£10,800 Trek’s new Supercaliber is very much an evolution of the original ‘revolutionary’ design. As a result, it feels like a very sorted, balanced, and predictable XC bike, its eagerness for speed clear from the first pedal stroke. And it’s by desi

£200 SPECIFICATION Weight: 275g • Sizes: XS-XXL • Women’s version: Yes • Contact: 7mesh.com With a price tag straight out of an Armani store, the 7Mesh Flightpath Pant is not for the thrifty. But, from experience its garments are built to last and th

£4,399 • 29in • zyrofisher.co.uk Pulling the Fluid FS from the box revealed a trail bike with some spec choices that were new to me. At this price point, Norco has bucked the ‘carbon frame with low-rent suspension’ trend and treated this aluminium A1

This is either a full regulation zip or it can be a simple flap – the advantage with the latter is it can’t break. A waterproof zip, extra press studs (if one fails you’ve got a back-up) and Velcro tabs are a bonus. They add bulk and complexity, but

It’s a common theme with bike testing that you spend much longer riding the bikes you struggle to sync with, and that’s definitely the case here. We literally spent months setting and re-setting sag levels, tweaking the compression and rebound dampin

sram.com It’s no secret that SRAM’s had a motor cooking for quite some time. Last year, Nukeproof racer Elliot Heap was spotted racing with a prototype at the EWS-E for one thing. Then SRAM acquired Amprio, a German motor brand. So while the product

To paraphrase Henry Ford: you can have any colour you want at Laggan, as long as it’s black. While the famed industrialist was talking about his latest model Ts more than a century ago, he could just as easily have been referencing Laggan Wolftrax an

MOST WANTED If we had to guess, mid-powered e-bikes are the future of mountain biking. Every year the motors used get stronger, lighter, and smaller, while the bikes feel more real, and that is drawing in brands and riders alike. The latest convert i

£7,299 • MX or 29in • forbiddenbike.com I needn’t have worried about getting back on the Druid V2 after falling in love with it on a first date… As soon as we launched into a chattery root section and I felt the high-pivot ‘Trifecta’ rear end seeming

Natural riding in the UK has us thinking about the Lake District every time, the great passes and stunning villages are the symbolic home of the sport in the UK. Unfortunately a lot of other people think like this too, and you’d be a madman to attemp

Get chatting with any riding buddy about a previous adventure and the subject of technique will come up. How are you getting through this section? Where did you go there? How did you get away with that? Inevitably it breaks down into tiny nuances tha

£126.95 SPECIFICATION Weight: 544g • Sizes: XS-XXL plus long in M and L • Women’s version: Unisex • Contact: canyon.com Canyon doesn’t just do bikes – the German direct-sales Goliath has a rapidly expanding range of clothing and accessories to choose

£5,200 (SALE PRICE £4,175) Hot on the heels of the Trek Fuel EXe, the new Fuel EX shares a similar silhouette, albeit without the compact TQ motor and 360Wh battery. And just like the EXe, the EX is available with an aluminium or full carbon frame, w

£5,999 • 29/27.5 in • privateerbikes.com This bike is heavy on the scales but rides light on the trails. How often have you heard that said about an e-bike? I’ve certainly written something like that on more than one occasion, and I’ll use it again h

£130 SPECIFICATION Weight: 394g • Sizes: 28-38in • Women’s version: No • Contact: saddleback.co.uk Most of us put on weight as we get older, and Troy Lee Designs’ updated Skyline pant is no exception. This latest version is 60g heavier than the old m

£159.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 311g • Sizes: 28-38in • Women’s version: Yes • Contact: foxracing.com Fox has a bewildering array of riding pants in its line-up, but these Flexair Race pants are the ones worn by all of the World Cup shredders, which pr

£93.95 SPECIFICATION Weight: 434g • Platform: 110x110mm • Black or silver • Contact: canyon.com Like most bike manufacturers, Canyon offers a range of in-house components, including bars, stems, saddles, and this new addition, the Performance Flat Pe

£225 SPECIFICATION Weight: 631g (medium) • Sizes: S, M, L • Colours: Black, green, white, purple, red/black • Contact: specialized.com If the extra weight, bulk, and feeling of confinement puts you off wearing a full-face helmet, then let me introduc

£10,999 • 29in • scott-sports.com After six months and several hundred miles on the Genius ST 900 Tuned, I thought it would be good to step back and reflect on my experience so far with the most expensive bike we’ve ever had on the mbr longtermer fle

£ 99.90 SPECIFICATION Weight: 319g • Sizes: 28-38in • Women’s version: Yes • Contact: yt-industries.com These are the lighter of two pants in YT’s new Performance clothing line-up, and are aimed at all-day comfort in the saddle. They’re respectably l

£5,200 (SALE PRICE £4,399) With a sleek aluminium frame and top-tier Fox Factory suspension components, the Stumpy Evo Elite Alloy prioritises ride quality over outright weight saving. Not that it’s a heavy bike. At 15.99kg (35.25lb), with our Maxxis

£110 SPECIFICATION Weight: 395g • Sizes: 28-40in • Women’s version: No • Contact: specialized.com Specialized’s Demo Pro Pants have been going for a few years now, and the design has remained unchanged in that time. There’s only one colour – black –

£99.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 272g • Widths: 145mm, 160mm • Contact: extrauk.co.uk Like most saddle manufacturers, Fizik has a massive range, including this Terra Aidon X5, which is designed for e-bikes. It’s debatable whether there’s such a thing as

€139.95 SPECIFICATION Weight: 415g • Sizes: S-XXL • Women’s version: Yes • Contact: dharco.com Hailing from the beaches of Oz, DHaRCO’s founders have gone from surfing waves to surfing dirt, and its distinctive designs can be found worn by, among oth

Whenever riders get onto the topic of cornering fast, the idea of leaning the bike comes up. It makes sense. After all, the quicker you go the more your bike needs to lean, and once you do, the more your side knobs on the tyre can dig in and do what

£120 SPECIFICATION Weight: 269g • Sizes: XS-XXL • Women’s version: Yes • Contact: rapha.cc Saving £20 and more than 100g over the standard Trail Pants is Rapha’s Lightweight option. In fact they are the lightest pants on test here. That Rapha has bee