There’s no actual reason to buy a Curtis, other than the fact that you want one. And that’s a perfectly good reason. The bikes are hand made in the UK, in a shed, by a two-man operation, they use materials and techniques that many other…
Bikes
Singletrack Issue 121: XXC: Cross Country Extra
Three bikes that take the short travel full suspension bike to another world.
UK-Made Full Suspension Group Test – Robot R130 Review
Robot Bike Co. first shot to fame at the 2016 Fort William World Cup when it debuted a stunning full suspension mountain bike called the R160. Made from carbon fibre tubes and titanium lugs, the unique R160 had a curious mixture of retro aesthetics and…
UK-Made Full Suspension Group Test – Swarf Contour Review
In comparison to the other two on test, our third bike comes from a much smaller outfit. Founded in Dorchester in 2011, Swarf Cycles is currently a one-man show that is owned and operated by a chap called Adrian Bedford – a man who, prior…
UK-Made Full Suspension Group Test – Orange Stage 4 RS Review
When it comes to UK-made full suspension bikes, there was one brand that was always going to be in this grouptest. Put simply, few manufacturers can rival Orange Bikes’ rich 30-year history within the UK mountain biking scene. And unlike the recent flurry of newcomers,…
Review: Commencal Meta Trail V4.2 Race 650B: Fun and confidence inspiring
When the bike first arrived, aside from being blown away with just how damn good the bare aluminium with orange and black graphics looked, I was puzzled; Commencal Meta TR 4.2 Race. Race. What sort of race? XC race? Nah, can’t be – it’s got…
Review: Cotic FlareMAX. Is Longshot Geometry a step too far or a step in the right direction?
The Cotic FlareMAX 29in/27.5+ was first introduced by the Peak-district based purveyors of made out of metal bicycles, in 2016. This bike here is the second iteration of Cotic’s 120mm travel, do-it-all, up-for-most-things, full suspension trail bike. While at first glance it looks familiar to…
Review: Simplon Cirex 120 – Slammed and svelte, but not just for suffering
As I’m sure everyone has noticed, there’s been something of a change in mountain bike geometry in the last few years. The longer-lower-slacker trend has become de rigueur, and aside from the fact that some bikes these days resemble a devil’s cross between a farm…
Review: Is Kona Still Ahead Of The Curve? We Get To Grips With The Satori DL
The Satori is a bike that’s returned to Kona’s lineup after a lengthy leave of absence. It was originally released back in 2012 when longer travel 29ers were considered a bit outré, and never really found an audience. Returning for 2018, the bike has been…
First Look: Canyon Lux CF SL 8.0 Pro Race. The Bike Starsky And Hutch Would Ride
Here’s one for you XC racers, or for anyone with a soft spot for lightweight and racy full-suspension bikes. This all-new Canyon Lux arrived in the office last week and ever since it was unboxed we’ve been waiting for David Soul or Paul Glaser to…
Review: The 2019 Scott Ransom 900 Tuned Is A 170mm Travel All Rounder
The big news from Scott Sports for 2019? The return of the Ransom – a model that first appeared in 2005 as a genre-bending All Mountain bike with a high-tech carbon fibre frame, 165mm of rear travel, and Scott’s own Equalizer shock. With its impressively…
Beyonduro – Three big bikes that don’t fit under any label. So we made one up: Singletrack issue 120
Three big bikes that don’t fit under any label. So we made one up.
Review: The latest Cotic SolarisMAX is one of the fastest hardtails we’ve tested
In case you hadn’t noticed, Cotic has been on absolute fire lately. The small Peak District-based company launched a new BFe hardcore hardtail just on a year ago, which then gave way to the 15th anniversary Soul, the latest FlareMAX, and more recently, a new…
Review: Mondraker Foxy RR: The Long, Low, Slack Do-It-All Bike
Look at any press release for a new bike and chances are that the bike company will shout from the rooftops are that they’ve gone longer, lower and slacker, but it was Mondraker that did it first. Over the past five months, I’ve been riding…
Long Term Review: Did Wil ruin the Scott Genius 900 Tuned test bike with these 3 changes?
It’s now been six months since we first received the Scott Genius 900 Tuned longterm test bike. In that time, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to put it through its paces on a variety of different trails, while also exploring this bike’s in-built wheelsize adaptability.…
Review: The Hoy Bonaly 24 is a great first mountain bike
The Hoy Bonaly range is Hoy Bikes’ answer to a mountain bike. It’s a step up from the usual children’s hybrid bikes – or hybrids with slightly knobbly tyres – but doesn’t go the whole hog and include any form of suspension. However, I’m still…
Review: Merida’s playful One-Forty 800 trail bike
6 weeks on Merida's black beauty One-Forty has been a blast, but now Rob wraps up his review of this do-it-all trail bike
First Ride Review: The 2019 Marin Alpine Trail is a big travel 29er that is tough & simple, but it’s also really good
Brand new from Marin Bikes for 2019 is this long travel 29er called the Alpine Trail. Replacing the outgoing Attack Trail 27.5, the Alpine Trail is an all-mountain bruiser equipped with a 160mm travel fork, 150mm of rear suspension travel, and big 29er wheels wrapped…
First Ride Review | 2019 Canyon Lux CF SLX 9.0 Pro Race
In June 2018, the German direct-to-consumer giant, Canyon Bicycles, invited me out to Girona in Spain to test out the all-new Lux full suspension race bike. Featuring a full carbon fibre frame, 29in wheels, 100mm of travel, and thoroughbred race geometry, the Lux is Canyon’s…
First Ride Review: 2019 Canyon Lux CF SLX 9.0 Pro Race
Earlier this month, the German direct-to-consumer giant, Canyon Bicycles, invited me out to Girona in Spain to test out the all-new Lux full suspension race bike. Featuring a full carbon fibre frame, 29in wheels, 100mm of travel, and thoroughbred race geometry, the Lux is Canyon’s…
First Ride Review: Pivot Firebird 29 Pro X01
After the first day of riding at the Pivot Cycles launch in Moab last month, we gathered inside the living room of one of the apartments Pivot had taken over, to get the full product presentation on the new Trail 429. We’d been out on…
Review: Specialized goes #fullenduro for 2018 with the longer, lower, 170mm travel Enduro Elite 650B
Specialized had already redesigned its popular Enduro platform for 2017, but the big-S (well, one of the Big-S’s anyway) decided it could go one better for 2018. With a new frame and some key spec changes, the latest Enduro is an absolute monster, so we…
Longterm Review Part One: 2018 Scott Genius 900 Tuned
Scott’s popular Genius has been in the lineup for no fewer than 14 years now, occupying a position smack-bang in the middle of the range between the XC-oriented Spark, and the DH-focussed Gambler. There have been numerous Genius models over the years built with varying…
First Ride: The All-New Trail 429 From Pivot Cycles
Setting out to redesign your most popular full suspension bike must be an incredibly daunting task. Get it right, and you can potentially turn a great bike into an even greater bike. Get it wrong however, and you have a very real risk affecting a…
Black Beauty Hits Warp 8! Canyon Spectral CF 8.0 Review
Canyon’s mid-travel bike has undergone a complete redesign for 2018, and the result is a bike that looks a lot less like the original Spectral, and a whole lot more like Canyon’s flagship DH bike, the Sender. Making the new Spectral visually similar to the…
Canyon Spectral CF 8.0 Review | Black Beauty Hits Warp 8!
The Canyon Spectral gets a redesign for 2018 with input from the Dudes Of Hazard.
2019 Specialized Stumpjumper review | Expert Carbon 29
I’d be lying if I told you that Specialized has just unveiled its most advanced and refined Stumpjumper yet. Because there are actually three new Stumjumper models for 2019. And they’re all rather snazzy. This year we’re going to see two additional models of Stumpjumper…
Review: The 2018 Genesis Mantle 20 is no boring XC race bike
Last year, Genesis Bikes brought out its brand new carbon fibre hardtail called the Mantle. We gave it to our lean, mean, climbing machine, Rachel Sokal, to put it through some winter slogging to see how Genesis’ lightest mountain bike stacks up. Over to Rachel!…
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…
UK Exclusive First Ride Review: We test the 2019 Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt
We managed to get an exclusive first ride on Rocky Mountain's brand new Thunderbolt, a super versatile 140mm superbike
Review: The 2018 Norco Sight C2 is ready to shreddy straight out of the box
For the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of soaking up some (much needed) Vitamin D during a holiday Down Under in Australia. Aside from the obligatory family and local pub catch-ups, it was also an opportunity to take a smug, momentary pause from…
First Ride Review: Santa Cruz Highball 3 CC X01 Reserve
In a refreshing change of programming, Santa Cruz is going all-XC on us for the start of 2018. Jib-specific trail bikes and Beyonduro™ shred-sleds may still whip up the majority of the marketing whirlpool, but cross-country riding and racing is quietly making a comeback, and…
First Ride Review: Santa Cruz Blur 3 CC XX1 Reserve
It’s been about five years coming, but the Santa Cruz Blur is finally back First introduced back in 2002 alongside the V-10 downhill bike, the Blur was one of the original VPP suspension bikes from Santa Cruz. Sporting 26in wheels, 115mm of rear travel and…
Women’s Specific Geometry On The Canyon Spectral WMN CF SLX 9.0 – How Different Can It Be?
By Amanda Wishart, Singletrack Magazine Back in March I was fortunate enough to be one of a select group of journalists to be invited to a Canyon women’s specific bike launch in the south of France. This is kind of a big deal (Ed: the…
Review: You may hate the Brain, but the 2018 Specialized Epic Expert is ready to prove you wrong
In Issue #116 of Singletrack Magazine, Wil and the crew tested three new generation full suspension XC race bikes. Read on for the full review of the 2018 Specialized Epic Expert. As one of the most decorated full suspension race bikes on the market, the…
Review: The TwinLoc system on the 2018 Scott Spark RC 900 Team is this bike’s secret weapon
In Issue #116 of Singletrack Magazine, Wil and the crew tested three new generation full suspension XC race bikes. Read on for the full review of the 2018 Scott Spark RC 900 Team. It was 2007 when the first Spark blew minds and broke records…
Review: The 2018 Anthem Advanced Pro 29er 1 is Giant’s best full suspension XC race bike to date
In Issue #116 of Singletrack Magazine, Wil and the crew tested three new generation full suspension XC race bikes. Read on for the full review of the 2018 Giant Anthem Advanced Pro 29er 1. The Giant Anthem was first introduced in 2006 as the successor…
Review: Starling Cycles Taiwanese-Made Murmur Factory 29er
Our very own in-house office wildebeest, Rossco, has been playing about on the new Murmur Factory from Starling Cycles. With its slender steel tubing and progressive frame geometry, would it challenge Rossco’s preconceived ideas on what numbers are ideal for riding a bike over all…
Women’s Specific Geometry On The Canyon Spectral WMN CF SLX 9.0 – How Different Can It Be? Read Our First Ride Review Here
Amanda has just returned from the south of France with a huge smile on her face, and it's not down to the wine.
29in front, 27.5+ back, and Shimano STEPS in the middle. Canyon welcomes you to the e-Party with the unique Spectral:ON!
In huge news from the German direct-to-consumer brand, Canyon is launching its first e-MTB. Called the Spectral:ON, this is an e-bike that has been a long time in the making, and Canyon is very, very excited about it. We sent Dean over to the launch…
Review: Merida One-Sixty 7000
The One-Sixty is Merida’s longest travel full suspension bike, with 160mm of rear travel and a 170mm travel fork. Designed as a big, burly all-mountain rig made for going down steep and rough things very fast, we put the One-Sixty test bike into the paws…
Review: Genesis Longitude – big adventures and a small price tag?
A bike that might just have you heading over the hills and far away
Review: 2018 Trek Slash 9.7 – it flatters you into thinking you’re a riding god!
If you get your kicks from heading downhill over rough terrain as quickly as possible, then the Trek Slash simply has to be at the top of your shopping list.
We Test & Review 3 Alloy Full Suspension Bikes That Prove Carbon Isn’t The Be-All, And End-All
Barney sets out to test three bikes made of metal, not plastic
Review: The £2199 YT Jeffsy AL One 29 Is One Of The Best Value Trail Bikes We’ve Ever Tested
The build kit on this bike is insanely good for the money
Who Needs Carbon? We Test & Review The 2018 Santa Cruz Tallboy Alloy R
Santa Cruz is best known for its carbon bling-wagons, but it makes bloody brilliant alloy frames too
Review: The 2018 Norco Sight A2 29er Shows Just How Good Alloy Mountain Bikes Can Be
Barney gives us his review of the alloy version of the 2018 Norco Sight 29er
Review: The Pace RC127+ Is A Steel Hardtail Designed Around New-School 2.6in Tyres
Yorkshire born and tested, we put the Pace RC127+ through its paces. Sorry.
The Be Cool Edition – We Test & Review The 2018 Rocky Mountain Instinct BC Edition
The BC Edition of the Rocky Mountain Instinct is the longest travel 29er from the Canadian brand. But is it too much bike? Antony gives us the lowdown
Battle of the e-MTBs: Focus Jam2 VS Specialized Turbo Levo
Mark puts two of the best e-MTBs against each other to see which one is the best
Titanium Frame + Pinion Gearbox + Belt Drive = The Ultimate Adventure Hardtail?
Pilot Cycles has combined a Dutch-made titanium frame with a German-made Pinion gearbox and a belt drive to create the ultimate low-maintenance hardtail.