It’s the five-hundredth Fresh Goods Friday! Wow! That means that it’s getting on for ten years of a weekly check of the things that have appeared in the office. Started way back when by the Mark and the great Jon Woodhouse, Fresh Goods Friday has…
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.)
SuperBoost And Flat Mount XTR – Things You Didn’t Know You Needed
On the same day that Shimano announced its new 12 (and 11 and 10) speed Deore groupset, it is also announcing a few more items, like bigger capacity batteries for its e-bike motors and, well, there are a few things that are particularly niche… XTR…
Shimano new Deore M6100 Goes 12 Speed. And 10 and 11…
Probably one of the most easy to guess developments this year was that Shimano Deore would be going 12 speed. Yes, Deore M6100 is 12 speed – and we’ll get to that in a minute – however what also needs shouting about is that formerly…
First Ride Review – Giro Manifest Spherical
That's some big, sucky venting potential there. Whatever sort of mountain biker you are, you inevitably have special cycling shoes and a particular helmet you wear. Some riders want nothing but the best, most efficient version of everything, while other riders are after the minimum…
Giro Manifest Spherical Trail Helmet – Giro’s Most High Tech Helmet Ever
Today, Giro launches its most high tech helmet ever, the Giro Manifest Spherical trail helmet. Spherical? Yes, this uses MIPS Spherical, a technology developed in partnership with MIPS and first seen on the Giro Aether road helmet; only this time, rather than the pared back,…
First Ride Review: GT Zaskar LT Expert
We’ve had this mossy green-coloured hardcore hardtail in to ride for a few weeks now, and Chipps has been able to take it on enough of his local trails to bring you this first-ride review of GT’s most dramatic new hardtail in years, the Zaskar…
The new GT Zaskar LT – Is This GT’s Definitive Hardcore Hardtail?
The GT Zaskar is one of the mountain bike world’s longest-running names and one of the most versatile. Introduced in 1991, the Zaskar has seen World Cup victory in downhill, cross country, slalom and trials. And now, GT is introducing a more playful, almost UK-spec…
Then And Now | 19 Years Of Advertising Singletrack Supporters
When Singletrack magazine started, back in 2001, the publishing world revolved around print advertising. Online advertising didn’t really exist, and the online ads that were around normally sent the viewer to a web page inviting you to phone or perhaps email the company… Advertising sales…
Cane Creek eeWings Cranks – Now in 165mm and now in Raven black
Cane Creek has had some good (and you’d have to say surprising) success with its £1000 titanium cranks, and even launched a limited edition tie-dye set last year for the peacocks out there. However, they’re not all for show and the cranks have had some…
First Look And Competition: Win Shimano XC501 Fast Trail Shoes
Price: £139.99 From: Freewheel We’ve got a first look at Shimano’s new XC501 fast trail shoes and a chance to win yourself a pair. Read on for all the details. At what point does fast trail riding cross over into cross country racing? Is it…
Fresh Forks Friday 495 | 4 new bouncy forks in time for Spring!
Hey, listen up! We know we had to remind you last week when it got to Friday, but now it’s Friday again and you should know that it’s Friday, because you’re sat at home, enjoying some time off – so, completely different to last week……
2021 Rockshox Pike | First Ride Review
We’ve had a new Pike, in a 29in x 150mm flavour, for a few weeks now and, despite chunky riding being out of the question for the last couple of weeks, our local trails have enough lumps and bumps to be able to give us…
2021 RockShox Pike Rides Higher, Leaving More Travel For Hitting Rocks
All hail the 2021 RockShox Pike Ultimate! It’s new, it’s fresh and it’s different. Not that you’d actually be able to tell that because even to a trained eye, it appears identical to the already well-regarded 2020 RockShox Pike Ultimate. It’s true – from the…
Salvation Through Spirits – A Lakes Distillery Subscriber Special
There are many benefits to being a Singletrack subscriber… For a start, and most obviously, you’ll get every issue of Singletrack through your letterbox every other month, but you’ll also get good prices on everything we sell – from coffee to T-shirts to hipflasks and…
The Starling Tellum 79er. A Better Bike Through Science!
The new Starling Tellum is a ground-breaking, industry-shaking full suspension mountain bike… with a difference. It takes the scalpel-precision of a fast and maneuverable 27.5in wheel and places it up front. Then, adds the blunt (but stable) force of a tough, hard hitting 29in wheel…
New Giro Sector Clip In Shoes. Just don’t say ‘gravel…’
Giro has just announced its new Sector clip-in shoes. Lightweight, stiff, adjustable and with a dual BOA system to keep them tight, the look ideal for hard trail riding, racing and we’re not saying ‘gravel’ as that’s just bike riding, right? But yes – they’ll…
Fresh Goods Friday 493 | The Lockdown Birthday Edition
Happy Birthday to Amanda, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to Amanda, hope you know we love you! Yes, today is Amanda’s birthday, and she is not entirely happy about it. She’s not entirely happy about anything at the moment, thanks to the local annoying…
NRW Mountain Bike Trails Close In Wales
Yep, you might have guessed. It’s another story about closures, sorry. This time, Natural Resource Wales has announced that all of its mountain bike trails are closed. No maintenance is being carried out until further notice. The trail centres are closed already, but now the…
2020 RockShox SID Trail Fork – First Ride Review
We’ve had one of RockShox brand new, 120mm SID Ultimate forks – basically the ‘SID Trail’ on test for a couple of weeks. Here’s what we thought: The world of 100mm suspension forks seems to be a very narrow one of either top-flight cross country…
2020 RockShox SID Slims Down – And Gets New 120mm Trail Option
The RockShox SID has been around since 1998 as RockShox’ top end, no compromise cross country race fork, and the new 2020 Rockshox SID SL is no exception. Everything on it has been tuned and whittled down and lightened to make a fork that comes…
Video: Hazzard Racing Glides The Gloop
Joe Barnes and Lachlan from Hazzard Racing have a message for you. And it involves bikes and mud. “Time & Tide for Nae Man Bide. Now Get Out & Ride.” With the world shrinking away from both crowded spaces, and wet hills, it’s a perfect…
Enduro World Series Rounds 1 and 2 Postponed In Latest Covid-19 Reaction
EWS Round 1, Colombia and EWS Round 2, Chile have both become the latest sporting events to be postponed in order to help control the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. They have been postponed to consecutive weekends in November 2020 instead. With this latest event postponement, it…
2020 Mountain Mayhem Cancelled As Corona Virus Is Blamed
Organising a large mountain bike race these days is hard enough, what with the weather, finding venues, marshals, infrastructure and title sponsors… But it seems that the latest trendy thing – the Corona Virus – has been the final straw for the organisers of the…
Specialized Recon Shoes Get A Revamp. New Design For 2020
“Specifically designed for mud” reckons Specialized of its new Recon family. The Recon 1, 2 and 3 are differing levels of spec, but all share a similar trail shoe style. Not too racy, not too freeride… The shoes come in a tier of performance –…
iceBike* 2020 – News from Thule, Park, Pro, Lazer and more
We’ve just been spending the day down in windy Milton Keynes for iceBike* 2020, Madison’s house show where it had many of its brands on display and lots of new bits and pieces on show for the coming year. DT Swiss dropper This was our…
Atherton Bikes Release First Fifty Bikes For Sale
News just in from Atherton Bikes. The first fifty (so exclusive that they have their own #firstfifty hashtag) bikes have been released for sale today. It’s expected that once these bikes are sold through that a more regular production schedule will start to roll out.…
Troy Lee launches the brand new D4 Full Face Helmet
Incredibly, it’s 11 years since the Troy Lee D3 helmet launched, bringing all of Troy Lee’s famous design flair together with a very distinctive full face helmet design. The D3 is probably one of the most iconic and instantly recognisable helmets out there. Until now!…
Singletrack Magazine Issue 129 | Chris Akrigg: Quick. Change.
Chipps quizzes Chris Akrigg just before he announces his new bike sponsor, GT, after 12 years on Mongoose. Words & Photography Chipps I’m watching Chris Akrigg ride a bike through his local Yorkshire woods, and there’s something different about him. It’s nothing to do with…
Chris Akrigg will ride for GT Bicycles in 2020
After much deliberating and online speculation after he left Mongoose at the end of last year, Chris Akrigg has confirmed that for 2020, he will ride for GT Bicycles. Many people will be familiar with the fluid style of the Yorkshire rider through the many…
Goodbye Dirt Rag Magazine
Today was a sad day for mountain bike publishing. Dirt Rag Magazine announced that it was closing its doors with immediate effect after 30 years of publishing and organising events. While many newcomers might dismiss Dirt Rag as some old US magazine that they’d never…
Marzocchi Z1 Coil Fork – Have your prayers been answered?
When the Marzocchi Z1 fork was launched back in April 2018 we applauded the return of a simple, bomber-(sorry!)-strong air sprung fork. Long time Marzocchi fans, though, still talk fondly of the coil sprung, open oil bath original forks. Well, today, their misty-eyed musings have…
BikePark Wales Glamping Pod Plans Get Go Ahead
The final part of the next bit of development has just received official approval as the local council has given the go ahead for up to 41 BikePark Wales glamping pods and cabins on the South Wales site over the next couple of years. The…
The 2020 Dyfi Enduro – Now With Bontrager. And On A Saturday!
If you’re going to mix things up, then why not really mix things up. The 2020 Dyfi Enduro has a new title sponsor, making it the Bontrager Dyfi Enduro – and in addition, thanks to the first May Bank Holiday being on a Friday this…
Video: Manon Carpenter Rides Mont Thabor
Mont Thabor is 3178m of thin air and epic riding, but there’s no easy way up. You need to earn those turns. In this film we find out just one of the things that Manon Carpenter has been up to since she retired from downhill…
Singletrack Editors’ Choice Awards | Chipps
Over the last year, our writers have tested a bucketful of bikes, a barn load of clothing and gear, and attended a bookcase full of cycling events. Which of these, though, have tickled their fancies enough to warrant the bestowing of a coveted Singletrack Editors’…
Canyon Neuron SLX 9.0 LTD Review – A Bike With All The Upgrades?
Take any full suspension trail bike, regardless of wheel size and if you leave it in the shed for any length of time, maybe swapping tyres or upgrading a few bits, it’ll inevitably come to about 31lbs. It’s just one of those things – like…
The Paul Components 30th Anniversary 'How much?' boxed groupset is lovely
Yes, the Paul Components 30th Anniversary boxed groupset costs $1989, but just look at it! And it’s not like a 30th Anniversary pops round very often. To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Chico, California company Paul Components, Paul and his team decided to commemorate the…
FGF 475 – The Don’t Talk To Us, We’re Busy Edition
Yep, you can try calling the office, but good luck with that. We’ve been working flat out on the next issue of the magazine, which has been sent off to the printers by the time you’ve read this. And when we’ve not been running around…
10 Top Tips: How To Prepare Your Bike For Winter
Excuse the attention-grabbing headline, but it’s entirely justified. There are many ways in which you can (and should!) prepare your bike for winter. More than six out of the ten top tips here and we reckon you’ll be on the right path for winter shredding…
Michael Bonney – In Memoriam
Where to start? If I start at the end, then maybe that’s the hardest bit over with. Michael Bonney – one of the UK bike industry’s central pillars – has passed away. Although it was sudden, and a shock to everyone, the decision had been…
Danny Hart’s World Championship Bike Stolen From Sheffield Hotel
Are more bikes being stolen right now? It seems that way if you have been following the news of late. It also appears that that being a top flight athlete, staying at a nice hotel doesn’t make you immune from having your bike stolen either.…
Kendal Mountain Festival Premiere Trek’s New ‘Going in’ Film
It’s the Kendal Mountain Festival next weekend and, first off, there are still about three tickets left for the main bike night, so snap them up while they’re still around. Trek is the main sponsor of this year’s Kendal Mountain Festival Bike Night, taking place…
The History of Singletrack and more. Formula’s Video Interview.
When Formula wanted to shoot a video about mountain bike media, they came and asked us here at Singletrack Towers lots of questions. And we gave them lots of answers – about the history of Singletrack and the future of mountain bike publishing… Yep, is…
Fizik X2 Winter Boots and Shoes Launch in the UK
One of the the many bits and pieces we spotted at the recent NEC Cycling Show was the Fizik (or fi’zi:k if you’re being pedantic) stand on the Extra UK booth. There, among the usual Italian brand’s sleek performance and ‘How much?’ featherweight road racing…
Singletrack Issue 127 | Editorial – Wear sunscreen…
Words Chipps Now, how did those lyrics go again? “Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old And when you do, you’ll fantasise that when you were young Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble And children respected their…
Singletrack Issue 127 | Making it up in the Lake District
Nigel Page and Chipps strap on luggage and join forces again. This time to ride a completely made up North/South traverse of the Lake District. Words & Photography Chipps ‘Puckpuckpuckpuckpuck…’ All I’d been able to hear for the last hour had been the octopus-like sucking…
Book Review: Rough-Stuff Fellowship Archive
Chipps has got himself a copy of the Rough-Stuff Fellowship Archive, and thinks you need one too. I’m going to annoy loads of people first off by mentioning the ‘C’ word. Yes, I know it’s months until Christmas, but you know that Aunty Nora is…
Controversy Rages Over Afan Masts Tree Felling
A plan by NRW (National Resource Wales – the custodians of Welsh forestry) to routinely fell trees in the area known as the Afan Masts has sparked a storm with local riders, who fear that 20 years of (unofficial, but tolerated) trails will be destroyed…
Cane Creek Joins The Tie Dye Revolution With Rainbow eeWings cranks
Want some? Do you? Do you sir? Want some? In tie dye? Those titanium cranks? Ooh! Sir! Suits you sir! Yes, just when you thought that Cane Creek’s titanium, north-of-a-grand, super-cranks couldn’t get any more outrageous, it has decided to colour things up and join…
UK Singlespeed Champs 2019 ends in beer and fancy dress. As usual…
Who said that singlespeeders were a bit slack, eh? We’ve just had this report in from the UK Singlespeed Champs – that happened a month ago… It’s a good job it wasn’t a race. Oh, wait… On Saturday August 24th, around 75 riders competed in…
One Bigger! New Ibis HD5 bids for enduro and trail glory
Ibis Cycles has just announced the new Ibis Mojo HD5. It’s a complete new take on the firm’s hard-charging 27.5in wheeled heavy duty trail bike. Having taken cues from recent changes to the 29er Ripley trail bike, as well as the 29in Ripmo enduro bike,…
