TOM LAW BIKERADAR PRESENTER

Ever slide into your favourite restaurant, sit down, peruse the menu and have so much choice you don’t know where to start? It’s infuriating, when you just want to eat. You take an age poring over the menu and finally get your food, only to realise that your buddy has made a way better choice. Now, you have food envy. That’s why there are people, such as myself, who order the same thing every time. You know you’re going to be happy, full and satisfied with your choice.

Choosing an MTB today is like having too much choice at your favourite eatery. You first consider an enduro bike, but think it may be too much for some trails and not enough for others. So, you look at trail bikes and come to the same conclusion, but skewed slightly more the other way. Then you think about a downcountry bike, but with that little travel, you might also need a DH bike for bike-park days… That journey can go round and round in circles.

Part of the ‘problem’ is that modern bikes are so good. Enduro bikes now are better descenders than the DH bikes of 10 years ago. The trail bike has never been more capable. Downcountry bikes blend XC speed with trail-bike brawn.

The truth is that as the number of mountain bike categories and niches grows, and the gaps between them get smaller, the bikes within that confusing mess are often exceptional. It can be mind-numbing wading through the marketing bumph about the latest ‘slope-down-duro’ bike, but chances are it’ll be incredible to ride pretty much anywhere. And despite the headache, I’d say that’s a good place for the sport to be.