After a series of tentative moves followed by capitalising on a fumble, Bon Jovi has made it through the wrestling ring of musical tastes.
Ben Haworth
185cm tall. 73kg weight. Orange Switch 6er. Saracen Ariel Eeber. Schwalbe Magic Mary. Maxxis DHR II. Coil fan.
NBD: RockShox Boxxer, Intense Tazer Alloy, Mason Bokeh 3.0…
... Trek Fuel EXe in Alloy, Privateer DJ101 and a perfectly Pink Process X from Kona. It's all of this week's most-interesting bike launches!
Fresh Goods Friday 661 – The Hard Lining Edition
It's Red Bull Hardline weekend! And it's looking like it might be a terrifyingly wet one. Good luck to all the racers giving it their best.
NBD: Scott Endorphin, FSA x Cannondale Factory, Deviate Tilander…
... Hunt Proven Carbon Race XC UD wheels, Patrol full-sussers for kids, more ticket availability for Fort WiIliam World Champs and revised Nukeproof Megawatt.
Specialized Trail Wind Jacket review
The Specialized Trail Wind Jacket is one of those cliché 'goto' garments. For what I appreciate in a 3-season jacket, this ticks all boxes.
Fresh Goods Friday 660 – The Pump Me Pub You Edition
Hannah says: Living with an American is an endless source of lingual anomalies. My latest observations are around their curious deployment of French. A piece of fish without bones? I bet you and I said fill-it. Them, fill-ay. Fatbiking is a nitch of cycling to…
NBD: Specialized P.Series in 20in, 24in, 26in or 27.5in
The Specialized P range hasn't been updated since approximately yonks* ago, the new dirtjumpin' pumptrackin' range comprises four models.
New UCI Mountain Bike World Cup show hosted by Rob Warner, Eliot Jackson and Emily Batty
Episodes will be released throughout the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Season. Watch Beyond the line only on Red Bull TV from today.
Fresh Goods Friday 659 – The Fiddle Edition
Hannah here, fresh from a podcast recording which has left me full of beans and bike enthusiasm. Assuming I haven’t screwed up the technical side of recording, you should get to listen to another Desert Island Disc Brakes episode, this time with Jake100, who you…
NBD: Commençal Meta V5 SX, Deviate Claymore Artist Edition, Ibis HD6…
... Canyon flat pedals, Thok 3D-printed e-bike, HUnt XC Wide Wheelset. Here's a compendium of the more interesting things to arrive in our Inbox this week.
Fresh Goods Friday 658 – It’s a Gas Gas Gas Edition
New Schwalbe tyres and a new Aphex Twin tune! Truly it feels like Xmas in Benji's domain this week.
NBD: Wyrm Racing Lab, Tacky Chan, Cotic E-Scapade Concept…
... CushCore E-MTB, Schwalbe Green Marathon and the new Commençal Meta 5 all feature in this week's news round-up.
How to deal with overgrown trails
'Tis the season of overgrowth. Here's how to protect yourself and how to keep your trails running sweetly with a few trail maintenance tools.
Fresh Goods Friday 657 – The Hand Dryer Edition
Hannah says: I have a conundrum of the most modern and first world variety. I need to decide what to do with my name when I get married next week. Maybe I’ve already decided what I’m going to do, and maybe I haven’t, but in…
NBD: Orange Switch 6, SRAM Apex, Lapierre E-Zesty…
... Hope Dropper Lever, Cannondale Habit HT, Sixpack Headset Cable Routing System, Rocky Mountain Slayer, Saracen LSL Hardtails, Specialized Levo SL Kids.
Daytrippin’ Kit Essentials
Benji brings you a kit list for a pilgrimage to the mountains, or just somewhere new and far away.
CamelBak M.U.L.E. Pro 14 Review
“Hydrate or die.” This is one of my favourite ever marketing slogans. CamelBak came out with it in the nineties, and it has a point.
Specialized Gambit Helmet Review
This Specialized Gambit is going to be a controversial one. It is a product I very nearly didn’t include. Why? Not because of its price tag.
Troy Lee Designs Resist Trouser Review
I’m happy to say the Troy Lee Designs Resist Trouser completely confounded expectations and have proved to be an excellent.
Unparallel West Ridge Shoe Review
Although these Unparallel West Ridge are high-top shoes, I usually don’t lace them all the way up the very top.
Torque Covert 7 Crank Multi-Tool Review
This Torque Covert 7 multi-tool could be better. I’m happy to accept the cost-cutting aspect of it in exchange for the lower price tag.
Gusset Sleeper Push-on Grip Review
If you suffer from arm pump during rides, forget new bars/forks/wheels/bike, just spend ten quid on some Gusset Sleeper push-ons.
CushCore XC 29 Review
The best solution to keeping the dreaded deflations at bay is a tyre insert. And in my opinion, CushCore XC is still the best option.
Scrub Alloy Trail Wheelset Review
These Scrub Alloy Trail wheels from one-man-band UK outfit Scrub are what I’d actually spend my own money on.
Marzocchi Bomber Z1 Coil Fork Review
Time for some more preaching. Coil is better. Always has been. Always will be. Yes, some gravity racers prefer air. Are you a racer? I’m not.
Jackery Explorer 1000 Portable Power Station Review
The Jackery Explorer 1000 Portable Power Station is not for everyone, BUT for some folk this thing will be really, really useful to have.
Lenzerheide DH World Cup: How Was It For You?
SPOILERS. The racing itself was as amazing and entertaining as ever, but how did the new format and the new broadcasters fare? It's time for some 'hot takes'.
Double Yer Money Hardtails: Bike Test
Hardtails are not just for winter, and mountain bikes don’t have to be expensive. Benji looks at what your money can get you.
Voodoo Braag Review
The Voodoo Braag is an exercise in seeing how low you can go with price while still ticking sufficient ‘proper mountain bike’ boxes.
Merida Big Trail 400 Review
The Merida Big Trail 400 may not have some of the more boutique brands’ bits bolted to it, but it has absolutely nailed the essentials.
Trek Procaliber 9.6 Review
Sure, you can ride the Trek Procaliber 9.6 whenever and wherever you like but the raison d’être of this bike is to perform between race tape.
Column: Weight For It
Benji argues that weight does matter (but not much). The following column will hopefully unite the warring tribes in mountain biking. From the weeniest of weight watchers, to the whatever-est of funtime trail riders, everyone should be able to get behind the following words. Essentially,…
Fresh Goods Friday 656 – Lenzerheide And Seek Edition
In many* ways, Fresh Goods Friday is like a Downhill World Cup.
WTF is happening at tomorrow’s MTB World Series DH?
Welcome to the brave new world of elite Downhill racing. New race formats, new schedules, new broadcasting rights and new commentators.
New Mountain Bike Event Hits Dyfi Valley on 1st July
Dyfi Wild Ride is a new mountain biking event in the Dyfi Valleys on 1st July.
Big Vid: Amaury Pierron’s Rise and Fall and Rise Again
Two World Cup Downhill Championship titles with a space of four long years between them, connected by the resilience of one man. 'The Pilot' is a 79 minute fillum about one Amaury Pierron.
Bike Check: Benji’s Stif Squatch
I got the Stif Squatch frame in to act as a testbed for the sort of stuff that wouldn’t quite suit my other longer-travel full-sus testbed.
Fresh Goods Friday 654 – Kylo Ren’s British Knights Edition
Benji is out on a hill with bikes. So is Amanda. Charlie is on holiday. This video was already in here, so it means something to someone but I (Hannah) have no idea what. But I am partial to a spot of Leonard Cohen. If…
NBD: Deviate Highlander II, Pivot Mach 4 SL, Polygon Siskiu TE E-MTB…
… new Manitou Mattoc, Manitou J-Unit youth fork, very yellöw Öhlins Factory parts, Radical Bicycle Co. Chilli Dog updates and THAT commuter helmet. Pivot Cycles press release: CHALLENGE THE THRESHOLD Pivot’s New Mach 4SL, an Ode to Pushing Performance Tempe, AZ – Razor sharp responsiveness,…
Fresh Goods Friday 653 – The Fast & Bulbous Edition
That's right, The Mascara Snake, fast and bulbous. Bulbous also tapered? That's right. Certainly when it comes to carbon enduro bikes at least.
Cotic FlareMAX Gen 5: First Looks ‘N’ Feels
This Cotic FlareMAX Gen 5 is the brand's 29er short-travel ripper. Besides looking very pretty in the bluebells, what is it all about?
Fresh Goods Friday 652 – The Roadtrippin’ Edition
Some of us have been roadtrippin'. Some of us are still out there roadtrippin'. Some of us are merely plottin' some roadtrippin'. How about you? Are you thinkin' o' 'trippin'?
2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Series Dates & Venues and How To Watch
All this year's UCI Mountain Bike World Series dates and venues in one handy place. Elite level Downhill, XC, Enduro and Marathon events.
Pidcock’s new Pinarello Dogma XC revealed
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Tom Pidcock to race full suspension Pinarello Dogmas XC at this weekend's UCI XC World Cup at Nové Město.
Gusset S2 31.8mm Handlebars and Stem Review
This Gusset S2 31.8mm cockpit combo is great for those occasions that require a higher rise set of bars or an even shorter stem.
Fresh Goods Friday 651 – The C-Word Edition
Regardless of where you stand on the whole divine right to rule over a nation of subjects whilst wearing a really heavy bling-bling hat, we can all agree that an extra Bank Holiday is nothing to be sniffed at.
Here are all the things wrong with dropper posts
Dropper posts are the best thing to happen to mountain biking since disc brakes. But a lot of them leave a lot to be desired still.
Radness Alert! Frameworks Racing x Cotic Steel DH Bike Collab
Cotic has designed a Reynolds 853 front triangle for World Cup DH racer (and excellent YouTube vlogger) Neko Mulally's Frameworks Racing project. Love to see it!
Fresh Goods Friday 649 – Sparkling Finger Magic Edition
Hello, good evening and welcome to this week’s Eff Gee Eff. It must be evening somewhere, right? We’ve been struggling for instrospiration this week, possibly due to motivation being carried off by the 75km/h wind. But fear not! The rain has arrived, and brought with…
NBD: Thule Epos rack, Yeti 27.5 SB135, Cushcore Trail…
... Salsa Cassidy-Blackthorn-Rustler trio, Nukeproof Dissent Carbon, Propain Tyee, Hutchinson Kraken downcountry tyre and Marin Rift Zone E range.
A deep dive into Industry Nine wheels
We take a look at Industry Nine and their legendary, US-made, high-engagement wheels. Carbon or alloy rims, 24 to 32 spokes, 25 to 31.5mm internal rim widths, all of the colours and THAT Hydra freehub.