CHARLIE THE BIKEMONGER

STRENGTH THROUGH RESPECT

2017 saw car brand Porsche retire from endurance, Le

PATH OF A PRINCE

Pete Scullion continues his tour of the north’s coffn roads. Ancient byways that were the final journey for the dead and which conveniently make great trails for the living.

BAMBOOZLED

Can a self-confessed perfectionist who’s terrible at woodwork make a bamboo bike from scratch at home? Well, the answer is ‘sort of…’

BORDER BLASTING

Tom Fenton treads the fine line between England and Scotland, black ice and bog, all the while attempting condiment-based puns.

A FROMAGE-FUELLED TIME MACHINE

Jason Miles swaps his usual bike-based comfort zone for a much snowier and slidier scene where he’s no longer even barely competent.

IT’S NOT CLIPLESS, IT’S CLIP-IN, OK?

Wil and the clip-in crew have spent the last few months trying to work out which are the best platform clip-in pedals. Here’s what they found.

STEP INSIDE MY LAB

Tere is much that separates platform clip-in pedals from their small-bodied siblings, though every brand does things a little difierently. Here are some of the key aspects that define the performance of these bigger platform pedals.

BEST FEEL HT COMPONENTS X2

Price: £119.99 / Weight: 444g per pair (all weights

MOST DURABLE TIME ATAC DH4

Price: £89.99 / Weight: 475g per pair / From: ExtraUK

BEST IN MUD CRANK BROTHERS MALLET DH

Price: £149.99 / Weight: 480g per pair / From: ExtraUK

BEST ALL ROUND SHIMANO SAINT M820

Price: £109.00 / Weight: 535g per pair / From: Madison

THE VERDICT

If you’re already a #flatpedals4life user, then it’s

ALSO TESTED

All-in, we tested eight diTherent brands in our platform

ROOM 1 01

Every issue we highlight some of those niggly aspects

DUDDON VALLEY

Tom Hutton strikes gold in a littleknown corner of the Lake District

UNSPRUNG HEROES

Chipps rides three fully rigid bikes from Kona, Pinnacle and Surly.

KONA UNIT X

The Kona Unit has a long history, from a Canadian company

PINNACLE RAMIN 3 PLUS

Price: £900.00 (Currently on sale for £750.00) / From:

SURLY ECR

Price: £2.100.00 as tested. Frameset £800.00 / From:

THE VERDICT

This is obviously a little diTherent to recent bike

QUIT YOUR JOB

Hannah interviews five people who’ve said ‘Right! flat’s it! I’m leaving to go and work with pushbikes!’ Then they’ve carried through with the threat. And how.

GRAHAM STOCK

Founder and Director of Sixth Element Wheels. I take

CY TURNER

Founder and Director of Cotic Bikes. I own and run

JOHN ‘SHAGGY’ ROSS

Head of Retail and Distribution at The Bicycle Academy

DOUG McDONALD

I am the owner of basqueMTB. flat basically means guide

LESS MEASURING, MORE DOING

Joe Parkin has the secret of getting fit and he’s willing to share it with you. Spoiler alert: it involves riding your bike.

A thousand sand dunes

Four friends take on the largest sand dune desert in the world.

IN THE BEGINNING

Olly Townsend recounts how his earliest experience of mountain biking could quite easily have been his last…

YORKSHIRE GRIT

Chipps catches up with one of the UK’s original mountain bike pioneers, still making waves from his base in North Yorkshire.

BIKE BEANS ON TOAST

Every mountain bike ride doesn’t need to be a feast for the senses, reckons Antony.Sometimes it just needs to be a snack for the soul.

LAST WORD: THAT TIME I GOT MISTAKEN FOR A BEAR

Charlie the Bikemonger shares a little too much. Again.