A few years ago we wouldn’t have dreamt that Intense would build an eBike, but they have and judging by the fact that Intense’s head honcho, Jeff Steber managed to leak every stage of development on to his personal Instagram shows just how excited the…
Longterm Review: 2019 Scott Ransom 900 Tuned
It’s been three months since we first got our hands on the brand new Scott Ransom. Fully redesigned for 2019 and beyond, the Ransom glides into the Scott lineup as the bigger and brawnier brother to the Genius. Equipped with no less than 170mm of…
Video: On Her Terms – Manon Carpenter moves on from gnar to geek
This video contains all the usual mountain bike cliches – slo-mo action of tyres kicking up stones, unfeasible wrestling of bars from side to side on climbs, ‘casual’ standing around gazing at views… you get the idea. But what’s a breath of fresh air in…
Review | Vittoria Air-Liner Tubeless Tyre Inserts provide maximum fit-and-forget protection
Tubeless tyre inserts claim to offer additional protection for your mountain bike rim, so you can run lower tyre pressures for improved traction. The Vittoria Air-Liner is one of the newest on the market, so we got our local rim-dinger, David Hayward, to put them…
Video: Danny MacAskill Game of Bike – Which Trick Could You Do?
There’s a new video from Dany MacAskill, which has prompted some surprising reactions in the office. Chipps – not known for airtime and tricks – may be getting rad out in the slickrock of Moab, because he said: ‘It’s rather good – and not uber…
Review: Canyon Spectral WMN AL 6.0
Canyon released the new women’s specific Spectral trail bike earlier this year, and it features a unique frame, suspension design and geometry. But how different is the women’s Spectral to the unisex version? We got one in for our speedy tester Rachel Sokal to find…
A Day With Charlie Kelly, Godfather of Mountain Biking
The railing moves, or maybe the pavement is narrower than last time I passed. My bar clips the safety barrier and I’m catapulted off the bike and onto the grassy bank on the other side. I lie, laughing and staring up at the moons. It’s…
Interview: Tom Ritchey – The man behind the ‘tache.
This article was originally published in Issue 110 of Singletrack Magazine. We chat to (and ride with) this iconic framebuilder, product designer, owner and boss of Ritchey Components during his whirlwind visit to the UK. I’m at the Bicycle Academy in Frome, Somerset, and someone…
First Look: Kingdom Vendetta X2. Versatile Titanium Hardtail On Test
The 3rd bike in our upcoming Ti Hard, Titanium hardtail magazine bike test is this Kingdom Vendetta X2, custom built with matching orange decals and pre-production titanium stem. Kingdom makes a range of hardtail and full-suspension Titanium bikes, all hand welded and left in a…
Chill out everyone, Fresh Goods Friday 420 is here
50% of the editorial team are on holiday. Only 50% of that 50% are enjoying themselves… Meanwhile in the office, there’s an abundance of fancy coffee and a carrot cake on the table. The office dog, Jess, is roughly the size of a shoe box…
Black Friday Sales Start Early! Sony Cashback, 2019 Bike Discounts And £16.99 Disc Brakes
Black Friday! Another of those ideas from across the pond that has latched itself on to us. It’s not all bad though we suppose, after all, there are plenty of good deals to be had, and when else are we likely to see a first…
2019 Pace RC529 29er Hardtails Gain As Much As 70mm In Reach Over 2018 Model!
We’re quite used to seeing companies update frames from year to year with slight geometry changes. Add a few mm to the reach, steepen the seat tube a bit, slacken the head angle a little, oh and change the colour of course! So it comes…
Not A Butcher And Not Quite A Hillbilly – Specialized Announces All-New Eliminator Tyre
We’re well and truly on our way to winter, and although the weather is turning the trails haven’t quite decided how they want to run. Somedays they run greasy and slick, then the next an afternoon of winter sun get’s them running fast and sticky…
Vitus Gets Its XC Race On With The 2019 Rapide Alloy And Rapide Carbon Range
Vitus has launched a revamped range of bikes for 2019. Some are old favourites with a few choice updates, while others are completely new models. For its XC range, we have a mix of familiar and new. The carbon Rapide remains the flagship XC race…
Vitus Launches Fox Factory Equipped Enduro And Trail Bikes From £2999.99
If Vitus’ new alloy XC bikes aren’t your thing, then what about some new trail and enduro full-suspension bikes? And what about Fox Suspension on these bikes for the first time ever? Yup, sounds pretty good to us too. 3 bikes in the Vitus range…
2019 Vitus Range Announced – Everything from kids bikes, to Factory Enduro bikes
We’ve been through a few of the highlights of the 2019 Vitus mountain bike range here and here, but the whole range of bikes has been updated and a few new models have been introduced including 2 new kids bikes and a new women’s specific…
Latest Singletrack print issue free with any digital sub in November
Yes, that’s right. For the cost of a monthly digital subscription of just £1.99 you will get a free copy of our latest issue of Singletrack worth £6.50 absolutely free. We get that it may seem a bit weird to offer a print mag with…
Is it really that easy? A beginner’s guide to going tubeless
Produced in association with Finish Line Sealant It was quite surprising for the Singletrack team to learn that one of their own was still running inner tubes. The guilty party, having worked here for less than a year, was well aware that there are more…
Interview: Lynne Armstrong – “Watch what happens, it could be awesome”
Everyone we feature in our Inspiring Women interview series has been nominated by you, the readers. The person we have the most nominations for by far is the queen of Scottish freeride, The Clan and Air Maiden, Lynne Armstrong. And why? Over to Heather McCann…
Evans Cycles bought by Sports Direct
1st reported on Forbes by Carlton Reid today it has now been confirmed that Mike Ashley owner of giant retailer Sports Direct has aquired the 60 store chain Evans Cycles. Earlier this month Evans was in talks with Halfords after it announced it need a…
Mondraker Foxy R 29 Review – Don’t read this review if you don’t like riding fast.
I spent the first part of this year onboard the fantastic Mondraker Foxy, so when the 29er version of the same bike arrived at Singletrack Towers I was quick to claim it as my own. Would the Foxy 29er offer the same agility and stability…
‘Ard Rock Enduro Festival 2019 Dates Announced
Save the dates! The 2019 Ard Rock Enduro Festival, the winner of the Singletrack Readers Awards 2018 for best event, will take place from 2-4 August with entries for the popular event going live this Wednesday at 6:30 am. Ard Rock takes place in the stunning…
Could we all benefit from pro-level concussion protocols?
Is the UCI doing enough to protect athletes from their own enthusiasm after a head injury?
Sign This Petition To Save Wharncliffe Trails
The unofficial trails around Wharncliffe have come under threat recently as the Forestry Commission considers the destruction of the locally made features. Wharncliffe Woods has become a popular spot for mountain bikers over the years and is the regular playground of Josh ‘Ratboy’ Bryceland and…
Helmet Review: Bontrager Rally MIPS vs Specialized Ambush
Both of these are what I'd refer to as 'trail' helmets. They're heavier than a XC race lid, though they do come with more coverage to add protection around your skull. They're designed to be goggle friendly, but neither offers a convertible chinbar, so they're…
UK Mountain Biking’s Dirty Secret
As you might already know, we had some disappointing news recently. The Welsh government looked like it was about to follow Scotland in opening up access to its amazing countryside for many more potential users. But then it quietly buried any proposals for reform. It’s…
Video: Dudes of Hazzard Muckle Day Out
Those Scottish boys, the Dudes of Hazzard, have been up to things again – riding bikes in ways that make the rest of us sigh. At least they look a bit cold and uncomfortable for some of it, making this video just a bit more…
Review: X-Fusion Trace 36 Fork – A big fork to take on the big hitters
New for this year, the Trace 36 is X-Fusions’s top end, big wheeled enduro fork, aimed at the influx of long travel, hard hitting big wheeled bikes that have become prevalent in the past 12 months, and has been designed to take on the big…
Don’t Skewer Yourself With A GoPro – Camelbak Sternum Protector Review
I’ll make a bet. If you were drawing up a shopping list for new bits of body armour right now, I reckon it’d be highly unlikely that you’d have ‘sternum protector’ written down on that post-it note. (If you’re the one person who did have that written…
Fresh Goods 419: A Sensible Steel Hardtail, 2 High-Tech Action Cameras, Vampire Blood, And Hannah’s Feet.
Sometimes it really is difficult to think of a good intro for Fresh Goods Friday. We sit at our computers looking at our screens blankly, waiting for a bolt of inspiration to hit. This bolt can come from anything, a flashback, a comment or simply…
Mondraker’s All New Level Is Almost An e-MTB Version Of The Foxy 29
While some bike brands are happy to release e-MTB alternatives to current models, Mondraker develops and names its e-MTB separately from its non-e-bike ranges. So when we looked over the specs of the latest Mondraker e-MTB we instantly thought “surely this bike should be the…
Review: Brother Cycles Big Bro – For long and short adventures
There’s something very exciting about getting a new adventure bike out of the box for the first time. With a trail bike, you kind of know what you’re going to get, with most models following a well tried and tested formula of frame, wheels of…
Reinventing Suspension: We Ride The New Trust Performance Message Fork
Launched today is the Trust Performance Message, a pivoting fork that will change the look of front suspension, and improve your ride. We’re one of just three publications to get an early look at and ride on this brand new fork from three of the bike…
Bike Check: George Thompson’s Geometron G18 29er
George Thompson, ‘award winning’ writer of #MakingUpTheNumbers, joined us at the Singletrack Trade Day for a bit of a ride out in the Calderdale sun. He brought with him what might be the biggest bike we’ve ever seen – but then he might be the…
Singletrack Life Subscribers Private Whisky Riders Bottle Charity Auction
As we explained here, we have three ‘spare’ bottles of this exceptionally rare single malt ‘Laddie’ whisky. We’ve already raised over £1600 with the first two and now we are offering the third and final bottle to you, our similarly rare life subscribers. All you have…
Review: Curtis AM7 – Not just a pretty face, pretty fast too.
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…
First Look: Insta360 One X. A GoPro Killer?
Insta360 is a “new school” action camera maker, who rather than simply makes an alternative to a GoPro, has looked at the idea of an action camera from a totally new perspective to bring something new to our action video experience. The clue is in…
Tested: 5 Cheap Upgrades For Your Mountain Bike You Didn’t Know You Needed
Here are five little upgrades that I've been using on my test bikes over the past year, all of which cost less than 20 quid.
Video: A Slice Of Ariégeoise Pie
We not sure how to say it. Ariégeoise. Ar-ee-ay-jwaz? We’ve googled it, it’s in the Pyrenees, on the border with Andorra – which is of course the home of Commençal. It looks like it’s fun to ride there – though we’d be sure to take…
Don’t Bonk! 5 Nutrition Products For Your Next Riding Trip
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been travelling around parts of Europe on a road trip to check out some absolutely mint riding destinations, such as Punta Ala, Finale Ligure and Molini in Italy, and Alicante, Sierra Nevada and Malaga in Spain (sorry). My wife…
Video: Buying A Mountain Bike, Buying A Lifestyle
If you’ve stumbled onto this looking for genuine advice on how to go about buying your first mountain bike, you should probably go and read the reviews section of our website, because this video is not going to help you. It might still be wise…
Bike Check: Paul Byrom’s Kingdom Vendetta XFS 29
Before the Singletrack Reader Awards kicked off last week, we had a Trade Day ride out, where loads of our friends from the bike industry join us for an actual ride. It might come as a surprise (and something of a disappointment) to you that…
The Winners! Singletrack Reader Awards 2018
Nominated and voted for by you, our readers, the votes have been counted and the winners have been revealed at our star studded awards ceremony. There were definitely more flannel shirts than sequins on display, but as usual Chipps made up for the lack of…
First Look: Calibre Bikes Astronut A.K.A The Midlife Crisis Machine
Some people buy funny shirts, or a custom guitar, some people even buy impractical sports cars, but not us! No, for our mid-life crisis we’ve gone for a dirt jump bike, because why not! Actually, we have to get a few things straight first: We’re…
Don’t Speak Too Loudly We’re All Hungover – Fresh Goods Friday 418
Thursday was a big old day for the Singletrack Team and indeed for the whole cycling industry for it was the 2018 Singletrack Readers’ Awards. We had bike riding, bants and beer, lots and lots of beer, and more beer. It was a great day…
Review of the Highway Code will improve safety for cyclists
Even the purest of mountain bikers amongst us will occasionally venture onto tarmac, even if it’s only to get out the trail centre car park or onto the next bridleway. Today the Government has announced that there will be a review of the Highway Code…
Nukeproof Dives Into 2019 With Range Update
Today sees the launch of a 2019 ‘range update’ from Nukeproof Bikes. Although there isn’t anything glaringly new in the line up, there are a few tweaks and alterations to what we already know from the Northern Ireland based brand. Similar to Ross’ story from…
Identiti Dr Jekyll Returns 2 Decades After The Original
If you have been riding for as long as we have then it’s highly likely that you’ll remember the original Identiti Dr Jekyll. Back in 1998, this overbuilt dirt jumper was the stuff of dreams for many riders. It featured tough 24inch Halo wheels, a…
BikeYoke Releases Superlight And Hacksaw Compatible Divine SL Dropper Post
German component maker, BikeYoke, has developed a new dropper post to add to its range of posts. The new dropper is aimed at XC racers, has 80mm of drop and weighs as little as 345g when adjusted to suit your bike. Over the past couple…
First Look: Nordest Bardino Ti Prototype A “Fast And Silent” Enduro Hardtail From Tenerife
Nordest is based in Tenerife (lucky so and so’s) so it makes bikes that suit the rocky, volcanic trails they have on the sun-kissed island. The current range includes a host of hardtail frames ranging from the all steel Sardinha frame, the more aggressive steel…
Flying the flag for British design – a visit to Ison Distribution – Part 2 – Halo wheels.
Flying the flag for British design - a visit to Ison Distribution - Part 2 - Halo wheels.