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We hunted down sets of wheels for both the uninitiated and regular riders alike
The best kind of exercise is the kind that doesn’t feel like exercise, so when you’re hurtling down a knife-edge trail on two wheels with your heart in your mouth, it’s about as far away from the treadmill as you can possibly get. It’s this adrenaline rush that’s one of the big appeals of trail riding and why it’s such a big sport in the UK, attracting more and more rookie riders every year. That’s why we started hunting for the best bikes across a range of price points.
Now, there’s more terminology to get your head around when buying a trail bike than you could possibly imagine. You’ll hear all about the geometry of the bike (its head angles, seat angles and reach), whether it has boost spacing and how progressive the suspension is. However, we’ll leave that to the specialist mags, because what we’re aiming to do here is concentrate on the main categories that, essentially, every bike can be broken down into: frame, suspension, spec and overall ride.
The frame is where the aforementioned geometry comes in, but let’s swerve the maths lesson because what we were looking for was how all those frame angles combine to position you on the bike and keep your weight well-balanced between the wheels. This means you can ride confidently, whether you’re enjoying a nice, relaxed blue trail or going hell for leather down a techy track.
Modern trail bike frames are designed around suspension (or travel) and you can choose between hardtails and full-suspension bikes. Hardtails may not be as fast over the rough stuff as full-suspension, but they shouldn’t be any less fun to ride. They’re usually more affordable, too, because there’s no rear shock absorbers to add to the cost, and frames are less complex. Bikes with short travel tend to be “poppier”, which, as the name suggests, makes for a livelier bike.
When it comes to the spec, we’re referring to everything fitted to the frame, from the group set (which comprises all the components that drive and stop the wheels), to the wheels themselves. Finally, we quite simply wanted to experience how well the bike performed out there on the trail. For example, did it cope with going up hills and down hills equally, or was it more geared to one rather than the other?
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A quick word on dropper posts, which in our opinion, are one of the biggest innovations in trail riding. They simply raise and lower the seat by way of a cable and lever located on the handlebar, but can revolutionise your riding, as they make for a more natural, fluid experience out on the trails. This will make your time even more enjoyable, so we’ve made sure that most of the £1,000+ bikes in this round-up have dropper posts fitted as standard.
We took all the bikes we could get our hands on out for a spin in all conditions – dry, wet and even wetter. We had a range of testers – from total novices to battle-scarred vets – to get to know the bikes over stiff hills, technical trails and single-track woodland before reporting back over a cup of Bovril.
Individual brands often prioritise different ride characteristics, giving each machine its own feel. That’s why the most important metric for a trail bike isn’t always a tangible one – it’s a result of the bike being greater than the sum of its parts, so that it imparts confidence.
Finally, after testing throughout the muddy months, these are the bikes that got our pulses racing and offered all the thrills without the spills.
Trek has pulled off a neat trick with the top fuel 8 by building on the bike’s roots as a racer and evolving the geometry. In doing this, Trek’s turned it into a trail bike that still retains that super-quick pedigree but is bolted with components that will appeal to a huge cross-section of riders, from those who like to attack from the first pedal stroke to those who are just out to end the day spattered with mud and grinning from ear to ear.
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Planning to hit the road for a longer period of time? Then check out what we’re bringing on our 18-month cycle trip in the Americas