Mountain Bike Rider

It’s a perk of the job, but most of the time I get to swan around on exotic, top-of-the-range bikes that are way out of my price range. Like the space-age Trek Fuel EX-e on page 32. But while these cutting-edge models usually steal the limelight, it’s the entry-level hardtails tested from page 48 that are the real stars of the show this month. It’s easy to make an amazing mountain bike when money is no object, but add tight budget constraints and every detail has to be considered carefully. Creative solutions need to be found and components must be prioritised to make sure every buck delivers the maximum bang. These bikes have to enable, encourage and nurture new and returning riders along their paths to greater skill, fitness and confidence.…

Big picture The Stone King Rally takes the baton from the infamous Trans-Provence stage race with a six-day epic enduro adventure across the Alpes Maritimes. With an Everest worth of climbing and a stratospheric 20,000m of descending, the Stone King Rally pitched competitors against the terrain, the elements and themselves over 24 timed stages. But if taking on such a mammoth journey with the added pressure of racing sounds too much, then you’ll be glad to hear that non-competitive guided holidays will be available for riders more interested in soaking up the sights than setting the fastest times. Sven Martin Big picture A bird’s eye view of the Hardtail of the Year test in full flow. Entry-level bikes continue to evolve, and this year’s crop of contenders was just as competitive as ever. Refinements…

We’ve grown used to the Tweed Valley hosting some pretty sizeable events over the years, but in 2023 it’s going to get a whole lot bigger when the World Championships comes to town. For the first time, Glentress will host the biggest race in XC as part of the combined UCI Cycling World Championships, where the big idea is to bring together 13 UCI-accredited disciplines in one location: Scotland. The 2023 Worlds will be fought out in multiple locations across the country in an 11-day long festival, with thousands of athletes battling for the rainbow jerseys in those two weeks of racing. It means cycling has finally got its act together, and the combined programme will be one of world’s top 10 sporting events, organisers reckon, with a million spectators turning up…

In the beginning, it was all about power. Packing in as much torque, peak power and battery capacity as possible, and to start with Shimano STEPS, Bosch Performance Line and Brose had the bragging rights. Later came the lightweight crowd, Specialized with its SL bikes and 1.1 motors delivering 35Nm torque, and Orbea with the detuned, 60Nm Shimano motor, chasing lighter weights and the feel of a ‘normal’ bike. And now we have something new: splitting the difference between the two camps is a clutch of new motors that aim to finally hit the sweet spot in terms of normal bike feel and extra power – motors to convert all the naysayers and do away with purely pedal powered bikes for good. As if… TQ AND THE TREK FUEL EXE Most of us…

Looking in the rearview mirror, it now seems pretty obvious that 29in wheels would eclipse and replace both 26in and then 27.5in as the default wheel size. At the time, though, it was never as clear-cut because the only yardstick we had to measure success on were the bikes being produced – there were good 29ers and bad ones, just as there were good and bad 26in bikes. Are mid-power e-bikes today’s 27.5in wheels? Developed to help ease riders on to the new standard, before ultimately fading away? Or are full power e-bikes destined to slim down and sacrifice some of their power on the mantle of agility? Both theories are compelling, because riders want both – the most power they can have, and the natural ride feel of a lighter…

Giro has a new full-face helmet out, but you might be surprised to learn it’s not the lightest thing since Maltesers. Fox, Troy Lee, Smith, Dainese and many more have gone down the low weight, full-face line in recent years, but Giro is bucking the trend with the Insurgent, prioritising maximum protection for downhill, enduro or bike park use. The Insurgent’s extra protection comes from a host of features, starting with the backbone of the helmet, its Spherical technology. We first saw this on the Tyrant and Manifest open-face lids where two liners sit inside the fibreglass hardshell and can rotate against each other. Developed with Mips, the idea is an outer EPS layer can slip against an inner EPP and dissipate some of the energy from a crash. Building the Mips…