Schwalbe reintroduces the Big Betty, revamps the Nobby Nic and introduces an entirely new range of Super casings for 2021. The pandemic has made keeping products a secret even more difficult than ever before, so while today is the official release of the new Schwalbe…
Sonder goes hardcore STEEL hardtail with the new Signal ST
Sonder has taken the spritely Signal Ti and given it a real steel flavour with the new Sonder Signal ST. Some months, or was it years back, I tested the Sonder Signal Ti for a feature in Singletrack Magazine (yes, there’s a mag!), I really…
2021 Kona Process X launched alongside updated 153
Kona goes eXtreme with a capital X with the release of the new Kona Process X and Process X DL. Gravity-fuelled rigs aimed at the enduro/freeride crowd. Has freeride made a comeback? Well, new bikes from the likes of Commencal and Kona seems to suggest…
SixSixOne release Radia Goggle range
Protection peddlers, SixSixOne enter the goggle game with the new Radia Goggle for just £39.99. We don’t know if the cycling industry has known all along about this wet summer but there has been no shortage of affordable goggles released this year. Funn entered the…
Tested: Fasst Flexx Suspension Handlebars
David breaks out the digital calipers to test the effectiveness of the Fasst Flexx suspension handlebar. There's something undeniably nineties-sounding about suspension handlebars, especially given that these work with elastomers. Manufacturer Fasst have tested the concept with ATVs and motocross bikes since at least 2011…
Yeti Launches Yeti ARC Production Bikes For Those Without Nine Grand
Recently, Yeti Cycles celebrated its 35th anniversary with the launch of an eyewateringly expensive, commemorative Yeti ARC 35 hardtail, complete with colour-matched components and a pretty top-shelf spec. The bike itself was so far over most people’s price ranges that we didn’t really pay close…
Singletrack Podcast 510 | The Chris Porter EXT Fork & Politics Rant Episode
We’ve missed a week of Podcasts due to summer holidays and the fact that only Hannah really understands how to organise this side of editorial production. However, Mark has managed to roundup Chipps and Andi to talk about the latest developments in the MTB UK…
SR Suntour TriAir 3CR Rear Shock Review
The Suntour TriAir 3CR is an affordable rear shock that promises performance and easy maintenance. So, does it live up to the promise? Perhaps one of the most overlooked parts on many bikes, at least when it comes to upgrades, is the rear shock. We're…
Review: Suntour Durolux R2C2 PCS EQ top-performance on a budget!
The Suntour Durolux R2C2 PCS EQ is awarded a Singletrack Recommended Award for providing quality suspension and performance at a budget price. Suntour’s continued development of its rowdy 36mm enduro fork has paid off with Andi thoroughly recommencing this budget bouncer. When I started to…
Fresh Goods Friday 511: This Is Summer Edition
Yep, it looks like today is summer! With sucky weather for the last month up here in Singletrack Land, today is the day when the mercury is set to top 27C (and 80F). Proper hot! And then we’re back to clouds and sub-room temperature temps…
Shimano’s ME7 And ME5 Trail Shoes Get Full Revamp For 2021
Shimano’s ME7 and ME5 shoes are popular sights on the trails, start lines and after-ride cafés around the place, so for 2021 Shimano decided not to change too much, but to tweak both the ME7 and ME5 shoes to give a bit more grip and…
541mm Reach! Bird Introduces its first carbon bike the Aether 9C
We thought that headline would grab your attention! The Bird Aether 9C is a carbon do it all bike with 130mm travel and plenty of reach! Like many many of our high-tech materials and cool inventions, carbon fibre isn’t a new material and was in…
New EXT ERA Fork Is Big, Stiff, Clever, 29in-only… And £1590
After much teasing back in the spring, EXT has finally announced its enduro suspension fork. There was great speculation about what it might be, how it would be sprung, travel, crowns and so on. And, today we can reveal most of the details for you…
Rider owned Crossworx Cycles releases Zero 29 hardtail
German-made Crossworx Cycles Zero 29 hardtail promises playful handling and downhill prowess. What’s made in Germany, comes in a bunch of Chipps approved colours and isn’t too long, low or slack? Well if you had read the title you would know it’s the Crossworx Cycles…
Specialized Status First Look | All new, all mountain, affordable trail bike
Today we can, finally, tell you about the new Specialized Status – a bike we’ve had under us for the past two months. Since the ‘launch’ campaign for this bike has been going on since May you may in fact already be familiar with this…
Crank Brothers Stamp 2 & 3 Pedal Competition Winners
A few weeks ago we introduced you to the new Crank Brothers Stamp pedal range and asked you a simple question to check you were paying attention. If you missed the chance to win the pedals you can still find out all about them here.…
Charlie’s Business Trip To A Brewery
I recently took a short motorcycle ride from Singletrack Towers, over the Pennines, to the rather pleasant Lancashire (No, Charlie, they don’t like that kind of thing up here) er, Cumbria town of Kirkby Lonsdale. It rained most of the way, the roads were greasy,…
Think global, ride local – A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood – Part 2
Having reached peak lockdown beans on toast capacity (seemingly every night on the bounce does not constitute a balanced diet!), Sanny goes in search of a gastronomic treat. Like pretty much everyone, life has been a bit on the topsy turvy side for a while.…
Video: Van Gals – Tour of the van
Emma and Carly – the ‘Van Gals’ – are two of our newest contributors, but they’ve quickly gained quite a fan club among our readers. If you read their stories without laughing, we really can’t help you. We’re pretty sure you’ll be delighted to know…
10 Mistakes We Made When We Started Mountain Biking
Antony brings us some tips for new mountain bikers (and perhaps old hands too) that he thinks will help add fun to your off road rides. We’ve all been there. Some of us still are there. Riding bicycles off road isn’t the easiest sport to…
Garmin Down! Ransomware Attack Blamed, Riders Unable To Ride
Tens of thousands of cyclists are dealing with the traumatic experience of not being able to prove they’ve ridden their bikes as Garmin’s Connect servers go down. The server outage means that rides can’t be uploaded to Garmin’s Connect servers and the usual auto synchronisation…
2 Bikes, 3000 Midges, 1 Puzzle | Fresh Goods Friday 510
Fact: 3000 midges makes a meal for a bat. This means that on Tuesday night there was enough food in Todmorden to feed every bat on earth (this is also a fact, but we have no evidence aside from Amanda’s legs). Does everyone have that…
Pedal Through | A first backcountry adventure
Pedal Through tells the story of novice riders pushing themselves out into unfamiliar territory, and discovering a world that has previously been beyond their reach. This video by Analise Cleopatra might just spur a few of you into action and trying something new. It’s beautiful…
Masks of Singletrack | Here’s how the staff are helping curb the spread of COVID19
This is a public service broadcast! Masks are now required to be worn in shops, on buses and trains and in the commission of bank robberies. Here at Singletrack we are taking that responsibility seriously – in fact we’ve been following a masks in the…
Corona Coaster | From Crankworx to Cornwall with Tom Isted
In this episode of Live To Ride we travelled to Cornwall on the south east coast of Britain to find out how Tom Isted, a regular on the FMB series has been dealing with a summer at home. Between his private training compound and Woody’s…
Orbea Alma | Superlight hardtails from £799!
The latest Orbea Alma hardtail offers impressive race ready weights at a price to suit every pocket. Orbea gets 1/3 of its revenue through its XC bikes, so it should be no surprise that they’ve put some effort in to modernising their XC hardtail, the…
Video: 2021 Commencal Meta AM 29 Team First Look
Check out our video first look of the 2021 Commencal Meta AM 29 Team! A bike so rare that even pre-orders are running low on stock! For 2021 Commencal gave its full-suspension line-up a major overhaul. The Meta TR, Clash and Meta AM all received…
You’re Grounded! Singletrack Deadline Coffee
Lockdown makes me feel somewhat like being a teenager who has been grounded by their parents. Yeah sure I am no longer a teenager, but I still have a bike and skateboard, and I was told not to leave the house by an old man…
New Orbea Oiz | Now even lighter than before!
The latest update to the Orbea Oiz is revealed, and it uses a new OMX carbon which results in what Orbea claims is the lightest frame in its category. The Orbea Oiz has been growing in popularity in recent years, with Orbea reporting strong sales…
Quadruple World Championships to be held in Leogang this October
Could it really be? Are we actually going to see some racing in 2020? The UCI think so with a quadruple World Champs scheduled for Leogang in October! We recently discussed the possibility of going without racing in our latest Podcast, but perhaps our worry…
Is This 35th Anniversary Yeti ARC The Most Expensive Hardtail Ever?
The original Yeti ARC is a hardtail of legend. Launched in 1991 at a time when many hardtails frames weighed in at 5lbs or more, the Yeti ARC’s alloy frame – made from Easton’s ProTaper tubing brought the frame weight down to 3.2lbs. Oh, and…
Dropping In – Short Stuff You Should Know
We bring you a round up of snack sized information from the big wide bike world that we think you might want to know. Rapha Women’s 100 Every year Rapha promotes the Women’s 100, encouraging women to get out and ride 100km. I did it…
FGF Podcast 509 | Post Covid future of the Enduro World Series with Chris Ball
This week Hannah bends the ears of our very own Charlie and Chipps about their experience of organising events and what they think the future holds for the social side of mountain bike racing in a post Covid19 world. On the same topic Hannah speaks…
Long-Term Review: VeeTire Snap WCE Top 40, all the grip none of the slip
Downhill tyres made from motorbike rubber? Andi puts the VeeTire Snap WCE Top 40 to the test in his long term review. I’ve been running a VeeTire Snap WCE on my enduro and eMTB since well before winter and I feel I’ve put in enough…
Merida Matts J24+ | For the Mini-Shredder with Big Dreams
Eliza Marsh swings a leg over the Merida Matts J24+ little-hitter from Merida It’d be easy to sweep an abstracted eye over photos of the Merida Matts J24+ and assume it’s a much larger machine, as might befit (for example) an over-tall portly writer in…
Think global, ride local – A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood Part 1
In the first in a series of diary entries, Sanny contemplates finding adventure in the everyday. In association with Ortlieb Let’s get real, dear reader. There is a lot not to like about the current situation we find ourselves in, what with one thing and…
Fresh Goods Friday 509 – The Well, That’s Another Free Weekend Edition.
With the sad news that the Malverns Classic is definitely cancelled this year and postponed until next year, it looks like we all have another spare weekend to fill with bike riding, shed building, gardening, baking, clearing out, going to the tip, painting the kitchen…
2020 GT Malverns Classic Cancelled. Postponed Until 2021
It was going to be the one event of the season – the one we’d all look forward to and we hoped against hope that it would go ahead. It was going to be open air, with lots of space to keep everyone apart and…
Watch : Luca Shaw vs. Walker Shaw game of STAMP!
Luca Shaw and his brother play a new twist on the classic game of B.I.K.E. We wonder if you can guess what pedals they’re both using? The classic game of B.I.K.E has 2 or more riders call out challenges and a letter is added to…
Singletrack Issue 132 | Subscribe by 25th July
By the time Singletrack Issue 132 lands on your doorstep, you should be able to do many of the usual things that we look forward to: camping trips to new trails, group rides with friends, and maybe even starting to look to some organised events.…
Workshop Dreams and ViceTrackWorld | Brodie Bikes
There is something deeply absorbing about watching someone be deft and capable. And if you’re of a certain persuasion you’re likely to get quite excited about a nicely equipped workshop too. We have both for you here, thanks to Paul Brodie and his new YouTube…
FGF Podcast 508 | Trash Free Trails & building a bike from only European parts
This week Andi talks to Hannah about the European Bike Project – a project to build a full suspension mountain bike from entirely European sourced frame and components. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But when you get down to the figurative nuts and bolts it’s not…
Diversion Diary | In The Zone
Hannah’s partner, BK, lives in the USA, and lockdown has kept them apart. Each week in the Diversion Diary she has brought us some lonesome ramblings, plus a selection of internet finds. But this week, they’re reunited. Sorry this is a bit late, but I’ve…
Take A Minute | A New Short Video Series on Mental Health
Pip Piper, one of the team behind ‘Mountain Biking – The Untold British Story‘, has a new project on the go. This time, it’s a series of short films, made by young people for young people, to highlight mental health issues affecting them. One of…
Making Up The Numbers Podcast | Greg Minnaar, Jordi Cortes and Rob Przykucki
This episode of the podcast is a bit special! Joining George to talk ‘bike set up’ are 3 x World Champion & 3 x World Cup Champion Greg Minnaar, Fox Global Technician Jordi Cortes and Founder of Motion Instruments Rob Przykucki. Watch on YouTube or…
FGF 508 – Fresh Goods Friday Of Hope
OK, we’ve had a couple of weeks of rain, yes, it’s good for the plants and all that. Has anyone noticed just how good it’s been for the nettles? And the brambles? Some of our local trails are going to take a machete to clear…
Corona Coaster | Danny Hart, The Redcar Rocket
In this episode of Live To Ride we catch up with British downhill legend Danny Hart. Based in Redcar in the North East of England, he’s fondly known as the Redcar Rocket. A summer without racing has meant extra time riding motocross, pedal laps at…
First Look | Crank Brothers Stamp 2 and Stamp 3 – And Your Chance To Win!
We take a look at the latest flat pedals in the Crank Brothers Stamp range, and give five lucky readers a chance to win a pair. Crank Brothers’ Stamp collection is its range of flat pedals. There are currently five models in the range, with…
The 2021 Evil Wreckoning – Bigger, Badder, Meaner And Neater
The Evil Wreckoning is seen by many as the ultimate big-wheel steamroller bike, but with things getting even bigger and badder out there in enduro-land, it was time for a refresh. So, heading in to 2021 the Evil Wreckoning has had a geometry tweak –…
Meet the all-new RockShox Zeb Family
Anyone following the latest releases, bike news and rumours will have caught wind that RockShox was planning to launch a new fork, and here it is. The new RockShox Zeb family of forks bridges the gap between Lyrik and Boxxer with the introduction of a…