Mountain Biking UK has got all the latest news, kit and exclusive info on the newest and best bikes. The MBUK Wrecking Crew testing team are out there right now, riding new bikes and products to destruction, to give you expert reviews you can count on to be brutally honest. We live to ride - and that's what makes MBUK Britain’s best-selling bike magazine.
HELLO
IN THE MAG THIS MONTH
OUT FRONT • WELCOME TO THE WOLD OF MOUNTAIN BIKING
Launch Pad • THE NEWLY-UNVEILED BIKES & KIT GETTING US EXCITED THIS MONTH
MBUK Month • The highs & lows of life on the mag
PURE ALPINE FLOW • German downhiller and 4X racer Steffi Marth discovers a plethora of spectacular technical flow trails in Switzerland
GETTING HIGH AT HIGH ALTITUDE • WorldTour road racer by trade, endurance mountain biker by nature, Lachlan Morton came unstuck on the Colorado Trail Race, finding himself riding in darkness and chasing fairies
LIFE ON THE ROAD THORFINN BARTON • The young Scot sets off on a globetrotting trip of a lifetime
BIKEPACKING FOR BEGINNERS • Rachael Wight shares five lessons she learned on the Pennine Rally
BIKEPACKING BASICS
HYDRAULIC HELPING HAND
MBUK SEND IT! win all of thief • YOUR MAIL, PHOTOS, IDEAS & RANTS
#117 JOE BARNES’ HOPE HB.916 • The Barnoldswick crowd’s latest hand-crafted carbon fibre superbike, with a splash of imagination only ‘Top Chief’ could provide
FIRST RIDES
FIRST LOOK
HAIL TO THE KING • THE INAUGURAL STONE KING RALLY WAS A GRUELLING TRANS-ALP ENDURO STAGE RACE. OUR TECH ED-IN-CHIEF LIVED TO TELL THE TALE
Where the Wild Things are • How off-grid can you go on a bikepacking trip? Chris pedals onto Dartmoor accompanied by bushcraft expert Haze Outdoors to find out
VAN LIFE • A SNAPSHOT OF SOME OF THE MANY MOTORHOMES BRINGING #VANLIFE TO THE MOUNTAIN BIKING SCENE
WRECKED & RATED
6 OF THE BEST FAST TRAIL TYRES • Which one offers the best blend of grip, toughness, rolling speed and light weight?
LONGTERM RIDES • Team bikes ridden hard for a year
BIKETEST HIGH-PACED HARDTAILS • Designed to cover big distances at speed, we find out which of these two lightweight XC machines is quickest out of the blocks
GROUPTEST TRAIL LIGHTS • The best front lights to keep you riding through winter
BUILD CONFIDENCE ON YOUR BIKE • Pro coach Olly Morris’s top tips for riding with conviction
GRIME TIME • EXPERT WORKSHOP ADVICE
DIRTY STOPOUTS • No posh lodge or gourmet food for Max and Russell this issue! This ride was going to be all about roughing it in a Lakes bothy, until the weather changed...
PHOENIX CYCLEWORKS • Rising from flat Suffolk farmland , this perfectly-formed study in how to create elevation where there isn’t any is a focal point for East Anglian radness
Mountain Biking UK
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