Back in issue 115 of Singletrack Magazine we tested the Trickstuff Direttissima, and we were simply blown away by the amount of power the German brakes had on tap, but that wasn’t enough to keep the Trickstuff team from working on something even more powerful.…
Hayes has a new brake called the Dominion A4, and it looks superb
It’s been a little over 20 years since Hayes entered the disc brake market with the original HFX-Mag. Though there were other brands offering disc brakes at the time, it was Hayes that popularised the modern hydraulic disc brake, changing rim, fork and frame design…
Five Ten Goes Retrotastic
Looks like our Amanda might have been right with her predictions, as sticky shoe makers Five Ten has brought out some retrotastic casual shoes which bring together ’90s retro with modern technology. Harking back to the days before Five Ten made bike specific shoes, the…
More Kicks For Kids – 3 Kona Bikes For Your Offspring
We’d already seen the bikes for big kids at Sea Otter: a carbon Process 153, a Big Honzo 27.5+ hardtail, and a nice Honzo ST in a special 30th birthday limited edition. Like many other 30 year olds however, Kona has started to turn its…
Take that SRAM & Shimano – Rotor goes 1×13 with HUGE 10-52t cassette!
Rotor Components has shown off a brand new 1×13 drivetrain, which includes an enormous 10-52t cassette! SRAM already has its 12-speed Eagle groupsets with XX1, X01, GX and NX, which are built around a 10-50t cassette. Just last month, Shimano just came to market with…
Eurobike 2018 LIVE Archive: Watch all our broadcasts from the world’s largest bike show
Hannah, Amanda, Wil and Andi comprise this year’s Eurobike team out in Germany. They are writing, shooting, tweeting, ‘gramming all week. Check this page for all the latest live broadcasts the team are sending out from our Facebook page. Like and follow our page to…
Computer says yes? Lezyne has a huge new Mega GPS that boasts offline navigation and longer battery life
Lezyne has introduced two new GPS units today, both of which belong to the ‘Mega’ family and come dripping with ‘mega’ features. The two GPS units are named the Mega XL and Mega C, and as the name suggests, both are a little larger than…
What’s going to be hot this year? Here’s our 10 predictions for Eurobike 2018!
Ah, Eurobike. It’s the humongous bike show where tons of brands, media, buyers and even the public come together to check out all that is new in the bike world. It’s not just mountain bikes – there’s every sort of two wheeled pedal powered (and…
Testing Formula’s new Selva R fork and those funky Neopos volume spacers
Two years ago, Formula introduced its first Boost compatible suspension fork called the Selva. We’ve tested and reviewed one already, and it’s an absolutely brilliant fork with a tonne of adjustability. Formula is keeping that Selva in the lineup, but it’ll now be called the…
Throwback: 14 Highlights From The 2017 Eurobike Show
In less than 24 hours, the world’s biggest bicycle industry show, Eurobike, will be kicking off in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Notching up 26 years in 2018, Eurobike is known as THE show for all things cycling. Whether you’re a bike brand, an accessory company, or a…
Love Mud Distortion pedals – a mid-price pedal that’s not too budget, not too bling
Our resident bargain hunter, Antony, has been testing out a set of flat pedals from UK-brand Love Mud. The Distortion pedals are great value on paper, but are they any good? Over to Antony for the review! There’s a dilemma with pedals. They’re a part…
Fresh Goods Friday 403: Apparently this is the underwear and gardening tools issue
Between the heat, the many (many) products, and the excitement about football Eurobike, we can barely think. SOme of you are probably past thinking anyway, since the Scottish school holidays have begun. The rest of us are frantically searching for improbable costumes for end of…
How Far Can You Go? A myth busting e-MTB adventure
In association with Canyon Bikes UK This is not how I imagined it. I’m pedalling hard, e-assist off, into a rain-bearing headwind, downhill. Not pedalling downhill in a full-enduro race-face way, but in a the-wind-is-blowing-me-up-the-hill kind of way. And my face is more of a…
Twice As Much Bike, Twice As Much Good, Same Amount Of Money
World Bicycle Relief provides bicycles for people – usually young girls – in developing nations, and those bikes are rugged, high quality machines designed to stand up to rural commutes. Hannah previously did a bike check on one of the Buffalo bikes they give. The bikes…
The New Bronson Is So Good It Might Kill Its Sibling, the 5010
After a too-short afternoon on both bikes, Chipps gives us his Santa Cruz 2019 5010 and Bronson first impressions… A week or so ago, I got a brief chance to ride the new 5010 and the Bronson on a visit to Santa Cruz UK. There…
GT Bikes’ brand new Force and Sensor, and the return of LTS – but not as you know it!
Chipps reports from Norway as GT launches some new suspension bikes that it is very proud of. The new GT Force and Sensor bikes aren’t just last year’s bikes with a bit of a tweak, they’re a complete ground-up redesign with a new suspension system…
First Ride – WTB introduces new Vigilante, Trail Boss & Judge tyres
WTB has got some brand new tyres and rims to show off, so we sent our resident rubber nerd, James Vincent, down to Bikepark Wales to see what he thought of the new treads and casings. He only managed to destroy one tyre and a…
Bamboo, Sweat & Tears: Attempting To Build The Bamboo Bastard
Back in February for issue 117 of Singletrack Magazine, we decided to see if a self-confessed perfectionist who’s terrible at woodwork make a bamboo bike from scratch at home? Well, the answer is ‘sort of…’ Read on for the full story and watch out for…
First Ride Review: The 2019 Marin Alpine Trail is a big travel 29er that is tough & simple, but it’s also really good
Brand new from Marin Bikes for 2019 is this long travel 29er called the Alpine Trail. Replacing the outgoing Attack Trail 27.5, the Alpine Trail is an all-mountain bruiser equipped with a 160mm travel fork, 150mm of rear suspension travel, and big 29er wheels wrapped…
Review: Motion Ride E18 Anti-Dive Linkage Fork First Ride
Motion Ride is a new French suspension fork company that has taken a fresh piece of paper to design a fork from the front hub up. The main design brief? Create a fork that doesn’t dive. After determining out that it could indeed build a…
We Bet You Didn’t Know There Was This Much To Know About Fabric: An interview with 7mesh
Enduro baggies, XC lycra, gravel shorts, merino baselayers, merino boxers, waterproof jackets, windproof gilets…the list of possible ride kit is pretty endless. How much of it do you need? How much is just nice to have? And is ‘nice to have’ actually a need when…
Could Shimano’s E7000 STEPS mean e-Bike prices to rival standard bikes?
Shimano’s STEPS range grows to 3 models with today’s announcement of the STEPS E7000; an ‘affordable’ drive system for the e-Bike and e-MTB markets. The new E7000 drive system sits slap bang in the middle between the E6000, a system designed for trekking and commuting,…
First Ride Review: Quiet hubs and smooth shifting – Shimano is BACK with new XTR!
Just over a month ago, Shimano unveiled the most anticipated product launch of 2018: the brand new 12-speed M9100 XTR groupset. Took ’em long enough eh? We brought you all the juicy details in our news story here, and then we gave you a virtual…
Wanna win a £2700 Pivot 429 Trail Frame? Enter the 2018 Pivot TwentyFour12 right here!
Looking for that ideal MTB party weekend for you, your family and friends? Then look no further than Twentyfour12! The event is a 4 day festival of fun, centred round a little bit of mountain bike racing. There’s something for everyone; young and old, slow…
DT Swiss has a new fork! Introducing the 130-160mm travel F 535 ONE
DT Swiss has finally unveiled its new trail fork, and it’s called the F 535 ONE. Featuring 35mm diameter stanchions and up to 160mm of travel, the F 535 ONE is the biggest and burliest fork to come from DT Swiss. The F 535 ONE…
British Edition Commencal Meta TR 29 Released Along With 2 More 29ers
Commencal has finally released official details and specifications for 3 versions of the Commencal Meta TR 29 including the much drooled over British Edition which we had a first look at during Fort William. The ‘TR’ in the name stand for Trail and in this…
Fears for classic Lake District trails as diggers move onto Helvellyn
The work of Lake District conservation group Fix the Fells has been in the spotlight recently, after controversial repair work was carried out to the classic trail of Boredale Hause. Now fears are being raised that some of the best descents on Helvellyn, the mountain…
The Santa Cruz Bronson Is Dead. Long Live The Bronson! (And the Roubion)
Along with Shimano’s new XTR groupset, the new Santa Cruz Bronson’s release this year was always going to be a definite, and much anticipated event. It wasn’t a case of ‘if’ but of ‘when’. What Santa Cruz fans wanted to know, though, was whether the…
Santa Cruz 5010 – All New For 2019
While the Bronson is dramatically different, the 130mm travel 5010, and its Juliana stablemate, the Furtado, don’t look that different in silhouette from what went before. However, a whole lot has changed from the previous two iterations. While not changing travel for next year, the…
What Can This New Orbea e-Road Bike Teach The e-MTB Market?
Today Orbea launches its new carbon fibre Gain – an e-road bike. Looking as close to a normal road bike as possible, it’s only the small button on the top tube and the rear hub that give it away as being something different. But it’s…
Longest Day, Longest Ride – the British 24 hour race championships were epic!
Held this year on 17 and 18 June, Longest Day, Longest Ride is an annual 24 hour endurance race which also doubled as this year’s UK championship. 24 hour racer and new dad Matt Jones was there to try for the title, and sent us…
David Turner Talks E-MTBs: ‘We First Worlders, We Want More’
If you’re not familiar with David Turner, then it would be worth reading Chipps’ interview with him from Issue 109 of Singletrack Magazine. He’s a guy that designs bikes that he wants to build and he wants to ride, and he rides because he wants…
NICA: American High School Mountain Biking – sport done right?
America has a long tradition of highly organised, competitive almost to the point of professionalism, school and young people’s sports. Track and Field, American football, swimming, basketball – many of which dangle the carrot of lucrative (or at least cost saving) college scholarships. In such…
Interview: David Turner – “You’re either ‘enduro’ – or you’re not”
This article was first published in Issue 109 of Singletrack Magazine. Subscribe today from just £1.99 Chipps tracks down the quiet man with his name on the frames at Turner Bikes and finds out that you’re either enduro, or you’re not, why Turner was forced…
Review: Shimano’s Powerful Deore XT M8020 4-Piston Disc Brakes
I’ve been a fan of Shimano brakes for quite a few years now. After trying numerous different brands I always seem to gravitate back to the modern Shimano’s – their predictive feel and ease of maintenance being hard to beat. My go to brake of…
Spotted In Salt Lake City: Cotopaxi
Hannah found herself with an unscheduled stop in Salt Lake City. A little too tired and confused by the rules of the road, she didn’t take advantage of the docked bike system, so instead on her way to hook up with Fahzure Freeride (the writer…
Comfortable kit upgrades, many components and one VERY nice frame – It’s Fresh Goods Friday 402
Did you know that in Idaho there is a button you can press that induces pancakes? Instant, fresh, warm pancakes! Hannah has been over there checking out that button, so expect a full write up soon. Rigorous testing has been done. In other news, we’ve…
Interview: Amanda Tanfield – When Ladies Do DH
We’re now well underway with our series featuring inspiring women (and those that inspire women) in MTBing. If you’ve missed the interviews so far, you can read about HopeTech’s Rachael Walker, Campbell Coaching’s Ally Campbell and DH hero Pat Horscroft. This month we’re featuring Amanda…
2-piston or 4-piston? Testing & comparing Shimano’s brand new XTR disc brakes
Last week I was lucky to find myself in the wonderfully atmospheric Kranjska Gora in Slovenia. A location unfamiliar to this antipodean, Kranjska Gora is squeezed into the north western corner of Slovenia, right up against the intersecting border with Italy and Austria. Surrounded by…
Eating Dust With #MakingUpTheNumbers – Pearce Cycles Rd 3: Bala
They say, ‘if you want to get faster, ride with faster people’ and Lord knows I’m trying. As I sit on the start line for the first of my two race runs I’m not a hundred percent sure what’s going on. Another visor destroyed in…
26 Ain’t Dead! Cotic has just released a new BFe hardtail 🤘🤘🤘
Peak District-based Cotic Bikes has just released what we believe to be the only new 26in mountain bike frame launched in 2018 – the BFe26. Following in the footsteps of the latest 27.5in version, the BFe26 takes the same robust steel construction and 66° head…
Will There Be Open Access For Wales? ‘No’ seems to be the official answer…
The Welsh Government asked for our opinions about a ‘Scottish style’ open access for the Welsh countryside. We responded in our thousands, overwhelmingly in the positive. They listened. And then they seem to have ignored us in favour of a quieter life… Here’s the response…
Review: Brake Force One’s 2nd generation H20 disc brakes are filled with…water?
This isn’t the first time we’ve tested the H2O from Brake Force One. We first reviewed them in our disc brake group test last year, but they weren’t exactly quirk-free. BFO then sent us out a revised version of the H2O brakes, so we put…
Maxxis Launches Rekon Race: An XC tyre for modern XC courses
Over in the dust of Sun Valley, Idaho, Hannah got the chance to ride the hot off the production line new Maxxis Rekon Race. This is a new XC race tyre aimed at catering to the modern aggressive race courses. The tread pattern is born…
2 Videos To Show You How Good Shimano XTR 12-Speed Is
Unless you’ve been residing below a stone-based dwelling for the past month, you’ll be well aware that Shimano recently delivered one of the biggest product stories of 2018; new, 12-speed XTR. In one of the most eagerly anticipated moves of the year, Shimano finally retaliated…
9 hot product highlights from SRAM, Formula, Bell & MET that you need to see!
A brand new event for 2018, Bike Connection is a relatively small, multi-brand press camp. The first event – the winter edition – was held back in February of this year in Italy. Chipps went along and caught up with brands including Nukeproof, which launched…
Poll: How will you convert to 12-speed?
It has taken a little longer than we expected but there are now more 12-speed options available than ever before! The past few weeks have seen SRAM introduce the NX Eagle 12-speed groupset. Officially the most affordable 12-speed drivetrain on the market and a pretty…
Adroit’s Linkage Fork Takes Inspiration From the Girvin Vector
Linkage forks once again hit the headlines with news of 2 new forks from U.S based Adroit Cycleworks. Adroit is one of the few U.S bicycle manufacturers who has subscribed to UK standards of long, low and slack with its range of aggressive hardtails, but…
First Ride Review | 2019 Canyon Lux CF SLX 9.0 Pro Race
In June 2018, the German direct-to-consumer giant, Canyon Bicycles, invited me out to Girona in Spain to test out the all-new Lux full suspension race bike. Featuring a full carbon fibre frame, 29in wheels, 100mm of travel, and thoroughbred race geometry, the Lux is Canyon’s…
First Ride Review: 2019 Canyon Lux CF SLX 9.0 Pro Race
Earlier this month, the German direct-to-consumer giant, Canyon Bicycles, invited me out to Girona in Spain to test out the all-new Lux full suspension race bike. Featuring a full carbon fibre frame, 29in wheels, 100mm of travel, and thoroughbred race geometry, the Lux is Canyon’s…
Canyon’s new Lux full suspension XC race bike will fit two bottles and has a sub-2kg carbon frame. Sort of…
Following two years of development, and a few rounds of testing on the World Cup XCO circuit, today Canyon proudly launches its brand new Lux full suspension race bike. Replacing the existing Lux – a model that has remained largely unchanged for five years –…