LONGTERM RIDES
KAT’S CANYON SPECTRAL 125 CF 7 £3,405.98 (shipped)
Tester Katherine Moore’s relationship with the Spectral gets off to a good start
With a 140mm fork and 125mm of rear-wheel travel, this contender for our Trail Bike of the Year title bucks the trend for long-travel suspension and gnarlier tracks (there’s always its 150mm-travel Spectral siblings for that), and is designed to be rowdy on the rougher stuff but still a joy to pedal up hills. I loved my first foray into ‘downcountry’ territory last year on the 115mm-travel Juliana Wilder, so I want to see how the concept works with a bit more squish.
The fit is great, the small size proving perfect for my 5ft 5in (165cm) frame. A generous 150mm of seatpost drop means the saddle won’t get in my way, and a bar pre-cut to 760mm feels about right for my build.
One of my first rides was at Cwmcarn Forest in South Wales. After a long fireroad pedal, we rode the Pedalhounds DH track, sessioning our way down and tackling each technical feature in turn, including some of the biggest drops I’ve hit yet and some tricky rooty corners. I was buzzing at the bottom – evidently the Spectral 125 wasn’t holding me back!
However, despite setting the sag correctly for my
