AstonMTB Builds His John Deere Spur
AstonMTB has just shared his intro video to his new John Deere Starling Spur, with a quick walk through why he’s excited about the bike and a few of the components.
Month: June 2022
Singletrack Mag’s Starling Cycles Twist Trail Review
The good people up at Singletrack have just spent some time on our mid-travel mullet, the Twist Trail.
With 140mm travel and mullet wheels we’ve made the Twist Trail to be a bit more lively than our bigger hitters. It’s intended for razzing round your local woods, trail centre laps, those classic ‘winch-and-plummet’ days we all ride so many of here in the UK. Basically, anything where you want a fun, fast and aggro bike but don’t need the absolute fastest bike on the hill.
You can read the full review in issue 143 of Singletrack, but, in the meantime here’s a few of our favourite bits:
First, we really love how they picked up on how the bike looks. “The whole frame is simultaneously no-nonsense yet overtly style conscious. It doesn’t need to have those bird cut-outs in the gussets and cross-brace. And that cross-brace between the uprights of the swingarms doesn’t have to be shaped like that does it? But it is. Because why not? Tiny bits of joy. Refreshingly cute (camp even) and old-fashioned in the all too aggressive and sharp- edged world of contemporary mountain bike design. The head badge and the Starling decal are both really cool too. Yes, I am principally banging on and on about how the bike looks. I can’t help it.”
There’s also a great comment about the personality of the bike. “Where the geometry rewards – nay demands – being ridden in the best elbows-out, knees-down ragging as is feasible, it’s the frame handling that lets you get away with things. There’s a larger margin for error. There’s less deflection. There’s less tyre washout. There’s more feel.”
And last but not least. “Despite having the word in its name, the Twist Trail is not really a trail bike. It’s far too Scrappy Doo for that. Wanna trail bike? Get the Murmur. If you want a bike for hammering the heck out of a couple of square kilometres of woodland, the Twist is the one. With the added benefit of being a blast on the occasional obligatory daytrip to some McTrailCentre or other, where it is also a freaking riot.”
You can learn more about the Twist Trail here and order the latest issue of Singletrack here.
Roost Hardtail Frames Are In Stock
Great news – after what’s felt like an age, Roost frames have landed.
The Roost is our stainless steel, race-winning hardtail frame. It was designed and tested by Starling and handmade by the masters at ORA in Taiwan who have done an amazing job.
The Roost is built around mullet wheels and designed for a 140mm fork, but can take anywhere from 120mm to 160mm. It’s not a show-off, crazy-slack, extreme-reach ‘hardcore’ hardtail and it’s also definitely not a steep and scary XC whippet. We made this one to be fun to ride, easy to throw around and capable to doing pretty much all the stuff we know Starling riders love to do.
If you want one, we have Roost frames in stock in the UK now and available to ship straight away. No waiting around for stock, they’re ready to go. We have a very small number of mediums left and good numbers of Large and Extra Large.
You can see what the media thought of the Roost here: Wideopenmag Roost Review, Bike Rumor Roost Review, MBUK Roost Review
You can find out more about the Starling Cycles Roost here.
Workshop Chatter Ep#4 Racing Trans Madeira
Joe’s just back from a week racing his Stainless Murmur at Trans Madeira. He did pretty well, smashed some parts up, made some new friends and has loads of stories from his week away.
What better an excuse for a Workshop Chatter and a bike check?
