Gear

If you’re like me you’re not a big fan of the Camelbak or similar backpack mounted hydration system. I mean it’s heavy, bulky, and hot when you’re riding and it just tends to harsh your flow down the trail. Water bottles, on the other hand, get dirty and they tend to throw you off balance …

Now this is something I couldn’t have imagined: using inflatable balls to pump up a bike tire. Now apparently this has been done for some time with motorcycle and dirt bike tires but it’s very new in the mountain bike world. Individual “Tire Balls” are inflated using a needle inflator (like you’d use for a …

Dontcha hate it when your chain falls off after a gnarly downhill? Of course you could go with a derailleur guide but that usually limits you to a single chain ring on the front. Not a problem if you only go downhill but what about those of us who ride up too? Enter the Wicked …

I spoke with a rep from Carver Bikes about the newest new thang in big wheel bikes: the 650B. Of course Carver is known for their rad titanium framed 29ers and 96ers but they’re also coming out with a 650B bike (see pic). 650cm bike wheels have been around on the road for a while …

The Garmin Edge GPS series has been our favorite choice for mountain biking for a while but we’ve been frustrated with the ability to import and export data using Garmin’s Training Center application. If you’ve ever tried to convert a single ride to another data format (like GPX for example) you know it’s a huge …

Due to popular demand we’re expanding our mountain bike reviews to cover all kinds of gear. From sunglasses to hydration packs, bottom brackets to spokes, if you use it for mountain biking, you can add and review it on singletracks. Just fill out a short form and tell us who makes the gear, how much …

The other weekend we were riding down at FATS in South Carolina when we stopped to chat with a group of guys out on the trail. Here’s a rough transcript of our conversation: Me: Is the Brown Wave trail pretty sweet? We’re thinking about heading down that way. Kid on single speed: Yeah, it’s got …

Okay so this prototype wooden bike certainly isn’t meant for the trails but what if it were? You can’t get much closer to nature than riding through the trees on a piece of wood 😉 Seriously though, wood seems like an interesting choice for a bike frame since it is (according to the designer) 10 …

I’ve never seen this happen before: On a ride today, my Garmin Edge 305 completely locked up. It was toward the end of a 30 mile ride and I noticed the map seemed a little off – we were coming up on a turn we had made earlier but according to the map screen we …

I purchased the Magellan eXplorist 400 “Wilderness bundle” a couple weeks back and I’ve been using the included MapSend Topo 3D USA software for sending detailed maps to my GPS receiver. I was quickly amazed at the improved utility of my eXplorist 400 yet somewhat frustrated with the whole process. The information contained in the …

Want a one-of-a-kind bike without having to do alot of work? Specialbike can hook you up with a refurbished ride sporting brand-spanking new components and a fresh paint job. Looking for that cherry 1968 Schwinn with a banana seat? How about a Trek Antelope like all the rich kids were riding back in the 1990s? …

After reading a glowing review of the Garmin Motionbased online service from an Edge 305 owner I was stoked to see what the hype was about. After wading through system errors and software downloads I have to say I just don’t get it. Motionbased accounts are free and they allow you to do advanced visualization …