Chipps lifts the lid on the obsessive world of 26in tyre reproduction fanatics.
Chipps
With nearly 25 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 32 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)
Issue 165: The Long Goodbye | Colin Meagher
An interview with mountain biking photographer and ALS sufferer, Colin Meagher, therefore, also one of his last.
Issue 165: That Bike Deserves You
If you want to buy that particular bike, then you buy that bike. We're not judging you (any more).
Outta the Archive: Ibis Ripley review from 2001
You won't believe the ride (probably because you won't believe it'll work at all...)
Colin Meagher, legendary MTB photographer, and just all-round legend has left the planet
But, despite it being eight years since his ALS/Motor Neuron Disease diagnosis, he left on his own terms and in a good place.
Fresh Goods Friday 796: The Lie-In King Edition
FGF's goal is to show you everything that turns up. Which partly explains the largest item delivered this week...
Editor’s Choice: Madison Roam Men’s Windproof Packable Primaloft Gilet
Madison Roam Men's Gilet hits all the right off-road notes: windproof, packable, & effortlessly stylish.
Issue 164: Guiding Lights
In a world with few remaining secrets, why are mountain bike guides still in demand?
Issue 164: Riding The Little Yellow Train
Chipps explores a different way to take the uplift for a day’s riding in the Pyrenees
Fresh Goods Friday 786: The Dutch Ovine Edition
Have you ordered the big bird yet? FGF is sponsored by Yellow Jersey.
Issue 163: Every. Single. Rock
Chipps wonders just how well you know your favourite trail? It might be better than you realise
Issue 163: Pump them up and let them go!
The life of a World Cup cross-country mechanic isn’t quite as rigid as it might seem. Chipps catches up with Aaron Mc Cann from Trinity Racing.
SRAM RED XPLR AXS Gravel groupset review
I’m not, for a minute, thinking that you’re going to go out and buy one of these groupsets
Fresh Goods Friday 779: The Where’s Benji? Edition
Fresh Goods Friday! It's the world's longest-running weekly produce-related internet bicycle gadget feature!
Record-breaking Three Peaks Cyclocross (plus new drivetrain spyshots!)
Lining up were a number of past winners of the event, many old hands (including one in the Vet70s and the other in Vet80s)
Staff (Race) Bike Check: Chipps’ Three Peaks CX-ready Genesis Vapour
Our Analogue Editor is heading for his 15th go at the legendary Three Peaks Cyclocross race tomorrow.
New Shimano XTR pedals and the first new SPD cleat in 30* years!
Shimano releases a new XTR trail pedal, plus the first new SPD cleat in 30 years!
Issue 162: Good enough for ya?
Chipps reckons that bikes are good enough these days, aren’t they? But good enough for what?
Issue 162: What is Soul?
Do mountain bikes have soul? Does it need to be earned? Does it need to be retro? Or steel? Chipps delves into a topic with some strong opinions.
Full list of 2026 UCI World Series Dates & Venues (including Whistler!)
This just in on the PR wires from the UCI with full dates and deets for the 2026 version.
Fresh Goods Friday 770 : The Benji’s Away Edition
Everyone's on holiday, so this week's FGF contains retro, cheese and Garmins, just for you!
Specialized Recon 3.0 Shoe review
Chipps reviews Specialized Recon 3.0 clip-in shoes. Can they be stiff AND comfortable at the same time?
Staff Bike Check: Chipps’ Genesis Croix de Fer 931
A look at the gravel bike Chipps uses for his, er, style of gravel riding when he's not mountain biking.
Fresh Goods Friday 764: The Bat Releasing Edition
Mark has got bats in his belfry. Partly literally. Just substitute 'belfry' for 'walls'.
Issue 161: Don’t Wait For The Next Disaster
Chipps urges us not to wait for the bad times to remind us what’s important.
DT Swiss GRC 1400 DiCut 50 x 24mm Carbon Clincher wheelset review
As a set of wheels for a long/flat/fast gravel bike, these are well worth looking at if you have deep enough pockets.
Shimano goes fully wireless with new gravel groupset GRX RX827
With the launch of wireless XTR Di2 (and XT and Deore) the path is clear for Shimano to launch Shimano a wireless drivetrain for gravel.
Fresh Goods Friday 748: The M.C. Escher Trail Centre Edition
Don't you just love the pointlessness of mountain biking?
Shimano EX7 (EX700) Gore-Tex Shoes review
The Shimano EX7 (EX700) Gore-Tex shoes can be hard to find; searching for Shimano EX700 often results in the the low-top version. So make sure you find this high-top version, with the fantastic cuff.
Issue 159: Fitting In
Chipps encourages us to get (just a bit) fitter. Do you know any rowers? They’re a special breed, aren’t they? Up before dawn for a few lengths of the river or 15km on the rowing machine before breakfast. How about triathletes? Same modus operandi, right?…
Issue 159: Digital Detox
Could you leave all of your electronic gadgets behind on a ride? No GPS, no Strava, no phone. How about three rides in a row? Chipps takes on the challenge.
Fresh Goods Friday 739: The In Peach Meant Edition
Well, you’ve done it. You’ve made it through the first proper working week of 2025. It was hellish wasn’t it? Let’s go and attempt* to ride our bicycles now, yes? *wear all of your layers and crash protection if a UK resident. Voodoo Canzo Following…
Predictions for the mountain bike world in 2025
It’s that time of year when we look into the mists of time, peer into the future, and see what lies ahead. Maybe. In 2024 we were – as usual – sometimes somewhat right. Actually, we might have been ahead of the game – some…
Editors’ Choice 2024: Hammerhead Karoo 3 GPS Unit
Could the new Hammerhead Karoo 3 rival the latest from Garmin and Wahoo? Chipps certainly thinks so. Chipps: “I had the previous Karoo 2 unit for 18 months and this new version answers nearly every niggle I had with what was already my favourite computer…
Issue 157: MTB Culture – Rain Stops Play
Chipps looks at the increasing influence the changing climate and other pressures are having on off-road events. As the climate changes, it is bringing more unpredictable weather with it. We’re seeing everything from unusually dry Februarys to snow in May and floods in August, which…
Issue 157 Last Word – Catastrophe!157
After a dozen years of incident-free mountain biking, luck ran out for my wife in October and she found her foot pointing sideways after an innocuous slide-out into a gravel car park. Thanks to the wonders of the French health service, her foot was swiftly…
Danny MacAskill and Chris Ball among 2024 Hall of Fame nominations
Today, the International Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, located in the Marin Museum of Bicycling in Marin County, California, announced its 2024 inductees. This year is the 36th anniversary of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, and this class of inductees is no less important…
Welsh Cycling Industry Unites Against Welsh Trail Centre Closures
Over 90 separate Welsh cycling organisations have today co-signed a letter to Welsh Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies MS, concerning the NRW Proposal for Organisational Change and its impact on communities across Wales. (Irranca-Davies is Welsh…
Issue 156 Editorial – A curated taste
Chipps gets to put together a menu of rides. Does he start bold? Or subtle and build to a crescendo? I had some riders in the village this week. Not friends or friends of friends as is often the way, but four Brits who’d looked on a map to find somewhere they’d…
Issue 156 – Beyond Benidorm
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY CHIPPS One blazing sun, two very different worlds on Spain’s Costa Blanca. As I look around at the hotel breakfast buffet, there are two distinctly different groups here. One group looking more serious than they should for people on holiday, mostly older…
Is NRW About To Close Coed Y Brenin?
According to several reports we have seen, it’s looking very likely that in the short term, several trail centres, including Coed y Brenin and Nant yr Arian will be forced to close, pending talks between NRW (Natural Resource Wales) and trade unions. Robin Grant from…
Eurobike 2024 – Chipps went so you didn’t have to
Chipps gives the Singletrackworld members his personal takeaways from the massive 2024 Eurobike Show, held recently in Frankfurt. I reckon it’s coming up on 30 years since my first Eurobike Show and, obviously, much has changed since my first one in 1995. Back then, there…
Issue 155 Editorial: Going The Extra Mile
Chipps urges you to put in that extra 10% today and you’ll get 30% back tomorrow. It’s like a fitness/friendship pyramid scheme… In some respects, ‘Going the extra mile’ and ‘Giving 110%’ aren’t really related. After all, going another mile sounds easy enough (and it…
Debate: Is It Even Mountain Biking?
As part of a new head-to-head debate series, Hannah and Chipps agree to disagree on what constitutes ‘mountain biking’ and, by extension, on what should appear in this magazine. We’ve given them a couple of pages to set out their stall.
Rob Fisk. Stand down, Merlinman
Long, long, longtime friend of Singletrackworld, Rob 'Merlinman' Fisk passed away earlier today. We're so glad we got to share time with him.
Obituary: Greg Fuquay by Chipps
Another massive influence on my life has left us. I’ve just found out that Greg Fuquay passed away this weekend. Greg was a bike frame builder, based near Ipswich, when I first met him in 1991. His US Airforce career had given him some razor…
Bob Seals: Devil, do-gooder or daydreamer?
Spiritual eco-warrior? Half-naked singlespeed pioneer? Genius machinist who brought you the Cool Tool and Klean Kanteen? Or someone who offended a race organiser so badly they forklifted his team truck out of the arena? Robert, Bobby or Bob Seals is obviously all of these things…
Are Welsh Trails Up For Sale By NRW?
Local mountain bikers and councillors around Coed y Brenin are concerned that Natural Resource Wales (NRW) is planning on selling off the Coed y Brenin visitor centre and its miles of trails to the highest bidder in a veiled closed-door process that has ignored local…
Singletrack World Issue 154 Editorial: Let’s Get Lendy
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” And so goes the oft-quoted advice in Hamlet, where a father gives his just-off-to-France son a concise set of rules by which to…