All Arround MTB

The bike shops you’ll find in the mountains of Europe tend to be ski shops that have been converted for a few months of summer trade, so they don’t have the same buying power as your year-round LBS back in the UK. To avoid shelling out a small fortune on parts while you’re away it’s a good idea to chuck some essential spares in your kitbag.

The trails you encounter in the mountains of Europe are likely to be longer, rougher and harder on your bike than anything you’ve ridden in the UK. A few changes to your bike set-up could make your trip a lot more fun

A bike bag is great for protecting your pride and joy from airport baggage handlers, but if you’re on a tight budget a cardboard bike box will do the job

Troubleshoot those annoying creaks, rattles and groans that can bother your bike

We take a look at the bike that helped Kurt Sorge to a rare second Rampage win

The first step is to mix up the rubber itself. While different bits of the tyre use varying compounds, they all share the same building blocks of natural rubber (from a tree!), synthetic rubber and various additives. These include sulphur, which makes the rubber tougher when heated (‘vulcanised’), and carbon black, which adds durability.

When he’s not keeping Brendan Fairclough and Neko Mulally in line, this former DH racer is best known for his hilarious course previews for Red Bull TV, giving a running commentary as he descends the planet’s toughest downhill tracks.

Yorkshire-based Sam has a wealth of talent, a clear vision of what he wants to achieve and a love of bikes and the ‘golden hour’, preferably together! Flick through his Instagram account and you’ll be led through Sam’s story – a tale of light, locations and losing himself around the globe.

In this series we’re looking at the evolution of three bikes that enjoy enduring popularity with UK riders. Each fits into a different category – we’ve had a hardtail and a full-suspension trail bike, so for this final feature it’s the turn of the long-travel bike. And few ‘big bikes’ have undergone such a transformation as the Trek Session, which had a bit of a confused birth at a time of overlapping disciplines but has evolved into a sleek, lightweight race bike with multiple World Cup wins to its name.

Efficient workhorse for the EnduroWorld Series champ

David Vasquez is the most successful Spanish DH racer of all time, a regular on the podium during his 14-year career. He now works as the World Cup rider representative for the UCI, the sport’s governing body.

Owner,engineer, designer,manufacturer andchief teamaker, Swarf Cycles

This custom bike is helping a mountain bike legend ride again after his life-changing accident

While some bike models last just a couple of years, others change with the times to stay at the top of riders’ wishlists. In the second part of this series looking at the evolution of bikes that enjoy enduring popularity with UK riders, we turn to the GT Zaskar – a bike that was at the forefront of our sport for a long time and still has plenty of appeal today.

A flying chariot built with one thing in mind – slopestyle domination

We catch up with Kye Forte , the сhampion BMX racer and freestyler who’s now turned his talents to DH racing

While some bike models last just a couple of years, others change with the times to stay at the top of riders' wishlists. In this new series we're looking at the evolution of three bikes that enjoy enduring popularity with UK riders, each from a different genre of mountain biking. Kicking things off is the Lapierre Zesty, a full-suspension rig that's come a long way since it was launched in 2007 (on sale in 2008).

Rob Warner returns (briefly) to DH racing, on a vastly improved bike

Mixing big wheels with big travel is no easy feat, but Spesh have pulled it off

Could Trek’s Stache be the plus-size playbike we’ve been waiting for?