If you’re not familiar with David Turner, then it would be worth reading Chipps’ interview with him from Issue 109 of Singletrack Magazine. He’s a guy that designs bikes that he wants to build and he wants to ride, and he rides because he wants…
Hannah Dobson
More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments.
NICA: American High School Mountain Biking – sport done right?
America has a long tradition of highly organised, competitive almost to the point of professionalism, school and young people’s sports. Track and Field, American football, swimming, basketball – many of which dangle the carrot of lucrative (or at least cost saving) college scholarships. In such…
Spotted In Salt Lake City: Cotopaxi
Hannah found herself with an unscheduled stop in Salt Lake City. A little too tired and confused by the rules of the road, she didn’t take advantage of the docked bike system, so instead on her way to hook up with Fahzure Freeride (the writer…
Maxxis Launches Rekon Race: An XC tyre for modern XC courses
Over in the dust of Sun Valley, Idaho, Hannah got the chance to ride the hot off the production line new Maxxis Rekon Race. This is a new XC race tyre aimed at catering to the modern aggressive race courses. The tread pattern is born…
The Orbea Oiz Gets Rowdy For 2019
The Orbea Oiz, a full suspension XC bike, has been around for 12 years now – our man Stu Taylor has just ridden one at high speed round the Highland Trail 550. Today, tapping into the ‘XC bikes doing a bit more and getting a…
Ride Your Bike, Play Music, Raise Money – 3 reasons to visit Hebden Bridge
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the environs of Singletrack Towers, we’re based in Todmorden. Todmorden is at the upper end of the Calder Valley and is…well…fairly normal. There are communal vegetable patches, and there’s a lucky dog in the park, but apart…
Thank Fork! It’s Fresh Goods Friday 401
Brace yourselves! After a brief suspension of service, summer is returning. Prepare for news coverage of lobster coloured people on beaches, children playing in fountains of questionable water quality, and exclamations of how it was hotter in Hull than Benidorm. Before you head home to…
Smokin’ Hot, Or Not? Kona Bikes’ Rolling Papers
This week Canadian legislators voted to legalise the consumption of cannabis in Canada, and Kona was quick to mark the occasion by launching its ‘4:20’ smoking papers. Let’s get 🔥! These Kona rolling papers have just arrived in our web store and may just be…
Fresh Goods Friday 400: The Stumpy And Pool Noodle Celebration Edition
There should probably be cake, and sparklers. Maybe a release of some doves, or a peacock or two. Definitely prosecco (cheaper than champagne, and usually nicer too). Dancing is optional, though you’re welcome to take off your shoes and have a barefoot shuffle if the…
Fresh Goods Friday 399; 2 Bikes, A Fork And A Spoon!
Don’t worry! The apocalypse has not come! Yes Nicholas Parsons missed an episode of Just A Minute, and yes we missed Fresh Goods Friday last week, but The Today Programme is still going, so all is well. And all is better still, as we’re back…
1500 People Can’t Be Wrong: Another great year for MTBMeetup
‘What a great vibe!’ ‘How cool is this?’ ‘We’ll be back next year’ Now its 5th year the award nominated charity event MTBMeetup is a fun and friendly free weekend of riding and socializing for all the family. Over 1,500 people headed through the gates…
Video Teaser: Highland Trail 550 – Making long distance racing look fun (almost)
In case you missed it, Stu Taylor was off to tackle the Highland Trail 550, after an intense training regime that even included ‘boredom training’. We’re pleased to say that he’s back from what must surely be the hottest and driest HT550 ever. Not only…
Peter Sagan: Roadie, Mountain Biker, And Possibly Cat?
Peter Sagan, surely one of the best riders we’ve ever seen (though arguably not quite as good as Pauline Ferrand-Prevot), has posted this video which has all us in the office making the kind of noises that we’d probably make if we tried this. Before…
Beers, Bikes And BBQ… Spin Up In A Brewery Returns For 2018
After taking a short break since the last event in 2015, “Spin Up in a Brewery” is back by popular demand! Established in 2012, it is again a collaboration between two West Sussex based companies, the craft brewery Dark Star and bicycle brand Kinesis UK.…
Will This Be The UK’s Ultimate Mountain Bike Festival? Malverns Classic Returns
Mention the Malvern Classic and Chipps goes a bit misty eyed. It was obviously an influential event. A recent ‘were you there, what do you remember?’ thread on his Facebook page elicited a similarly excitable response. And quite a lot of debate – what year…
Solaris Max, MaXalami and Max Madness – It’s Fresh Goods Friday 398
Good day prized readers. It is time. Time for you to sever ties with that yoga mat supplier you once made a purchase from five years ago. Time for you open your mailbox to find only highly relevant information of direct interest to you. Of…
Last Chance To Subscribe! Singletrack Magazine Issue 119
It’s off to the printers, which means that our designer, Amanda, is breathing a sigh of relief, and you have just a few days to subscribe in time to get Singletrack Issue 119 delivered to your door. The cut off date is Sunday 27th May…
Stu Taylor’s Highland Trail 550: Ready, Get Set…
Stu Taylor doesn’t just make Singletrack Beer. And he doesn’t just roast coffee (but he does that too – he’s a good man to know at any time of day). Somewhere in between the beer and the coffee, he also finds time to ride a…
Quit Your Job! Work with pushbikes instead!
This article was originally published in Issue 117 of Singletrack Magazine. Hannah interviews five people who’ve said ‘Right! That’s it! I’m leaving to go and work with pushbikes!’ Then they’ve carried through with the threat. And how. Words: Hannah, Photography: Various Whether it’s ‘just a job’,…
Breaking News: Singletrack7 Event Cancelled – forestry operations destroy trails
We’ve just received the following notice from the organisers of the Singletrack7 event: It is with much regret and disappointment that we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel this year’s edition of the Singletrack7. On a recent site visit we found that…
FINDRA’s lush, luxe, merino – now available for men too
There aren’t many brands where us women get to make the men envious. Usually us women find ourselves looking from the eight different pairs of men’s shorts, 12 jerseys in three colour choices each, all with matching socks, to the women’s option of one pair…
Jennride 2018: the perfect Lake District weekend?
This weekend saw the 2018 edition of the ‘Jennride’, organised by Richard Munro, in memory of our late Deputy Editor, Jenn Hill. There were three routes available: a 50km ‘dipping a toe in bikepacking’, a 100 mile ‘two days with a pub stop or two’,…
We’re Hiring! Could You Be Our New Technical Writer?
Singletrack is on the lookout for a new person to join our small, enthusiastic and hardworking team. We are looking for someone to work closely in our Todmorden office with Wil, our Technical Editor, writing news, shooting and appearing in video and photos as well…
A Threesome Of Bikes, Lots Of Pants, And A Couple Of Strap-Ons – Fresh Goods Friday 396
There is no introduction today because it’s *ping* too difficult *ping ping* to think straight when *ping* your Twitter feed has gone *ping* into overdrive because you *ping ping* innocently tweeted about a column that Bez wrote. *ping* It’s quite the experience. Being famous and…
Fresh Threads, Fresh Springs, And Fresh Water – It’s Fresh Goods Friday 395
∗Ēξū⊕ϖ ℘ÛℵЊ βγ Ηē¢κ ιτ˜ς ƒℜî∂αψ Never fear, normal service has been resumed. The walls have dried, the IT hamsters are lying with their legs in the air and the servers are floating in a cloud. The office has been moved around so that everyone has a new…
TweedLove festival and demo – uplift now available all weekend!
TweedLove organisers have just announced that they have partnered with Adrenalin Uplift to provide transport services up into Glentress and Innerleithen over the TweedLove Festival weekend. The uplift bus stop is part of the expo village, in the town centre of Peebles, and will be…
New Airdrop Bitmap: UK designed hardcore hardtail
Airdrop Bikes, a small Sheffield based brand led by Ed Brazier, has until now had just the one bike in the range: the Airdrop Edit. It’s gone through a couple of iterations since birth, but the full suspension enduro model has been an only child…
From Mood Board To Muddy Bike – the birth of a dream bike
You may have seen ‘Andy’s Hardtail’ by Mercredi in Wil’s round up of mountain bikes from Bespoked this year. You may also have dribbled a little bit when you saw it. And that’s OK, because, as Andy explains below, he wanted it to be a…
Fresh Goods Friday 394 – Office Redecoration Whitewash Edition
We are in a state of some upside down-ness. Chipps is back from his long haul trip and might be jet lagged and befuddled, but the rest of us are too muxed ip to notice. Our desks have become little floating islands of relocated office…
Cor Blimey It’s Hot! Hot sun and hot product in Fresh Goods Friday 393
Who is heading into the weekend with a light sun burn after over indulgence in the bright stuff this week? Who is heading into the weekend with the smugness of one who had booked Thursday off work and actually got to go and bask in…
Scott Sports Warns Scam Sites: We Will Sue You
While fake goods and online scams are nothing new, Scott Sports has today taken the step of issuing a press release warning buyers not to be fooled by scam sites, and promising ‘intense legal action’ against those behind the sites. We’ve certainly seen the adverts…
Dyfi Enduro 2018 Cancelled: Welsh Water Just Too Wet
We’ve just heard that, unfortunately, persistent wet weather and a resulting high water table means that this year’s Dyfi Enduro has had to be cancelled. This is certainly a favourite event of Chipps’ – he keeps taking part even though he claims to have given…
Here’s One Tip On How To Enjoy Riding More: Stop
Riding bikes is about movement. It’s about getting from here to there, or about the fun you have while you swoop round that corner, or bounce down those rocks. It’s not about the stopping. Stopping is bad – it means something has broken, and you…
Tyre Hack: Boost Your Roost And Get Insta-Famous
Image is everything these days. And really, a mountain bike video without roost just doesn’t cut it anymore. If you want to get sponsors, you need Instagram followers. And to get them, you’re going to need great video and photo content. And to get great…
Fresh Goods Friday 390
Last year I ruined Easter. I started off really well: I bought lots of chocolate eggs, and I wrote a bunch of riddles, and I carefully hid them all over a really beautiful wonderland of an arboretum, and then my children happily hunted all over…
Review: 2018 Whyte 909 Hardtail – A contender for the one-bike shed?
When the Whyte 909 turned up at Singletrack HQ, there were two riders particularly keen on riding it. Hannah already owns a Whyte hardtail, albeit a slightly older 901 hardtail, and she was more than interested to see what the latest chubby-tyred version would be…
Home Makeover Singletrack Style: Park Tool Workshop Wonderland
You may recall that some time back we were subject to a ram raid attempt. Nothing was taken, but the would-be raiders (never caught, by the way) did make a right mess of our workshop. Since then, we’ve had new walls and windows installed, so…
Interview: NAHBS Winner Altruiste Bikes
When we received the images from the North American Hand Made Bike Show (NAHBS) we didn’t get any accompanying information. Just a massive folder full of images of many, many different sorts of bikes, sprung from the minds of an array of framebuilders. So, when…
Review: Showers Pass Crosspoint Waterproof Knit Gloves
The Showers Pass Crosspoint Waterproof Knit gloves appear to be a fairly simple knitted pull on glove, and indeed they’re sold as ‘multi-purpose’ rather than ‘cycling specific’, so you might not expect many of the features we’ve come to expect in a cycling glove. But…
Last Chance To Subscribe! Singletrack Issue 118
Subscribe To Singletrack from as little as £1.50 Yes, it’s that time again: Deadline Day. As we send the Spring edition of Singletrack, Issue 118, off to the printer, ready to be published on 6th April, until midnight on Sunday 25th March you’ve got a…
Green Brexit Could Increase Countryside Access, Reckons Cycling UK
You might have noticed our ‘Get On My Land’ story about Cycling UK’s plans to improve off road and rural access for bikes, as they launched their new strategy at the London Bike Show. Well, they liked our headline so much, they’ve used it in…
Monday Debrief 118 – Notes from another planet
We signed up to an early deal with Elon Musk and this Monday’s Debrief comes to you from Uranus. We’ve been out exploring and the terrain is pretty hostile. Tests are being carried out to determine if these are possibly carvings depicting lifeforms from this…
Wireless Shifting Is Here! As Is Wide Rubber! Pumps! Bikes! Shoes! Glasses too! It’s Fresh Goods Friday 388!
No one ever reads this bit, but how else will they know they're missing Fresh Goods Friday 388?
World Cup XCO And Street Dual: Live on your TV this weekend!
The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup kicks off this weekend with the XCO racing from Stellenbosch. It’s an early season opener, and it’s the XCO riders kicking off the racing this year, with the Downhill not starting until Lošinj in Croatia, in April. If you’re…
2 Frames, 3 Gifs, And Really Hilarious Jokes! ROTFL with Fresh Goods Friday 387
Erm. Well. Sorry. Wil promised you last week that this week would be a bumper edition of Fresh Goods Friday on the grounds that there were very few courier deliveries last week due to the snow, so all the goodies would be turning up this…
Poll: Does Prize Money Need To Be Equal?
Sparked by a recent press release from an event organiser, we’ve been having a bit of debate about prize money, so we thought we’d see what you have to say. We know you might argue ‘it’s the taking part that counts’, and that prize money…
How we survived the snowpocalypse and made it to Monday!
BANG! It’s not just Monday, it’s March! Flip. For anyone who has just had an extended weekend of sledging and snow fun, this is probably not feeling like too bad a Monday. Since everyone else was off too, the email is not quite so overflowing…
Warm your cockles and melt that snow with the 386th Fresh Goods Friday!
SNOWMAGEDDON! BEAST FROM THE EAST! COLD WINTER CONDITIONS! Have you survived it? Are you currently huddled in your living room with your loved ones, circling around a fire on the floor with the front door jammed shut behind a huge snowdrift? Considering which family member…
Video: Rocks And Drops – the new Losinj World Cup trail in Croatia
Ever wondered what goes into building a trail suitable for a World Cup? It’s got to be challenging, and it’s got to be built well enough to stand up to plenty of practice sessions and riders hammering their way down the trail – whatever the…
24 Unusual Handmade Mountain Bikes from NAHBS. Well, sort of…
The weird and the wonderful - flat bars and knobbly tyres.
