IT’S TIME TO PUT OUR TOP THREE HEAD-TO-HEAD TO FIND THE WINNER OF... BIKE OF THE YEAR 2021 ENDURO

As ever, getting to the point of having just three finalists was a tough, drawn-out process, this year especially. With the restrictions in place, we weren’t able to swap bikes around between testers as much as usual and had to pedal our laps of BikePark Wales rather than shuttle them, which meant testing took longer (we’re writing this just 48 hours ahead of the mag going to print!). It wasn’t until the final run on the last day of testing that we were able to cement the positions of the three bikes here. And when it came down to picking the eventual winner, well, we’d argue it may have burned out poor old Rob’s last brain cell and aged him by about 10 years. Still, we got there in the end, with a bike that feels like it can deliver in the meanest terrain.

REFINED AND READY

Despite being established models, the three bikes here have relatively new frames, as they were all updated in 2020. And, in case you hadn’t spotted the welds, they’re all aluminium, too. Let’s start with Nukeproof’s Mega, which is better than ever. For 2021, its suspension kinematics have been tweaked to deliver a more supportive feel to the middle part of its 160mm of travel, with a smoother ramp-up as you transition into the final few millimetres.