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Maxxis Rekon 3C/EXO/TR Tires maxxis.com $69 – $92 Earlier this year in issue # 203, I reviewed the dual-compound Maxxis Rekon 2.6 tires. There was a lot of potential for the tread design, but finding the desired air pressure was finicky and the tire was less than desirable when things became damp. Typically, the triple-compound ...

It’s a new year and a brand new Mixtape Monday! To kick things off for 2019 we handed over control to the one and only Karl Rosengarth. Karl has been down with the Rag for almost a lifetime worth of muddy ruts and good times. Beyond helping us keep things tidy from an editorial standpoint ...

I’d been dreaming about creating a badass sound system for a mountain bike ever since I learned about the scraper bikes that prowl the streets of Oakland, California, adorned with custom, high-wattage stereos. Setting my sights for an annual, underground mountain bike event, I dove into my dank basement workshop, armed with a pile of ...

If I have learned any life lessons from visiting Florida over the last few years, it is that prejudgment is a terrible character flaw to have. Sure, Florida feels like a never-ending conveyer belt of strip malls and drivers that don’t understand the rules of the left lane. There is virtually no public land that ...

Revelate Designs ended 2018 by releasing a few new bags geared towards the ultra-endurance off-road racers. Made from lighter materials than previous models but still tough enough to answer the demands of ultra-races, off-road weight weenies will no doubt curious about these new offerings from Revelate Designs. With the rise of ultra mountain bike events ...

Editor’s note: This review originally appeared in issue 207 of Dirt Rag Magazine. Like what you see? Subscribe now at dirtragmag.com/subscribe to catch issue 209, coming real soon.  Tester: A.J. Collins Age: 40 Height: 5’10” Weight: 165 lbs. Inseam: 31” Price: $5,800 Sizes: S, M, L (tested), XL Online: specialized.com Reach: 18.2” Stack: 24.4” Top ...

It’s the Friday after Christmas and also the one before New Year’s Eve. Perhaps you have the day off and are looking for a little time to kill or for a little inspiration for those two-wheeled adventures you have planned for the coming spring and summer. Well, our friends at Wahoo Fitness passed this one ...

New year’s resolutions are fraught with peril. By design, they set us up for failure in their all-or-nothing approach to self-betterment. The new, hip thing to do is to “set intention.” If you identify as a girl, are at least eight years old, and intend to gain some bike skills in 2019, consider taking a ...

Editors note: Originally this story was a feature in Issue #205. If you enjoy stories like these consider supporting Dirt Rag Magazine by becoming a subscriber here. Keep an eye out for more on the future  of  mountain biking in the coming months Story by  Eric J. Wallace It’s a cold morning in mid-March and the ...

This contest has ended. Congratulations to the winner: Matt Bellia! Subscribe to Dirt Rag Magazine and sign up for our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a chance to win our next bike giveaway. Check out Marin Bikes here. Marin bikes has partnered with Dirt Rag to give away a Hawk Hill 3 Having fun on the trail was at the front of ...

Just in time for when the bulk of the country is grasped tightly by the claws of winter, Spider Mountain will open its doors to be the first lift-served downhill mountain bike park in Texas and the first year-round mountain bike park with lift service in the United States. With a variety of trails for ...

We were all sitting around the kitchen table at the Dirt Rag office as we do during our weekly meeting discussing the finer points of handmade bicycles. In particularly we were discussing a current test bike in the form of the Oddity Punk Rock Jazz, a piece of art more than a bike, but it also ...

Allow me to begin with saying that yes, cyclocross is not mountain biking and I won’t in any way try to convince you otherwise. Look I get it, a bunch of fitness obsessed spandex clad gladiators trying to best each other in a muddy field is not your idea of a good time. There’s no ...

Editor’s note: As the holiday season rolls around, everyone is inundated with ads and marketing campaigns for every product imaginable, in companies’ hopes to capitalize on…well, capitalism, I guess. It can be hard to weed out what a publication is putting out there as an ad or as a genuine recommendation, so we at Dirt ...

Enter for a chance to win a Swift Industries hip pack. Start clickin’ below to earn 20+ entries. Once you enter, you’ll receive an email with additional sharing instructions to improve your odds! The Elwha Pack is equal measures a hip pack and a bicycle handlebar bag. Mounted at the bars of your bicycle, the hip ...

Fyxation has released two new editions to the Sparta fork line-up, opening the fork use up to a larger audience. First, is Sparta QR, which takes the original 11/8″ aluminum straight steerer carbon fiber fork and makes it compatible with 9mm QR hubs. The Sparta QR retails for $299.   Second is Sparta FCR, a full carbon version of the ...

Durango, CO is a town that is synonymous with mountain biking. The trails high in the Rockies have had some of the worlds greatest riders roll over them. Legend’s like John Tomac and Missy Giove have left their mark on the mountain and made Durango a hotbed for the sport. To pay tribute to the good ...

Winter blues settling in? Case of the Mondays turned into a case of the Tuesdays? Check out this video of Brendan Howey and Quinn Hanley playing cat & mouse in Kootenay Bay, British Columbia. Dirt Rag Magazine will have a feature on riding in B.C. coming out in #209, at the start of the new year, ...

Enter for a chance to win an Ortlieb waterproof cycling bag set.  Start clickin’ below to earn 20+ entries. Once you enter, you’ll receive an email with additional sharing instructions to improve your odds! 🙌 Waterproof, cycling bag set with a total retail value of $725!  Each product offers full reflective fabric to help you be ...

Editor’s note: As the holiday season rolls around, everyone is inundated with ads and marketing campaigns for every product imaginable, in companies’ hopes to capitalize on…well, capitalism, I guess. It can be hard to weed out what a publication is putting out there as an ad or as a genuine recommendation, so we at Dirt ...

Need some mid-week motivation? Check out this sick video of Elite DH racer Ella Skalwald riding her local trail network. Lucky for her, those trails happen to be the iconic Victory Hill Sector of the Victory Hill State Forest,  that has become an East Coast destination spot. Check out more photos here, courtesy Transition Bikes.

Editor’s note: As the holiday season rolls around, everyone is inundated with ads and marketing campaigns for every product imaginable, in companies’ hopes to capitalize on…well, capitalism, I guess. It can be hard to weed out what a publication is putting out there as an ad or as a genuine recommendation, so we at Dirt ...

The sun, the sea and Amir Kabbani sending it at full throttle. This fun little edit from GT Bicycles will have you ready to get out the door and on the bike. Enjoy!

Editor’s note: As the holiday season rolls around, everyone is inundated with ads and marketing campaigns for every product imaginable, in companies’ hopes to capitalize on…well, capitalism, I guess. It can be hard to weed out what a publication is putting out there as an ad or as a genuine recommendation, so we at Dirt ...

Words & Photos by Josh Woodward Situated in a small suburban neighborhood, behind a high school in the heart of Silicon Valley’s sprawl of tech giants and venture capitalists, lies a patch of dirt so steep the property developer who bought it couldn’t get permission to build anything of value. So it sat. For years. ...

Time to get stoked for the next season of downhill. Santa Cruz has just released the latest version of their V10 model and the new Reserve wheels for DH.  The latest version was a project two years in the making, the newest V10 has arrived—but wait, there are two! As Santa Cruz developed the 29er race ...

Hear ye, hear ye! It is now the first Monday of December, and time for another Mixtape Monday. Sound the bells! This month, Trina Haynes has come along to give us some sweet tuneage to get us through these shortest days of the year while we approach the winter solstice. Trina’s been at Rotating Mass ...

We’ll just put it out there: Iceland is really affordable to fly to from the United States at the moment, especially from the East Coast. Maybe it’s time to abandon the idea of a warm getaway and go headfirst into the wintry wonderland. Though, we gotta say, from the looks of this video, it looks like ...

Pittsburgh, PA — December 1, 2018 Rotating Mass Media is proud to announce that Pivot Cycles will once again be joining us as title sponsor of both Dirt Rag Dirt Fest Pennsylvania and West Virginia in 2019. Dirt Fest will return to the Allegrippis Trails at Raystown Lake, Pennsylvania for its tenth year, and after ...

Carved into the back of the goalpost I tended on the homefield of my varsity field hockey team back in high school was a wise offering: “The only way to beat temptation is to yield to it.” This is what comes to mind when I look out my window to the gray, snowy Pittsburgh I ...

Words and photos by Brett Rothmeyer The following article was featured in Issue 206. It was truly an honor to hang out with Miki and to be invited into his home. The work he did at his time with Transworld Skateboarding during the late 80’s and through the 90’s greatly influenced how I looked at the ...

Are you one of those riders who talk about ‘Back in the day..”? Maybe you just remember simpler times before all the technology and gadgets. Man, it sure was sweet to just get out the trail and let it rip without even giving thought to headtube sizes or rebound speeds. The days when Tinker ruled the trail ...

Around the office we often discuss that the 130mm bike might be the perfect all-around set up. Enough suspension travel to get loose when the going gets rowdy but snappy enough to hang in the hammer rides. Canyon has officially updated the Neuron and looks like a stone cold killer. With clean good looking lines ...

Words and Photos by Brett Rothmeyer (While I set out to cover as much of the day’s events as possible, I was also tagging along with a friend who was carrying some spare wheels and warm clothes for people in the front of the race. Traditionally the women racing for the overall have raced in ...

There’s something admittedly dystopian about riding a trainer in the winter. Even if the weather is crappy, outside air feels better than a stuffy basement. Still, after enough times slamming your body down on ice or catching bronchitis from wet clothes and cold weather, it may be time to think about your life and the ...

We have the Golden Tickets!!! Club Ride is picking up the tab on a 2-night tear-drop trailer rental from our friends at Off The Grid Rentals in St. George, Utah.  If that isn’t enough a great Club Ride partner Over the Edge Sports in Hurricane, Utah is giving the winner 3-days of bike rentals for ...

Editor’s note: While today is traditionally both a day of giving thanks and a day of mourning, it has also become synonymous with savings as the more commercial holidays roll ever closer (I’m looking at you, St. Lucia Day). With that, we’ve reached out to a few (OK, a lot) of our partners, favorite brands, ...

We are super stoked to share a new video from Jeff Kendall-Weed and Co. Join Jeff and the Arkansas riding community as they showcase the riding in their home state and learn why it is one of the fastest growing mountain bike destinations in the country.  Words by Jeff Kendall-Weed Photos by Denis Kremenetskiy I’ve ...

Be Kind, Rewind has become a regular addition to the magazine. A way for us to look back at the machines of yesterday and to see how far we have come in mountain bike design. It is also a way for us to appreciate some the simplicity and beauty of some of these early trail bikes. ...

It’s winter for a lot of us living in the Northern Hemisphere which means shorter and wetter days. While we are mountain bikers it doesn’t mean we shackle ourselves to flatbars and 2.4 wide tires exclusively. When the trails are slop heading out to explore the back roads and paths can turn a bad day into ...

The weekend is upon us and whether you are heading out on the trails with your friends, dodging the rain at your local indoor bike park, or putting hot laps down on the race course, David Lieb brings some visual motivation. From his local track to the big booters at Whistler, Lieb puts the GT La ...

Editors note: From the pages of issue 203 we take a look at the Transition Throttle. Review bikes our like our children and we try not to pick favorites but everyone on staff who saddled up on the Throttle had the same response ‘Dang this thing is fun!’  If you enjoy this review and others ...

Enter for a chance to win a Fyxation Sparta All Road Carbon Fork and Fyxation Mesa MP Subzero Pedals Start clickin’ below to earn 20+ entries. Once you enter, you’ll receive an email with additional sharing instructions to improve your odds! 🙌 The Fyxation Sparta All Road Carbon Fiber Fork is ideal for dropping weight and adding ...

There are a few things better than a day with friends on amazing trails. Deer Valley Resort in Park City, UT has some of the finest bike park trails in the United States and Reece and K.C. revel in the flow and jumps in this latest edit. Sit back relax and get stoked to hit the trails with ...

Pivot has revamped their version of a fat bike. The new Pivot LES bumps up the tire size to a 27.5 X 3.8.  Along with the Manitou Masatdon fork Pivot looks to take the fat bike to the next level. From all-day adventures to bikepacking expeditions the new LES Fat seems fit to handle anything that you can ...

I’m not a huge race nerd. I’ll just put that out there immediately. It’s cool and all, and going fast is really fun, but I’d much rather be out riding myself than sitting home watching others have all the fun, and I just can’t bring myself to do the things—  train, practice, analyze my wattage, ...

Words by William Kirk Photos by Josh Pekich   Red Bull Rampage is the ultimate spectacle in mountain biking. Large enough that big wave surfers and mega ramp athletes alike bow down to the athlete’s display of courage in the desert of Utah each October. That said, it is very much a spectator sport; very ...

Issue 208 – Making do with what we got This is the final issue of 2018, so don’t miss out, there is a bit of a wait between now and the first of 2019. Inside you’ll find some good stuff. The inaugural Dirt Rag Asinine Triathlon. Bike. Boat. Cook. Imagine mountain biking meets D.I.Y. boat ...

Enter for a chance to win an Industry Nine A35 Mountain Stem! Start clickin’ below to earn 20+ entries. Once you enter, you’ll receive an email with additional sharing instructions to improve your odds! 🙌The A35 is machined, anodized and assembled entirely in our Asheville, NC facility and available in lengths of 32mm, 40mm, 50mm and 60mm. ...

Editor’s note: Dirt Rag #206 was our DIY issue, where we built a bamboo bike, a steel frame, and fixed a carbon bike. This is the carbon edition, written by Scott, our Operations Manager. Like what you see? Subscribe now to catch all of 2019 and follow along on all our hijinx. Dirt Rag #208 ...