Yeti-lovers get your wallets ready; there’s a brand new full suspension 29er in town, and it’s called the SB100. Deviating from Yeti Cycles’ current naming structure, the SB100 is labelled as such because it uses the same Switch Infinity suspension design as the rest of…
Review: Fox’s brand new 34 Step-Cast fork is here from the future and it is super light
The slender front suspender you see before you is called the 34 Step-Cast, and it’s from Fox Racing Shox. Based upon the 34 Float series, this Step-Cast version is a brand new addition to the Fox lineup for 2019. It still features 34mm diameter stanchions…
First Look: The Marzocchi Z1 Bomber Returns! Own The Trails Again…
One of the most iconic mountain bike fork names has returned, and it’s doing so in a typically unapologetic fashion. Yes, after an absence of many years, the Marzocchi Z1 Bomber is coming back! Now under the ownership of Fox Racing Shox, Marzocchi has been…
Review: The Fox 36 Factory Series fork gets the new FIT GRIP 2 damper for 2019
I’m losing likes. My followers are dropping like flies. And my stats? Well, don’t even talk to me about my stats! You see, like many of you reading this review, I live my entire life through Instagram. There isn’t a moment that goes by without…
A throttle for your mountain bike? Not quite – it’s the new RockShox TwistLoc. Plus, new 2019 SID forks!
Today RockShox is releasing the 2019 SID fork range, which includes new World Cup, RLC and RL models. The 32mm chassis’ are largely unchanged for the new model year, but each fork is now equipped with a DebonAir spring and Charger 2 damper internals that…
Danny MacAskill + Claudio Caluori = 333 seconds of good times!
Danny MacAskill’s new video has just hit the internets, and we reckon this one has just a slightly higher budget than that viral video of Danny trashing carbon wheels… Nope, this time round it’s all helicopters and expensive camera stuff, with ol’ Danny having made…
Cane Creek’s Helm Goes 29in (And 27.5Plus Too)
After a successful introduction of the 27.5in version last year, Cane Creek Cycling Components has announced the release of its anticipated 29in/27.5+ version of the HELM. The HELM 29/27.5+ is available in both air and coil sprung versions with up to 160mm of travel –…
TweedLove’s Mega Bike Demo – Scotland’s only opportunity to demo the Hope HB160, plus many more!
Want to test one of your dream bikes? Do a bit of window shopping? We’ve just had news that the TweedLove Mega Bike Demo website is going live from 8.30pm tonight. You can test ride the latest bikes from over 20 brands including Yeti, Mondraker,…
6 Carbon Wheels Under £1500 Abused & Reviewed
Carbon wheels are creeping down in price, but are they worth the outlay? David Hayward and the team have been testing six sets under £1500 to see how they compare. It’s often said that wheels are the best place on a bike to shed weight,…
Battle of the mats – can you really get a good night’s sleep bikepacking?
“Sanny!” It was Mark on the blower. “We have a couple of sleeping mats we want you to test. It should be right up your street for all your bikepacking adventures!” Without even knowing what I was getting into, I was already in. “You know…
Do you like it raaaaw? Check out our new Commencal Meta Trail V4.2 Race test bike
If you’re a subscriber and supporter of Singletrack Magazine, there’s a very good chance you’ll already have your hands on a copy of the latest issue, which has just come fresh off the printing press as of this week. If you don’t have one, the…
Sixth Element combines tough Asian-made carbon rims with bulletproof UK-made hubs for the Race SE 34.28 wheelset
In Issue #116 of Singletrack Magazine, David and the crew tested six sets of sub-£1500 carbon mountain bike wheels. We subjected all of these wheels to the same bikes, the same tyres, same air pressures, riders, trails, weather conditions and abuse, all the while keeping and…
7 simple tips for taking care of your trails
If you’re a mountain biker in the UK right now, you might be feeling a bit sorry for yourself. Winter, which is hardly ever a delightful time of year here, seems to have lasted for most of the last 12 months. Bikes that were pristine…
What happens when you let a South African trailbuilder loose in the no-rules mountain kingdom of Lesotho?
If you’ve already got your hands on the brand new issue of Singletrack Magazine, you’ll have likely read about Kristi Stump’s wild adventure racing the 6-day Lesotho Sky event. If you haven’t, then the good news we have for you is that you can grab…
Get a look at this gorgeous UK-made steel full suspension bike from Swarf Cycles
We have very good news for those of you who appreciate locally-made steel mountain bikes. We have just received a new, and very unique full suspension bike in from Swarf Cycles, which is in the house and up on the test rota! The mustard-yellow bike…
Fresh Goods Friday 391 – Sexy Steel, Ingenious Inflators & A Brand New Commencal
Today my dear reader, I regret to inform you that Singletrack Towers is in mourning. We are sad and inconsolable for the loss of a dear friend, colleague and fellow esteemed lover of panettone.. Wow, that actually sounded like Sarah’s dead! She isn’t dead! Let…
Singletrack Magazine Issue 118: A Glamorous Job
Jason Miles tells us a few home truths about the indignities of 24 hour racing. The physical battle doesn’t end at the finish line. On reflection, rounding off a cycling weekend by sitting in a hot bath shivering uncontrollably and shouting for my wife to…
Singletrack Magazine Issue 118: Surrounding Swinley
NB: Please read this article before attempting to undertake this ride. Words & Photography Geoff Waugh Fully paid-up southern mod, Geoff Waugh, takes on a tour of this riding gem within a short distance of London. The fact that it goes near his hero Paul…
Singletrack Magazine Issue 118: Staying Ahead, Being Last
Rachel Sokal spends a day with the British cross-country queen to talk all things Olympics, baggies, cake, and why if you’re not riding cross-country, you’re missing out on the fun. Words rachel sokal Photography olly townsend When I first arranged to meet Annie, we planned…
Singletrack Magazine Issue 118: Last Word
Train, Train Go Away Barney faces up to the inevitable: he’s not magically going to get fitter by doing nothing. It sits against one wall of the cellar, locked in by a barricade of old unused frames. Slowly collecting dust and detritus in the five…
Singletrack Magazine Issue 118: Finding Perspective In Lesotho
Can you really experience the culture of a country while racing through it? Kristi Stump finds herself pondering such things, when perhaps she should be concentrating on not crashing. Words Kristi Stump Photography Steffen Schraegle Shortly after the first feed station, I passed my teammate…
Review: The silky smooth Mavic XA Pro Carbon wheelset will have you dancing on the trail
In Issue #116 of Singletrack Magazine, David and the crew tested six sets of sub-£1500 carbon mountain bike wheels. We subjected all of these wheels to the same bikes, the same tyres, same air pressures, riders, trails, weather conditions and abuse, all the while keeping and…
The Full Stache! Trek’s New Full Suspension 29 Plus Adventure Trail Bike.
‘Anyone who likes to go long and get weird will like Full Stache’ is how Trek is introducing its new 29+ full suspension bike. And, having been a champion of the super-big plus tyre size, along with Surly and Salsa, since the original Stache came…
Review: At less than a grand, the Bontrager Line Pro 30 is one of the best value carbon wheelsets we’ve tested
In Issue #116 of Singletrack Magazine, David and the crew tested six sets of sub-£1500 carbon mountain bike wheels. We subjected all of these wheels to the same bikes, the same tyres, same air pressures, riders, trails, weather conditions and abuse, all the while keeping and…
Review: Alpkit Argonaut – Cheap Enough To Buy Several Of For When You Crash
While recently sorting through all my kit in preparation for the Strathpuffer I counted 12 jackets of varying makes and styles. Some waterproof, some windproof, some expensive, some cheap, some paper-thin, others full-on winter mountaineering jobs. Even though not all of them are cycling specific, they share a common cause in that…
Review: Goodbye Bell Super Helmet, Hello New Sixer!
First shown off to the public last Autumn, the Sixer is a fresh top-of-the-line lid from Bell Helmets. Designed as a replacement for the venerable Super – one of the original (and most popular) half-face trail helmets on the market – the Sixer aims to provide similar…
Review: The 2018 Genesis Mantle 20 is no boring XC race bike
Last year, Genesis Bikes brought out its brand new carbon fibre hardtail called the Mantle. We gave it to our lean, mean, climbing machine, Rachel Sokal, to put it through some winter slogging to see how Genesis’ lightest mountain bike stacks up. Over to Rachel!…
Review: Bikemonger’s Happy Bottom Bum Butter – definitely not for toast
Bum Butter. Flash in the pants or cracking good product?
Here’s One Tip On How To Enjoy Riding More: Stop
Riding bikes is about movement. It’s about getting from here to there, or about the fun you have while you swoop round that corner, or bounce down those rocks. It’s not about the stopping. Stopping is bad – it means something has broken, and you…
Check Out Danny MaCaskill’s Santa Cruz Carbon Trials Bike
Santa Cruz and Danny MaCaskill have teamed up on another project one which should see the trials superstar riding a carbon Santa Cruz trials frame in the future. We’ve all seen that video where a pair of Santa Cruz Reserve carbon wheels are ridden to…
Production Privée Launches Ultra Limited Edition Shan No5
Production Privée has announced another race inspired colour for its popular full suspension frame, the Shan No5 917. Those of you who have kept an eye on Production Privée will already know that the Andorran brand likes to release its steel frames in paint jobs…
Tyre Hack: Boost Your Roost And Get Insta-Famous
Image is everything these days. And really, a mountain bike video without roost just doesn’t cut it anymore. If you want to get sponsors, you need Instagram followers. And to get them, you’re going to need great video and photo content. And to get great…
Fresh Goods Friday 390
Last year I ruined Easter. I started off really well: I bought lots of chocolate eggs, and I wrote a bunch of riddles, and I carefully hid them all over a really beautiful wonderland of an arboretum, and then my children happily hunted all over…
Review: Ortlieb Frame Pack – A truly waterproof option?
One of the great things about the increasing popularity of bikepacking is that it is no longer confined to small volume producers with long lead times. That is not to say that the original bikepacking innovators aren’t still leading the charge in terms of product…
Shimano Apologises For Its Factory Catching Fire
Yesterday, British cycle trade news website, Cycling Industry News broke the news that local Japanese media were reporting a fire at Shimano’s Osaka main factory and company HQ. We contacted Shimano’s European offices in the Netherlands and were reassured to hear that there were no…
Review: 2018 Whyte 909 Hardtail – A contender for the one-bike shed?
When the Whyte 909 turned up at Singletrack HQ, there were two riders particularly keen on riding it. Hannah already owns a Whyte hardtail, albeit a slightly older 901 hardtail, and she was more than interested to see what the latest chubby-tyred version would be…
Home Makeover Singletrack Style: Park Tool Workshop Wonderland
You may recall that some time back we were subject to a ram raid attempt. Nothing was taken, but the would-be raiders (never caught, by the way) did make a right mess of our workshop. Since then, we’ve had new walls and windows installed, so…
Hit The North Returns Again. Again.
The Singletrack Forum’s favourite event ever* is to return this May. Run by 24 hour racing legend and Guy Martin’s World Record-setting tandem partner Jason Miles, the event will once more return to Prestwich in Northern Manchester for its irreverent take on bike racing. With…
UK Exclusive First Ride Review: We test the 2019 Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt
We managed to get an exclusive first ride on Rocky Mountain's brand new Thunderbolt, a super versatile 140mm superbike
Exclusive First Look! The Ibis Ripmo Long Travel 29er
Today, Ibis Cycles has announced a (quite literally) huge bike for it – the enduro-ready, long travel trail bike, dubbed the ‘Ripmo’. The bike was quietly raced this weekend in Chile at the first round of the EWS. The bike notched a very impressive third…
Monday Morning Debrief – Spring Has Sprung Edition
What a weekend! It appears that spring has finally decided to visit (ahead of this week’s forecasted snow) and so everyone* has been out riding bikes and feeling actual warmth on their faces. There are still a few snowdrifts and boggy bits around up here,…
7 Ways To Beat The Riding Doldrums This Spring
Ah, winter. It can be cold, dank and wet with an absence of those super-cold days with a bright blue winter sky that make it all worthwhile. Normally I’m quite happy to get out and ride over winter. No, it’s not dry and dusty with…
How does Santa Cruz build wheels? Wil goes to the factory to build his own set of Reserve Carbon wheels
According to Syd Newsom, Head Of Wheels at Santa Cruz Bicycles, “wheelbuilding is not magic. It’s a skill set that can be taught, and the goal of our training is to create a very consistent end product.” Within 10 minutes of wandering around the assembly…
The Canyon Experience – Riding bikes, touching priceless cars, meeting legends. It’s all here
This weekend sees the inaugural Canyon Experience event, taking place at Mercedes World in Brooklands motor circuit in Surrey. The combination of brand new bikes, legendary motor vehicles and equally legendary two-wheeled heroes like Fabien Barel was too much temptation, so we sent Dean Hersey,…
The Canyon Experience – Riding bikes, touching priceless cars, meeting legends. It’s all here
This weekend sees the inaugural Canyon Experience event, taking place at Mercedes World in Brooklands motor circuit in Surrey. The combination of brand new bikes, legendary motor vehicles and equally legendary two-wheeled heroes like Fabien Barel was too much temptation, so we sent Dean Hersey,…
Interview: NAHBS Winner Altruiste Bikes
When we received the images from the North American Hand Made Bike Show (NAHBS) we didn’t get any accompanying information. Just a massive folder full of images of many, many different sorts of bikes, sprung from the minds of an array of framebuilders. So, when…
A Robot bike, Basque carbon, and a Noah’s Ark worth of kit in Fresh Goods Friday 389
Look! Do you see that? Eh? What am I supposed to be looking at? It’s spring! Can’t you see it? Right there? It’s right there! And wowee, is it beautiful! Nope. Can’t see it. Honestly, I ain’t got no idea what the heck it is…
Review: Showers Pass Crosspoint Waterproof Knit Gloves
The Showers Pass Crosspoint Waterproof Knit gloves appear to be a fairly simple knitted pull on glove, and indeed they’re sold as ‘multi-purpose’ rather than ‘cycling specific’, so you might not expect many of the features we’ve come to expect in a cycling glove. But…
The Direct Approach: How the way we buy bikes is changing
The landscape of bicycle retail is shifting, and there are now an increasing number of companies that only sell direct to the buyers. Some of the most respected brands in the business have moved to selling direct.
Last Chance To Subscribe! Singletrack Issue 118
Subscribe To Singletrack from as little as £1.50 Yes, it’s that time again: Deadline Day. As we send the Spring edition of Singletrack, Issue 118, off to the printer, ready to be published on 6th April, until midnight on Sunday 25th March you’ve got a…
Review: At £15, this Love Mud Detonator track pump is perfect for T-Rex
A track pump for the tight-fisted, from the Alpkit and Sonder bikes stable