mountain-bike

Contest ended. Congrats to Winner: Michael Ambrocik of Somerset, PA We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Syndicate Cycling and their top sponsors have partnered with Dirt Rag to give away over $1000 of swag.  Sign up below! Combined Prizes worth over $1,000!  Schwalbe Tires, Wolf Tooth Components, Highland Training, Pro Bike & Run, Specialized, ...

Ed. Note: It Sounded Like A Good Idea is a new semi-regular column by Olympic track racer Bobby Lea and endurance mountain bike racer Ian ‘Big DiRtY’ Mullins who have teamed up with plans to race Cape Epic, Breck Epic and the Leadville Trail 100 next year. But, this isn’t just another story about some ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Donna Fulton of Chalmette, LA.! We’re sorry the promotion you are trying to access has ended. Framed Bikes has partnered with us to give one winner a Framed Marquette Alloy Bike. Enter to win below!  The Framed Marquette aluminum alloy frame with a 148 x 12 thru axle is held sturdy ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Robby Bennett of Calera, AL! We’re sorry the promotion you are trying to access has ended. SR SUNTOUR has partnered with us to give one winner a Auron 35 or 34 RC2 PCS Fork. Enter to win below. The Auron is our multitool trail fork. We designed it to perform to task ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Joel Hauschild of Council Bluffs, IA! We’re sorry the promotion you are trying to access has ended. Osprey has partnered with us to give one winner a Raptor 10 Hydration backpack. Enter to win below. You’ll love the way Osprey’s Raptor 10 carries when you’re riding rough, technical terrain thanks to the BioStretch- harness ...

The appeal of a 500% gear range with a single derailleur is undeniable for most riders. It was also undeniable that affording either XO1 or XX1 Eagle was out of reach for a large swath of riders. At a complete group cost of approximately $525 (crank, chain, cassette, shifter, derailleur) GX Eagle flys much closer to earth ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Tony Dlouhy of Niles, MI! We’re sorry the promotion you are trying to access has ended. Ergon has partnered with us to give one winner a SMA3 saddle and a pair of GA2 grips! Enter to win below. Two products. One goal. Elevating your all-mountain experience by enhancing your ergonomic needs. The GA2 ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Nick Stroud of Bremerton, WA! We’re sorry the promotion you are trying to access has ended. MICHELIN® has partnered with us to give one winner a pair of MICHELIN® Force AM Tires. Enter to win below. Developed with the help of top enduro riders, the MICHELIN® Force AM tire is a force ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Kat Elton of Durango, CO! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Wha?! Trek has partnered with us to give one winner a Trek Remedy 8 or Remedy 8 Womens bike. Enter to win below. Remedy is your full-suspension ride to the next level with 150mm of ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Winner: Eric Henao of Houston, TX! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. MICHELIN® has partnered with us to give one winner a pair of MICHELIN® Force XC tires. Enter to win below. This lightweight, tubeless-ready tire balances grip with Michelin’s Cross Shield Technology to create a fast-rolling and long-lasting tire ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Winner: Adam Mittleider of Boise, ID! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Feedback Sports has partnered with us to give one winner a Team Edition Toolkit. Enter to win below. Elevate your bike maintenance with this professional level tool kit to take you and your bike anywhere. • ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Winner: Lou Stanley of Vancouver WA We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Pearl Izumi has partnered with us to give one winner a pair of X-Project ELITE shoes. Enter to win below.   Riding your mountain bike occasionally involves something none of us love talking about: walking your mountain bike. Which is ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Eric Lanning of S. Mebane, NC! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Industry Nine has partnered with us to give one lucky person an EnduroS Wheelset. Winners will be able to choose between 27.5 or 29 wheelset. Enter to win below. The ready for anything wheelset that’ll leave ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Jim Iannazzi of Indiana, PA! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Win a Zoic Empire Jersey, Gloves and Water Bottle. Enter to win below. Dominate spring riding with The Empire Prize Package from ZOIC! Stake your claim as the master of your domain in the Empire Jersey ($65 ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Brandy Smith of Guymon, OK! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended.   Thule has partnered with us to give one winner a Thule DoubleTrack Pro 2-bike hitch rack! Enter to win below. Lightweight, platform hitch bike rack that is perfect for a variety of bikes, keeping them ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Neil Aiello of South Plainfield, NJ ! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. SR Suntour has partnered with us to give one lucky winner a Auron 34 or Auron 35 RC2 PCS  suspension fork! Enter to win below.       Auron 34 or Auron 35 RC2 PCS– ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Dan Chen of Santa Cruz, CA ! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Make your bike glow and enter to win a Ergon GA2 Laser Lemon Grips and SMA3 Laser Lemon Saddle. Glow with the Flow! The times when black and white defined your life were yesterday. If ...

New Stuff for your approval, early March edition. The springtime release of new products has begun and things got hot and heavy the last few weeks. Here is a digest of a few noteworthy new product releases. Shimano Deore group and SLX 11-46 cassette In a somewhat surprising move, Shimano released a new Deore group. ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Ryan Ivie of Phoenix, AZ ! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Pearl Izumi has partnered with us to give one winner a pair of X-Project ELITE mountain bike shoes. Enter to win below. Riding your mountain bike occasionally involves something none of us love talking ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Aaron Timman of McCordsville, IN! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Win a ZOIC Empire Jersey and Beta Shorts with Liner for men or Jerra Jersey and Navaeh Shorts with Liner for women. Score yourself a new men’s or women’s mountain biking outfit from the ZOIC 2017 Collection, ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Vladimir Capka of Arlington, MA! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Win a Sunrace CSMX8 11-46 11 speed cassette and a DLMX30 11 speed rear trigger shifter. Shift it like you mean it, enter to win below.   The Sunrace CSMX8 11-46 11 speed cassette will fit on a ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Jason Luzar of Fairway, KS! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Over the Edge Sports has partnered with us to give one lucky winner two passes and hotel accommodations to the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival. Kick off your Spring Season riding world class singletrack in Sedona ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Phil Aufdencamp of Monroeville, PA! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Hollywood Racks has partnered with us to give one winner a 2017 TRS-Two Bike Hitch Rack! Enter to win below.     New for 2017 Hollywood Racks is releasing the TRS, a tire retention system hitch ...

The first edition of Dirt Rag’s Dirt Fest took place in 1991 at Camp Soles, a YMCA youth camp located in the Laurel Highlands, just east of Pittsburgh. For me, that era represents a magical time, marked by glorious tribal gatherings known as mountain bike festivals. In fact, I’d learned about Dirt Fest from some ...

by Zach White Weight: 29.5lbs with pedals, size Large Sizes: Small, Medium, Large(tested), XL MSRP:  $6999   After a couple of years out of the rotation, Rocky Mountain is putting Slayer back into the mix. This is where it’d be appropriate to reminisce of the original Slayer models and share little tidbits of personal experience ...

The SID fork has been around for a long time now, and has always been RockShox’s premiere cross-country fork. It even dabbled in the early trail bike fork arena with a double-crown model that had a whopping (for the time) four inches of travel and more recently with 120 mm models for lightweight trail bikes. ...

OneUp was one of the first, if not the first, to market wide range adapters for 10 speed drivetrains. It is not surprising to see the same thing for 11 speed. The Shark is a 10-50 “system,” as it requires a range of components to make it work: OneUp 50 tooth cog OneUp 18 tooth ...

SRAM has been slowly trickling down 1×11 tech to lower and lower price points over the last few years, but with the release of this newest 1x group, even those with a less-than-sizeable bike budget can get in on the 1x evolution that is taking over mountain biking. Read on for full details and our ...

With nearly 200 miles of pedaling in our legs, we were happy to start the second week in Portugal with a day of shuttling trails. With eucalyptus smells blasting our faces, we had traded frame bags for fanny packs, well on our way up to a fun week of trail riding.   Based just north of ...

My friend and her husband were planning a trip to visit his mama in Russia, and they were considering a stop in Switzerland for a five-day mountain biking tour to break up the trip. “Would you all want to go, too?” she asked her girl posse on a ride. “Um, let me think about it. ...

DJ Brandt brings his freeriding wizardry to this latest Commencal edit. Filmed by Tory Powers, DJ Brandt is back in the desert living his best life in Freedom 35.

“Just don’t look them in the eyes.” This was the most memorable moment from my last trip to Portugal in 2008. My husband Chris was staring at a plate of sardines that had just landed in front of him. His vision redirected quickly to anything else on the table once the waitperson gave his advice. ...

It’s been a wild and fast-paced year here at Dirt Rag, and we have put in some serious miles and have experienced a lot of changes. New website, new editors, new events, new trails, new contributors, and most importantly new friends. As we close out the year we’d like to take a look back at ...

Nestled in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains along Highway 50 sits the city of Gunnison, Colorado. The town received its name in honor of United States Army General John W. Gunnison, who was sent to survey the land for the railroad. In the late 1800s, miners, ranchers, and mountain men settled into Gunnison once ...

Philly Bike Expo is easily one of our favorite events of the year. Despite our cross-state hockey rivalry, we love to visit Philadelphia. As noted by many of the attendees, the vibe at the Philly Bike Expo is always so positive, warm and welcoming and each year there are new vendors, new builders, and always ...

Photos by Brian Lorence Well, its that time of the year again when a large portion of the mountain bike community drops everything to watch an elite few push the boundaries of what is possible on a bike. Red Bull Rampage has gone down in the deserts of Utah since 2001 and the amount of ...

The trails of Big Bear West Virginia hold a special place in the heart of Dirt Rag. Our annual mountain bike festival has taken place there during the month of July over the last three summers and we are already looking forward to the 2020 event. Besides being our partners in Dirt Fest, Big Bear ...

Living, riding and working in East Burke, Vermont, Alex and Emma have created a life for themselves based around mountain biking. Their business, Vermont Mountain Bike Tours offers coaching and guided riding on some of the best trails on the east coast. Check out this great little film from Transition Bikes about Alex and Emma ...

Take what you know about a hardtail mountain bike and toss those opinions in the trash; the new Specialized Fuse for 2020 is an entirely new animal, and it’s ready to party. This aggressive hardtail is sporting a slack 66.5-degree head angle, minimal branding, and adjustable dropouts for those that refuse to let singlespeed life ...

By Brett Rothmeyer Online:www.viathonbicycles.com Price: $1998 Last year before the annual Sea Otter Classic, there were rumblings of a high-end Walmart bike coming to the market. Yes, high-end bikes and Walmart are an easy segway to a punchline, but it is no mystery that the Walton family has a vested interest in the bike industry. ...

INTRO Back in ‘81 when the first Specialized Stumpjumper hit the floors of shops, it sported a rigid fork, cantilever brakes, 26-inch wheels and a high-post. Today, while the Stumpjumper name is consistent, the bike itself has changed a lot over the decades. Available in three modes of rowdiness with options in carbon or aluminum ...

Over the next few months Race Face will be releasing a collection of short films as part of the ‘Creator Series.’ First up is Skye Shillhammer’s “From Slide to Ride.” Skye Shillhammer’s film From Slide to Ride is a story of how a natural disaster brought a town together and how mountain biking could bring ...

This Friday, October 13th a new show, ‘Peaking’ will premiere on the CW network featuring record-breaking Olympic mountain biker, Jenny Rissveds. The eight-episode docu-series produced by Red Bull Media House, will premiere on The CW and takes you behind the scenes each week with a different athlete. Each athlete has a unique story to share ...

There was little at stake concerning the overall for the men’s World Cup. World Champion Nino Schurter had the series in the bag and Sunday’s final was a bit of a victory lap for the dominant Swiss rider. However, Schurter certainly didn’t make the trip all the way to America to just phone in the ...

There was speculation day long on how many people actually showed up for yesterday’s Downhill Finals at Snowshoe mountain. As the riders began plummeting down the mountain at warp speed the cascade of cheers, horns, cowbells, and chainsaws sounded like a tsunami barreling through the woods. Based off of intense scientific research of maximum decibel ...

Friday was an action-packed day on the mountain at Snowshoe. The early afternoon saw the Downhill qualifying runs and in the evening the stars of the World Cup XCO took to the slopes for the Short Track race. Twenty minutes of all-out racing to determine starting positions for Sunday’s main event. The women hit the ...

By Stephen Haynes When tasked with conjuring names of cities in Tennessee, one might be inclined to list Memphis and Nashville ahead of Knoxville. If this were a magazine about music, you could have an argument, but as far as mountain biking is concerned, Knoxville may just surprise you. A lot of manufacturing cities are ...

Editor’s Note: This feature first appeared in issue 205 of our print edition of Dirt Rag Magazine. Like what you see? Subscribe today so you don’t miss issue 213, the last issue of the year. Be sure to stop by your local bike shop to pick up a copy of issue 212, out now. by ...

Liv may have cracked the code on how to sell a women-specific mountain bike. While some other brands fuss about paint color and handlebar length (both important!), Liv was taking measurements on how women ride bikes: The average ranges of our body dimensions (inseam versus torso length, for instance), where our power comes from, how ...

by Zach White If you’re a Rocky Mountain fan, and/or a fan of the Godfather of freeriding, Wade Simmons, you may have caught what appeared to be a marketing move a couple of years back, as the Canadian company hyped up a custom bike made specifically for the living legend. Technically, the Pipe Dream introduced ...

The rain and the cold that battered riders during Stage 1 moved out with the moon. The Breck Epic was greeted with sun and clear skies this morning to the relief the riders. With clean drivetrains and hopefully dry shoes, the competitors looked to get after a big day of climbing taking them far into ...

How catering to mountain bikers is helping small towns Editor’s Note: This feature first appeared in issue 205 of our print edition of Dirt Rag Magazine. Like what you see? Subscribe today to catch issue 212, in production now and soon to set sail. Photos from this web edition taken by Brett Rothmeyer in Copper ...

Editor’s note: A Tale of Two Bicis (part one) was published in the current issue of Dirt Rag Magazine, #211. Like what you see? To keep up with our print content, be sure to subscribe today so you don’t miss an issue. Can a sudden injection of modern bike technology make you a better rider? ...

By Brett Rothmeyer The sun is just cracking over the Uintas in Park City, Utah. Main Street is starting to chatter as the doors to cafés open; the wisp of a broom on the sidewalk is overtaken only by the occasional slow-moving vehicle headed up the hill. I had long daydreamed about riding Park City ...

By Melonee Hurt The newly-opened Tannery Knobs mountain bike park in Johnson City, Tennessee, is small at just shy of four miles of trails on 40 acres of land. But what it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in impact for this burgeoning mountain town. Although Johnson City has always been surrounded ...

A couple weeks back, we posted a teaser timelapse video of A Chilcotin Hogyssey. Here is the full report, below, care of Devinci. 4 guys, 4 bikes, 9 days, 225 km The ultimate Canadian mountain bike adventure; Presented by Cycles Devinci Words by Chester Bush and photography by Margus Riga Chapter One: Waving Good-Bye Chasing ...

“It was day four. We arrived at a massive alpine valley lined with creeks and marshes, certain to be filled with mosquitos and shoe-soaking water crossings. Margus led the way, monster trucking through the creeks. We hoped that after the crossing, a ridge would connect us to the top of another mountain; from there, we ...

Editor’s Note: This story first appeared in issue 207 of Dirt Rag Magazine. Like what you see? Subscribe now to catch issue 211, on its way to mailboxes real soon. Downhill mountain biking on the flanks of Indonesia’s most active volcano Words and photos by Ian Lloyd Neubauer For the past 20 years, I’ve made ...

by David Tucker It’s late afternoon and the air has a bite to it. The heat of summer is gone, replaced by the angular and indirect sunlight of fall. Four grade-schoolers huddle together while their mate sits on his bike, poised above a miniature tabletop, waiting anxiously to drop in. “Can I send it?” he ...

We all have our strengths and weaknesses as riders. The longer we ride, the more those are reinforced. Especially riding with a group, where we tend to pay more attention to keeping up with the pack than making micro-adjustments to our weight distribution or foot angle. Even riding alone, sometimes it feels like we’re doing ...

By Bryan Chambala   In 2017, there was no bike shop in Millinocket, Maine, but there was a librarian with a Karate Monkey frame in his garage and a bunch of parts that didn’t fit. “I had a garage full of road bikes that I had assembled over the years, but I was having a ...

We just got Dirt Rag Magazine #209, the first issue of the year, in our boxes this weekend, which means subscribers are getting yours as well! If you don’t subscribe yet, never fear, you can start your subscription with #210 by subscribing today (how many times can I say “subscribe” in one sentence to get ...

A few months back, we broadcast the announcement that Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) was again offering up its Women’s Bike Mechanic Scholarship. The time has come, the winners have been chosen, and we are so friggin pumped. Each of the 32 scholarship recipients will attend a two-week Professional Repair and Shop Operations class at United Bicycle ...

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. ...

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 ...

As we enter into the soggy months of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s riding seasons, it’s time to daydream about where to spend the cold and rainy months. This video of the Catalonian Pyrenees is getting my blood pumping for some European terrain. Check it out for yourself! Where do your daydreams take you, what are your vacation dream ...

Words and Photos by Andrea Wilson I hail originally from the hot, flat realm of Memphis, Tennessee. I moved to the Colorado Front Range almost three years ago, and I’ve been obsessed with finding all of the nooks and crannies of the mountains ever since. When I realized that the population density of the Denver ...

Most long-time bike nerds have that bike. The Frankenstein Monster, built up maybe over a long time or maybe just put together in one frustrated afternoon, to hopefully satisfy that need. The road bike is too aero but the mountain bike is too slow. There has to be a bike that can get to work ...

Effectively an open secret for at least a year, Fox is finally taking the lid off its new computer-controlled shock valving.  Fox describes Live Valve as a “fast-acting automated electronic suspension system”. This system is made up of tiny motors to control the valving, accelerometers on the front and rear wheels, a control unit (CPU), a ...

Crankworx has been happening all week and will continue through the weekend. It’s a great time to check out some feats of mountain biking. Sometimes is inspirational, or at least entertaining, to see how these tricks are learned. Here’s a little video Haro put together that shows Ryan Nyquist training for the Crankworx Whip-off.

Trek has released their updated Marlin, their entry level bikes that come in both “standard” and as a “women specific design” (WSD). Between the two model lines, not much is different. The smallest sizes (13.5″ and 15.5″) of the WSD models have a more sloped top tube for standover clearance compared to the slight slope ...

Words and Photos by Leslie Kehmeier “Time doesn’t really matter now – we just talk about lunch time, dinner time…” says Beth Roberts. Her tone is soothing. Beth is a guide for Rim Tours, a mountain bike outfitter based in Moab, Utah. She’s leading us on a section of the Arizona Trail on the north ...

We are still reeling from the festivities at Dirt Fest West Virginia. If you made it out to ride and party with us, then you might be having a hard time processing the all the group rides, demo bikes, skill sessions, great food, awesome music and movie, and, of course, the totally radical trails at ...

For perhaps the first time in modern history, government officials beyond the highest-ranking are household names in the United States. People who are not very involved in politics and invested in policy-making likely had no idea who was Administrator or Acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prior to the recently-resigned Scott Pruitt. And ...

Whose your favorite mountain biker of all time? The Marin Museum of Bicycling‘s 2018 nominations are in and you have until July 15 to make up your mind and cast your ballot. If you had all your friends nominate you, now’s the time to nudge them to pay the newly-lowered fee of $7 (down from $30 ...

Words and Photos by Andrea Wilson I hail originally from the hot, flat realm of Memphis, Tennessee. I moved to the Colorado Front Range almost three years ago, and I’ve been obsessed with finding all of the nooks and crannies of the mountains ever since. When I realized that the population density of the Denver ...

If you’ve been dragging your feet on upgrading your 11-speed SRAM drivetrain to 12-speed Eagle, or if you are really into cool projects, e*thirteen may have something for you. The new TRS Plus 12 Speed Upgrade Kit is a possibly-simple way to upgrade your gearing without replacing your whole group. If you’re relatively handy, this can save ...

Photographer Jason Barker of Roots and Rain headed out to Scotland to catch Round 2 of the UCI World Cup at Fort William, which took place June 2-3, 2018. Tahnée Seagrave took home the women’s win for this round, meanwhile, Amaury Pierron locked in a victory in the men’s division. Check out these select highlights of the ...

by Maureen Gaffney Riding the Kokopelli, the 150-mile trail between the esteemed mountain bike destinations of Fruita, Colorado and Moab, Utah for a second time is like childbirth. Your mind neatly erases the painful bits, assembles a sparkly highlight reel, and there you are, doing it all over again. But if you’re going to endure the labor involved in 30-mile ...

Words and Photos by Andrea Wilson I hail originally from the hot, flat realm of Memphis, Tennessee. I moved to the Colorado Front Range almost three years ago, and I’ve been obsessed with finding all of the nooks and crannies of the mountains ever since. When I realized that the population density of the Denver ...

Or: Why I Always Carry a Map Mountain biking is a lot like the military in two ways: It’s a family and operates as an “army of one” (in most every other way it is probably the exact opposite). So it was fitting that I got completely lost riding alone in the Jemez Mountains near ...

This contest has ended. Congratulations to David Brooks of Apple Valley, CA. Rocky Mounts has partnered with us to give one winner a 2″ MonoRail Platform Hitch Rack. Enter to win below. The MonoRail is a two bike platform hitch rack.The 2″ can be expanded to carry a 3rd bike with the optional add-on. The MonoRail is ...

“A bike ride fixes everything;” that is a statement that is pretty much completely true. Look, I know if you have a broken leg or a blown out knee and you are reading this you’ll quickly disagree, and I don’t blame you. First, you are right; bike riding will not miraculously mend your broken bones ...

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 ...

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 ...