HARD & FAST XC BIKES

Cross-country bikes may seem locked in a time warp, but even affordable racers are now loaded with subtle tech that improves the ride, inside and outside the race tape

Compared to the rapidlychanging world of enduro racing, you’d be forgiven for thinking that steep, uptight and slick-tyred XC hardtails haven’t changed at all. XC racing is changing too though, with the increasing technicality of World Cup courses now being reflected at a local level. That means subtle changes are being made to geometry to create more stable, capable bikes, and features like dropper seatpost compatibility are appearing alongside traditional XC race staples such as handlebarcontrolled suspension lockouts.

The four XC racers tested here all pack some kind of premium frame tech into a tightly-priced package, whether that’s carbon fibre, cutting-edge alloy tube joining or forming techniques, or a frame designed like a big pair of scissors. And they all use their own unique recipe for getting to the finish line as fast as possible – and that includes smoothing out speed-killing trail trauma rather than just smashing through it with brute stiffness.

Their arsenals include throughaxle forks and frames, wide-range 1x12 transmissions and super-light tubeless tyres. There are also some interesting things going on with their cockpits, which make these race bikes a lot more fun to rip than you might expect. Inevitably, when you’re talking tight budgets and a fundamentally suspicious buying group, there are some less cuttingedge aspects. These include quickrelease wheels, 2x11 transmissions and skinny rigid seatposts rather than droppers. Those frame tweaks don’t all work as well on the trail as they promise on paper, either.

Read on to find out which of these racers is the fastest, which has the most upgrade potential, which is the most likely to appeal to a diehard racer and which is the most fun…