IT’S TIME TO PUT OUR TOP THREE HEAD-TO-HEAD AND REVEAL OUR...
THE CANYON IS A HOOLIGAN, ENCOURAGING YOU TO HIT GAPS, SQUARE-OFF CORNERS AND STOVE THE FRONT END INTO CATCH-BERMS
Different brands have wildly differing takes on what a modern trail bike should look like. If you want a physical representation of that, you just need to look at the front suspension on our top three bikes. RockShox’s SID, Pike and Lyrik all feature – forks with their roots spreading from XC to enduro.
We’ll start our top-three with the Pike-equipped bike. With its 35mm stanchions (upper legs), mid-weight chassis and 140mm of travel, this fork is a classic ‘trail’ product. However, the Canyon Spectral 125 it’s bolted to is anything but a standard trail bike. While its 125mm of rear-wheel travel is just below the average, what it lacks in suspension, it more than makes up for in attitude.
The Spectral 125 has buckets of mid-stroke support, giving you plenty of oomph when pushing into the takeoff of jumps, and preventing the bike from collapsing under your weight through berms. As such, the Canyon is a hooligan, encouraging you to hit gaps at full throttle, square-off corners and stove the front end into catch-berms before spitting you out at warp speed.
