“Many, many years you will be enjoying the magical riding qualities of your handcrafted, high grade titanium frame”, it says on the Pilot website. My own personal experience of titanium frames is that I’m yet to ride one that’s ‘magical’ but I can say with…
Review
Review: Maxxis Minion DHR II 2.4 WT DoubleDown Tyre
Maxxis has a growing range of Wide Trail (WT) mountain bike tyres, including several options with the more robust Double Down casing. To make sense of the range, we gathered the Aggressor, Minion DHF, Minion DHR II and Shorty in their respective WT Double Down…
Review: Maxxis Minion DHF 2.5 WT DoubleDown Tyre
Maxxis has a growing range of Wide Trail (WT) mountain bike tyres, including several options with the more robust Double Down casing. To make sense of the range, we gathered the Aggressor, Minion DHF, Minion DHR II and Shorty in their respective WT Double Down…
Review: Maxxis Aggressor 2.5in WT DoubleDown Tyre
Maxxis has a growing range of Wide Trail (WT) mountain bike tyres, including several options with the more robust DoubleDown casing. To make sense of the range, we gathered the Aggressor, Minion DHF, Minion DHR II and Shorty in their respective WT DoubleDown outfits, and…
Review: Scott’s MTB Lace Comp Shoes – lace-up style and adjustability, for £79
Scott is well known for making quality bikes across the MTB spectrum, from Nino Schurter’s multiple World Championship wining Scale to Brendan Fairclough’s Gambler. However, the Swiss brand may not be as well known for producing a wide range of biking accessories and clothing too. Recently…
Review: The PUSH Elevensix Coil Shock – Two shocks for the price of three, but worth it?
Coil suspension is pretty hot right now, and it doesn’t get much hotter than the uber-expensive Elevensix coil shock from PUSH Industries. Our resident Tweed Valley tester Tom has been hammering this exotic coil shock for the past six months. Over to Tom for the…
Review: Scott MTB AR BOA – Clip-In Shoes With Flat Benefits
Scott is well known for making quality bikes across the MTB spectrum, from Nino Schurter’s multiple World Championship wining Scale to Brendan Fairclough’s Gambler. However, the Swiss brand may not be as well known for producing a wide range of biking accessories and clothing too. Recently…
Review: The ShredMate Computer lets you know how rad (or not) you really are…
ShredMate recently introduced a GPS sensor designed for your mountain bike, but as it turns out, this ain’t no ordinary trip computer. As well as recording your riding speed, distance and route, the ShredMate will also tell you how hard you were railing a berm,…
First Ride Review: Santa Cruz Chameleon C SE 29 Reserve
There can’t be many models of mountain bike out there which can claim to have the longevity of the Santa Cruz Chameleon. It’s been around since 1996, when it burst onto the scene as one of a small handful of hard-hitting hardtails, boasting the capability…
Review: The Magura HC 1 – Finger Brake Levers Change The Way Your Brakes Feel
A lever blade may seem like an odd thing to review, but as one of the contact points for your bike, it’s important. Magura started offering these single finger HC levers as an upgrade a few years ago, over the (at the time) stock two-finger…
First Ride Review: Islabike Jimi – A Mountain Bike For Those Who Refuse To Grow Old
Islabikes is best known for making good quality children’s bikes. Owner, Isla Rowntree, developed the children’s bike range when she found her friends’ children needed bikes, but that there wasn’t anything out there that met their needs. A similar desire to meet an unmet need…
Review | Panzer Rim Protection takes on the big guns of the tubeless tyre insert world
Tubeless tyre inserts claim to offer additional protection for your mountain bike rim, so you can run lower tyre pressures for improved traction. The Panzer insert is one of the latest to arrive on the market, so we got our local rim-dinger, David Hayward, to…
3 Consumer-Direct Mountain Bikes Tested & Reviewed
With more and more brands selling complete mountain bikes direct to consumer, we decided to check out three of the latest options from Intense, Bird, and Sonder, to put each brand’s service – and bikes – to the test. Over to James Vincent for the…
Review: The UK-designed Sonder Evol aims to deliver maximum grins-per-mile
With more and more brands selling complete mountain bikes direct to consumer, we decided to check out three of the latest options from Intense, Bird, and Sonder, to put each brand’s service – and bikes – to the test. Over to James Vincent for the…
Review: The Intense Primer Expert comes with extra enthusiasm as standard
With more and more brands selling complete mountain bikes direct to consumer, we decided to check out three of the latest options from Intense, Bird, and Sonder, to put each brand’s service – and bikes – to the test. Over to James Vincent for the…
Review: The Bird Aeris 145 GX Eagle is uber-long and uber-fast
With more and more brands selling complete mountain bikes direct to consumer, we decided to check out three of the latest options from Intense, Bird, and Sonder, to put each brand’s service – and bikes – to the test. Over to James Vincent for the…
Review |Canyon Lux CF SL 8.0 Pro Race – Mile-Muncher For Mortals
The Lux isn’t just Canyon’s latest XC ripper – it’s also the lightest and most advanced full suspension race bike that the German brand has ever produced. We put one into the hands of our tame XC/marathon masochist, Daz, to see if this German lightweight…
The Polaris Aquanought Hydration backpack is ready to face the filth
Winter in the UK can be a problematic time to ride a bike. The daylight seems to last for an hour or two at most, the temperature has plummeted, and then there’s the rain. My god, the rain. Not only are there weeks here when…
2019 Canyon Strive First Ride Impressions with Shapeshifter 2.0
To say I was surprised when I laid eyes on the 2019 Strive is an understatement. Of course, we’d had an inkling that we would be meeting the updated Strive in Malaga, but this is not at all what we were expecting. Since the release…
Review: The Cane Creek Helm Coil Fork – Is it better than the Helm Air?
Shortly after releasing its very first mountain bike suspension fork, the Helm, US brand Cane Creek brought out a coil-sprung version. And having amassed no fewer than 7 months of test time aboard this long travel, coil-sprung fork, David Hayward is ready to deliver his…
YT Jeffsy CF 29 Pro Race 2019 – First Ride Review
It’s the first few minutes of a bike launch and I’m having to try quite hard not to weep. The scepticism brought about by predictably dramatic music, followed by an unexpected big name actor are gone. Instead I’m lost in wonder at how the copywriter…
Top 10 Most Read Singletrack Reviews Of 2018, And Number 1 Isn’t an eBike
Last year was pretty full-on for reviews. We tested some of the hottest bikes on the market, both standard and e-MTB types (GASP!), we reviewed the latest clothing, accessories, brakes, forks, protection, glasses, and there was even a 1000 word review all about a towel (or…
Review: PNW Component’s Loam Lever Upgrades Your ‘Good’ Dropper Post To a ‘Great’ One
We’re a varied bunch here at Singletrack Towers. We have riders who prefer carbon and others who prefer steel. Some of us ride on flat pedals and others ride clipped in. There are even riders in the office who don’t have any suspension at all!…
Chrome Barrage Cargo Backpack – For Commuters With a Heavy Load
Well what a deceiving pack this one is. I wasn’t supposed to be testing this Chrome Barrage Cargo backpack, it was sent in for Chipps, but late one day in the depths of winter I found myself needing to ride home with a lot more…
Review: With a 120mm fork, the Santa Cruz Blur is a pocket rocket trail bike
As far as contemporary XC bikes go, the latest generation Blur from Santa Cruz Bicycles ticks a lot of boxes. Plugging an important gap that the Tallboy left behind as it steadily morphed into a trail bike, the new Blur (also known as the ‘Blur…
Review: The Fix It Sticks Mountain Kit brings shop tool functionality to the trail
Having launched a wildly popular Kickstarter campaign way back in 2013, Fix It Sticks went on to successfully bring its clever modular tool system into a market that, up until then, had otherwise been dominated by the standard flip-out multi-tools we’re all familiar with. For…
Review: Are the Rotor 2INPower MTB Cranks worth £999?
For many mountain bikers, the mere mention of ‘power meters’ is enough to make our eyes glaze over. As Rachel Sokal discovered though, there’s a bit more to these 2INPower cranks from Rotor. It might be a bit odd to start a review of the…
Review: 2018 Cube Reaction TM – a ready to roll package
Cube has a reputation for well priced bikes – you get a decent amount of bike for your money. It’s a brand you’ll find in many a local bike shop, and as a result you’ll probably see a decent number of them out on the…
Review: Hayes’ new Dominion A4 may just be some of the best 4-piston disc brakes we’ve tested
Hayes recently debuted a brand new hydraulic disc brake called the Dominion A4. Designed as a powerful 4-piston disc brake for trail, enduro, downhill and e-MTB use, the Dominion A4 is an absolutely crucial product for the Hayes Components group. To see whether the Dominion…
Review: The All City Electric Queen Puts The ‘Oh!’ In Retro
An exercise in style over substance, or a capable trail bike
Packing Light – 12 Minimalist Packs Tested & Reviewed
Not everyone wants to ride with a big ‘n’ heavy backpack, so we’ve been testing a variety of different options for the minimalist mountain bikers out there, including waist packs, frame bags and mini-packs. Words Antony de Heveningham Photography Amanda Mountain biking packs are a bit of…
4 Mini-Backpacks Tested & Reviewed For The Minimalist Mountain Biker
Not everyone wants to ride with a big ‘n’ heavy backpack, so we’ve been testing a variety of different options for the minimalist mountain bikers out there, waist packs, frame bags and mini-packs. Here, we have the micro-packs – basically, a backpack, only smaller. These strip…
Get that weight off your back and down low on the bike – We test & review 4 frame bags
Not everyone wants to ride with a big ‘n’ heavy backpack, so we’ve been testing a variety of different options for the minimalist mountain bikers out there, including waist packs, frame bags and mini-packs. Here Antony takes us through four different frame bags. Over to Antony!…
4 Waist Packs Tested & Reviewed
Not everyone wants to ride with a big 'n' heavy backpack, so we've been testing a variety of different options for the minimalist mountain bikers out there, including waist packs, frame bags and mini-packs. Here Antony takes us through four different waist packs (aka: bum bags/fanny…
Unsprung Heroes – 3 Fully Rigid Bikes Tested & Reviewed
Chipps rides three fully rigid bikes from Kona, Pinnacle and Surly. Words Chipps Photography James Vincent I always like to wear a watch. I’m lost without one and don’t like to rely on my phone for the time as I like that to be out of…
Review: Surly you can’t have fun without suspension? We test the fully rigid ECR
Surly has always been individual and self-confident in its outlook. From pioneering the first production singlespeed (the 1×1, which pre-dated even Kona’s Unit and the On One Inbred) to popularising one of the first 29ers (2001’s Karate Monkey), Surly has always been focused on…
Review: Blue Flow BF37/31 All Mountain Carbon Wheels
Rachel’s been testing some value-oriented carbon mountain bike wheels from a UK-based company called Blue Flow Wheels. How did they hold up? Over to Rachel for the review! I first came across Blue Flow when researching carbon wheel crash replacement schemes (see our ‘Ten Best…
Review: After a playful bargain? The Pinnacle Ramin 3 Plus might be the bike for you
Pinnacle is the house-brand of retail giant, Evans Cycles, but the range is way more than a selection of rebadged catalogue bikes. The brand’s bike designer James Olsen has a long pedigree in the UK bike industry and is one of those designers who likes…
Review: Formula’s compressible Neopos spacers change the way your air fork works
Ever since RockShox brought its Bottomless Token system to market in 2014 alongside the re-release of the Pike, more riders have been considering air spring volume as a legitimate way of tuning their suspension.
Review: Kona’s Unit X is like a singlespeed, but with 10 more gears?
The Kona Unit has a long history, from a Canadian company with an equally deep heritage. While Kona celebrates its 30th birthday in 2018, the Unit name dates back at least half that. The Unit was (and still is) Kona’s cross-country singlespeed bike. Affordable and…
Review: The ODI F-1 Float & Vapor grips might just be the perfect option for British XC riders
Ah, the modest grip. It’s probably one of the cheapest parts on your bike and likely one of the most overlooked. But given a pair are responsible for 40% of the contact points between you and your two-wheeled machine, they’re something that we could all…
Review: 45nrth Ragnarök Winter Shoe – For Cosy Toes
Winter’s back! Rejoice! I’m pretty sure everyone, like me, was a bit bored of the ridiculously long and hot summer we were subjected to by the time September hit. Thankfully those long, hot, blue sky days, dusty trails and clean bikes are but a fleeting…
First Ride: We Test The Brand New 2019 Canyon Neuron CF
For those who were taking notice, you’ll remember that a short while ago we reported that German direct sales giant, Canyon, had quietly released an updated 2019 version of the Neuron AL with a minimum of fuss or fanfare. It was with some interest then that…
Review: The brand new 29×2.6in Maxxis Minion DHF is an absolute monster of a tyre
The Minion DHF may be a classic tyre for Maxxis, but this 29×2.6in size is brand spanking new. In fact it’s so fresh, that it isn’t even on the Maxxis website yet. They are on the way though – stock is due to arrive in…
Reviewed & Recommended: Push Industries ACS3 Fork Coil Spring Conversion Kit
Push Industries is a US manufacturer that specialises in producing high-end suspension components and upgrades for existing forks and shocks. The ACS3 Fork Coil Conversion kit is one of its newest products, and as the name implies, it’s designed to turn your air-sprung fork into…
Reviewed: Endura MT500 Plus Flat Pedal Overshoes – Come with a free yoga workout before every ride.
It is one of the great mysteries of the mountain biking world: why are there no flat pedal deep winter boots? In recent years we have seem some efforts at warmer shoes, or even waterproof hi-tops, but we’ve yet to experience some true winter boots…
Review: Can DT Swiss unseat Fox & RockShox? The new F 535 ONE fork may do just that
As good as it gets? Not far off – DT Swiss is back and has Fox and Rock Shox in its sights.
Review: The Specialized Stumpjumper Expert Carbon 29 rides well beyond its spec sheet
Earlier this year Wil had the pleasure of heading out to Spain for the launch of the new Specialized Stumpjumpers. We’ve now had the Stumpjumper ST Comp Carbon 29 (130/120mm) and Stumpjumper Expert Carbon 29 (150/140mm) back on test to see how they perform on…
Review: The Specialized Stumpjumper ST Comp Carbon 29 may be shorter on travel, but it ain’t short on fun
Earlier this year Wil had the pleasure of heading out to Spain for the launch of the new Specialized Stumpjumpers. We’ve now had the Stumpjumper ST Comp Carbon 29 (130/120mm) and Stumpjumper Expert Carbon 29 (150/140mm) back on test to see how they perform on…
Review: Ulefone Armor 5, Flagship Features And Rugged Body On A Budget.
In a world of £1000 smartphones, it's nice to sometimes come across a device that doesn't cost a small fortune yet does come with features that those eye-catching flagships shout about. We're talking things like dual cameras, full-screen displays, large batteries, fast charging e.t.c.
Review: Sixpack Racing goes straight after Shimano with the Vertic Trail SPD pedals
Sixpack Racing is known for its high-quality flat pedals, but earlier this year it released the affordably-priced Vertic Trail pedal to cater for clip-in riders too. We got a set out to Julia Hobson – an experienced mountain bike guide who churns out the miles…