MBR April 2018

Want the latest MBR delivered to your door every month? Check out our latest subscription offer, or try MBR’s digital editions on iPad, Android, Kindle and more…

The latest issue of MBR is out now, packed full of inspiring ideas and route maps to help you find new places to get out and ride.

What about the magazine itself? Here’s a taste of what you’ll find inside…

MBR April 2018

On the cover: Dave Anderson slithers down Garburn Pass in the Lakes. Photographer: Sim Mainey.

Havok Bike Park

Sim Mainey faces up to his worst fears and tackles the Havok bike park’s steeps in an effort to reawaken neglected skills and shake himself out of the comfort zone

Athens, Greece

You knew Athens was jam packed with antiquities, but you probably didn’t know that hundreds of trails pick their way through, round and over them. We tackle the three mountains that surround the ancient city, complete with 200 trails and plenty of shadows and dust.

Cotic FlareMAX

Steel bike brand Cotic has made a modern corker of a trail bike, in the new FlareMAX — 27.5in Plus or 29er wheels, 120mm travel and the kind of progressive geometry that makes tall riders rejoice

First rides

Time to ride one of the hottest new bikes of the year in the YT Industries Capra with 29er wheels and a huge 170mm travel. Plus the latest £1k full sus wonder, the Jamis Dakar, and the Norco Range A3 entry-level enduro rig

Longtermers

Charlie’s Whyte 905 hardtail gets a natural wet weather grit blasting, Dan fits chunky WTB Convict tyres to the Saracen Kili Flyer, Laura tries night riding on ‘Tracey’ the Trek Remedy, Roo unpicks the Scott Genius’s bar clamp congestion and JD drops his chain a few hundred times on the Calibre Bossnut

Product

Five years in the making, five months in the testing, we review the Cane Creek Helm Air fork with 170mm travel. Plus reviews of Invisiframe Protective Wrap, Blackburn Core minipump, and head-to-head testing of the Gore Powertrail and Ion Shelter windproof jackets, plus and loads more

Tested: Disc brakes

Lightweight, powerful and reliable, modern disc brakes are a must have for your mtb, even with only £50 to spend. On test are 10 brakes, from entry level stoppers up to four-piston top end models from Hope, Shimano, TRP and the SRAM Code RSC

Bike test: coil enduro bikes

Coil-sprung enduro bikes are more popular than ever thanks to the increasing demands of enduro racing: 10 minute plus descents, rough tracks and technical terrain. MBR tests the Santa Cruz Nomad, Giant Reign Advanced 0 and Mondraker Dune XR

Bikes in this issue

  • Calibre Bossnut V2
  • Cotic FlareMAX
  • Giant Reign Advanced 0
  • Jamis Dakar A2
  • Mondraker Dune XR
  • Norco Range A3
  • Scott Genius 900 Tuned
  • Santa Cruz Nomad V4 CC X01
  • Saracen Kili Flyer
  • Starling Murmur Factory
  • Trek Remedy 8 27.5 Women’s
  • Whyte 905
  • YT Industries Capra 29 CF Pro

Fitter and faster

Coach to the pros Alan Milway shows us how to train with a small ‘t’ with intervals, night riding and even bouldering

Skills while you wait

Part 2 of our car park tricks skills feature: this month the cutty, wheelie loop, bench hop and more

Faster riding

How to ride faster without getting out of control — expert coach Andy Barlow from Dirt School teaches you how to manage pace, break up the trail and brake smart

Regulars

  • Big pictures
    Buzz: Two new steel bikes from Cotic and Starling, plus help, advice and inspiration on where to ride, what to buy and how to ride faster
  • Mailbox: Your rants, raves and witty ripostes
  • Afterimage: Brook MacDonald talks about riding, filming and learning from the legend Stevie Smith

Want the latest MBR delivered to your door every month? Check out our latest subscription offer, or try MBR’s digital editions on iPad, Android, Kindle and more…

The latest issue of MBR is out now, packed full of inspiring ideas and route maps to help you find new places to get out and ride.