So tell me - how did you and STW first meet!?

We were introduced by a mutual friend (in about 2003ish)

I think i came here from Bikeradar... they then morphed that into a completely rubbish forum backend... i never went back again.

Eeeee..... I think I met Chipps for the first time on opening day at Carron Valley trail centre c.2005. Been a subscriber since issue 1 though, and on this since the Gofar days.

Bike magic refugee in 2001.

2003(ish), working on an analyzer in a lab as a summer job during 6th form that took quite a while to run through samples. So obviously I was spending my earnings on the classifieds as quickly as I was paid. This was back in the days when to get any bargains you had to be ruthlessly quick to call dibs because the classifieds was so active.

Probably didn't start regularly buying the mag or subscribing until issue ~40, I was more into DIRT.

Found the Hope XC front hub that was probably the first thing I bought (as part of a wheel) the other day. Annoyingly I sold the matching rear on a bike over Covid.

2004 I think, trying to find like minded soles to ride with and came across the forum on a search. Met lots of great folks since and still here.

When ever issue #1 came out I guess....

Went on the first Verbier girly week, 2003 ? Turned me from beaches, big waves and strong winds, riding the bike on windless days to big mountains and long flowing trails.

I joined the forum in 2012, was a lurker for a bit beforehand, subscribed about 7 years ago i think, but had bought a few issues of the mag before that.
Turns out i'd met Mark a few times before i'd even been on the forum as we have mutual friends. I was on here a couple of years before i realised Mark was the publisher!
All the times I've met Mark and been away on group weekends I've only ever talked bikes or Singletrack once!

Weirdly, through snowHeads (the winter sports forum). Used to spend the winter on there and had nowhere to post over the summer, someone suggested here and I've barely been back to snowHeads since.
Would have been circa 2006 I reckon, maybe 2007.

Read the first issue of the mag in the old cafe at Coed Y Brenin one day when we were waiting for the rain to ease off.
Subscribed to it when we got home.

Was recommended to me for some reason in 2003ish, and having no other MTB m8's, it was revelation for the knowledge & terrifying cliques (I didn't dare post for ages)

Picked up issue 3 from Harry Hall Cycles in Manchester.

Cycle show 2001? Selling issue 1 on the stand I bought one don’t think I subscribed until issue 3 maybe.

another bikemagic refugee.

I first bought the magazine from whsmiths because I liked the cover photo, prob about 2006.

I discovered the forum later when bikemagic started to smell of death.

I had to attend a wedding and was searching for sartorial advice, Google sent me here. After some great advice, I went with white boat shoes and an indigo blue suit. The ladies were totally wowed.

I probably found this place after googling some random bike question... or maybe not bike related haha.

Lurked occasionally but only really moved here after the MBR forum shut down in 2018(?).

Actually meet? Well I saw Chipps, Mark and Amanda at the Midweek Madness race at Lee Quarry a couple of years ago... was too shy starstruck to say hi though 🤩😊

for me, from the bikemagic and MTB-Wales.com forums. something happened with Bikemagic, can't recall what, and MTB-Wales.com was hacked and never recovered, so STW it was. a move away from the gravity-jumpy trend of some of the other MTB places and a focus on just getting out on bikes, doing whatever it is that makes you smile. .

Relative noob, maybe a only 4 or 5 years at the most. Roadie who was an occasional mtber, wanted to get more into the ITT off-road scene and stumbled here looking routes to ride and made the mistake of opening the forum, been trapped here since.
Also similar to Weeksy was previously on bikeradar but that went downhill with a small number of posters running amok and pretty much bullying other members. They then changed the forum and that was enough for me.

Was on the forum when the idea of crowd funding a mag came about so pretty sure I bought into it then. I got a free t shirt which I still have!

I was searching for MTB parts and someone told me to try bike forums (bikemagic etc) then I found STW. Another forum member also suggested STW so I hang around and that's more than 20 years ago I think since 2001 or something like that.

p/s: friend that recommended me was doing Transalp in Germany/Switzerland or somewhere recently ...

June 2013 - found a pair of DHB shades at Cannock, and this was the first place I found to ask if anyone had lost them. 🙂

Bought a bike off someone about 20 years ago who recommended the forum as a good place for advice/routes etc, so I logged on, then took out a mag subscription and I'm still here.

I can't imagine my enjoyment of mountain biking would have been anything like its been without this place. I've ridden all over the place with loads of different people off here, a lot of whom I now regard as some of my best mates.

I'm off up to Scotland this weekend with the rest of the Monday Night Pub Ride crew to ride bikes and drink beer. It'll be bloody brilliant, because it always is!

Went on a trip with a mate who was trying to get an article published about the development of lift accessed MTB trails in ScotlandShire, not sure it ever went anywhere though, so that’s when I first hear of the Mag, guess around 2009?

Was on the, then, MBUK forum, that then became bikeradar, the road side of which seems fairly active, inc off topic stuff (they have a brexit and anti Tory thread? Not going down that rabbit hole…) but the MTB side is a ghost town. I think Northwind may have mentioned here, first enticing me across…

found a pair of DHB shades at Cannock, and this was the first place I found to ask if anyone had lost them.

I hate to be pedantic but you already knew someone had lost them. You wanted to find who that was.

2005ish, seem to remember reading comments referring to this forum (or rather the old pre-crash one anyway) over on bike magic.

I hate to be pedantic

Tell the truth - you enjoyed that really 😉

This thread has Heaven's Gate video testimonies vibe.

I had to go looking at the mag archive. The first one I bought was issue 4 because it had a Dekerf review in it. I never did own a DeKerf because I am a cheapskate when it comes to bikes.

First used the forum in 2005

I subscribed *before* the first issue! I can't actually remember whether it was via a newsgroup or mailing list, but I vaguely knew Shaun through one of those, along with a bunch of other relevant people.

Digression: how's AndyA these days? Haven't heard of him in ages?

Issue 1 - I was given a 'fee' copy with my shiny new Orange Sub5 from Riks Bike Shed at Mabie.

Like a bad smell, I am still here.

(And I *think* I was on a the predecessor site - Gofar? as well as MTB Britain from an early time to find routes.)

Saw it mentioned on the bikemagic forums and joined then, around the time the first issue came out. Spotted the first issue for sale in the old bike shop in Heaton Moor (John something? He was the Ellsworth dealer for the north of England) so bought it, I think I got issue 2 from the stand at the Mountain Mayhem race at Sandwell (plus a free pint glass that I stll have, though the logo wore off years ago) then subscribed shortly after. I was around for The Great Hack and rejoined the forum straight away

I've lost interest in reading MTB mags - as well as STW I used to subscribe to Cranked (from the kickstarter), but unsubscribed after accumulating a year's worth or more of unread mags. Will be taking out a digital only sub shortly though

I followed someone who left uk.rec.cycling (Shaun) to follow a dream. Lurked for a while and then became more involved when I started to ride and teach the kids to ride MTB. Been active about 13 years.

shitshifter days !

not seen Andy for a few years Gray, he got married again and last I heard was working at the bbc

Very early on I saw the mag in C-Y-B shop/Cafe, then when got back into biking again in 2003 I remembered it and found the forum.

I was on the mountain bike britain forum I think it was called, which I'd found by chance just looking around for stuff. It was a bit slow moving though, not that many members. I was reading a thread about a group ride they'd been on and someone mentioned about meeting the STW group on the same loop. So I searched and found this. Sometime around mid 2005 I think.

I think I first heard about it on the old mtb-uk Topica list. Back then it was Gofar and I was one of those that bough a subscription before the magazine even existed.

I've been here ever since with various usernames over the years, also as an advertiser and a contributor (both here and Grit.CX).

I spent most of the early days of STW doing studenty things like drinking copious amounts of beer and smoking funny cigarettes so I didn't even know of it.

Got back into MTB around 2010, joined here in 2011 and just lurked until MBR got shut down (because of GDPR allegedly). I've subscribed on and off since then and still lurk but I do post a bit more now.

Fell out with bikes 15yrs ago and at that point I'd not been following any bike press since mbuk mbr back in the late 90s.

Got riding again 9ish years ago picked a copy of the mag up as it had guy Martin on the cover...

Joined the forum February 23, 2014.

Made some great mates and had some great rides over the years.

I hate to be pedantic but you already knew someone had lost them. You wanted to find who that was.

I suspected, certainly, but I don't think I could go as far as to say I knew - it may, for example, have been a flamboyant litterer. 🙂

I was something of a late bloomer in terms of starting MTB and discovering STW. I did a Google search when looking at options for my first build. Ended up with a 26” Bfe and an addiction to a forum.

Wanted advice on stripping and repainting an old aluminium frame, and found that on the very friendly forum, then picked up the mag in a news agent.

Hooked ever since.

I don’t think I could go as far as to say I knew

What is knowledge anyway? That word carries a heavy burden. (Steeples fingers). Let's unpack that word...

I was introduced by a few (former) members including DrMallory and dirtygirlonabike. Hung around after that when I started working in TheBikeChain. A few of the regulars started up Mlehworld which has since morphed into a Facebook Group. This was all pre-hack.

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This is my second(official) user account though. I had a stalker on my previous one so was allowed to set up this in its place.

Pre Issue 1 certainly. Not sure how I found it but I was living at home after graduating uni in 2001, looking at moving house and searching stuff about riding in that location.

The forum name (which I've had right through, never changed) came about cos when I was working in the bike shop a customer had once said something my (very long, very skinny) legs about them being crazy legs so that name sort of stuck in the shop as well. And then I registered on the forum with that.

About 2004, I think my wife pointed me to the site after finding it whilst researching a new bike or a holiday, or something.

The first thread I remember was a PSA about Halfords selling off Kona Explosifs for £400, the frames online were £450 I think and Halfords were selling a handful with the build kit from the Kona Blast (randomly...I think the frames were seconds as the rear V brake always sat off centre).

I rang my local store and he wanted to know what the heck was going on as he had multiple calls from across the country to ship the one he had in stock to another store via their distribution centre. Thankfully I was the only one that was able to turn up 30 minutes later to snatch it up!

Great bike, still got it, got me into singlespeed 🙂

Print & digital subscriber and forum user since Nov '13.
Prior to that would always buy a copy for frequent long train journeys.
Used to buy MBR and MB UK but stopped when tbey became completely over-run with advertorials.

I'm old, and it was a long time ago, so I'm not quite sure of the details. I think it was via uk.rec.cycling, then GoFar. I met Myra van Inwegen, who used to contribute a lot on GoFar, when I was cycling in Wales in 2000 - I get a mention in this account http://www.myra-simon.com/myra/bike/wales2000.html. I remember when the idea of a magazine was first mooted and thought it was something I should support. Been a subscriber ever since.

I had joined IMBA in Canada in 2002, and wanted to remain active when I moved to the UK in 2003. If I remember correctly, the STW site used to host the IMBA-UK forum back then, and so I created an account. Then, while I became very active on mtb-wales.com, I would swing over to this site when things got boring or too contentious over there.

Eventually, when mtb-wales.com died, I moved over to STW full-time, and I have been here ever since.

On a walk into Stanage Popular End in early 2000 for a beginners weekend of climbing one of the climbers cracked a rather off-colour joke involving sand and something that would now get me banned. He mentioned the joke had come from here and there was a whole thread of them. Lurked for a good while before plunging in with both feet.

(The answer was you can't gargle sand).

Dunno but it was pre hack days.
Whenever that was?

Was a member on the old MTB-Wales forum and heard about the new magazine coming out in there. I moved away from bikes around 2003 so didn't really follow any of the stuff from then until I got back into it in 2009. I then joined here and the old MBR forum, lived mainly on there but the occasional read and post over here. Been here fully since the MBR forum closed down apart from a few months where I took a break from everything to sort out a few personal issues.

Dunno but it was pre hack days.
Whenever that was?

Christmas 2008.
The story of how/why I remember that is too long and boring to recount on here...

I saw issue 5, I think it was, in a newsagent. It had a picture of a flat tyre on the front; that spoke to me. I dug it out the other week; it was a lot thinner back then. Mind you, so was I.

Joined to sell the Santa Cruz Blur I guided on for the 2003 season in Morzine, never left.

Gofar from 1999 and vaguely knowing Chipps from mtb racing and singlespeed stuff.

Bikemagic refugee circa 2004. Heard STW mentioned on other forums and thought I would have a look for myself.

Bikemagic around 2004 IIRC, someone was moaning about having been banned on STW, I had a look, made a few posts on petrolhead and environmental threads and got banned.

I got back I to mountain biking about 10 years ago after a number of years away from it. I joined another, small site/forum for a couple of years. Unfortunately a lot of the members had a falling out with the owner/moderator and jumped ship to here so I followed too (2014) and never looked back. This forum has been so good to me and for me. Thank-you STW.

Came here from bikeradar after looking for advice around 2004. Had a different username then but lost access to it so set this one up instead a few years later. Been here ever since.
My wife described herself as an STW widow because I always seemed to be on here. Has to be some irony in that somewhere.

2001 Bike Show at Birmingham NEC initially where they had the mag stolen, a brief chat and some stickers exchanged. Then again at Fat Tyre festival Dolagellau where I picked Chipps up on the way down.

Worked in a Bike shop when issue one came out, we used to stock it so I got my copy there. Subscribed when I left the bike shop, been around ever since.

Drac, Steve M and Andy A are just three of many truly lovely people that I met back around the time that STW was starting. Got me all nostalgic now. Love you all!

2001-ish. Think the place in Todmorden had just opened and did an organised ride out from there. I was with Tim from Sideways (remember him, used to sell great kit).

I recall Chipps being obsessed with his coffee machine and perfecting the art.

Actually may have been a bit earlier than this thinking about it?

I've been a magazine subscriber since 2004; I still have (I'm pretty sure) pretty much each and every copy lined up in chronological order. On the forum since goodness knows when.

I actually cancelled my subscription over the weekend as, quite simply, I just don't find its contents as interesting and relevant (to me) as I once did. I'm not the mountain biker, and in all practicality not even the cyclist, I once was.

However, it turns out I cancelled the subscription only a week or two after payment was taken so I may well revert to digital version. But then I don't like reading stuff on a screen so I may well re-subscribe when the time comes - especially in light of the brutal honesty of the situation now highlighted.

I had bought the odd mag, but then bumped into the team at a a 24hr race, maybe Sleepless?? Anyway subscribed and got a jersey. Joined in the forum later and after a move from Peak to South, met a few folk from here.

2001ish for me. I was underworked as a junior developer so split my time between here and bikemagic. Was a print subscriber for many years until all mtb print media got too repetitive for me. Profile got recreated after the hack.

Shows my comfort with the place, that other than Facebook, this is the only place I post under my real name.

Probably 2002, I reckon.  Maybe 2001.  Just arrived here while generally websurfing once we got "proper" internet

I think Issue 1 was being given away at one of the 24hr races at Trentham Gardens. Certainly where I got it from, from Mark iirc. I subscribed the following month, but gave it up around 6 years ago, (not long after Jenn had passed away), as I felt it didnt contain anything I was interested in anymore.
As in the other thread, I woudl gladly pay something for forum use, I have no interest in the magazine.

Proper Noob here - joined in March 21. Had often used STW forum answers from google searches, and occassionally bought a copy when travelling, but needed to ask a specific question after getting back into MTB during lockdown (kids and work having reduced time on the bike previously)
Having joined and taken a digi subs for the bike stuff, the wide discussion and sound advice on the chat forum for pretty much any life issue has become another reason to be here.

2008ish to buy an Ellsworth Joker (my 1st ever FS). A mate I worked with pointed me to it in the classifieds and I hurriedly created an account and thus my user name is just my name.. which is not ideal as there’s certain things I just don’t talk about/ask advice on! The Ellsworth went from me to my dad to a mate and was stolen recently never to be seen again.. bastards!

Only forum member I’ve met (other than to buy/sell stuff) is binners maybe 10 years ago. I asked for advice on here for trails while I was working away and it was his neck of the woods. But, it was lashing down and dark/miserable so we went to the pub. Didn’t even turn a crank 🙂

I associate it with my first trip to Glentress with @Steveo in probably 2003. It was a new dawn of MTB for me, and he mentioned this website called SingletrackWorld. The evening we got back to Sheffield I logged on (t'internet) and had to register with STW. But what username to choose? After a weekend riding GT on a Chameleon I had a pretty raw undercarriage, so "sore_tint" it was. Probably been on here 80% of days since.

Came here looking for 2006 mayhem results, lurked for a while but must have joined post hack. It mostly amuses my wife and kids the amount of browsing I do 😞

Subscribed when they launched at the Bike Show.

Well according to my profile joined March 2015 but I think it was a couple of years before then. Like others, came from bikeradar, really got into my cycling around 2010 and enjoy internet forums, so this is (nearly) heaven.
I have a few saved websites that I open up when I turn the computer on - Av forums, Bet365, Dc Rainmaker, cyclechat and here, mainly because they are all busy forums where I can learn lots of things, and one where I lose any spare money I have!

Only forum member I’ve met (other than to buy/sell stuff) is binners maybe 10 years ago.

Don’t think I’ve met anyone from here other than from buying and selling. Often look at other people when out and think “Are they one of my lot”

We need a greeting that’s specific to STW, but won’t make you look like a nutter if used on a normal person

Progressed from MTB World ( I think it was ) when that folded been around ever since .

Well, one night a couple of days after a raging argument with my neighbour who's wife had once again decided to park diagonally across my driveway, I was ruminating on why so many foxes and dogs seemed to be fervently scratching up my back lawn. I set about googling "Frozen sausages lawn" and the rest is history.

Ah, if only.

I had a stalker on my previous one so was allowed to set up this in its place.

I knew i'd find you eventually!!!

I accidentally found it whilst searching for tractor porn.