Mountain Biking UK

It feels like our cover star Brendan Fairclough has been part of the UK MTB scene forever, from his early days as one of ‘Peaty’s protégés’ to racing downhill alongside the likes of Sam Hill and Greg Minnaar, right through to his video edits and jaw-

We aren’t far through 2024, but women’s mountain biking is already reaching new heights. Only last month, Gracey Hemstreet made history as the first female rider to complete a top-to-bottom run of a Red Bull Hardline course, in Tasmania. Now, women c

Emerging from another long and wet winter, in which the trails have taken a hammering and the riding has been hard and dirty, it’s nice to feel like the worst is behind us. With spring finally here, riding is starting to feel more enticing once again

The Trailstar was DMR’s first mountain bike, launched in 1996. In an era before full-suspension trail bikes, when most hardtails were designed around short-travel forks and XC-derived geometry, and the bike industry was obsessed with light weight and

Write to: MBUK Send it! Eagle House, Bristol, BS1 4STEmail: mbuk@ourmedia.co.uk Visit: www.mbuk.com Lezyne CNC Tubeless Drive hand pump & Lezyne Tubeless Pro Plugs repair kit worth £104 ABUS MoDrop do-it-all trail helmet worth £90 DMR V11 pedals, DMR

After a decade, Yeti Cycles resurrect their ASR XC bike It’s been years since Yeti made their mark on the cross-country circuit. Well, for 2024 they’re back, with a modernised ASR complete with beefed-up 120mm-travel fork and 115mm of rear-wheel trav

50th birthday, Fox have a big year of launches ahead. First up are three new fork dampers, which use the same naming convention as the brand’s shocks, for easier product-matching. All are backwards-compatible with Fox’s current forks, although models

£12,000 The easiest-to-ride bike we’ve ever tested Specialized have upped the travel of their top-flight race bike, to ensure it’s capable of hitting the gnarliest cross-country lines. It retains some of the more progressive geometry in the XC field,

My head is spinning. I’m trying to sort out a day to meet up with Brendan Fairclough to shoot an MBUK front cover and chat about the follow-up to his wildly successful 2017 film Deathgrip (unsurprisingly entitled Deathgrip 2), and I’m getting vertigo

With e-bikes now an established part of our sport, nearly all the major bike manufacturers on board and brands from outside the industry joining the e-MTB party – such as Husqvarna and Porsche (who are reportedly looking to bring out their own e-bike

If you want maximum assistance – in terms of both peak power and torque – combined with long range, then a ‘full-fat’ motor powered by a large-capacity battery is the way to go. The drawback is extra weight – although this makes less difference if it

While e-bike weight doesn’t make much difference on the descents – where more heft can actually mean more stability and grip – it does have an impact on flatter, twistier trails. Here, a lighter motor and battery can improve a bike’s handling, making

Electric bikes have exploded into the world of mountain biking over the past few years. They’ve been around a lot longer than this, but the early ones were often too heavy, possibly a little unreliable and, other than making it easy to get to the top

With three decades of MTB experience, Rob can identify the kit that works XC/trail/enduro wizard Tom gives his gear a proper hammering Riding since ’92, JCW knows the score and has an eye for the key details When not prepping bikes in our workshop, W

Big travel, big wheels and big fun are the name of the game this year for our chief tester It was a bit of a slow process sourcing parts for the Firebird, but when it finally came together I was chuffed to bits. Of course, seeing it built up and read

Mountain bike seats come in many shapes and sizes – both in a bid to provide somewhere comfortable for you to park your backside, and also to aid pedalling efficiency and bike control. Having options is a good thing, too, because more so than for any

Getting out and riding as a team is a rare treat, as it’s always challenging to coordinate a day free of laptops and full of forest laps. But this month we managed it, albeit with weather that didn’t quite play ball. We set our sights on Cwmcarn Fore

I have a bit of cash saved up, but unfortunately not enough for a new bike. What’s the best thing I can buy to upgrade my current one? Colin Weare, via email It’s hard to say, without knowing what kind of kit you have on your current bike and what