Dirtscrolls

Contest ended. Congrats to Winner: Marc Rape of Columbus, IN! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Endura has partnered with us to give one winner an MT500 Waterproof II Jacket. Enter to win below. The MT500 Waterproof Jacket II is Danny MacAskill’s jacket of choice. Made from exceptionally breathable ExoShell60TM three-layer ...

By Peth Puliti  It’s too early to be awake, but I’m too cold to sleep. I attempt the fetal position in the tight quarters of my sleeping bag, but wince in pain when my weight shifts to my hip bone. Last night was the second spent camped out in the shell of an outbuilding on ...

By Jeffrey Stern More than a handful of years in the making and landing not a year too soon for an industry looking for a spark, Pat Haus of Emerald Expositions, the parent company of Interbike, made the big announcement earlier this summer that after nearly two decades based in Sin City Las Vegas, the ...

Interview by Patrick Brady, photos by Devon Balet The mountain bike was a thing and would sell We went high-end. Gary Fisher bikes were super expensive. I mean, come on, you could buy a full Campagnolo-equipped Colnago for 450 bucks in 1979. You could buy a Ben Serotta super-nice custom bike, complete, for $995—Mavic rims, ...

The QBP Women’s Bike Mechanic Scholarship Program is back for its fifth year! QBP scholarship coordinators are pleased to offer scholarships for 32 women to attend the 2-week Professional Repair and Shop Operations class at UBI in Ashland, Oregon thanks to support from Michelin, Park Tool, SRAM, United Bicycle Institute (UBI), Jagwire, Ergon, Saris, Finish ...

Mountain Bike Trailer Park is a regular column written by Uncle Dan that appears monthly on the Dirt Rag Interwebs. He dabbles in a variety of topics including racing, training, trails he loves and not taking himself too seriously, all with a big dash of humor. If you missed his previous columns, check them out here. ...

Two thousand grams. 4.4 pounds. That’s it. That’s all this fork weighs. A fork that has smashed its way to multiple Enduro World Series victories, endless laps in bike parks, and countless sketchy descents. If nothing else, the fact that a 160 mm-travel 29er fork can weigh less than a Chihuahua and still be capable ...

I have a certain fascination with and interest in exploring abandoned manmade things. There’s a surrealness that comes with being in a place that is in between urban and wild, developed and natural. Rusty metal, crumbling concrete, smashed windows. The ruin, decay, and nature taking over, perhaps as it should have been all along. I love to wander ...

The National Interscholastic Cycling League has welcomed two new state leagues to its growing youth cycling program, Maryland and West Virginia. The League now includes 21 states. NICA has been growing steadily and gaining momentum since its inception in 2009 as an umbrella organization to help develop youth mountain biking programs and provide support for regional ...

As of today, the Tordrillo Mountain Lodge in Alaska is open for heli-biking, making it the first outfitter in the United States to offer this service. The Lodge specializes in helicopter-based adventures, including skiing, fishing and hiking, and owns and operates its own fleet of helicopters. With the addition of a helicopter bike rack to ...

Pivot’s Mach 6 enduro/aggressive trail bike has been redesigned to be longer, lower and slacker, while keeping rider size in mind and tweaking the geometry on smaller bikes to better accommodate shorter riders while retaining the same ride characteristics as the larger sizes. “The Mach 6 Carbon is one of the most loved Pivot designs ever,” ...

This coming weekend is IMBA’s annual Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, so we felt this was a timely opportunity to share some of our tips for taking your little shredders out on the trails. Kids are resilient but if they have a terrible experience on a bike, they might not be quite so willing ...

The Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC) launched its “Ante Up for Trails” campaign today to raise money for trail construction and maintenance projects and cycling events in Santa Cruz County, California. Some current projects include: New 30+ Mile Trail Network in San Vicente Redwoods: MBOSC took a leading role on the design of a ...

Santa Cruz launched its Reserve Carbon Wheels as an upgrade on the brand’s CC-level bikes back in June. As of this week, they are available for aftermarket purchase in 29 and 27.5 sizes. Danny MacAskill put the Reserve wheels to the test on the streets of Glasgow in this video: See more about the Santa ...

Let’s face it ladies, sometimes we have to take a nature break on the trail. I would say that more often than not I have to pop a squat during a ride, so it’s important to me that this be a simple and efficient process. This used to be a deterrent for bib-wearing, but in ...

Clothes: it is suggested to wear them when riding bikes. Good to know. All jokes aside (not possible!), I got my hands on a few of items from the relatively new brand Ketl Mountain Apparel. The two collaborators behind the brand came from the outdoor industry and have taken some attributes from outdoor specific apparel ...

By Leslie Kehmeier  If there is one thing that government agencies and advocacy organizations are known for, it’s acronyms. I call it the alphabet soup. In my 15 years of combined experience working for both genres, I’ve been through my share of meetings filled with full sentences of fake words that actually mean important things. ...

Tester: Zach White Age: 42 Weight: 200 lbs. Height: 6’ 2” Inseam: 32” As the name suggests, Santa Cruz’s Chameleon has historically been a frame that’s adapted to various riding styles quite well. Over the years, I’ve seen them built up as dirt jumpers, singlespeed trail bikes, freeride hardtails, townies, and even straightforward trail bikes ...

The pickings were pretty slim at Interbike’s Outdoor Demo this year, especially if you didn’t want to just ride e-bikes all day, which I didn’t (I did try one out – it was alright but didn’t offer the same satisfaction as riding a human-powered bicycle). Luckily, Marin was around with a full fleet of non-e-bikes. Rather than ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Winner: Fran Ruk of Natrona Heights, PA We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Ritchey Design has partnered with us to give one winner an awesome prize pack; WCS Speedmax 40c Tires, WCS Venturemax Bars, WCS Pave Bartape,and Bar Keeper. Enter to win below.           ...

The International Mountain Bicycling Association’s Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day (TKMBD) will take place on October 7 this year. This annual event seeks to introduce the joy of mountain biking to the next generation of enthusiasts and activists. Mountain bike clubs, IMBA chapters, youth groups, community organizations and schools all over the country host ...

By Scott Williams and Helena Kotala At this point, it’s no secret that the next big tire trend will be widths in between “normal” and “plus,” so much of the latest and greatest at Interbike revolved around 2.6 inch wide treads. Will this be the happy medium that many of us are searching for? We’ll ...

Words and photos by Stephen Haynes Human dominance of the planet is due, in no small part, to the fact that we sweat. Our ability to keep cool by regulating body temperature through our pores is why we succeed at endurance sports. It also helped our ancient ancestors take down larger mammals that have no ...

By Jeffrey Stern We all know them, those friends that appreciate the convenience and simplicity of integrating more bike riding into their daily lives, but rarely do it. Why? It’s hard to put a finger on one reason why and pin it down as the end all, be all for all of our once in-shape ...

Shimano pedals and shoes Saint clipless pedals are now a thing, with replaceable traction pins. Deore XT trail pedals in two sizes! And a whole mess of new trail shoes in both clipless and flat pedals versions at more price points than I am capable of talking about right now. You should be able to ...

We’re in Vegas for the last Interbike in Sin City and here are a few interesting and/or new things we found on our first day wandering the show floor. Pearl Izumi MTB shoes Pearl Izumi debuted three new models of mountain bike shoes for spring 2018, all of which are designed to be easy to ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Winner: Joshua Shannon of Palm Bay, FL We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Effetto Mariposa has partnered with us to give one winner a Caffelatex Prize Pack; Caffelatex tubeless kit, Caffelatex injector, and 4x Caffelatex 60 ml trail pouches. Enter to win below.     Caffélatex is ...

Interbike will be moving to Reno next year, and Outdoor Demo will be at Northstar resort, so these last two days at Bootleg Canyon were slightly bittersweet. In theory, I like the desert, but in reality, my Irish genetics can’t deal with more than a couple days of the dry heat before I start feeling ...

I attended the inaugural Keystone Gravel on a whim last year and I’ll forever be glad I did. It was the day before I needed to get on a plane to head to my first Interbike and I still needed to pack, but it turned out that all the rushing around was worth it. My ...

Words and photo by Devon Balet, video by Will Campbell When I heard the words from the ER Doctor, “You have a broken scaphoid bone in your right wrist,” it felt as though my entire world came crashing down on me that day. The crushing weight of the injury was detrimental. When you go from ...

Mountain Bike Trailer Park is a regular column written by Uncle Dan that appears monthly on the Dirt Rag Interwebs. He dabbles in a variety of topics including racing, training, trails he loves and not taking himself too seriously, all with a big dash of humor. If you missed his previous columns, check them out here. ...

By Eric McKeegan Some things just go together. Cream cheese and bagels. Peanut butter and chocolate. Harleys and guys dressed like pirates. Soma and steel. Soma has been turning out high-quality steel frames to fill niches in the industry for years, and the newest version of the Juice updates this hardtail with more wheel size ...

Cycling is full of unique personalities and here at Dirt Rag, we love to embrace them all. Peek inside issue 201 and see what we have in store. Get issue 201 now Editor’s Letter Welcome to our third Personality Issue. It’s a favorite of mine for reasons beyond just the final product you’re holding right ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Winner: Kyle De Benedet  of Denver, CO We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended.   Feedback Sports has partnered with us to give one winner a Pro Elite Work Stand with tote! Enter to win below.   The Pro-Elite is the go-to bike repair stand for mechanics on the ...

By Zach White Specialized listened to feedback from riders about both the 27.5 and 29 Enduros and made some small geometry adjustments for 2018. Tired of hearing “lower, longer, slacker”? Too bad, because that’s a big part of what changed. Stack heights see a slight reduction, reaches stretch 5-15 mm, and the head tube angle ...

The news we’ve all been waiting for: Carbon Process! OK, maybe not EVERYONE was waiting, but there is no arguing that the high-end trail and all-mountain markets are dominated by carbon-framed bikes, and the Process line, while being some sweet riding bikes, weren’t on the radar of the carbon-ravenous among us. Obviously, this isn’t just ...

When Pivot made subtle updates to their LES for 2017, the sliding dropouts and sub 70º head angle which made the LES a crowd pleaser when it first came to fruition in 2012 remained intact. As Gordon “Quadsworth” Wadsworth, the 3x National Ultra Endurance (NUE) Series singlespeed champion states, “Budda don’t need no grease.” With ...

Words by Kurt Gensheimer, photos by Colin Meagher I’ve hauled ass down Baby Heads more times in my life than I can count, a thrilling high-speed jeep road descent that’s a staple of the Downieville Classic Cross Country race. It’s a trail that claims countless tires, rims and even bodies, because slamming into baby head ...

Photos via Salsa, by Scott Haraldson  Yet another Salsa retains the same name but becomes a notably different bike (see Deadwood, for example). This time, it’s the Blackborow. Formerly Salsa’s five-inch-tire-compatible fat bike with a short rear end and longer front end to retain a snappy “mountain-bike-like” feel, the 2018 Blackborow has taken things in ...

My stomach dropped as I swooped down one berm and up another, steering my bike down the dirt roller coaster that was the aptly-named Sidewinder Trail at the Kingdom Trails in Vermont. It would have been way too easy get too much speed and go flying out of control, but I reminded myself to reign ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Winner: Bruce Burke of Eugene, OR We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Michelin has partnered with us to giveaway a pair of Wild AM tires. Enter to win below.     The Michelin® Wild AM is designed to handle trail or all-mountain riding in both wet and dry conditions. Built ...

Words by Ben Davis, photos by Eddie Clark Being told “no” and “that’ll never happen” and “you’re wasting your time” several times a day is a uniquely deflating experience. You’re sharing an idea—a great idea, an innovative whopper of an idea—with friends and decision makers and community leaders. You’ve got energy and passion in your ...

By Stevil Kinevil It wasn’t the first cyclocross bike I’d owned, and it’s most likely not going to be the last. I can say, however, without reservation that beside all of my other bikes past and present, it’s my very most favorite. I suspect everyone has one of those. It’s the pony in the stable that ...

One of the best things about handmade bike builders is the pure love they have for creating two wheeled machines and the time and effort they put into a startup business, just for the simple joy of making and riding bikes. Jon and Erin Acuff of Proudfoot Cycles are no different. When you meet them, ...

By Eric McKeegan The Auron fork isn’t new, but the PCS damper is a new addition to the Auron lineup. PCS stands for Piston Compensator System. The piston in question keeps the air and oil separated inside the damping cartridge. The piston is spring-loaded to be able to move (compensate) for changes in oil volume ...

By Captain Dondo Like the 25th anniversary of that drunken wedding you had in Las Vegas that seemed like a good idea at the time (but knew deep down had no chance of going the distance), Dirt Rag is still here. The 25th anniversary passed a while back and recently we celebrated the 200th issue, ...

Tester: Karl Rosengarth Age: 59 Height: 5’10” Weight: 150 lbs. Inseam: 32” As the industry continues to dive headfirst into the longer-lower-slacker deep end, Kona, despite having a big part in creating this trend in the first place, takes a step back from the edge with the Hei Hei Trail. Instead of a carbon version ...

Terrene Tires just launched its latest model, adding to a growing collection of rubber from the relatively new, Minnesota-based company. The Cake Eater is a versatile, fast-rolling, studdable fat tire that will also be available in a plus version. It is designed to be lighter and faster than the other fat tire in Terrene’s lineup, the ...

By Burt Hoovis Ahh … summer. Sweltering days, dusty trails and nights spent socializing, perhaps next to a campfire or in the backyard. This is the time of year for beers that refresh and invigorate. Classic German Pilsners, with their bright character and temperate bitterness, are always a favorite when the days are long. Pilsners ...

By Adam Newman Ah yes, the Kona Unit. At once the least glamorous and most amorous model in the Kona lineup. A no-frills, knobby tire gateway drug for the masses. The Unit may be simple but it has changed through the years, and for 2017 Kona is showing off its versatility by swapping out the ...