If you are a Print & Digital subscriber you should have spotted a special postcard that we inserted in every subscribers copy of Issue 77
Mark Alker
Mark has been riding mountain bikes for over 30 years and co-owns Singletrack, where he's been publisher for 25 years. While his official title might be Managing Director, his actual job description is "whatever needs doing" – from wrangling finances and keeping the lights on to occasionally remembering to ride bikes for fun rather than just work. He's seen the sport evolve from rigid forks to whatever madness the industry dreams up next, and he's still not entirely sure what "gravel" is. When he's not buried in spreadsheets or chasing late invoices, he's probably thinking about his next ride.
Subscribe And Get Free Trail Centre Guide Book
Here's a fantastic extra reason to join the ranks of thousands of Singletrack subscribers. Plus we've a great deal for existing subscribers too.
Subs Deals – What are we playing at?
Mark tries to explain why we offer freebies to new subscribers and what it is we are trying to achieve
From Road.cc: Phil Liggett Reckons MTB and BMX are an Olympic joke
Veteran cycling commentator Phil Liggett has risked the wrath of BMX and mountain biking fans by suggesting that those events should not be at the Olympics.
Hurricane Components Fork Up Adaptor
In our Thule 561 Outride review in Issue 75 we explained how you have to remove the entire locking mechanism in order to fit the supplied thru-axle adaptor. That’s all fine if all you are ever going to carry on your roof is thru-axle bikes.…
Thule 591 ProRide Roof Rack
Issue 75 features our review of the Thule 891 Slide Bars and the 561 Outride Racks. We also tested this 591 ProRide rack too. The best way to make sure your bike is compatible with a roof rack is to pick a frame mounting version…
Mavic Crossmax SX wheelset
My only previous experience with Crossmax was a set of ceramic, V-brake rim SLRs bought for fifty quid from a mechanic I worked with some years back. They were light, accelerated like crazy, made a strange, hollow rumbling noise off-road and paid absolutely no attention…
Wiggle Mountain Mayhem – Searchable Results
Our tech guys have prodded and poked the spreadsheets and coaxed the numbers into a handy searchable database
Industry Interview: Bike Verbier
Bike Verbier launched their first holidays at about the same time Singletrack published mag number one. We wanted to know how the last decade had gone for the couple who turned their hobby into a business.
UK MTB Hall Of Fame – The First Inductees
The first 12 inductees of the UK MTB Hall of Fame can now be revealed.
Singletrack Are Media Pioneers
Singletrack picks up another award. This time from the Specialist Media Show
Bionicon C-Guide V2
Bionicon have revisited the old DCD and given it a rather clever revamp for the new generation of chainslippers
Garage Bikes 1st Birthday Party
Garage Bikes in Leeds is celebrating its 1st birthday this Saturday 21st April and as a Singletrack premier dealer they will be offering more than just a slice of birthday cake. There’s 10% off EVERYTHING in the shop for a start for all Saturday customers,…
Issue 72 – Why the big changes?
Issue 72 will be a landmark issue for us. Why are we changing? Mark reveals some of the grand plan
Premier Interbike: Mark’s Blog
Interbike is over and we are just killing time for a day before we fly back to the UK. For Chipps this was Interbike number 17, for Jon it was his first. I’ve now done three. Vegas is an amazing city, but don’t let the…
Premier Interbike 2011 – Devinci 1st Impressions – UPDATED
Jon took a Devinci Dixon and an Atlas 29r out for a rider around the desert. Here, for our Premier subscribers are his thoughts on both. UPDATE: Close up image gallery now added! A Premier Sub costs just £2/month via visa/debit card and you can…
Interbike 2011 – Premier Video Diary 2
Just for our Premier users here’s Interbike 2011 Video Diary part 2 with Jon and Chipps’ highlights of day 2 in the desert.
Interbike 2011 Day 1 Premier Video (and a glimpse behind the scenes)
A brief introduction for our Premier users to what Interbike is about and some choice words from Surly (by which we mean some sweary stuff – so be warned! Keep the volume down if you are at work briefly – we’ve stuck a warning in…
Up The Buttress – A Hebden Bridge Hill Climb Event – FINAL UPDATE “The Rules”
Looking for Up The Buttress 2013? Update: Write-up and results here Calling All Calderdale Hill Climbers! FINAL UPDATE: THE RULES! If you are entering on the day please register between 12pm and 1pm RULES Helmets must be worn and bikes must have two working brakes.…
Day 5: The GORE BIKE WEAR® TransWales 2011, powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport
Day five took the riders from Machynlleth to Cwmystwyth, some 73km and 2300m of climbing south the fifth linking stage struck out towards the fourth special stage at Nant-y-Arian.
The GORE BIKE WEAR Transwales 2011, powered by Mercedes Benz Vito Sport – Day Three!
Linking stage three Clun to Llanidloes Total distance: 70km Climbing: 2050m Day three of the GORE BIKE WEAR® TransWales, powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport may have dawned with a drizzle of H2O from above at the day’s start in Clun, but it finished with blue…
Blame The Dog – Our First eBook
Mike Ferrentino has done everything in the bike industry from spanner in a workshop to editing one of the World’s most popular bike mags. He’s now working for Santa Cruz Bikes in the marketing department (Marketing being one of his most popular subjects on which…
Mountain Mayhem 2011 – Rider Gallery
If you were there and you can remember your race number then there’s a reasonably good chance you will find yourself in our rider gallery. We took 1700+ shots of riders over the weekend and after some intensive and very boring tagging we’ve got them…
CRC Investigates Possible Link With Card Fraud Reports
An official statement from Chain Reaction Cycles about recent events...
Issue 61 – Extra Features
Issue 61 will shortly be on sale in lots of places but if you are Premier Subscriber then you can access all the extra features that we’ve stuffed into the digital versions right here. Bike Test – 2011 Bikes Three bikes get the Singletrack treatment…
Nicolai Helius AC – Part Deux
So, the initial build was ok but it needed some changes if I was going to take it to Morzine for a week. The 69degree head angle was fine with the Fox Talas 32s but the 32s were not enough for some of the brake…
Issue 60 – Extra Features
Issue 60 is now on sale in lots of places but if you are Premier Subscriber then you can access all the extra features that we’ve stuffed into the digital versions right here. Bike Test – British Steel Three bikes get the Singletrack treatment this…
Come work with us!
We are looking for the right person to join us here at STHQ as our Subscriptions Manager.
Issue 59 – Premier Extras
Issue 59 is now available as a digital download or to read in your Browser to all Premier Digital users. There’s a few extras we’ve put in to this issue and they are listed below for all Premier Users to access. Premier users make sure…
Singletrack and the iPad
Got and iPad? Combine it with a Premier Digital subscription to Singletrack and use it to access 43 current and back issues of Singletrack mag.
Singletrack Weekender 2010 – Final Details
The site will be open for camping from 6pm on Friday 2nd July. You can park in the car park at the bottom of the hill but you can’t take your vehicle into the quarry. There will be a landrover on hand to help with…
Cannondale 2011 – Over Mountain?
We went to see Cannondale's 2011 product launch 6000 feet up a mountain in Utah
Go Premier! Get A Free T-shirt
We've got 200 Spoke Shirt T-shirts to give away to all new Premier Print & Digital Extra subscribers.
A Touch Of Class (Premier Content)
Our second gallery of extra shots from the Touch of Class feature in Issue 56
Issue 52 Extras – Reader Holiday Gallery 2 (Premier Content)
We’ve just sorted through another batch of pictures from our annual reader holiday week that didn’t make it into print. Can’t see the gallery? Click the link above for details on how to upgrade to a Premier Account. Already a subscriber to the print mag?…
Reader Week Gallery – Issue 52 Extras (Premier Content)
In July FlowMTB.com hosted our annual Reader Holiday in Morzine. We ran the story of what happened in Issue 52 of Singletrack but as usual the majority of pics we came back with didn’t make it into print. Here is the first gallery of extra…
The Joy of Filth – Issue 53 Extras (Premier Content)
Our Joy of Filth feature in issue 53 consisted of a collection of thoughts from a range of riders but as is often the way with print we weren’t able to publish the whole collection in print. But that’s what our Premier Accounts are for!
Premier Accounts – The future of publishing?
It’s a bit of a long one this.. Sorry Premier Accounts are our answer to the growing and rather worrying trend in the publishing industry for people to stop buying magazines and newspapers. It’s an odd phenomenon because if you ask people if they prefer…
International Basque Force – Issue 53 Extras (With Premier Content)
A large gallery of shots we couldn't use from our International Basque Force travel feature in Singletrack magazine issue 53. Contains extra content for Premier Users.
Cotic BFe – Cycleshow Video Interview
Cy shows Mark around the all new Cotic BFe in our Cycleshow sitting room studio
18bikes Custom Steel – Cycle2009 Video
18bikes popped in to our sitting room to tell us about their new custom steel service 🙂
Cotic Soul Video Interview
Cy Turner from Cotic Cycles was the first person to be interviewed in our northern sitting room studio at the Cycle Show.
Interbike Video Diary 5
Camelbak’s new UV Water Purification bottle and a new rack from Thule that we really liked a lot.
Interbike Video Diary 4: Surly
We love the Surly guys. They have a slightly more laid back approach to what they do.
Cannondale ‘Simon’ at Interbike 2009: Video Diary 3
In the absence of any really groundbreaking product launches from the bike industry (most of it was done at Eurobike it seems) Cannondale have today told us they have invented the next phase in the evolution of suspension. It’s an electronic suspension control system. Mark…
Interbike 2009: Video Diary 2
Interbike is a trade only show, which means only people with some (often vague) connection to the bike industry get to go. So here’s a bit of quick helmetcam footage from our GoPro cam of the main arena at the Dirt Demo show that takes…