Off-road riding

The bottom bracket is one of the most fundamental - if often overlooked - parts of a bike. For anyone who doesnt know, a bottom bracket is the bit that enables the cranks to turn aand features two sets of bearings (on on either side) with a hole through the middle for the axle.  This hasn't always been the case. For years a bottom bracket was a sealed unit with two attachments on either side for the crank arms/chainrings. The great thing about those - called square taper bottom brackets - was that they were sealed units and would last for a really long time without any maintenance. And we dont have to tell you why not needing maintenace is great.  But as time went on and bikes changed, so did the bottom bracket. Another of the most common types on bikes from a few decades ago was called 'threaded'. Simply, this was two units containing the bearings that threaded into the bottom bracket from either side - and could do so since the bottom bracket shell on the bike

If there was a benchmark for downhill and aggressive trail riding, it would probably look a lot like the Maxxis Minion. Designed 20 years ago by Maxxis team rider Colin Bailey, the Minion is largely unchanged from that original design and the results have been rolling in ever since. The DHF was the first version of the Minion, but it was later joined by the DHR to make the ultimate pair of gravity-defying tyres.  To celebrate the anniversary, Maxxis is releasing a Minion DHF with special 'heavy metal' inspired graphics. Just like the normal DHF bit with some added attitude to make your bike a little more rock n roll. 

Tubeless is one of those great ideas that’s actually made life a little easier. Sure, tubeless can be a bit of a pain as the tyres can occasionally be hard to seat on the rim, but doing away with inner tubes greatly lowers the chances of getting a puncture, and good sealant will have that puncture mended and ready to go far quicker than changing a tube anyway.  The milKit system is fantastic because it lets you install sealant and check sealant level without having to remove the tyre from the rim, meaning once you’ve got that tyre seated the only time it should need to come off is if you puncture badly enough that you need a new one. It also removes that moment where either you’ve seated the tyre and have to remove a small section to pour in your sealant, or you put your sealant in before seating the tyre and really hope that you’re not about to repaint your walls in ‘gunk chic’. You laugh, but we’ve

Keeping your bike working properly from home isn't that hard, but it doesn require a little bit of work. Whether that's maintenance or prevention, spending some time looking after certain details will mean that you bike stays on the road performing as it should for as long as possible. We've gathered a few more of Park Tool's fantastic videos here that touch on a couple of different ways to see whether your bike needs some care and attention, all without leaving the garage. 

The Madison saddle range has been around for a long time and proven to be very popular, but we figured it was time to mix things up a bit and work on some new ideas. There are heaps of new developments coming over the next few months, but the first of these is the new Freewheel range. These are saddles designed for riding in a more upright position rather than for anyone who's out on a road bike looking to ride fast with their head down.  There are six new models in the Freewheel range, based around four different designs - U100, U200, U300 and U400. They're designed to fit a broad spectrum of rider shapes and they're all unisex rather than gender-specific. They come in four different lengths with U100 being narrowest up to U400 widest. Length-wise the U100 and 200 are standard fit length saddles with a simliar shape to the traditional gents saddle, whereas the U300 and 400 are short-fit length which are similar to traditional ladies saddles.  All the Freewheel

The parts and components that come on your bike might not be the best for the way you ride. Here's our guide to making sure your bike works for you. 

So you want to commute by bike? Well that makes sense, now more than ever. Riding to work is a great way to start the day, it’s environmentally friendly, it gives you exercise and means you don’t have to share a cramped space with loads of other people.  But, like with almost everything, you need to have a think about exactly what riding to work requires. It’s a little more complicated than simply buying the first bike you find, throwing your leg over the top tube a starting to ride. Here’s a guide to what to look for in a commuting bike, and some of the best bikes for the job from Genesis, Ridgeback and Saracen. 

So you want to ride off-road? You've probably had your head turned by those super cool looking bikes with bounce at both ends, right? We can't blame you, they look great, ride wonderfully and are a whole lot of fun. But, hear us out, have you thought about a hardtail instead? Sure, they might not have that glamour of a full suspension bike but they'll make you a better ride and still leave you with just as big a grin on your face after a day on the trails. Check out the bikes below and tell us we're wrong. 

There are a few items that are pretty much essential for any cyclist to own. While a lot of stuff - expensive wheels, fancy shoes, three-figure-costing clothing - is nice to have and will be definite improvements over the basics, the essential stuff is kit without which you’ll find your bike off the road very quickly.  One of those essentials is a bike pump. Even without a puncture, air will slowly escape from tyres over time which is why your tyres were flat on that old MTB you pulled from the shed after not riding for 6 months. With flat tyres you’re not going anywhere fast - or anywhere at all - but the good news is you don’t have to spend a fortune to get one. The other thing to think about is what kind of pump you need. There are essentially three types:  1- Track pumps. This is what you probably see in your mind when you think about a pump. They’re

When the weather's hot, you need to find ways to keep cool on the bike because cycling is a seriously body-heat-boosting business. Whether that's through hydration properly, buying the best hot-weather kit you can find or any other method, heat-coping strategies will make riding this summer a much more pleasant experience. Here are a few things that'll help to keep you on the go when the temperature is on the rise.Science

Tubeless is one of the most on-trend subjects in the bike industry right now. Here's why you might want to think about making inner tubes a thing of the past (sort of)... Why you should... One big reason in favour of tubeless is that you can say goodbye to pinch punctures. A pinch pucture usually happens when you hit something (like a pothole) and trap the tube between tyre and rim. It's one of the most common ways to puncture and really rather annoying because feels like it should be avoidable - and now they are. Running tubeless means there's no tube to pinch, so you can leave all those pinched tubes in a metaphorical pile behind you. But it doesn't mean you can go slamming into things all over the place - as you can still write a rim off doing that - but you can run lower pressures without the worry of a pinch. Tubeless has been popular in mountain biking for a while now, and not having tubes to pinch is a big reason for that. Roadies, though, have been slower

If you have a home workshop and you're anything like us, you're always on the look out for the next addition to your tool boards. Never ones to shy away from making a tool that looks great as well as getting the job done, Park Tool have more than a few things that keep us casting a covetous eye towards the Minnesota-based brands' catalogue (or website, showing our age there...).  Here are a few of the things that would definitely be making their way into our workshop if we were given a free pass to order whatever we wanted. Get through this one without wanting to buy something, we dare you...

If variety is the spice of life, then bike kit that hold its own in various different disciplines is definitely a good way to save money. With the borders between on-road and off-road riding blurred more than ever before, the clever people at Madison Clothing have decided that needing completely different wardrobes for different rides is both an over investment and way too much faff. That's why their Roam kit is no longer just MTB clothing, it's ready for gravel, MTB, road and yes, maybe even the odd commute as well.  The Roam range consists of five main pieces: a merino jersey (which is lovely), a technical riding t-shirt, a set of baggy shorts, some super en vogue cargo bib shorts and a packable jacket. All of those are designed to keep you comfortabe no matter what type of riding you do, but they're absolutely perfect for gravel riding, that most surface-curious two-wheeled genre. 

Whether saddlebags are cool or not is something that'll probably be debated ad infinitum, but it's impossible to deny that they are are super useful. For example they free up your jersey pockets for more interesting stuff (like food) and mean that everything you need is attached to your bike when you want to ride. No more scrabbling around for those tyre levers that you absolutely left in that drawer but just aren't there any more. With that in mind, here's our list of the most useful things to have in a saddlebag. Oh, and if you end up in the middle of nowhere without the right tools to fix what's just happened to your bike then it's your fault. Unless you've snapped the frame or something, then we'll let you off. Inner tube Unless you’re running tubeless tyres (and maybe even if you are running tubeless as it’s never bad to have a plan B) you’ll need an inner tube in your saddlebag. You should make sure it’s solid one, too, not one of

Hyperglide+ is fantastic technology. It makes shirting smooth and consistent, even if you’re really mashing the pedals, but like everything on your bike Hyperglide+ components will wear over time. And wear only gets worse in muddy conditions which is like 90% of the time in the UK, meaning your MTB needs parts replacing more often than you might like. But Shimano has come up with an answer to that, and it’s called Linkglide. In testing, Linkglide components showed three times more durability in muddy conditions than Hyperglide+. That means fewer chain skips, better shifting, better performance and, of course, a longer lifetime. Linkglide is being introduced into the Deore XT 11-speed groupset and the Deore 10-speed group, mostly because although it’s usable on a wide variety of bikes, it’s particularly suitable for the high-torque loads that come with e-Bike riding making it perfect for e-MTBs and e-trekking bikes. In terms of the actual components,

There are some things you absolutely need in a home workshop and some things you don't. Here's our guide to helping you make the right decisions.

Yeah, we know what you're thinking 'ooh another tyre sealant, how wonderful'. But guess what, this isn't just any tyre sealant, it's a sealant from Vittoria, maker of the world's finest road tyres and the inventors of the PitStop Road Racing Kit which has saved many a rider's big day out in the past and is a favourite of riders in the know.  So how does it work? Excellent question. The Universal Tyre Sealant is formulated around a thin liquid base - this is important because it's this base that allows it to find the hole in the tyre quickly so you dont lose too much pressure, which is critical for road tyres that are run at much higher pressures than gravel or MTB tyres. Suspended in that base are platelets which clog together in order to seal larger holes, and this is how one sealant can be used on both road and MTB tyres, which have very different volumes and therefore run at very different pressures.

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Spring is one of the best times of the year to ride a bike, because the sun is back (at least sometimes, anyway), the temperature is warm but not too hot and it’s great to be back outside after a winter where a lot of riders understandably retreat to indoor cycling. It's also that point in the year where you can't ride in summer kit, but full winter kit will leave you sweaty and uncomfortable, plus you need to remember that not being summer yet you can't just roll out the best bike on those paper-thin race tyres an expect to ride unscathed. So here are our kit picks for spring, the things we like and the things we wouldn't ride without. 

Hey there everyone, and welcome to another selection of bike maintenance videos brought to you by the experts at Park Tool. We talk a lot on Freewheel about keeping your bike clean and making sure that everything works correctly, and so saw no reason not to bang on about it again here, except this time you can listen to people rather than reading our monotone written narrative. Check out the below videos, hope you enjoy them!

Disc brakes are more than just a fad, they're here to stay. It doesn't matter what or where you ride, disc brakes are the new normal, now, and learning how to keep them operating correctly is a really important part of owning a bike.  But anyone who’s used disc brakes knows that they can be a little, well, squealy. The key to keeping your disc brakes working properly and free from noise is, of course, looking after your pads and rotors. Squeaking noises are one thing, but a grinding noise is a sign of something that needs urgent attention. All Shimano disc brake pads have a wear indicator to tell you when they need replacing, and if you don’t make sure that you check them regularly then you’ll not only wear down the rotors prematurely but also risk not being able to brake properly when you really need it. The same goes for the rotors, as they wear down they get thinner and Shimano recommend that you change your rotors when they wear down a certain

Of the many different things Shimano's Di2 system can do, Synchro Shift might be the smartest but also one of the most misunderstood. Lots of riders don’t try Synchro Shift out because they just don’t really understand what it is and what it isn’t. So here’s an explanation of what Synchro Shift does do, doesn’t do, and why you might fancy giving it a go.

Gravel riding is a tricky category because it means something a little different to ever rider. For each person who has miles of gravel paths to ride, there's another that spends time on towpaths and bridleways, or spends most of their time on grass. Either way, it means making a gravel tyre that's ready for everyone is a difficult task.  With their new Receptor, Maxxis has made a tyre for riders whose gravel adventures happen both on and off-road, and it aims to strike that balance of being capable on both types of terrain. Using a 120tpi casing the Receptor is supple and tubeless-ready, of course, but the dual compound rubber is designed to offer a compromise between a tyre like the slick Velocita, and the more off-road-ready Rambler.  It also features Maxxis's legendary EXO protection, something that's borrowed from their MTB tyres, and this greatly improves the durability of the sidewalls to withstand cuts and abrasions. The Receptor is available in two sizes:

Bikes are great, but bikes are for riding. We enjoy a good tinker as much as the next person, but realistically the more time you spend messing about with your bike the less time you have to actually ride it. Here are five simple things that'll help you minimise faffing and get you out riding as quickly as possible.  milKit Sure, a milKit injector kit might cost more than those free tubeless valves that came with your wheels but guess what? They're better - and if you want nice things you have to pay for them. The ability to insert and check sealant levels by just removing the valve core and using the supplied syringe really does save time and hassle, and stops you spilling sealant all over the carpet and getting in loads of trouble which has definitely never happened to us... Dynaplug Tubeless is a really good thing. Ride quality is better (yes it is), you can't pinch