Contents 4|

7. Editorial Chipps adds up the real cost of riding mountain bikes.

8. Dirtbagging Dave Anderson describes the difference between being a dirtbag and a cheapskate.

16. I Was A Chalet Bum Jon Woodhouse recounts his misadventures of ditching his proper job and becoming a bike guide in Switzerland.

22. Column: Roly Lambert Roly tries his luck being a bike messenger in London. He’s not ridden in London before.

24. Blame The Dog The madness of marketing. Mike Ferrentino’s regular letter from America.

28. Gallery Pretty pictures.

33. Monkey Bikes A quartet of entry level £500 bikes tested from Cube, Diamondback, Kona and Specialized.

44. Chipps’ One Ton Weekend For this issue’s “best way to spend £100” Chipps buys a £89 bike and attempts to complete a 50 miler.

52. Column: Phil Diprose Some people never learn do they?

54: Through The Grinder Seven pages of shiny stuff that ain’t so shiny no more.

76. Terra Australis Matt Hart gets slow cooked Down Under.

84. Montenegro-A-Go-Go Daniel Klawczynski and Dominika Skonieczna uncover this Balkan beauty.

94. Long Term Test Bikes Benji’s Genesis Alpitude and Diamondback Bandito, Chipps’ Trek Fuel and Orange Blood, Matt’s Cotic BFe, Sim’s NS Bikes Society.

98. Subscribe To Singletrack Here’s how and more importantly why.

102. Mountain Bike First Aid Newly qualified bike guide Ed Oxley gives us the lowdown about the First Aid basics we all should know.

108. Column: Anth Robinson Anth discovers that he never quite stops mastering his fears.

112. Column: Matt Letch The mountain bike community needs to be recharged.

116: Route Guide: Dartmoor Over 100km of trails. Dartmoor is closer than you think, and better than you can possibly imagine.

127. Outro And would you like bacon with that? Photo by Margus Riga