With this issue being the last one of the year it has two Special Things: first of all there’s a FREE calendar bagged with it, and secondly the magazine contains the winners of this year’s Singletrack Reader Awards.
Here’s the contents of Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine issue 54 in full…
7. Editorial
Chipps is scared of missing out…
8. The Great Divide
Jenn Hopkins raced 2,500 miles of the Rockies from Canada to Mexico and thrived to tell the tale.
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16. Wet and Dry
All it takes to cure the rainy-day blues is a mountain bike trip somewhere new – and a drying room.
24. Column: Matt Letch
Matt celebrates those racers in the glorious bottom third of the results.
26. Interview: Nick Larsen of Charge bikes.
Mountain bikes just aren’t cool any more, and Nick’s trying to fix that.
33. Bike test: Widowmakers.
Three big-hitting bikes to help you get yourself into trouble from Commencal, Kona and Specialized.
42. Singletrack Reader Awards
Well, you voted for them, so find out who the winners are here.
44. Editors’ Choice
We get to play with a lot of nice toys. But which products can’t we live without?
50. Through the Grinder
A fresh crop of products dragged through a couple of months of autumn ‘sunshine’…
58. Baked Alaska – the Iditabike race.
The Iditasport Invitational is a 300 mile mountain bike race in Alaska. In February! John Ross went from Bristol to below zero to race it.
69. Press Camp Shootout
A light-hearted comparison of the different approaches companies take when launching new products to us journos.
76. Column: Jon Woodhouse
Jon looks at the ways that many riders choose to handicap their riding – through lack of gears or excessive suspension.
78. Propaganda
There’s JUST enough time to buy yourself nice Singletrack stuff for Christmas. Or leave this page open on the coffee table…
82. Grouptest: Helmets
Everyone needs a helmet and we’ve got 15 of the latest lids from all over the place prodded and compared on different bonces.
92. Subscribe to Singletrack!
It’s easy to do and subscribers now get even more benefits via Premier Membership of the Singletrack website.
94. Long Term Test Bikes
It’s time to say goodbye to this year’s selection of long termers. Will we be sad to see them go? Or relieved?
100. Powerhouse
Julien Happich volunteered to be a human hamster for the day and help power a house for a BBC programme using just leg power.
104. Column: Alex Leigh
Why wear body armour? Why not ride better instead and not crash in the first place? asks Alex.
106. Blame the Dog – Mike Ferrentino.
Our American columnist looks at the universal lack of a coherent cycling greeting.
108. The Big Welsh Ride Thing
Inspired by events like the Great Divide Race, some STW forum members decide to try a much shorter version in mid-Wales.
116. Route Guide: Eastbourne.
The south coast is home to endless miles of chalky singletrack. Or it was when Chipps was shown round.
126. Premier Club
Here just are some of the benefits of subscribing to Singletrack or becoming a Premier forum member.
127. Outro
The silly and stupid from this issue’s adventures and adventurers…
oooh that looks like a good read. I love the great divide reports in the past. and a free calendar to! woot!
Great contents picture.
I’m looking forward to reading the Great Divide article too. Jenn H is one tough cookie.
when will it hit my doormat….?
Contents look good but…
8. The Great Divide
Jenn Hopkins raced 2,500 miles of the Rockies from Canada to Mexico and thrived to tell the tale.
Wasn’t that in WMB last month also by Jenn?
Great cover pic, though the high street version really does look awful.
That’s the point of the high street version. A(nother) reason to subscribe innit? 🙂
Clubber, that’s why we make a nice clean cover for subscribers. Those cover lines are there to interest people who might normally pick up another magazine…
Was the WMB story seven pages though? Yes it’s the same Jenn, but we hopefully have more room for a bit of good storytelling. 🙂
i agree with Rex, nice contents image 😛
Great cover pic, though the high street version really does look awful.
That’s the point of the high street version. A(nother) reason to subscribe innit?
Agreed – absolutely living the cover but the high street version is dreadful. Sadly I have no bike shop stocking STW near me and I don’t do subscriptions, sorry. It’s a shame as I reckon the subscriber cover would sell more mags in WHSmiths than the uglyass ‘high st’ version.
Actually, I’m loving the cover pic, not living it . . . wish I was that good at riding roots 😉
I’ve got to know. Did he clean those roots?
[i]” I reckon the subscriber cover would sell more mags in WHSmiths than the uglyass ‘high st’ version.”[/i]
You’d think so wouldn’t you? Unfortunately it really is not the case.
Why don’t you “do” subscriptions by the way?
From Alaska to Mexico. Could you hack it?
Ha! Ha! More like are your pockets deep enough.
any chance of that contents picture as a screensaver?
when is it in the shops???
Going to subscribe with cash from Xmas so if I subscribe now will I get this issue or will it begin with the next issue ie Jan/Feb issue no.55????
“I’ve got to know. Did he clean those roots?”
Indeed he did, for the half-dozen attempts it took us to nail the right shot! Brian Earle, Root Master.
Why don’t you “do” subscriptions by the way?
Mainly because I tend to look at the contents and then decide whether or not to buy depending on interest. I guess I’ve shot myself in the foot there with the ‘busy’ cover comments 😉 although as a serial surfer I usually know whats gonna be in the mag before it hits the shelves. Have to say though, on the newsagents shelves, I reckon the clean cover would stand out in a sea of ‘shout out loud’ mags.
I think it was 5 or 6 pages, Chipps so you’re at least one up there 😉
It was a really good article though so I’m looking forward to the ST version of it too 🙂
Unfortunately, in Smiths etc, you only see the top left hand corner of the magazine anyway, as they’re always stacked behind other mags.
Valleydaddy – you’re too late to subscribe for this issue, so a Christmas sub would start with 55.
Headfirst – we’re working on some decent screensaver shots. It’s all down to contracts and rights-usages unfortunately.