Issue 40

Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine March 2008

In this Issue:
Mark Lynskey Interview
The Romance of Romania
Isle of Purbeck Route Guide
50 Things To Do Before We Are 50
Singletrack Awards Results

Cover photo: A wallriding Geoff Gulevich by John Gibson
Contents Picture: The dark, dank shore by Jordan Manley
Spineline: It’s like a bag of nuts with no bolts

Editorial

Singletrack is 40 issues old this month. Coincidentally, Chipps is 40 years old too.

Tilting the Balance

Matt and Chipps enjoy two perfect, frozen days of Scottish Glen loveliness. and a bottle of Balvenie.

The Romance of Romania

Our Polish correspondent, Tomasz Debiec takes on the mountain ranges of Romania, wild camping style.

Interview: Mark Lynskey

Once the head of the Litespeed empire, now making bikes under his own family name. Mark Lynskey has been working towards this moment all his life.

Bike Test: Duvet Bikes

Five bikes that the Singletrack staff reckon would get them out of bed on a cold winter’s day. Featuring Commencal, GT, Lapierre, Scott and Specialized

Commencal Meta 5.5XT
GT Carbon Zaskar Expert
Lapierre Zesty
Scott Ransom 10
Specialized Enduro SL Pro Carbon

Column: Blame The Dog

Mike Ferrentino’s still not finished getting annoyed about the internet…

Grinder

Loads of bikes, tops, shoes and all sorts that have been out on the bike in the wet this winter.

Titec Pluto Carbon Stem
Specialized Trail 110 Shoe
Light & Motion Stella 180
Gore Phantom Jacket
Mountain Hardware Conness 32
WTB Exiwolf 29er
Vauxhall Corsa with Flex Fit Rack
Unior Professional Cable Cutters Polly
Vangard Elite MTS Net-Shirt
Superstar Brake Pads
Shimano FCM800 Bashring
Titus El Guapo
Kinesis Maxlight XC120
Kenda Hans Ray Telonix Signature Tyre 2.4
Continental Rubber Queen 2.4
Santa Cruz Blur 4X

Shimano

Chipps travels to Japan to try and get a handle on this enigmatic componentry giant.

Grouptest: Budget Disc Brakes

You probably have disc brakes on your bike. But what about on your other bike? Ben looks at some cheap stoppers.

Avid Juicy 3
Diatech Anchor Sport
Hayes Stroker Ryde
Magura Julie
Shimano Deore M535
Quad QHD-4 Axis

Column: Roly Lambert

Roly’s lost it again and this time it’s cyclists in his firing line.

Bike Porn: Diamondback Sabbath

What happens if you give a UK design team free reign on bike design? Something very special…

50 Things To Do Before We Are 50

It’s issue 50 of Singletrack in July 2009. How many of our list can you knock off before then?

Grouptest: Waterproof Trousers

Tights keep you warm in the wet, but what if you want to keep dry too? We test everything from tights to rainpants.

Altura Dryline
Endura Venturi eVent 3/4
Endura Stealth Tights
Gore Bike Wear Alp-X Shorts
Pearl Izumi Gavia Plus Tights
Pearl Izumi amFIB Tights
Scott Rainpant RC Pro

Competition – Win an XT Groupset!

Win an entire Shimano XT groupset and wheels, worth £900. 25 years old and still going strong.

Fitness

Matt Hart has gone off the rails to bring you our latest fitness article.

Awards Results

Hundreds of you voted for your favourite bikes, bits, places and people in 2007. Here are the results.

Gallery

Five pages of photos to inspire you to ride that bit more with photos from Sam Farrar, Chipps, James Lyons and Dan Barham.

Stays Warm When Wet

Benji’s celebration of a Grim Ride well earned.

Route Guide

We travel south to Dorset’s Purbeck Hills.

Medium 29.1km (18.1 miles) , 2-3 Hours
Hard 47.9km (29.8 miles), 3-4 Hours

Outro

It’s been a long couple of months of dressing up…