Bike brands like to talk about evolution. Every model year brings tweaks and changes, increases – or decreases – in wheel size, suspension, weight and…
Features
Gravel bike Vs XC mountain bike: Which is best?
Until very recently, gravel was something you shovelled onto the driveway. Now though, and in case you’ve been burying your head in a pile of…
Off-piste trails: reckless vandalism, or the future of MTB?
Cheeky. Secret. Natural. Unsanctioned… Illegal? Whatever you want to call them, we nearly all ride these trails. They’re more prolific than ever and frankly, from…
Rachel Atherton is back, and she’s got her eyes on the Fort William World Champs
Rachel Atherton needs no introduction. She’s been a fixture on downhill race podiums since her elite career began in the early 2000s, and along the…
Which is the best wheel size? Mullet Vs 29er enduro bike
While the majority of bikes on the market are 29ers, brands are increasingly offering mullet configurations as an alternative. And while the early mixed wheel…
We answer your most common electric mountain bike questions
E-bikes – they’re everywhere! And electric mountain bikes are a common sight on trails all over the planet; they’ve even got their own elite race…
Have trail centres had their day?
Twenty years ago, purpose built trail centres were the bright new future of mountain biking. But how are they doing today, and are they still…
When it comes to riding, what’s your ‘why’?
A summer’s evening, a pub with a beer garden and a bunch of bikes stacked up against the wall. It’s a familiar scene for most…
Everything mountain bikers need to know about ticks and how to remove them
Fresh air, big views, long descents and lush vegetation – mountain biking allows us to access all of these good things. But the slight downside…
What makes a bike fun to ride? Can you engineer ‘fun’ into a new mountain bike? What even is ‘fun’? Guy Kesteven tries to find an answer
Why is one bike ‘funner’ than any other? Fun is a massively overused word in bike testing because it’s an easy, throwaway comment about any…
Riders On The Storm: Llandegla’s road to recovery
As a nation we’re obsessed with the weather. Which is odd as our weather can best be described as degrees of mild – Cool-mild, warm-mild,…
Gee Atherton: “I raced Hardline with a broken femur… and I loved it!
In 2021, Gee Atherton suffered a huge crash while filming The Knife Edge. The track involved riding an incredible rocky, steep technical track, something Atherton…
Go with the flow: discovering the ‘tech-flow’ of Wharncliffe Crags
Sim Mainey chats with mountain biking polymath Dan Greenwood to learn more about his unique approach to trail building. Standing on the edge of Wharncliffe…
Trailblazers: The unique talents of Joe Barnes
There are certain characters in the world of mountain biking that just seem to define a geographical area. To me, Fort William will always be…
Brilliant money saving tips for mountain bikers
The outdoors may be technically free, but mountain biking is becoming an increasingly expensive way to access it. With the cost of living rising in…
Best new trails to ride in 2023
Nothing beats the first time you ride a new mountain bike trail. You might mess up every corner but you’ll get to the bottom buzzing…
Riding Exmoor: Uplifts, loamy singletrack, and pasties
Bridleways really aren’t supposed to be this good. This corner has the perfect radius to hold my speed for the next, the trail defined by…
Zen and the art of mountain bike maintenance
I’m not a natural mechanic. Bike parts break in my hands, bolts strip, threads rip and tools shatter. Many an evening I’d sheepishly besiege my…
Is new always better when it comes to bikes?
Is new stuff all it’s cracked up to be? Veteran mountain bike journalist Guy Kesteven wonders whether bikes are good enough now to stop the…
The Trans Savoie: a wild, epic big-mountain race like no other
There’s a mountain bike event in France that’s been going on for ten years now, in which clusters of riders stand around at the end…