Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i Mountain Bike Rider

Last summer, getting six bikes together for our Hardtail of the Year test was like squeezing blood out of a stone. And we had to abandon our more affordable sub-£700 category completely, as there was just no availability. Just over 12 months on, and while inflation is the bitter buzzword filling the news headlines, over in our little corner of the economy choice has improved and value for money is better than ever. Instead of six bikes, this year we’ve got eight, and better yet they’re split between two price points: sub-£700 and sub-£1,000. We actually had 10 bikes to choose from for the test, but seeing as a couple of them hadn’t changed at all, we decided to spend our time assessing the best alumni against this year’s fresh…

Plastic might be fantastic if you’ve got pockets deeper than the Mariana Trench, but for those of us on more realistic budgets, alloy frames are hard to beat. Which is why this quartet of new e-bikes is music to our ears. All four reject the complexity and labour-intensive manufacturing of carbon in favour of a frame material that has been serving mountain bikers humbly for the last 40 years: aluminium. Yes, this non-ferrous metal might have the atomic number 13, but if you’re looking for maximum bang for your buck, you’re in luck. PRIVATEER E 161 £5,999 Hunt wheels took a big step when it diversified into complete bikes with the Privateer 161, and subsequent 141. But it won the hearts, minds and wallets of many riders thanks to its…

Jamis bills the Highpoint A2 as a true all-rounder and it’s easy to see why. With big 29in wheels to roll over bumps better and a 120mm travel coil-sprung Suntour XCM 32 fork to take the edge off the harshest impacts, it’s designed for speed, but not at the expense of comfort. Comfort, which is enhanced further thanks to the triple-butted aluminium frame. In fact, the Highpoint A2 offers a more forgiving ride than the Carrera, even though both bikes have the same 2.25in width WTB Trail Boss tyres fitted. The frame also has a tapered head tube, even if the fork still uses the older 1 1/8in straight steerer tube. Not that you can tell when riding, however, as the front end feels solid and direct. Bolstered, no doubt,…

The Line T3-27 marks a welcome return for the Calibre brand to one of its most successful old stomping grounds. And with its sloping top tube, progressive trail geometry and large-volume 27.5in tyres, there’s been clear inspiration from the Whyte 901 trail bike. Which is no bad thing, given that Whyte has been at the forefront of trail hardtail design for over a decade now. Calibre’s 6061 alloy frame looks sharp and contemporary from its collar to its cuffs. There’s a tapered head tube, slender top tube, square-section down tube and forged dropouts clamping a bolt-through rear axle. Mounts for both a water bottle cage and a tool strap adorn the frame, while the cables are all routed cleanly along the underside of the down tube. This keeps them rattle-free…

Since winning our 2022 Hardtail of the Year award, life has been good for the Voodoo Bizango Pro. So good, that the only thing that’s changed is the price has crept up by £25. Impressive, given that a bag of groceries has probably gone up by the same amount. To improve the ride feel and save weight the alloy Bizango frame uses triple-butted tubes in the front triangle. The last round of revisions ushered in a longer reach and a slacker head angle, so the geometry is current, if not as progressive as the new Calibre Line T3-27. All of the standards are bang-up-todate too. The head tube is tapered, the bottom bracket is threaded, the thru-axles are Boost and the cable routing includes a port for a stealth dropper…

North Wales is the birthplace of UK trail centres. It’s where Coed y Brenin first introduced us all to a purpose-built and waymarked mountain bike route back in 1996, and since then the area has seen an ever-growing collection of centres and trails, all well maintained, signposted and graded to suit every skill and fitness level. Those trails offer a wide range of riding, with technical climbs; flowing tree-lined singletrack; steep rock slabs; drop-offs and perfectly formed berms and jumps; rideable in all but the most horrendous conditions. And with no route planning required, it’s an easy option for an adrenaline fix: just park up, kit up and ride, often with a conveniently placed cafe to return to for a warming cuppa and a hunk of cake once you’re done.…

If drops are too large to roll, or if you are going too fast to want to drop your front wheel off the end, then a much better way of controlling them is to keep your bike level as you ride off them. After all, you are trying to keep both of your wheels level in the air and avoid any forward rotation that might be caused if your front wheel falls first. This can be done in a few different ways and the most common way of explaining this is when riders say, “Pull on the bars”. While this quick tug might work on a fairly straightforward drop-off at speed, it has its limitations and won’t work everywhere, meaning that you get caught short on anything but a fast,…

JAMIE DARLOW FRONT SECTION EDITOR Fifteen years on mbr testing gear, bikes and trails, and editing the Hotstuff pages: JD’s product knowledge is as broad as it gets. PAUL BURWELL CONTRIBUTOR Elite-level XC racer turned trail schralper, been riding since Gary Fisher was a boy. Tested everything going, from Flexstems to auto shifting. DANNY MILNER EDITOR Been hooked on mtbs since the late ’80s, and testing them for three decades. Dream ride? Lush Oregon singletrack. MICK KIRKMAN CONTRIBUTOR Spent years racing BMX, then 4X and DH, and is still ultra-competitive, despite what he says. Has been testing bikes for two decades.…

£154.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 223g • Width: 800mm • Rise: 15mm and 25mm • Contact: zyrofisher.co.uk Although it has fresh graphics and a new finish, we actually tested the Deity carbon Skywire over four years ago. It was £20 cheaper back then, but has anything else changed? According to our scales, it’s now 7g lighter, and the overall weight is competitive for a composite bar that’s 800mm wide. You could save a few grams by cutting it down, and Deity does make this easier by adding 5mm cut marks to either end of the bar. Fitting the stem to this bar is also pretty easy, and you don’t have to over-torque the bolts because it has a textured, non-slip surface at the stem clamp area. However, this has been removed from…

£69.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 134g (35mm) • Clamp size: 31.8 and 35mm • Lengths: 35mm and 50mm • Stack height: 35mm • Contact: nukeproof.com Nukeproof doesn’t specify which grade of aluminium the Horizon stem is made from, but it’s probably something like 6061-series, because you don’t get the high-grade alloys for this money. Not that there’s anything wrong with the finish on the Horizon; it’s really nicely crafted and is also available in seven funky colours, if you count black and silver. Like the Renthal Apex, the Horizon sits up a little taller and has a 5° rise, but that does mean you can flip it, which will drop the front end even lower – handy if you have a bike with a tall head tube. It also has the lowest…

£149.95 SPECIFICATION Weight: 239g • Width: 820mm • Rise: 20mm and 35mm • Contact: silverfish-uk.com Two things have happened since we last tested the Race Face SixC – the price has gone up, which is sort of inevitable with the cost-of-living crisis, and the bar is now a whopping 820mm wide. Some mbr testers love a wide bar, but others are going to cut 60mm off this one. Not that they can, because Race Face has put a minimum cut length of 770mm on this bar, which we imagine is due to the carbon lay-up. The SixC is only available in two rises, but importer Silverfish is still offering the 31.8mm option with a 15mm rise and 780mm width for £10 less. With its short bulge, getting a stem round…

£116.95 SPECIFICATION Weight: 116g (33mm) • Clamp size: 35mm • Lengths: 33, 40, 50 and 60mm • Stack height: 40mm • Contact: ison-distribution.com We’ve tested the Renthal Apex a few times over the years, and one of its unique features is the wrap-around bar clamps. Normally the faceplate goes straight onto the front of the stem, with a 180° clamp, but the Apex design has a much wider 240° wrap. This means the faceplate, or in this case the two individual clamps, bolt on further round the bar, creating more overlap and contact area. This allows Renthal to oversize the body of the stem (called the extension tube) to boost stiffness while cutting the most amount of weight possible. The two clamps also use a zero-gap design, but unlike every…

No amount of safety equipment or tech can make our sport 100% safe, of course, so here’s how to treat a suspected concussion. To start with, no more riding for the rest of the day. After that you should be monitored for the next 48 hours for more serious signs of concussion, which include… ■ Severe neck pain ■ Deteriorating level of consciousness (more drowsy) ■ Increasing confusion or irritability ■ Severe or increasing headache ■ Repeated vomiting (vomiting more than once) ■ Unusual behaviour or a change in their behaviour ■ Seizure/fit ■ Double vision ■ Weakness or tingling/burning in their arms and/or legs If any of the above signs are present you need to get to A&E sharpish, something Katy Curd wishes she’d done. “I didn’t even know…

Buying a good-quality hardtail is often the first step on a rider’s mtb journey. And to ensure that you set off on this amazing adventure with your best foot forward, we’re always tweaking our Hardtail of the Year test in search of the best-performing bikes for the money. Pre-Covid, that meant a bumper haul of everything on the market below £1,000, bottom feeders and all. Post-Covid, it became whatever we could get our hands on. Regardless of the format, one thing has always been crystal clear, the traditional bricks and mortar brands like Giant, Kona, Specialized and Trek really struggle to compete with the leaner direct-sales brands on pricing, and ultimately performance. Because, let’s face it, higher-end components can and do make a bike at the same price ride better,…

Xtrada means crossroads. And that can be interpreted a couple of different ways. Did Polygon intend the Xtrada 5 to meet at the intersection between on and off-road riding? Or did it simply take the wrong road when speccing the 2x10 drivetrain? We’re convinced it’s the latter. Because if you ignore the front derailleur for a second and take a closer look at the frame design, it’s clear that the Xtrada 5 has the most modern layout in class. Not only does this 29er have the slackest steering geometry for stability at speed, but it also has the lowest top tube and shortest seat tube. So if your feet do get blown off the pedals, you have a much better chance of riding home with your private parts intact. Shift…

On One might be a newcomer to our Hardtail of the Year test, but the UK brand has many years of experience in this sector. In particular, its Inbred model achieved cult status thanks in part to its ability to convert between geared and single-speed modes. Right now, the brand offers several complete bike options at under £1,000, including the steel-framed Big Dog and Huntsman, but this is On One’s only offering made from aluminium. Before ordering a Scandal you get the chance to upgrade components such as the fork, handlebar, stem, seatpost and tyres. By only paying the price difference at the checkout, you can save a decent amount versus upgrading at a later date. On One hasn’t been shy with the design of the Scandal frame. It’s dripping…

It’s easy for us to sit back and critique some of the decisions that brands make with entry-level hardtails. Like why have skinny tyres, especially on the rear? Does anyone really want, or need, a 2x10 or even a 1x8 drivetrain? Why do most of the frames, even the good ones, have super-long seat tubes and high top tubes, and why fit sticky forks and slippery grips? The obvious answer is that budget dictates some of these decisions. But it’s not the only reason. Some of it is clearly down to neglect. Parts that have never been ridden or tested in the real world making their way into the spec to meet the target price point. But there’s a less cynical reason too. And that is that brands simply have…

£9,349 • 29/27.5in • canyon.com I’ve always been a big fan of electric drivetrains. When Mavic first launched its wireless road system 20-odd years ago, I instantly wondered when it would be available for mountain bikes. Mavic eventually shelved the technology (prematurely in my mind) but when Shimano then launched its first electric road components, I cobbled together a ghetto system for my mountain bike that worked well. That’s all in the distant past though, and today Shimano and SRAM both offer excellent wired and wireless electronic mountain bike systems respectively. Shimano has recently taken it a step further with the development of e-bike tech – its latest EP801 motor offering a new Auto Shift function that does exactly what it says on the tin. Yes, that's right, the bike…

£2,899 • 29in • alpkit.com What attracted you to the Sonder? If I look back over the 35 years I’ve been riding mountain bikes, from my first fully rigid Diamond Back through a run of XC-focused models from Canadian brands such as Kona, Cove, Rocky Mountain and DeKerf, there’s always been plenty of steel tubing in the mix. These were mostly in the 26in wheel era, and had geometry and sizing that would be frowned upon today. So I was keen to see how a mix of contemporary geometry and steel tubing played with 29in wheels. The Sonder Signal ST seemed to fit the bill, that fact that it is designed and tested here in the UK only added to its appeal. Did you change anything straightaway? The SRAM GX-equipped…

£19 SPECIFICATION Weight: 75g • Size: 32mm diameter, 131mm length • Contact: gussetcomponents.com Over the last few years mtb grips have become muti-textured, with numerous grip zones, traction ridges, dimples and knurling. They’re multifaceted to maximise grip with different parts of your hand, but also because your grip changes constantly when riding. Gusset’s new S2 Extra Soft is one of these new tech-heavy grips. It features a different-size diamond knurling top and bottom, a ribbed underside with thin flanges for finger grip, and a dedicated slatted finger/thumb grip area close to the collar, which is very reminiscent of DMR’s DeathGrip. To increase traction in wet or sweaty conditions, the S2 also uses an extra-soft rubber compound. Compared to Renthal’s Ultra Tacky grip, which I’ve tested previously, it doesn’t feel quite…

£40 SPECIFICATION Weight: 282g • Width: 147mm • Length: 270mm • Contact: upgradebikes.co.uk DMR’s new Stage 2 MTB Rail is one of those new/old products. The shape and construction are identical to the existing Oi Oi saddle, but the company has wrapped it in a new skin and added some harder-wearing reinforcement to the edges. It’s also toned down the lairy graphics; this saddle only comes in plain black. The construction is pretty standard, with hollow cro-mo rails, a reinforced nylon base and stapled cover. The latter is not quite as neat or as durable as the new bonded designs from Fizik and SDG, but so far, I’ve had no issues with it peeling away. The black finish on the rails is also pretty good – I had a few…

£94.95 SPECIFICATION Weight: 147g (35mm) • Clamp size: 35mm • Lengths: 35mm and 50mm • Stack height: 35mm • Contact: zyrofisher.co.uk Like a lot of stems, the Deity Copperhead is CNC machined from a solid block of 6061-T6 series aluminium, and is offered in 35mm and 50mm lengths and a kaleidoscope of colours. The slightly lower grade alloy means it’s not as lightweight as the stems made from 7075, but with stems this short we couldn’t really feel a lot of difference in rigidity. The Copperhead is one of the widest across the front, but also pretty smooth and tidy at the back, potentially saving your knees in the event of a slip. Several of the stems in this test use a no-gap faceplate design, where one-half of the clamp…

£79.50 SPECIFICATION Weight: 340g • Width: 800mm • Rise: 20mm and 30mm • Contact: oneupcomponents.com We’ve put the One Up in this test with four other carbon bars because it’s brand new and it also has a unique patent pending oval crosssection that increases vertical compliance, while still offering horizontal stiffness for accurate steering. One Up does a similar thing with its carbon handlebar, which we are also testing currently. This bar is offered in two rises and a single 800mm width. Cut marks on the control centres allow accurate trimming and, like the Race Face SixC, it does have a minimum cut width of 750mm – apparently below that and you don’t get the optimum amount of compliance. The bar comes in stealth black, but you do get a…

£99.95 SPECIFICATION Weight: 124g (32mm) • Clamp size: 35mm • Length: 32, 40, 50, 60, 70mm • Stack height: 43mm • Contact: silverfish-uk.com Although the Turbine R 35 has seen a £10 price hike since we last tested it, this minimalist trail stem is still a class act. It’s intricately machined from a high-quality, 7075-series aluminium and features the company’s Top-Lock clamping system. This no-gap design allows you to bottom-out the top two fasteners and then snug up the opposite two bolts, which reduces the risk of clamping the bar unevenly and also looks much neater. To save weight, Race Face uses smaller 4mm bolts, and they’re the only ones on test that came with a dab of Threadlocker to hold them securely. The Turbine R 35 is only available…

The story of the new inevitably starts with the ending of the old. In 2021 Storm Arwen hammered much of the UK, with high winds flattening forests in Scotland and northern England. Despite being tucked away in a narrow valley in Yorkshire, Havok Bike Park didn’t escape a pummelling. Overnight, the park’s downhill tracks were buried under windblown trees. Previously, the team had been happy to deal with any minor incidence of wind damage themselves, but the scale of the chaos caused by Arwen called for professional assistance. When the forest’s managers came to assess what would be needed to clear the tracks they decided that it was too dangerous to even attempt to move the trees. The park had to close. The trail builders who’d created Havok were, effectively,…

CONWY, NORTH WALES 28.5km (17.7 miles) Wales never fails, so it’s no surprise that it’s so popular with holidaymakers. North Wales in particular has always been a hit with mountain bikers; from the rugged peaks of Snowdonia to the rolling Clwydian Hills, it’s got something for everyone. Look towards the coast if you want to mix a seaside holiday with some great riding. Conwy is a popular holiday destination that happens to have some great riding right from its doorstep. In fact it doesn’t take long at all for it to feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere – perfect for escaping the holiday crowds. GPS download bit.ly/ConwyRide LYNTON, DEVON 39.7km (24.6 miles) With a rocky coastline that butts up to green rainforest-filled valleys leading you out onto windswept…

When unboxing the Carrera Fury our first thought was that Halfords must have made a blunder. How could the Fury possibly have an air-sprung fork, wide-range Shimano Deore 1x10 drivetrain, Shimano brakes and a dropper post and still hit our £600-700 target price range? Sounds impossible right? Obviously not, as the Carrera Fury is indeed £680 with no hidden catches or loyalty cards required. It clearly has the best specification in this category then, so what’s the catch? Well, it is the only bike in this test with 27.5in wheels, so they don’t roll over bumps as effectively as 29in wheels, or 27.5in wheels fitted with plus-size tyres. This translates to a harsher ride, especially when combined with the skinny 2.25in tyres. But there are also advantages with smaller wheels,…

Head over to the Vitus website and you could be forgiven for thinking that you’re seeing double. You’re not, it’s simply that Vitus offers the Nucleus VR with either 27.5in wheels or 29in wheels. Both options are the exact same price and both come with very similar wheel-size appropriate build kits, that include different fork travel, different tyre sizes and different gearing. Regardless of your preferred wheel size, both options also use bespoke alloy frame designs, where Vitus has sensibly used the wheel size split to offer subtly different size ranges. The 27.5in wheel bikes run from S to XL, the 29ers from M to XL. The idea being shorter riders will benefit most from the smaller wheels, as they need more bum/tyre clearance. To keep the test fresh we…

There are a ton of parallels between the Sentier 29 and the Nucleus 29 VR in the sub-£700 category. Both are the entry-level models in their respective range and both are offered in two different wheel sizes, where the 27.5in bikes come in four frame sizes (from S-XL) and the 29ers in three (M-XL). Zoom in closer and you’ll notice that both also have tapered head tubes, threaded BB shells for improved durability, and internal routing for dropper posts. That’s not to say the frames are identical, however – the Nucleus uses plain-gauge tubing, while the Sentier gets butted tubing profiles to save weight and enhance the ride feel. The most obvious difference, then, when stepping up to the Sentier, is that the frame has bolt-thru rear dropouts with Boost…

POLYGON XTRADA 6 £700 For just £100 more than our test-winning bike in the sub-£700 category, the Xtrada 6 gets a Shimano Deore 1x11 drivetrain with a wide-range 11-51t cassette. It shares the same excellent frame and ride quality, but a narrow-wide single chainring helps keep the chain on. Tektro brakes are replaced by Shimano, which is another upgrade, and by ditching the 2x10 drivetrain there’s now space on the handlebar for a dropper post remote. Bonus. CALIBRE LINE T3-29 £1,100 Want all the test-winning benefits that the Line T3-27 provides but with the improved rollover of 29in wheels? Well, for £100 more, the Calibre Line T3-29 delivers just that. You also get a dedicated 29in RockShox Recon fork with 140mm travel and SRAM’s excellent NX 11-speed drivetrain. The frame…

£199.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 365g (M) • Sizes: S, M, L, XL • Colours: seven colours • Contact: giro.com Sharing loads of safety technology with Giro’s flagship Manifest helmet, this Merit Spherical lid saves you £50 by omitting a few features. Like me, you can probably live without a bulkier, magnetic Fidlock chinstrap clasp anyway, but there are also differences in the shell construction and the way the ‘Spherical’ layers are structured that allow for this cost saving too. The Merit still uses Giro’s sophisticated multi-layer construction (developed with MIPS), where two separate helmet sections rotate independently of each other. Like a ball and socket joint, an inner and outer shell are connected via small elastomers, with the outer piece able to twist and slide separately to the part in contact…

£179.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 47g • Spare clear (£29.99) and photochromatic (£69.99) lens available • Contact: freewheel.co.uk When it comes to eyewear, having a large lens not only offers a lot more protection from trail splatter, it puts the frames further out from your field of view, allowing you to focus on the terrain in front of you. The Glendale is absolutely vast, and actually has a lens size akin to a full downhill goggle, so you literally can’t see the top or sides of the frame. The Hiper mirror lens is made from lightweight polycarbonate and has a cylindrical shape, meaning it wraps right around the front of your face. It also features a Hyroilo lens treatment that 100% says repels water, dirt, and oil, and is also scratch-resistant, although…

£109.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 258g • Width: 800mm • Rise: 12, 25 and 38mm • Contact: nukeproof.com We’ve also tested the Nukeproof Horizon previously, and while that was only a year ago, the price has remained the same and is still ultra-competitive for a composite handlebar. Like most composite bars here, Nukeproof uses a unidirectional carbon in the main layup, but switches to denser and finer 3K carbon weave on the control centres to resist collar damage from grips, brake levers and the like. Nukeproof also covers this area with the same texture coating we found on the Deity and Renthal bars. This does mean you can run the controls slightly looser, but having to wiggle a tight clamp along this section can mark the bar. There’s obviously a thick layer…

£89.50 SPECIFICATION Weight: 156g (42mm) • Clamp size: 35mm • Lengths: 35, 42, 50mm • Stack height: 40mm • Contact: oneupcomponents.com One Up doesn’t do names; this product is just called the ‘Stem’. It’s also plain looking, but it does feature a machined 6061-T6 aluminium construction. There are three lengths available, and all are compatible with 35mm handlebars. Like the majority of stems here, the face plate uses a no-gap clamp design that, according to One Up, creates a more consistent clamping force. It’s a similar concept to the Race Face Turbine Top-Lock design, but One Up takes it a step further by using two separate face clamps, which allow you to torque the bolts individually up to 6Nm before tightening the lower bolts – there’s no need to go…

£173.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 214g • Width: 800mm • Rise: 10, 20, 30 and 40mm • Contact: ison-distribution.com The Renthal FatBar Carbon 35 is probably one of the most sophisticated handlebars on the planet, and it’s got to be right up there when it comes to World Cup DH wins too. It’s made from pretty standard UD (uni-directional) carbon, but Renthal says these are layered and aligned to give a specific ride feel, which suggests this bar has a bit more vertical compliance than most. Compared to the Deity Skywire, there is some give in the bar to take the edge off impacts, but it’s not as plush as the Race Face SixC, or even the alloy FatBar. Renthal keeps the options simple; there are four rises from 10 to 40mm…

Bars have increased in width because we’re riding bigger bikes at greater speeds on more technical terrain, and the only way to control those bikes and make changes in direction quickly and efficiently is to have more leverage. A wider bar also flexes more, so it can absorb some of the trail chatter. If you don’t agree with this and just want to run a narrower bar, you can have that too, you’ll just need to acquire a hacksaw. The most comfortable, and also the best, bar in this test is the One Up alloy. It’s like that brand of shed paint – it does exactly what it says on the tin. It flexes up and down, but still feels precise and direct, so you can make changes in direction…