?
If you’re a smaller adult looking for a full suspension bike, it can be tricky to find what you’re looking for outside of the women’s specific market. Some women’s specific…
WTF are Activated Carbon Fork Spacers?
Studio chat between Mark, Charlie and Benji covers everything from concussion protocols to why it’s often better to not understand how a product works before reviewing it. Charlie rants about…
Retro Ridgeback gallery and video walkthrough
2023 marks Ridgeback's 40th anniversary and Madison had a bunch of retrobike beauties on display at their recent iceBike* trade show. For those who couldn't attend the show, here's our…
Government Slashes Funding For Cycling And Active Travel
Yesterday’s announcement that HS2 is being delayed to reduce costs has grabbed most of the headlines, but buried in the statement was the news that Active Travel funding is also…
Fresh Goods Friday 643 – The Chiller Aisle Edition
Let’s be truly British and talk about the weather, eh? It seems that no sooner have you been given a glimpse of spring than it all goes bonkers again and…
NBD: Trek Farley, Thok Gram, Audi E-Tron, Last Cinto V2…
... YT Decoy CORE 4, Islabikes Creig.S and Luath.S. They're all in this week's New Bike Day round-up.
Islabikes Launches Bikes For Smaller Adults
If you’ve ever eyed up the Islabikes range with envy – or perhaps even had a go at riding one – you’re in luck. The Shropshire based company that revolutionised…
Women on The Move: The Politics of Patents
I think you’re going to like this. Fun, irreverence, freedom and a good dose of messing around. This new film looks at some of the clothing that adventurous women invented…
Women and Bikes: How Far Have We Come?
Hannah charts the advance of women in the bike industry, as she sees it. Are you as optimistic? What changes have you seen? Apparently I am now long in the…
From The Archive: Womens’ Specific Bikes – do we need them?
Back in issue 15 of Singletrack Magazine, in 2004, we reviewed three of what were then a new development: women’s specific bikes. We followed it up with a head to…
Lift Your Mood with 2 minutes and 47 seconds of video
Give yourself 2 minutes and 47 seconds to watch this video and we reckon you can’t fail to feel better. Turn that frown upside down, fill your cup half full,…
‘If in doubt, sit them out’ – British Cycling publishes first concussion guidance
We admit we’re a little surprised to see this headline – we had sort of assumed British Cycling already had policies about this. We’ve been writing stories about concussion risks…
Move Over Chris Akrigg, Hello Leo Smith
Two northerners in one day? It’s almost like oop north is the centre of the mountain bike universe… While Chris Akrigg might have been the poster boy of your bedroom…
Chris Akrigg Joins Whyte Bikes
Chris Akrigg has moved on from GT and will now be riding for Whyte – surely a great match of very British branding? You’ll be happy to know there are…
The Best Bits from iceBike* 2023
iceBike* is UK-bike-distributor-behemoth Madison's trade show. We popped down the road to Manchester to roundup the best bits.