It was 1991. Nirvana had just released “Nevermind.” I had just stripped my black Yeti FRO of its gears, as well as the heavy and failure-prone Mountain Cycle Suspenders fork and Pro-Stop disc brake, and decided to chase after the simplicity of single

To all the newbs I'Ve loved before don't ever change I haven’t written a letter like this in a while. Hell, last time I had the clammy-hand feeling of putting these types of words into writing, I was still a gap-toothed middle school kid whose go-to

When Casey Brown greased the landing of a difficult 30-foot jump at last summer’s Proving Grounds, the first-ever qualifier for Red Bull Rampage, no one watching could contain their excitement. Certainly not photographer Paris Gore, recalling the emo

We’ve all been there. Exhausted, even if we love it. Pushed. Every creative drop squeezed, empty of words, energy wrung from a now-hollow inner. This ended a week of careful consideration—free flowing yet meticulous and thoughtful line choices. Camp

If modern shred groms learn that trail work today makes for better berms tomorrow, well then, that’s a generation of riders who will warp through technique, PRs and fear until they’re teetering on the edge of carnage. “He certainly can huck his meat,

IT’S SATURDAY, SUNNY AND 75 DEGREES. THE FOREST IS A vibrant green and recent rains have made the loamy, redwood soil nothing short of magical. A seemingly endless conga line of riders labors up a dirt road. Before embarking on their descent, nearly

I drafted a few deep, philosophical analogies to lead us into this review, but I scrapped them all. The Murmur isn’t about the clever wordplay or fancy sentence structure that typical Bike intros normally traffic in. The Murmur is about riding your d

I tend to assume that anyone making a steel full-suspension bike must hold a dogmatic belief in ferrous metals. Don’t get me wrong: dogmatic beliefs can be correct, but the tiny proportion of the mountain bike market dedicated to steel full-suspensio

Sometimes the most difficult part of being a pro athlete is figuring out how to not be a pro athlete anymore. When racing or sponsorship obligations no longer fill your cup, financially or otherwise, what’s the next step and how do you take it? For K

I don’t take so many photos these days. Yet amid a strange year, the images I do capture feel more meaningful than before. With less time spent on the road, shooting everything all of the time, my lenses tend to focus on the people and places close t

Skye Schillhammer was shooting photos in Bellingham, Washington, on a winter day with Pacific Northwest ripper Taylor James, a local well-known for his wild-guy antics on and off the bike, when suddenly the day took a serious turn. James had just att

The spring of 2020 was a fucking mess. I think we can all agree on that, right? Global pandemic leading to widespread economic instability and spawning wave upon wave of protests whereby armed goobers stormed state government buildings because they f

In the world of mountain biking, and general adult tomfoolery for that matter, I’m an outlier. Correction. I was an outlier. When post-ride discussions turn to tales of broken bones and other assorted injuries, folks point to different parts of their

MAY 20, 2020 2:51 P.M. TERRACE, BRITISH COLUMBIA Some would say Terrace, British Columbia, is a form of social distancing in itself. Some, indeed, would be right. When zoomed out on Google Maps, it looks like Terrace is sniffiffing Alaska’s lower coa

TOWERING FIRS CREAKED AND GROANED AS they swayed in the canopy of a moody Blackcomb forest, a once-peaceful sanctuary not far from Whistler’s din. As I stood there silently, I thought back to when this exact spot used to be eerily quiet. A wild place

AJKEIOMANGK JDKKANGHALA JKDKIEHAHNAEO DAEOANAJAKGG The forest is so thick it’s threatening to swallow the ing line of dirt running in front of my tire. The Southern Appalachians are like that; so lush and dank that if you pedal fast, the understory a

North Shore Billet’s floor glitters with aluminum shavings like the tinsel on a Christmas tree, and it’s apt for a mountain biker: We love shiny new stuff more than just about anybody. Standing next to owner Chris Allen, I watch CNC machines buzz as

Carbon wheels have a PR crisis on their hands. They symbolize a deep divide that’s only getting deeper as bikes get more expensive. On one side are those who value the returns of buying top-shelf parts. On the other are those who stop buying when tho

What is it about making carbon wheels that’s so enticing? Why does it seem like every single company in the cycling business is getting into the wheel game? Is there something I don’t know? Are carbon rims the secret cash cow of the bike industry? Pe

Guerrilla Gravity is a brand you can really get behind. The concept around how it manufactures its bikes is truly unique and refreshing. Seriously, it is. This is not just another bike company making the same old widget with the same old marketing sc

I can’t help but think that I got the assignment to test REEB’s latest iteration of the SQWEEB based on my long-standing aversion to travel-adjust bikes. Visions of cluttered cockpits and unfocused performance come to mind when I think of bikes that

The Chris King aluminum puck does not belong in “Matter.” We cover things like the first hydration pack, the first threadless headset, and the first lock-on grip. Flash points in evolution that changed the bike industry. The Chris King puck did not d

SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA. JUNE 14TH, 2020, 7:00 PM. PHOTO: DAIN ZAFFKE Bike (ISSN # 1072-4869) is published 2 times a year (Summer, Fall.) by Weider Publications LLC., a division of American Media LLC. 4 New York Plaza, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10004. C

As we went to press on this issue, the world was in the midst of more turmoil than any of us is likely to see again in our lifetime. A global pandemic with a death toll nearing a half-million, civil unrest triggered by centuries of systemic racism an

Riding in the high alpine is so special. The views are smashing, it’s always a bit challenging and the season is relatively short. On this particular day, we were above the village of Sexten in the Italian Dolomites, and didn’t see another soul. Juli

When you’re laid off from work, banned from traveling and happen to live in one of the most progressive trail-development communities in the Pacifific Northwest, it doesn’t take long to fifigure out what to do with idle hands and hours. Squamish, Bri

As her home city of Minneapolis became the center of the Black Lives Matter movement in late May, Rachel Olzer emerged as one of the most powerful voices in cycling. Olzer is a Black cross-country and cyclocross racer, Specialized ambassador and co-f