Innehållsförteckning för May 2021 från Mountain Biking UK

The Enduro World Series recently announced that they’d delay round one until the end of June, so with a super-long off season, I’ve only just started to get back into the swing of training. Every winter, I spend time at the skate park on my jump bike to help me keep on top of my skills and bike handling, but it’s mainly great fun to spend time with mates and push each other. Unfortunately, as we went into another lockdown the skate parks had to close, but now that the days are getting slightly warmer, drier and longer, the outdoor pump track and skate park sessions are back on. I’ve always been based in the north of the UK but recently decided I wanted a change, so I moved to…

STAR LETTER NEVER TOO LATE I started my mountain biking adventure as a middle-aged divorcee – probably not your typical target audience! I didn’t have much cycling experience, in fact I didn’t even own a helmet. After a traumatic breakdown in my private life, my determined friend decided it was time I got a new hobby, so she dragged me out to the Lake District on my first mountain biking weekend, which included some black-graded trails and the company of some (very patient) pro riders. That didn’t break my spirit and – as my body suffered cuts and bruises, and my bank account took various biking-related hits – my mind and heart slowly healed. I met loads of new friends and biking became the focal point of my social life,…

Frame ALUXX SL aluminium alloy, 160mm (6.2in) travel Fork RockShox Yari RC, 180mm (7in) travel Shock RockShox Super Deluxe Coil Select Drivetrain Shimano Deore with Praxis Cadet cranks and MRP chain guide (1x10) Wheels Giant DH rims on Giant Tracker Performance hubs, Maxxis Minion DHF EXO TR 27.5x2.5in WT (f) and Minion DHR II 27.5x2.4in (r) tyres Brakes Shimano MT501/520, 203mm rotors Bar/stem Giant Contact SL, 800mm/ Giant Contact SL, 35mm Seatpost/saddle Giant Contact SL/ Giant Romero Weight 14.8kg (32.6lb), large size without pedals…

Many years have passed since bikes were simply sprayed pink, adorned with glitter, bestowed with an oversize saddle and labelled as women’s models. Most of society, including the bike industry, has moved on from such stark stereotypes. However, brands still take very different approaches when it comes to appealing to and equipping female riders, some of which are more sophisticated than others. There are critics who feel this isn’t necessary and deride the growing market of women’s-specific products, and others who claim this kit makes a real difference. With lockdown regulations preventing her from taking part in this issue’s Bike of the Year test and soaring demand for bikes meaning we couldn’t get hold of enough similarly-priced women’s models for a full Biketest, as we’ve run in previous years, we…

ROB WEAVER With With three tw decades de ades of riding of experience riding experience , Rob knows Rob what kno works s and what what wo doesn s and ’t SARAH GAMSJÄGER Keen enduro racer Sarah is always on the lookout for kit that gets results RUSSELL BURTON Long days outdoors mean photographer Russ needs gear that won’t let him down JAMES BLACKWELL Jimmer rides as fast as he talks, and he needs kit that’ll survive that! ED THOMSETT Notoriously picky Ed won’t accept anything less than the best there is…

Two brands dominate the drivetrain market – Shimano and SRAM. Both offer an impressively wide range of MTB-specific options, from budget 10 and 11-speed set-ups to mega-money, electronically-shifting 12-speed systems. That’s assuming you want to run a single front chainring; both still make double, or even triple, drivetrains with close-range cassettes, like many of us started out riding back in the day, but for us, the advantages of a 1x set-up by far outweigh the disadvantages. Not only are they simpler to use with less to go wrong, but they’re generally lighter than their 2x or 3x equivalents and can nearly match the gear ratios, now that we have massive ‘dinnerplate’ cassette sprockets for easier climbing. The huge rise in popularity of 1x drivetrains has sparked a technology race between…

“Do one thing that scares you every day” is what they say, right? Finding a gap to jump is a great way to do just that, especially if it hasn’t been jumped before. There’s that excitement you get when you first spot the gap, then a wave of fear as you realise it’s on and you’re going to hit it, and the stoke you feel (not to mention the relief!) when you land it. To find a good gap on the trail, you need to be creative, look for an interesting point to take off from and somewhere to land that will help keep things smooth. There are many types of gaps, but here are a few to get you started with. 01 TECHNICAL GAP Tech gaps are fun and…

1 Put the wheel in a truing stand. If you don’t have one (as here), you can leave the wheel in the frame and use zipties as reference markers to see whether the rim is central. Attach one ziptie to each seatstay and cut them so that they’re close to touching the rim. 2 Slowly spin the wheel. Where it’s untrue it’ll move to the left or right, pressing against the ziptie (or the guide, on a truing stand). Decide which side the rim is pushing towards the most. Use this ziptie as the reference point for truing. Work on this part of the rim first. 3 Look for the spokes coming from the opposite side of the hub, which join at this point. Squeeze them to see whether adding…

The Pantry Cafe & Kitchen in Yattendon may be small but it has outside seating, some amazing cakes and also serves a fabulous full English breakfast. On the route, in Chapel Row, The Blackbird Cafe is well worth a visit. Try The Bladebone inn next door if you want something more substantial, or a little further on you’ll find The Cottage Inn in Upper Bucklebury. For an indulgent treat after the ride, The Pot Kiln gastropub in Frilsham offers high-quality food, or for something more relaxed, the West Berkshire Brewery in the industrial estate serves not only their own superb beer, but fantastic burgers and pizzas to accompany it.…

Route summary A big, tough, rocky delight of a ride. Steep and challenging throughout, but never too remote and has bail-out options if they’re required. Start/finish Hope car park (postcode S33 6RS, grid ref SK 171/835) 1 Turn right out of the car park, then right on Pindale Road. Go over a bridge and keep right, past the cement works and outdoor centre. Climb steeply. When the road turns right, keep ahead on a rough track, past houses, for a long rocky ascent. 2 Goright at the top, to a road. Head left on this. Shortly afterwards, bear right, on a stony track parallel to the tarmac, (gradually) uphill. Bear right to a track crossing with gates and turn right on the Limestone Way bridleway. Follow this grassy then technical…

CASTLEWELLAN FOREST PARK, NORTHERN IRELAND With arresting views across the Mourne Mountains, Castlewellan’s flowing singletrack boasts great riding for all abilities. There are blue and red trails (with black options), plus a pump track all set in the forest park, next to a Victorian castle and a lake. They host enduro and XC races here so you might find some off-piste trails, too. GLENTRESS, SCOTLAND One of the original venues that put Scotland on the mountain biking map, Glentress not only caters well for all levels of mountain biker with blue, red and black trails, but on each loop you’ll come across viewpoints that look out across the Tweed Valley, an area that has arguably the highest density of MTB trails in the UK. GWYDIR FOREST, WALES Within Snowdonia National…

VERDICT As we said at the start of this section, picking a winner this year was a real struggle. The Canyon Spectral 29 CF 7 has arguably the most sorted frame here, while the Saracen Ariel 30 Pro is really good value and we love its geometry, too. Both the YT Jeffsy Blaze 29 and Propain Hugene deserve their podium positions, though, being super-enjoyable and incredibly well-rounded in their performance, respectively. The heart might pick the YT, while the head would probably go for the Propain. Ultimately, though, the Bird Aether 9 just pips them all to the line. It delivers in every situation, from long days in the hills to short blasts in the woods. From its geometry to its suspension, its value to how easy it is to…

Scott’s Ransom offers up 170mm of travel at the front and rear, making it one of the longest-travel frames on test. But unlike on the other bikes, that travel can be easily controlled on the fly, using the brand’s proprietary TwinLoc system. A bar-mounted remote lever lets you toggle between three suspension modes – Descend (open), Traction (which limits the travel to 120mm) and Lockout. The TwinLoc remote and dropper lever (which is integrated into the lockring of the left-hand grip) make for a busy bar set-up, but you adapt to it quickly. The 442mm reach of the medium Ransom (which increases by 5mm in the high setting when paired with smaller 650b wheels) means it isn’t the roomiest bike on test, but it never felt too cramped for our…

Few products have stood the test of time like Shimano’s Deore XT groupset. The winner of this issue’s drivetrain test (p94) has its origins way back in 1982, when the Japanese brand developed a range of “superior off-road and touring components to provide cyclists with the durability and performance necessary for tackling off-road trails”, as they statedintheir1983 Shimano World magazine.The first XT groupset included bar-top thumbshifters, front and rear mechs (the latter pictured left, with the 2021 equivalent on the right), and cantilever brakes with four-finger levers. While XT has kept its name and stayed true to Shimano’s original goals, it’s undergone continuous development to remain one of the most sought-after MTB groupsets. Will we look back in another 40 years and be able to see similarities with today’s drivetrains?…

Squeezed between France and Spain, Andorra may be small but it has some decent-sized mountains, riddled with trails that demand a healthy amount of commitment. The principality is also home to larger-than-life French downhill and four-cross legend Cédric Gracia. Besides throwing the wildest after-parties when the World Cup rolls into Vallnord, the former racer has been instrumental in championing Andorran start-ups, namely boutique steel bike crafters Production Privée and expanding e-bike brand Forestal. CG (left) has helped initiate a partnership between these companies, leading to plans for an innovative range of bikes designed and built in Andorra. The Forestal Group, as they’re called, have just unveiled this yet-to-be-named prototype DH rig (1), which will be the race bike of choice for The Brigade Team this year. With the season due…

ARIEL 30 Saracen have two new trail bikes, the Ariel 30 at £2,199.99 and the Ariel 30 Pro at £2,999.99. You can also pick up a frameset for £1,199.99, with a Fox DPS Factory shock. Check out our Bike of the Year supplement for a review of the Ariel 30 Pro. ARIEL 60 Saracen’s new enduro rig, the Ariel 60, comes in three options. The base model is £2,499.99, the 60 Pro costs £3,299.99 and the 60 Elite is £4,199.99. The frame-only option comes with a Fox X2 Factory shock for £1,499.99.…

Sam Bowyer is healing up well after breaking his neck on a road gap at the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. “I had an over-the-bars crash and landed on my head,” he explains. “My helmet saved my bonce, but my body weight rolled my neck, causing me to snap my C2 vertebra straight across. This is nicknamed the ‘Hangman’s Break’ by medics. Thankfully I kept still and got my mate Jack to hold my head steady until help arrived. I spent over three months in a neck brace. It’s healing well, and will hopefully be back to normal soon. I’d like to thank the selfless, kind people who went out of their way to help me out – they may be readers! I’d also like to stress the importance of…

ROCKY MOUNTAIN ALTITUDE CARBON 90 RALLY EDITION £TBC Big-money bike for mega mountain missions Already proven in the Enduro World Series, this latest Altitude boasts a carbon fibre frame with 160mm of rear wheel travel. Rocky Mountain’s RIDE-9 system gives you nine shock position options, each of which alters the suspension feel and geometry. On the large size seen here, the head angle can be adjusted between 64.4 and 65.5 degrees, and the reach between 474mm and 486mm. You can also switch the chainstay length from 436mm to 446mm. Shock tunes are frame-specific, too. Rocky Mountain have spared no expense with the spec, which includes a Shimano XTR drivetrain and brakes, plus a 170m Fox 38 Factory fork and X2 shock. The wheels and cockpit are from Race Face, with…

1 TOP TUBE LENGTH Or to give it its full name, effective top tube length, this is the horizontal distance from the centre of the top of the seatpost to the centre-top of the head tube. This determines how roomy a bike feels when you’re sat down pedalling. Women tend to have shorter upper bodies than men relative to their leg length, so can benefit from a shorter top tube. 2 REACH This is the horizontal distance from the centre of the bottom bracket (BB) to the centre-top of the head tube, which dictates how big a bike feels when you’re stood up on the pedals. The same anatomical consideration as for the top tube applies here. 3 STACK HEIGHT The vertical distance from the centre of the BB to…

TFT’s mission is to reduce single-use pollution on our trails and in our wild places by 75 per cent by 2025. A non-profit organisation, they aim to achieve this through community action, and are calling on riders, runners and walkers to help. For details on how to join the #TRASHMOB (their team of volunteers), head to www. trashfreetrails.org. Follow them at @trashfreetrails. We’re big supporters of TFT’s efforts and have teamed up with them for MBUK Cleans Up!, a new campaign where we’re encouraging our readers to take home any rubbish they find and recycle it. Post your pics on Instagram with the hashtag #mbukcleansup. As a bonus for subscribers, we’re giving away a TFT x Endura jersey for the best photo each month.…

SILCA Italian Army Knife – Tredici £40 SO GOOD… Despite its light 100g weight, it feels well made and solid. Its 13 tools include most Allen and Torx keys, and the latter have an accurate fit. The 8mm Allen key undoes tight pedals easily, and the tool body doesn’t flex under high loads. NO GOOD… You don’t get many tools for the high price, making it better for set-up tweaks than repairs. The Allen key tolerances aren’t that good, with the 5mm bit feeling loose in all the bolts we tried. Their short length (25mm) makes it tricky to reach some bolts. We’d prefer one of the screwdrivers to be replaced with a bike-specific tool, ideally a chain breaker. www.saddleback.co.uk Birzman Feexman E-Version 10 £19.99 SO GOOD… This simple design…

FREEHUB BODY The part of the rear hub that the cassette slides onto. It contains the drive mechanism that allows you to freewheel without the cranks spinning, as well as to backpedal. 1X DRIVETRAIN Pronounced ‘one-by’, this describes a drivetrain with a single front chainring paired with a wide-range cassette. These 1x systems have largely replaced 2x (twin-ring) drivetrains on decent-quality mountain bikes. NARROW-WIDE CHAINRING These use tall, unramped teeth in alternating widths that match up with the inner and outer links of the chain to virtually eliminate the chance of a dropped chain. You do have to seat the chain correctly, though. CLUTCH MECH A rear derailleur (mech) equipped with a clutch mechanism. This limits cage movement to maintain chain tension between mech and chainring for improved shifting, less…

Supplement marketing is usually far more effective than the products being pushed. That said, there are a handful of tried, tested and, most importantly, evidence-backed supplements that can safely improve your endurance on the trail or recovery after. Real food is usually best, but if a long drive or a four-hour ride home stand in the way, these can be good alternatives. Before we get to the scientifically-proven supplements, there are four things to keep in mind: • Only use a supplement if you genuinely have a need for it and can’t get the effect from food. • The combined effects of many supplements are unknown and untested. Aim to use single-ingredient products, when possible. • If claims are made for a product that seem too good to be true,…

On the roof Roof racks tend to be one of the most secure options, with the majority featuring some kind of locking mechanism. Your view is never obscured, and parking is nice and easy. Wheel-off racks make lifting the bike easier. Be aware of both weight limits and parking barriers, though. Your fuel economy will take a hit, too. Behind the vehicle Racks that clamp onto a towbar can be pricey, but they hold bikes in a low-down position that makes loading easy and doesn’t obstruct your vision too badly. They often offer a tilt mechanism for easy access to your boot, and many allow you to lock the bikes in place. Being situated behind the car, fuel economy won’t be as hard-hit, but you’ll want to take care when…

Route summary Just a short route, but it still offers some sweet singletrack and a hill for stunning views. Ideal for a quick blast, or an enticing introduction to MTBing and the area. Start/finish Hillend car park (postcode SA3 1JH, grid ref SS 414/909) 1 Go back up the lane and join a bridleway just beyond the entrance/ticket booth. Follow this straight ahead, up the steep grassy hillside. It’s a tough climb to start the ride with, but has stunning views. Keep ahead along the hilltop on the main track, eventually bearing right, downhill to Rhossili. Turn sharp right before leaving the field/reaching the first houses, or see step 2 for an extension. 2 For a scenic ride along the clifftops, go right on the road at the bottom and…

Route summary A solid XC route through the beautiful, peaceful Berkshire countryside, with top-quality refreshment stops and opportunities to explore further along the way. Start/finish Yattendon village (free) car park (postcode RG18 0UQ, grid ref SU 552/745) 1 Turn left out of the car park and left on Chapel Lane. Cross the M4 and pass The Pot Kiln pub. Climb, then keep ahead when the road bears right. After 0.5km, in the woods, turn right and follow this trail as it becomes tarmac by houses. 2 Continue to a road junction and turn right, then fork left. At the junction in the village, go right then left soon after on a byway after the last house. Ride to Bucklebury Common, keep ahead until shortly beyond a thatched garage, and turn…

ENDURO With 150mm to 180mm of travel, enduro bikes are designed to be hurled down the roughest downhill tracks but still be pedalled back to the top. The best ones are fun on less full-on terrain, too. ROB WEAVER TECHNICAL EDITOR IN CHIEF With plenty of international racing experience, Rob knows what makes a good descender TRAIL A decent trail bike should also be fast and capable on the descents, but with less weight and travel (130-150mm) they’re nimbler on flatter trails, less of a drag on longer rides and better on the climbs. TOM MARVIN TECHNICAL EDITOR Keen on Lycra-clad XC laps as well as rooty off-piste, Tom is well-placed to rate these all-rounders.…

Smooth lines and striking graphics, combined with Intense’s undeniable racing heritage, make the Primer Expert 29 turn heads in the car park. This is one of the tidiest frames around, with the carbon fibre front and rear triangles joined by a pair of counter-rotating links that provide 140mm of rear wheel travel. Fairly middle-of-the-road geometry means no readjustment of riding style is required to get the most from the Primer. In smooth arcs, its fairly slack 65.3-degree head angle (in the ‘lower’ flip-chip setting) and low BB help it to carve nicely, and it’s an easy bike to pick up and place where you want it. That said, its supple-feeling suspension is best suited to trail centre laps, rather than full-bore ragging through the woods. The rear end is slightly…

DON’T HURRY, BE HAPPY! How you can help everyone have a good time outdoors We’re thrilled by the boom in mountain biking over the past year or so, but that does come with consequences. Local woodlands and other natural spaces are being accessed by more people than ever before – not just higher numbers of folk on bikes, but dog-walkers, runners, horse riders and walkers, too – and that can easily lead to conflicts of interest. Most people are happy to share outdoor spaces, but there are always going to be a few curmudgeonly sorts. And with fresh tracks being dug in all over the place and more riders on the trails, arguments over access and incidents of trail sabotage seem to be on the rise. Which makes it all…

1 Mons Royale Redwood Enduro VT Made from ultra-light merino wool, this can be used as an all-year jersey/baselayer thanks to the fabric’s insulating and temperature-regulating properties. It comes in men’s and women’s (here) versions. €80 https://eu.monsroyale.com 2 Troy Lee Designs Skyline Air Ideal for when the mercury rises, this relaxed-fit, tight-knit mesh tech tee allows plenty of airflow to keep you cool when riding hard. £60 www.saddleback.co.uk 3 ION Scrub Amp WMS With its multi-panel construction, which incorporates sections of fast-drying drirelease e.c.o. fabric (made from recycled PET waste), organic cotton and cooling mesh, this durable jersey’s got your back. This is the women’s version but there’s one for guys, too. €94.95 www.ion-products.com 4 Leatt MTB 1.0 This subtly-styled tech tee has a few features to add function to…

Based in Andorra la Vella, Forestal and Production Privée are two relatively small bike brands that have teamed up to pool resources and broaden their scope for innovation. Their backgrounds are very different, with Production Privée born out of a love of hardcore steel-framed hardtails and newcomers Forestal having focused on e-bikes until now. That looks set to change, though, with the brains behind the brands combining ideas and influences to produce a new range of bikes.…

“BEAUTIFUL LIGHT AND WHAT EVERY PHOTO REALLY SHOULD BE - A REMINDER OF A GREAT DAY RIDING BIKES WITH FRIENDS” Russell has been riding mountain bikes for almost as long as there have been mountain bikes to ride. Committed to the suffering of the long-distance XC rider, he’s never happier than when the fuel needle drops below zero and there’s one more big hill before home. Originally a fine art graduate, he came to cycling by way of a temporary job but ended up making good use of his creative side, designing many of the early forestry trails that we now take for granted. Russell has a passion for depicting the mountain biker as part of the landscape, and gets to combine valuable time on the bike with his love…

The highs & lows of life on the mag Some good news from Rachel Atherton, who’s announced she’s pregnant. Will there be a second generation of Athertons dominating mountain biking in the future? Congratulations to Shimano, who are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. Here’s to another 100 years of great kit! By the time you read this, we’ll hopefully have been out for our first staff ride following the end of lockdown three. While we did enjoy our solo rides, we missed talking rubbish and chasing each other down the trails. Spring is in the air, finally. Jimmer, Julia and Luke have their veg patches planted, and Chris has been out foraging wild garlic for his Sunday roasts. We’re also stoked on British Summer Time and the lighter evenings,…

THE SHORT SETTING TURNS THE RC529 INTO WHAT FEELS LIKE A BMX ON BIG WHEELS; THE FRONT END POPS UP FAR EASIER WHILE THE TIGHT BACK END CORNERS WITH A WICKED ATTITUDE PACE RC529 GX ULTIMATE £3,319 Steep and fast or tight and twisty, Pace’s hardtail does it all There aren’t many brands with a history in mountain biking that runs as deep as Pace’s. After making waves with the RC100 hardtail back in 1987, the pioneering Yorkshire company’s other innovations included early triple-clamp DH forks, integrated grease ports, long top tubes paired with short stems, and carbon-fibre-legged, disc-specific forks, all of which they were experimenting with before pretty much anyone else. The iconic square aluminium tubes of the RC100 may have been dropped for Reynold’s finest round 853 tubes…

ED’S YT JEFFSY CORE 3 29 £3,599 There’s nothing like new bike day to get you out of a slump! I won’t lie, I was pretty excited when, a few weeks ago, James – YT Industries’ UK manager – turned the corner of my street wheeling my new bike. That excitement grew further when I saw the bike was matt black, because as anyone who’s ridden with me knows – especially the unlucky photographers tasked with shooting photos of me in dark woods – I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for a stealthy colour scheme! After lugging a burly enduro bike around my local trails for much of last year, under the ‘no gnar, not far’ remit, I was looking forward to a change. I reckoned YT’s…

LIMIT SCREWS Mechs have a high and a low limit screw, marked H and L. These stop the derailleur moving too far across at either end of its range, to prevent the chain dropping off the top of the cassette into the spokes, or off the smallest sprocket and becoming wedged between the cassette and the rear dropout. SHIFTING TECH SRAM’s X-Glide 2 and Shimano’s Hyperglide+ cassette technology is designed to improve shifting speed and efficiency, and allow you to change gears while still pedalling hard. The brands achieve this through ramping of the sprockets and profiling of the teeth. CABLE ACTUATION RATIO This is the amount of gear cable the shifter pulls in relation to how much the mech moves. SRAM use a 1:1 ratio whereas Shimano use a…

AIMING TO SHOOT Q I want to film myself riding. Do I need to spend all that money on a GoPro or are the cheaper alternatives good enough? If I do go for a GoPro, which is the cheapest you’d recommend? Max Fowler, Dartmouth A It depends on your budget and what you intend to film. There are plenty of cheaper options that are great for filming quick clips, but GoPros do have some great features. To get smooth chest cam footage, in-built stabilisation is a must. Some budget cameras have it, but how well it works can vary between models; a check on YouTube or Instagram will help you decide. There are other reasons why cheaper action cams aren’t always as good value as they first appear. Some will…

Spring is finally starting to show us some signs of how glorious this country and its riding can be when we have a bit of warmer, drier weather. At the time of writing we’re still under lockdown restrictions, so we’ve decided to explore some nearby trails in a quiet part of the Chilterns. I’ve sorely missed the adventure that riding far-flung locations provides, but discovering new local routes, independent cafes and microbreweries has certainly been a positive. Although our ride is in a lesser-known area of the Berkshire countryside for bikers, it’s pretty popular with horses, so it’s best left alone in the winter because the ground gets poached. However, with the trails finally drying out, a plan is hatched and we converge in Yattendon, a twee little village with…

Route summary A fun ride across the moors with some challenging trails and remote sections, but nothing too difficult or dangerous. The tracks stand up well, but are best saved for good weather because you’re exposed and will miss the views. Start/finish Princetown visitor centre car park (postcode PL20 6QQ, grid ref SX 589/736) 1 Exit the car park and turn right to a mini roundabout, then go straight ahead on a bridleway by The Plume of Feathers. Once on the moors, keep going for 2.9km to a track crossing with a stone marker. Turn right here. 2 Follow the wide, rocky track downhill for nearly 3km. Ignore a track on your right and keep left, downhill, for another 1km to a car park at the bottom, by the reservoir.…

The 150mm-travel Zesty’s floating shock design (where the damper is suspended between the rocker link and chainstay, not attached to the mainframe) gives it an impeccably smooth-feeling rear end, with the back wheel free to track the ground with minimal interference from pedals or brakes. With the anchors off, it’s an impressively fast bike. The suspension effortlessly soaks up hits both big and small, and, as long as you’ve got the damping set up fast enough to recover from repeated impacts, it’ll blast you towards the next corner at high speed. In this situation, you may find the basic SRAM G2 R brakes lacking in grunt, even with a 203mm front rotor. Fortunately, the same can’t be said for the 150mm-travel Fox 36 fork, which will help you get out…

The Process 153 29 pumps out 153mm of rear travel via a RockShox Super Deluxe Select+ shock and Kona’s ‘Beamer’ suspension configuration, a linkage-actuated single-pivot layout. There’s a longer-travel version, the Process X, with 161mm of travel, but pricing starts at £5,499 so we couldn’t include it. A slack 64.7-degree head angle gives a nod to Kona’s intentions for this bike, while the steep 77.1-degree seat angle makes for a comfortable climbing position. The 455mm reach is long for a medium bike. Sizing for the 29er is limited to medium to extra-large, with no small. Kona do offer a small in their standard Process 153 build, which uses 650b wheels, but not a direct DL equivalent. The spec is generally decent, but a little lacking in certain areas. While the…

VERDICT We’ll be honest, with the changes made to both the Nukeproof and the Whyte, we were expecting it to be one of these two that took the top spot. The Trek really did come in and surprise us. Every lap on the Slash was an eye-opener, and the more we pushed, the more it gave back in return. That’s not to say that the Mega isn’t an incredible machine, too, and one that rides like a bike worth a lot more cash. Its kit and trail manners are impeccable when things get rowdy, and while it may lack some of the urgency that the longer-travel G-180 exudes, it’s still one hell of a bike. As is the Whyte, which has loads of grip, a lively ride and inspires confidence…