Why are people riding drop handlebars off-road? To answer that, let’s first ask ‘why are people riding drop handlebars on-road?’
Column
Singletrack Issue 163: Mumblings from a bike mechanic
Tom Simpson is a bike mechanic with a big attitude and a bigger hammer. This issue, electric shifting is on the Anvil of Grump.
What Happens After Bikes – photo gallery
Bonus imagery from David 'The Gnome' Herbold who found himself jobless, homeless, but still riding a bike.
Wacky Races – photo gallery
Bonus Bespoked backyard jamming, we want bike races to involve fewer clipboards and more pallets!
Issue 161: An Englishman On New Dirt
Benji invites you to celebrate soil, in (almost) all its forms.
Issue 160: Last Word – Digital Dependency
Should ‘ready to ride’ mean more than just having a charged phone?
Issue 159: Where are we going (with geometry, that is)?
Benji opines on what is right and wrong with the world of mountain bikes right now.
Issue 159: Last Word – It’s my birthday and I’ll fly if I want to
Hannah’s nerves age a little as her husband chases youth
Islands In The Mud
You know how there are islands in the Galapagos where there’s a finch that’s perfectly adapted to eat just that one seed that grows on that one island? And then…
Issue 158 – Last Word: Going Nowhere, Getting Somewhere
Hannah suggests we don’t need miles of new trails to become better riders. When it comes to bike infrastructure and mountain biking facilities we usually think of new trails. Perhaps…
How to Thrive, not just Survive, this winter
Benji adopts the slithery path to zen in the darker months Acceptance. Acceptance and change. That, to me, is the key to getting through winter. If done correctly, winter can…
Issue 157 – Better With Friends
Is mountain biking something best done as a group, or is there a certain singularity of experience to be had in the solo ride? Chipps and Hannah try to see…
Issue 157 Last Word – Catastrophe!157
After a dozen years of incident-free mountain biking, luck ran out for my wife in October and she found her foot pointing sideways after an innocuous slide-out into a gravel…
Issue 156 – No place for science
Put down your calculators and pick up your pitchforks, because Benji has ideas about where you can stick your science… Despite what this article is called, I am not anti-science.…
Before the Party’s Over
Mountain biking is getting old. It might be time to sit down and talk to our elders. Words Hannah, Illustration James Vincent Remember when you were a kid and every…
Issue 156 Last Word: Know Your Frenemy
Hannah Discovers the impact of mountain bike injuries on your trails and explores how a favorite trail can turn into a nemesis and the challenges it brings.
Bike Check: ICE Trikes Adventure Trike
Accessibility off-road doesn’t need to mean flat or easy, and challenges are not always physical. Vicky goes on a family ride that makes her rethink her understanding of accessible adventures,…
Debate: Is It Even Mountain Biking?
As part of a new head-to-head debate series, Hannah and Chipps agree to disagree on what constitutes ‘mountain biking’ and, by extension, on what should appear in this magazine. We’ve…
The 502 Club: Special Notice of Appreciation
We wouldn’t be here without any of you and you’re all special, but the folks listed here are particularly special. Thank you to everyone who joined the 502 Club and…
Last Word: Choose Your Own Adventures
Hannah thinks there is much to be said for planning adventures. A friend of mine has just bought a tent. It is a lightweight single-person tent of the type you could…
Issue 154: Tech That Should Have Stuck Around
Benji dons possibly rose-tinted spectacles and brings us the technology that he thinks has fallen undeservedly out of fashion. Inverted forks Kicking things off with a real doozy. What are…
Issue 154 Column: Riding By Numbers
Are you beating the clock or beating yourself up? Vicky struggles to get into a healthy race mindset. Words by Vicky Balfour Trudging along, pushing our bikes up a narrow,…
Issue 154 Last Word: Schrödinger’s Stans Monsters
Chipps gets existential in his tyre swapping. Perhaps those new tyres you had on backorder have finally come in, or you’re simply putting in that pre-summer maintenance where you swap…
Issue 153 Last Word: Weights and Measures
Hannah proposes a new system of measurement, putting quality over quantity. Miles covered and feet gained seem to me an inadequate measure of mountain biking. Kilometres and metres likewise. Hours…
Issue 152 Last Word: Start Something
Hannah says just get started. It doesn’t matter where you finish.
Singletrack Issue 151: Ydyn ni bron yna?
Chipps wonders what happened to the Welsh Government’s promises for a more accessible outdoors for all. Words Chipps Photography Amanda *Ydyn ni bron yna? = Are we almost there? A…
Singletrack Issue 151: I ❤️ My Night Riding Gear
Hannah brings you the clothing and hardware that keeps her spinning through the long winter evenings. Words Hannah Photography Amanda Night riding… it’s something of a necessary evil in the…
Singletrack Issue 151 Last Word: Favourite Meal
Amanda recalls a favourite, awful, meal. Food is a very important part of riding bikes. Not only for the basic fact of us needing the fuel, but it often can…
Issue 150: A Few Feet Away
Anders measures the gaps between doubts, dreams and delivery. Words & Illustrations Anders Engberg When I was five years old my dad built a 25ft sailing catamaran in the living…
Issue 150: Chipps’ Summer Ridewear
Chipps gives his top kit tips for those summer weeks (or foreign trips) where the temperatures hit ‘scorchio’ and beyond. I’ve had a long-running debate with American (mostly Californian and Coloradan) bike, clothing and shoe…
Singletrack World Issue 150 Celebration
It’s not always new tyres and perfect corners, OK? Singletrack World Magazine is 150 issues old. That’s no mean feat, and we wanted to celebrate it by bringing you a…
Issue 150 Last Word: How did we get here?
In his Editorial, Chipps says you don’t ‘do mountain biking’, you just ‘are a mountain biker’. I wonder though, how many of you thought you were becoming mountain bikers on…
I ❤️ My: All-Season Ridewear
Amanda shares with us the kit that gets her through ride after ride, day after day, through all the seasons. I’m a big fan of layering and I like to…
Column: Weight For It
Benji argues that weight does matter (but not much). The following column will hopefully unite the warring tribes in mountain biking. From the weeniest of weight watchers, to the whatever-est…
Last Word: Riding with Dinosaurs
Is Ian ‘@hardtail_only’ Storer trapped in the past or revelling in his eternal youth?
I ❤️ Love My… Bike Reviewing Kit
Benji brings you the details of his hard worn – and almost worn out – bike testing set-up. What’s he using and why?
Issue 148 Last Word: Pizza Tokens
Amanda discovers that engineers don’t necessarily make great meal planners. Words & doodles Amanda When you think of bikepacking, you may imagine adventurous riders following their noses, taking the turn…
Issue 147: Vinegar and Brown Paper
A nasty crash has Chad Bean looking at his local trails from a new perspective. Autumn is upon us, and the routes through the woods today feel damper, darker, more…
Issue 147: Column: What New Standards Have Been Worth It?
Maybe don’t go to the pub with Benji if you’re a bike industry engineer… Words: Benji When I say ‘new’ I’m going to be talking about any standard that…
I ❤️ Love My… Indoor Training Set Up
Amanda brings you the details of her finely tuned indoor training set up. What’s she using and why? I do not enjoy indoor training, but I’m not convinced that anyone…
Issue 147: Last Word: Feel The Love
Hannah goes head over heels… in a good way. Was it an instant thunderclap of ‘this is it’, or a slow burn realisation that you were happy and you couldn’t imagine life…
Issue 146: House of Cards
By Tim Wild Every adventure starts somewhere. Tim Wild’s BC trip starts here, with a prologue to the main feature. I’ve been obsessing over the logistics of this British Columbia…
Singletrack Magazine Issue 146: A Flying Start
Hannah thinks she’s discovered why mountain biking is fun: it’s because it started that way. “I didn’t realise you were trying to go fast.” I wasn’t trying to go fast,…
Issue 146: Singletrack World Kitchen: Bacon Jam Recipe
Charlie whips up something that sounds wrong, but tastes right. Especially after a few miles on the bike. Bloody Brilliant Bacon Jam. Words Charlie Photography Amanda Imagine a world where…
Issue 146: In Praise of Petrichor
Mountain biking smells aren’t just of damp shoes and disappointment. There’s joy to be found in the company of a good trail nose. Words by Chipps, photography by Mark Do…
Issue 146: Last Word: Mountain Biking Soup
If Hannah has you over for tea, don’t eat the soup… Trails are the onions of mountain biking. You can’t make soup without an onion, just as you can’t mountain…
Singletrack World Issue 145: Last Word – Take a load off
Adam Batty ponders the importance of the humble bench. From a bench. Words & Photo: Adam Batty A Classic Bench I started to move faster as I approached the bench.…
Issue 144: Zippity Doo-Dah
Zippity Doo-Dah Chipps would like to lead you in praise of the humble cable tie. Words Chipps Photography as credited Every mountain bike guide seems to have two different tool…