Column

Why are people riding drop handlebars off-road? To answer that, let’s first ask ‘why are people riding drop handlebars on-road?’

Tom Simpson is a bike mechanic with a big attitude and a bigger hammer. This issue, electric shifting is on the Anvil of Grump.

Hannah imagines a world without riding. Can you bear it?

Hannah wants bike races to involve fewer clipboards and more pallets.

Benji invites you to celebrate soil, in (almost) all its forms.

Hannah thinks there's more to mountain biking than thrills

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. I do not wear a tinfoil beanie. I have all of the vaccinations. I like…

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.

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 few short years ago, the mountain biking public was hopeful that it would soon be…

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 be the motivator for a bike ride. Café rides are characterised by the destination being…

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 room of our apartment. Other kids’ parents were dodging Jurassic Park figures and pieces of…

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 designers about designing mountain bike gear that only works in hot, dry lands, as they clearly have no…

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 few of the behind the scene stories from the years from some of the team…

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 those first rides. Was there a definite line crossed where ‘riding a bike’ became ‘mountain biking’?…

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 of funtime trail riders, everyone should be able to get behind the following words. Essentially,…

Is Ian ‘@hardtail_only’ Storer trapped in the past or revelling in his eternal youth?

Benji brings you the details of his hard worn – and almost worn out – bike testing set-up. What’s he using and why?

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 that suits them in the moment, and following a vague plan to ultimately arrive at…

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 challenging. My rear tyre skids along a tree root before finding purchase in the damp,…

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 came out since the turn of the millennium. Also, I’d like to say that I…

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 does. My reasons for doing it are varied – persistent poor weather, a lack of…

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 without it? Did love hit you, or creep up on you? The feeling of giggling like…

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 trip for weeks. It’s complicated. Ten riders need to converge in Squamish, BC, on the…

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, but I wasn’t intending to be slow either. I was trying to go as fast…

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 you can take not two, or three, but four great things, and orgy them together…

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 you remember your first off-road ride? Of course you do. Those tend to be burned…

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 bike without a trail. Without trails, it’s road riding, or perhaps hippity-hoppity trials. It’s just…

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. Then pretended that was my normal pace, and I was not trying to beat someone…