MBR June 2012 issue

What’s in the latest issue of MBR? It’s in the shops Wednesday 2 May.

INCLUDES FREE MBR SOCKS!

• Trailhead: The month in pictures, changes to the Olympics course, and Shimano’s new Saint and Zee groupsets.
• City Limits: Manchester. We scout out all the best riding around Manchester. Includes a free pull-out route map.
• First look: Pivot Firebird. Arizona’s Pivot Cycles and its 170mm rooster.
• First look: Fox DOSS dropper post. Does Fox raise the bar with its new remote controlled dropper post? We get the first UK ride.
• Tested: E13 LG1+ pedals, FSA Afterburner stem, Deity Dirty 30 bar, A2Z brake pad pins, KS Supernatural 150mm dropper post, Giro Junction shoes, Camelbak bit valves, Teva Pinner shoes, Abus Hill Bill helmet, Scott Roarban hoody, Bryton Rider 20 GPS, Altura Summit short.
• 2012 Longtermers: The fleet gets a workout, and suffers the consequences. Scott Scale Elite 29er, Orange Alpine 160, Specialized Safire Comp, Trek Lush, Devinci Dixon XP, Lapierre X-Flow 412, YT Industries Wicked 150 and Giant Trance X4.
• NEW FEATURE: Top Drawer. We metaphorically rummage through the drawers of our staffers to find out the stuff that they wear off-duty.
• Soapbox: Jamie Darlow explores the unspoken hierarchy that pervades our riding groups.
• NEW FEATURE: Samurai of Singletrack. Modern trail bikes are more capable than ever, while old downhill tracks supply the perfect testing ground. Join the challenge and compare your skills on the Hopton downhill track against our staffers and pro rider Neil Donoghue.
• Icons: Shimano XT. Mountain biking’s first purpose-built groupset is now 30-years old. We ride the old and the new and explore how far technology has progressed.
• Best British trail centre: With much jubilation, Queen Elizabeth Country Park’s new singletrack is open for business.
• Bike test: £1800 full-suspension bikes. Kona Tanuki Deluxe, Lapierre Zesty 214, Norco Sight 3, Vitus Escarpe 1.
• Grouptest: Trail packs. 12 all-day trail packs go through the grinder. We test the Camelbak Charge and Octane, Crank Bros Ascender, Dakine Drafter, Deuter Compact, Ergon BX2, Evoc CC10, Geigerrig The Rig, Hydrapak Big Sur, Lezyne Svelte, The North Face Torrent and Osprey Raptor 14.
• Grouptest: Prescription eyewear from Adidas, Oakley, Bolle and Tifosi.
• How to: Megavalanche winner Jerome Clemantz shows you how to prepare for your first gravity enduro race.
• Shop smart: stuff we thoroughly recommend from 29ers to 120mm full-suspension bikes along with helmets, shoes, knee pads and GPS watches. Plus our bike finder passes on his latest buying tips.
• Q&A: tech. Custom built vs pre-built wheels, the importance of headset spacers and fitting a QR skewer.
• Workshop: bodge your own ghetto toolkit and save big bucks.
• PLUS – Four free route maps: rides in the Peak District, Howgill Fells, Greater Manchester and the South Downs.

City Limits Manchester June 2012

Longtermers June 2012

Samurai of Singletrack, Hopton, June 2012

June 2012 bike test