TWO-GRAND TRAIL SLAYERS
We test four £2k+ bikes to see if online brands rule the roost at this price or there are still benefits to buying from your local shop
What’s the best all-rounder you can get for about £2k, and is it better to buy online or from your local shop?
What started out as a simple test of trail bikes with 130 to 140mm of rear travel soon threw up difficult questions about the whole process of designing, selling and buying bikes.
Look at the Canyon, Radon and YT here, and it’s clear that the kit these online ‘direct sales’ brands can fit for a given price would be impossible to match for a company who route their bikes through a distributor and then a bricks-and-mortar store. Nobody is cheating you here, it’s just that the cost of keeping the lights on and the rent and staff paid in the big storage warehouse and your local shop has to be covered by the pricetag of your bike, and that means a lesser spec.
Hopefully, the payoff is that the shop will guide you towards the right bike, adjust it to fit, give a free first service and preferential treatment when you need something sorted the day before a big ride. That’s not always the case though, and it’s hard to look at 11-speed gears matched with own-brand cranks and not feel short-changed when you can get a full suite of 12-speed SRAM GX Eagle for a similar price.
Once you’ve worked out your spec-versus-service priorities, geometry is the key thing to look at. Wheel size is no longer the big divider it once was, with the latest 2.6in tyres giving 650b hoops a performance and character close to that of 29er wheels. And unless you go to the 100mm or 180mm extremes, the amount of suspension travel you opt for doesn’t matter nearly as much as it used to. There’s not even much of a difference in weight once you’ve loaded on all the must-have kit – big tyres, wide rims, a wide bar, dropper post and big brakes.
Thankfully, one thing that’s clear from this test is that 2019 is going to be a bloody good year to buy a bike, wherever you buy it from and no matter how you ride it.