Mountain Biking Australia

Whipped. Beat. Buggered. Off the back. Rogered. If you can think of another expression for the way I’m feeling, 22km into this 47km desert stage, insert it here. Then I start hearing voices… When I started mountain biking, racing was the dominant par

I always enjoy looking at the bikes that are reviewed in the magazine but they tend to represent a fantasy rather than a reality for me. I’d love to see bikes reviewed that represent a range of price points, as not everyone has three or four thousand

It's ominous. I am ushered into the park ranger’s office and I feel a wave of déjà vu. I’ve seen the insides of land managers' offices before… and yup, there are the maps with the illegal trails highlighted on the table. “We’ve got concerns,” Martin

It’s the vastness that gets you. The azure blue sky stretches forever, touching down on the distant West McDonnell Ranges to the north. The innumerable dimples on the landscape, dotted with a surprising number of pandanus trees and foliage. And the s

Beakers bubbling on Bunsen burners. Fingers purple with potassium permanganate. Test tubes and teat pipettes. Ancient memories of school chemistry lessons. For the first time since then, I have a glass laboratory beaker in hand; a beaker filled with

There’s a certain indiscernible and captivating power that a strong still image commands. It’s a grip that has stood the test of time, digitisation and video; it even results in a brief pause on incessant Instagram scrolling. One single well-composed

Mountain Biking Australia: We loved the Home of Trails vid, both the execution and concept. Trail bikes are taking a much larger role in your films - is this a deliberate move? Danny MacAskill: Thanks very much. I really enjoyed making Home of Trails

If I could, I would spend every day on my bike. Nothing beats just getting out there in the fresh air, hopping onto the bike, and hitting the trails with your friends. Even though the main goal of every ride is just to have fun, I do love trying out

There is something satisfying about riding from one end of a country to another, even more so when you either start or finish (ideally both) at the sea. An end of tour saline dip is always welcome. As formalised, signed and GPXed trails continue to p

Merida’s ‘do-it-all’ bike is getting the long, low and slack treatment for 2019, following similar updates to the One-Forty and One-Sixty. Merida says the updated geometry and frame design gives the bike a very playful character and more capability o

• Drive system: Specialized/Brose • Riding style: trail The big news coming out of Morgan Hill this year is that its flagship e-mountain bike has had a complete refresh. Pretty much every aspect of the Levo has been redesigned for 2019, with Speciali

We all have to deal with the stress and pressure of time. We’ve all got the same amount in a day, but there’s an ever-increasing demand on it in our fast-paced world. And despite the advent of tools like email and video conferencing, work travel leve

RATINGS VALUE 8 FUNCTION 8 LOOKS 8 OVERALL 8 In almost no time, the dropper seatpost has sentenced its rigid forebear to the spares box of history. Few other products, in fact, have had such a profound impact on the lives of everyday riders in every

RATINGS VALUE 7 FUNCTION 8 LOOKS 8 OVERALL 7.5 Trolling the wilds of the internet a couple of months ago for a puncture-fixing solution, I happened upon this new product that was, happily, just about to be released locally. Called GÜP (pronounced Goo

RATINGS VALUE 9 FUNCTION 9 LOOKS 8 OVERALL 8 Boxing and packing bikes is, let’s face it, a pretty thankless chore. Trying to wedge various prices of aluminium, carbon and rubber into a tippy box without something rubbing another thing into oblivion c

RATINGS IN THE STAND 7.5/10 ON THE TRAIL 8/10 OVERALL 8/10 When Ibis released the Mojo back in 2005, the US company really rocked the dual suspension boat. It was a futuristic creation that featured a flowing monocoque carbon fibre frame and 140mm of

RATINGS VALUE 7 FUNCTION 7 LOOKS 8 OVERALL 7.3 I've been riding regularly with a hydration pack for a while now. Embarrassingly, I started using a pack only because I purchased a plus-size phone (I wanted to watch Netflix on my commute!). The downsid

RATINGS IN THE STAND 9/10 ON THE TRAIL 9/10 OVERALL 9/10 Merida are best known for their range of super-light, very fast cross-country race machines. However, mountain bikes and the tastes of riders are always changing. It’s with this in mind that Me

RATINGS IN THE STAND 8/10 ON THE TRAIL 7/10 OVERALL 7/10 The name Marin needs no introduction to mountain bikers, with the Californian county of the same name viewed as the birthplace of MTB. The brand itself has been around for more than 32 years an

When we were kids, most of us probably did some form of after-school or weekend sport. Whether it was cricket, soccer or netball, our parents would deposit us at a sporting field a couple of times a week, and we’d spend time – sometimes reluctantly –

If you ride for more than a couple of hours at a time, there really isn’t a better, more practical or more affordable way to bring along the basics than the good old hydration pack. Sure, you can add tools to head tubes and bottom brackets, use pocke

In this article, we are going to look at five activities that anyone can easily incorporate into their daily routine to help transform their cycling. I do these activities every day, and I have seen benefits in mental toughness, coordination, balance

Why mountain biking? Because a lot of my friends in motorsport do it! And for me, the hardest thing about motorsport is you're not in the car training, so you need some fitness and endurance training. I then try and combine that with something that's