KINESIS TRIPSTER AT £699.99 (FRAME & FORK)

SPECIFICATION Weight 9.66kg (54cm) Frame Kinesium alloy, 12x142mm rear thru-axle Fork Kinesis Tripster full carbon, 12mm thru-axle disc Gears Praxis Zayante 172.5mm 40 chainset, Shimano Ultegra Di2 shifters, XT Di2 rear mech, 11-42, 11-speed cassette Brakes Shimano Ultegra hydraulic disc, TRP two-piece 160mm rotors Wheels Reynolds ATR disc carbon Finishing kit Ritchey WCS 50cm bar, 70mm stem, FSA headset, Kinesis 27.2mm seatpost, Ritchey WCS Skyline saddle, 40mm Vee Rail DCC tubeless tyres

HIGHS

Bombproof, full feature, dual wheel size, all terrain all-rounder

LOWS

Stiff frame can be punishing over rougher terrain BUY IF You want a totally trustworthy adventure partner

for several hundred metres, occasionally turning and stopping, seeming to beckon us on before vanishing off into long grass.

A couple more mountain bike-grade descents, a grassed lane, a field climb after a ford and a couple of miles of single lane road get us to Abbeycwmhir village hall with 15 minutes to spare. We hand Mike’s ashes over to Anna, his Transcontinental race and life partner, who’s organised the final memorial ride through the Elan Valley.

It’s an eclectic bunch of riders, with elite endurance athletes rubbing shoulders with rounded, bearded velocipede bon viveurs, kids alongside weathered legends with legs like mahogany banister posts. The bikes they’re riding range from electric hybrids to retro mountain bikes, fat bikes, custom audax touring bikes and full-on road race machines. Again, they’re great reflections of the DNA that’s led to bikes like the Tripster AT. It’s a multi-mission, multi-tasking all-rounder that can tackle any distance or terrain while embracing the latest technology. Most importantly, though, it’s a passport to adventure without borders, an invitation to meet new friends or catch up with old comrades too long missed.

The AT isn’t the lightest, smoothest or most affordable bike in its category. It’s not quite as good off-road as a mountain bike or as fast onroad as a ‘proper’ road bike. However, in 36 hours of riding from moorland singletrack, to rocky gully, ring road, towpath and reclaimed railway, in an ebb and flow of elation, exhaustion and emotion, it’s been a totally surefooted, confident all-terrain ally, whose only puncture was quickly cured with a tubeless plug. As we head out of Rhayader it’s still keen enough to do a remarkable job of hiding its 1800g mountain bike safety standard frame weight, 40mm tyres, bike pack luggage and the 400-plus kilometres in my legs and indulge in idiotic charges up the final two mountain passes – the second in a biblical hail storm.

The following two months further illustrate the Tripster AT’s “All Terrain, All Year, All Fun” intent. I fit 27.5in wheels and 2in tyres and take it mountain biking with my kids. I show Mike’s mate, Bruce Dalton, our local techy riverside singletrack for a video shoot. I add new rough links to regular road loops. I haunt the moors alone at night planning my next adventures, and sometimes I just ride it to the shops. Bikes are brilliant for all sorts of things, and perhaps bikes like the AT that let you do whatever you want to when you wake up each day are the best of all.

We hand Mike’s ashes over to Anna, his Transcontinental race and life partner