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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.)
Hope Pre Peaks – 70km of cake-fuelled cheeriness through the Dales
It wasn’t a surprise to the weather pessimists among us that the one day you need clear, calm weather to go and enjoy 85km around the Yorkshire Dales, you get the tail end of a tropical storm, with all-day mizzle and winds. However, that didn’t…
Don’t call it a heatwave, just call it summer: From Singletrack issue 120
Chipps has vowed to only ride if it’s sunny. Unfortunately, this means he’s not stopped since early May. From Singletrack issue 120
When did it all get so good? Chipps’ Issue 120 Editorial
I took a trip back in time recently, revisiting a place I used to ride when I was just starting out. Back then the mountain bike world was a rich, but obscure landscape. I’d not ridden in many places and I didn’t have many riding…
UK Gravity Enduro Announces Cancellation. BEMBA Steps Up With 2019 National Series.
Coming so soon off the euphoria of the successful running of the ‘Ard Rock Enduro last weekend, the UK enduro scene was greeted this morning with a sad announcement from Steve Parr, the man behind the UK Gravity Enduro Series, where he announced that the…
GT Fury Downhill Bike Returns!
Today, GT Bicycles has announced a new GT Fury downhill bike. Taking design and suspension cues from the complete revamp that the rest of the trail bike range (the Force and the Sensor) has had, this sees GT take on a more conventional-looking (and riding)…
A hundred grand for a bike rack? That’s what Tailfin has raised in a week
A Bristol-based company has just launched an innovative rear luggage rack on Kickstarter and has seen it raise nearly a hundred grand in a couple of days. The Tailfin rack mounts to a rear skewer (even thru-axles, but more of that in a minute) and…
So that’s where all of the country’s carbon enduro bikes (and T5 campers) went this weekend? The Ard Rock Enduro!
The ‘Ard Rock Enduro once again showed that it has become the event of the year for trail riders to be at. With a greatly expanded event village and a large number of events for racers and riders, there was plenty going on and plenty…
Fresh Goods Friday 406
da-dum, da-dum, Da Dum, DA DUM, DA DUM! DAAA DUMMM! That’s the sound of the weekend approaching. Hurtling down the trail like a stampede of surprisingly small deer. And boy is it welcome! Ignoring that everyone’s hot and bothered, or that things are on fire,…
Pump Tracks For Good
A Scottish pump track, opened late last year is already having some great benefits for the local community, reckons its builders, Velosolutions. Here’s what they said about Brendog visiting the site recently. Professional Mountain Bike Rider and Velosolutions athlete, Brendan Fairclough stopped in at the…
We Asked Rachel, Gee And Dan Atherton 21 Questions They Weren’t Expecting
A few weeks ago, we had a young lad, Aran Francis in on work experience. Along with the regular work experience jobs of going to find some tartan paint, a long stand (ta!) and a left handed screwdriver, and after he’d made us all a…
The Hope PrePeaks. The non-competitive, grand day out in the Yorkshire Dales
In association with Hope Technology Hope Technology’s PrePeaks is a non-competitive event that offers a challenging loop of the Yorkshire Dales this August. To find out more, we sent Chipps and Barney for a look at some of the terrain with local lad (and current…
First Ride Impressions Of GT’s New Force and Sensor
Chipps reports back after a couple of days of riding on GT’s newly launched trail bikes. Over the course of a couple of days I had a chance to ride both the GT Force and the GT Sensor. Both bikes were the top of the…
The New Bronson Is So Good It Might Kill Its Sibling, the 5010
After a too-short afternoon on both bikes, Chipps gives us his Santa Cruz 2019 5010 and Bronson first impressions… A week or so ago, I got a brief chance to ride the new 5010 and the Bronson on a visit to Santa Cruz UK. There…
GT Bikes’ brand new Force and Sensor, and the return of LTS – but not as you know it!
Chipps reports from Norway as GT launches some new suspension bikes that it is very proud of. The new GT Force and Sensor bikes aren’t just last year’s bikes with a bit of a tweak, they’re a complete ground-up redesign with a new suspension system…
The Santa Cruz Bronson Is Dead. Long Live The Bronson! (And the Roubion)
Along with Shimano’s new XTR groupset, the new Santa Cruz Bronson’s release this year was always going to be a definite, and much anticipated event. It wasn’t a case of ‘if’ but of ‘when’. What Santa Cruz fans wanted to know, though, was whether the…
Santa Cruz 5010 – All New For 2019
While the Bronson is dramatically different, the 130mm travel 5010, and its Juliana stablemate, the Furtado, don’t look that different in silhouette from what went before. However, a whole lot has changed from the previous two iterations. While not changing travel for next year, the…
Interview: David Turner – “You’re either ‘enduro’ – or you’re not”
This article was first published in Issue 109 of Singletrack Magazine. Subscribe today from just £1.99 Chipps tracks down the quiet man with his name on the frames at Turner Bikes and finds out that you’re either enduro, or you’re not, why Turner was forced…
Will There Be Open Access For Wales? ‘No’ seems to be the official answer…
The Welsh Government asked for our opinions about a ‘Scottish style’ open access for the Welsh countryside. We responded in our thousands, overwhelmingly in the positive. They listened. And then they seem to have ignored us in favour of a quieter life… Here’s the response…
Mountain Mayhem Returns For 2019. And yes, it’ll be a 24 hour race
Mountain Mayhem, the longest running 24hr mountain bike endurance event in the world, has announced its dates for 2019 – exactly one year ahead to the day. The iconic event, the first ever 24hr MTB race in Europe, has been copied by many, but none…
Malverns. Classic! Is this the new must-do event of the summer?
What a weekend! With nothing short of the expectations of the British mountain biking world on his shoulders, event organiser, Si Paton pulled of a remarkable success with the first of the new-school GT Cycles Malverns Classic events – and by the look of it,…
Singletrack Issue 119: Was It All A Dream
Chipps looks back at the colossal impact of the original Malvern Classic event and asks if the ‘new’ one can ever live up to the hype. Words chipps Photography Geoff Waugh and steve behr/stockfile Remember those long, hot summers of your youth? The sun shone…
Singletrack Magazine Issue 119: Returning To The Dark Side
The former Red Bull trail opened in 1996 to wide acclaim as the first purpose-built trail in the UK. Chipps argues that it’s still one of the best trails anywhere. Words & Photography chipps Stepping off my bike, I look a little closer at the…
Victorious Underdogs – Number 2 Plates Rule Tweedlove’s British Champs
What a Tweedlove finale! Crowning the midsummer cycling festival (that actually starts in March and finishes at the end of August…) of Tweedlove this year was the British Enduro Championships. And in true nail-biting finale style, it came down to the wire in both of…
Water Pistols, Demos And World Class Enduro. Tweedlove 2018 Fires Up.
The jewel of the Tweedlove festival – the big weekend of the Whyte British Enduro Championships is well underway and we’ve been running around, getting a full taste of things. It’s not just about enduro racing though, there’s a whole weekend of events going on.…
Jeff Steber Interview: Staying Intense
Chipps visited Intense Cycles in Southern California back in April 2017  for an in-depth conversation with the founder of Intense, Jeff Steber. This interview was originally published in Issue #113 of Singletrack Magazine. (And, while much of the business organisation may have changed since then,…
Exclusive First Look: The New Cotic Solaris Max
Cotic’s new Solaris MAX launches today. And it’s in stock. And we’ve ridden one. It’s always an exciting day for British mountain bikers when Cotic releases a new model. And while its full suspension bikes are great, we reckon it’s an even better day when…
Mondraker Carbon Foxy 29er – The Most Obvious Bike Ever
Given that Mondraker has already launched a 27.5in carbon Foxy bike, the fact that it was going to launch a 29er version of the acclaimed Foxy took no great deducing. What is a surprise, though, is that – in honour of the fact that the…
Success! Expansion Plans Approved For Dales Bike Centre
Everyone’s favourite cake emporium and mountain bike centre, not to mention the literal hub of the Ard Rock Enduro, the Dales Mountain Bike Centre in Reeth, North Yorkshire, has just scored planning permission to extend its operations, with more places to stay and a lot…
Propain Hugene – A 29er ‘that doesn’t feel boring’
Propain is a small German maker of carbon trail and enduro bikes and you might have seen or heard about the Tyee – the company’s 160mm travel 27.5in trail bike. We had one in for review a couple of years ago (sorry, the photos aren’t…
Sea Otter 2018: Found! New Giro Shoes Hidden In Plain Sight
The Giro booth at the Sea Otter is always a good source of news and gossip. Not usually because of the products on show (only because we’ve often already seen them, as worn by this beautiful model below…) but because everyone seems to drift by…
Chris Chance And The New Fat Chance Wicked
After many years out of the bike industry, legendary founder of Fat City Cycles, Chris Chance, returned with a new, updated version of the Fat Chance Yo Eddy back at the 2015 Sea Otter. After more ‘creative’ criticism about tyre clearance and chainring clearance, Chris…
Bold Unplugged. The Neatest Full Susser Ever?
Swiss company, Bold, was showing off its latest trail bike at this year’s Sea Otter. Featuring 170mm (or 180) travel up front and 165mm rear travel, so far so normal, but what sets these frames apart is the concealed rear shock, which leaves a very…
Sea Otter 2018: New Gadgets From Lezyne
Lezyne always launches a load of new stuff at the Sea Otter and 2018 was no different. Concentrating on its core products of pumps, tools and lights, there was plenty to see… Not everyone (ahem) can see those teeny tiny pump gauges, so Lezyne’s latest…
Sea Otter 2018: OneUp Components New Tools (And Dropper)
Earlier this week, we brought you word of OneUp’s new dropper post. A visit to its Sea Otter booth brought news of interesting additions to its EDC steerer tube hidden tool. The EDC tool has found instant favour with racers and with riders who like…
Niner Shows Integrated Luggage And Teases Full Suspension Gravel Bike
Niner, which many people know for its fast race mountain bike hardtails and full suspension bikes has been developing a few new products to appeal to those with a less racy outlook. The SIR9 (Steel Is Real) has been around for a few years now…
Praxis Works Will Lighten Your e-Bike
With most e-bikes weighing in at the high 30lbs or mid 40lbs mark, saving weight is still a worthwhile exercise, yet most e-bikes run the stock forged alloy cranks that came with them. We got beckoned over to the Praxis booth where usually we get…
Behold The Pole Machine
The Pole bike company (confusingly from Finland) has always done things a little differently. And rather than go to Taiwan to make a carbon premium frame, it decided to machine the whole thing from billet aluminium and put it all together in Finland. Having announced…
Kona’s 2019 Newcomers Go Big On 29ers
Kona is 30 years old this year and has many treats in store for you. There are new carbon bikes, new steel hardtails, new drop bar bikes and new e-bikes. Among them is a limited edition Honzo ST – which has been done for the…
Continental Revamps Its Entire Tyre Line
Things have been pretty quiet from Continental Tyres for the last couple of years. The company has been busy with some dull corporate move arounds and logo redesigns, the revamping of its head office and perhaps it’s been sat around waiting for rim and tyre…
GT Bicycles Celebrates 25 Years Of Suspension With Retro Showcase
GT Bicycles has a pretty extensive heritage to call on. It also apparently has a pretty good retro bike library back at CSG headquarters, so when it decided to mark 25 years of full suspension bikes, it had plenty of retro machines to call upon.…
Syncros Launches Lightest Wheels Ever?
Syncros has just, cryptically, launched a new wheelset that, on (digital) paper at least, appears to be one of the lightest cross country race wheelsets out there. It has also expanded its radical Hixon carbon bar/stem combo into the trail and even enduro worlds. First,…
TyreWiz – Real Time Tyre Pressure Monitoring
Quarq, the SRAM division that brought you the ShockWiz, has just announced TyreWiz, which promises to offer the same kind of precise tuning and real-time monitoring as ShockWiz offers for forks. As the bit of your bike that actually contacts the ground, tyres are the…
Could this be the most adjustable dropper post ever?
OneUp Components is used to causing trouble and doing things a little differently. For proof, just see its cassette expander cogs or that clever EDC tool – a compact integrated multi-tool that slots into a hollow fork steerer tube. OneUp has now turned its engineering focus to…
Cane Creek’s hollow welded titanium cranks are here – and they’re only a thousand pounds
When was the last time you saw welded, hollow cranks like these? While it’s not a new idea, it’s not something that has been done very often and, despite the advantages, it’s very hard to get right. Cane Creek today launches this set of ‘eeWings’…
First Look: The Marzocchi Z1 Bomber Returns! Own The Trails Again…
One of the most iconic mountain bike fork names has returned, and it’s doing so in a typically unapologetic fashion. Yes, after an absence of many years, the Marzocchi Z1 Bomber is coming back! Now under the ownership of Fox Racing Shox, Marzocchi has been…
Cane Creek’s Helm Goes 29in (And 27.5Plus Too)
After a successful introduction of the 27.5in version last year, Cane Creek Cycling Components has announced the release of its anticipated 29in/27.5+ version of the HELM. The HELM 29/27.5+ is available in both air and coil sprung versions with up to 160mm of travel –…
The Full Stache! Trek’s New Full Suspension 29 Plus Adventure Trail Bike.
‘Anyone who likes to go long and get weird will like Full Stache’ is how Trek is introducing its new 29+ full suspension bike. And, having been a champion of the super-big plus tyre size, along with Surly and Salsa, since the original Stache came…
Shimano Apologises For Its Factory Catching Fire
Yesterday, British cycle trade news website, Cycling Industry News broke the news that local Japanese media were reporting a fire at Shimano’s Osaka main factory and company HQ. We contacted Shimano’s European offices in the Netherlands and were reassured to hear that there were no…
Hit The North Returns Again. Again.
The Singletrack Forum’s favourite event ever* is to return this May. Run by 24 hour racing legend and Guy Martin’s World Record-setting tandem partner Jason Miles, the event will once more return to Prestwich in Northern Manchester for its irreverent take on bike racing. With…
Exclusive First Look! The Ibis Ripmo Long Travel 29er
Today, Ibis Cycles has announced a (quite literally) huge bike for it – the enduro-ready, long travel trail bike, dubbed the ‘Ripmo’. The bike was quietly raced this weekend in Chile at the first round of the EWS. The bike notched a very impressive third…
