First published in Singletrack Magazine Issue 134. It’s been a ‘special’ year, for sure, but the sun has continued to come up and bikes have still bee …

By mark

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Editor’s Choice Awards 2020 – Mark’s Picks

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Been running an X-fusion Manic on my Hardtail all year, I think I prefer it to the Transfer on my other bike. Good kit.

Specialized have got form with the accessible suspension bike stuff too – remember the Specialized Pitch?

And even further – the original Big Hit – remember when that was launched and you could buy the frame only in brown, for about £650? They were everywhere!

This might be controversial, but I was reading the same article in my physical copy of ST mag this morning and guess what, I actually much prefer the pictures replicated online. The picture of Mark airborne in the mag doesn’t appear to give the same depth of field, or something… (I’m not a photographer). I don’t know what it is but the colours and vibrancy just do not look as good as the online pics above. There, I’ve said it..

Still love a physical magazine BTW, but now slightly miffed that the pics (to my eyes) are not as ‘good’.

Specialized have had a good record of releasing a really good budget option. As said above there was the Big Hit (original and later version), the Pitch and the original Status.

If I was in the market for a park bike this would be right up there, especially as like most people I have a small collection of nice bars, stems, cranks and wheel set that I could easily swap over to save weight, etc.

Re. the photographs, print or on-line versions – it’s the difference between looking at a print or a projected transparency.
The print relies on the reflectivity of the paper that it’s printed on whereas the on-line version is, like a transparency, back-lit.