Months of seemingly endless rain and drizzle turned the trails into a quagmire and made the often-en viable job of testing bikes feel like more of an or deal
There was a point where our big Bike of the Year test looked like it wasn’t going to happen. Unprecedented demand for new bikes meant we had to pull all kinds of strings to get hold of the trail and enduro contenders we wanted, without too big a variation in price (and even then, the RRPs went on to fluctuate massively). Add the lockdown, which forced us to keep our testing as local as possible, ruled out uplifts and shuttle runs (a big help when you’re testing multiple bikes head-to-head), and prevented us from easily swapping bikes between riders, and it was quite a challenge for our main testers Rob and Tom. And then there was the weather, with months of seemingly endless rain and drizzle turning the trails into a quagmire and making the oftenenviable job of testing bikes feel like more of an ordeal. Still, they made it through and they’ve done an absolutely brilliant job, as you’ll see in this month’s supplement. Hats off to them!
The same availability issues and travel restrictions put paid to our plans for a women’s biketest, and prevented our tester Sarah from helping out with BotY as in previous years. But her big feature on p61 is a must-read for anyone thinking of buying a women’s bike, explaining just how they differ and what effect that has on the trail. We’ve got tests of 1x drivetrains, multi-tools and loads of the latest kit, too, making this a pretty tech-heavy issue!
There’s plenty more besides, though, including cracking rides in the Cairngorms and Berkshire, a maddening coastal clear-up with
Trash Free Trails and all the usual great tips and advice you’ve come to expect. Happy riding!