BRACE YOURSELF!
AFTER A FINAL SHOWDOWN IN ITALY, WE COULD ONLY PICK ONE WINNER. AS EVER, THIS WAS NO EASY FEAT
the Year test for 2023 is bigger than ever before, filling no fewer than 44 pages and containing a massive 32 bikes, so you may want to make yourself a cup of tea before progressing any further! Why so big? Especially after adding the e-MTB category last year, we could see the prices of the bikes on test really creeping up. So, to add a bit more balance to proceedings, this year we’ve included a new ‘budget’ category, which sits alongside our established, trail, enduro and e-MTB sections.
For the budget category to work, we needed to keep the price bracket as tight as possible. The difference between the cheapest bike and the most expensive is just £100, with RRPs ranging from £900 to £1,000. At this price, we thought it’d be wise to stick with hardtails, too, as we don’t think there are eight sub-£1k full-suspension machines out there that are worthy of a head-to-head style test. Our testers were looking for value for money – which doesn’t necessarily mean being the cheapest, but that brands have spent their budget wisely, on a quality frame and the components that matter most – along with a cohesive, capable and, ideally, versatile overall package, because buyers at this price may want to do more than just hit the trails on their bike.
The trail bike category continues to be one of the hardest-fought (and trickiest to define). Our test this year spanned £2,950 to £4,350 and included bikes with 130mm to 150mm of rear-wheel travel. We were looking for a bike that could handle an all-day epic but wouldn’t send you cartwheeling into the bushes at the mere sight of a black run at the bike park.
A little like their prices, we’re seeing the travel figures of enduro bikes creep up. This year, our shortest-travel bike has 160mm at the rear, and all those on test come with a 170mm or 180mm-travel fork – not quite downhill racing figures, but not far off. Pleasingly, nearly all the brands have made their seat tube angles sufficiently steep now, which makes winching back up the climbs that bit easier. It’s when heading back down that these bikes are designed to excel, though. Pricing for this category spanned £4,000 to £5,500, due to an RRP hike during testing.
Possibly the biggest area of growth, and the quickest in terms of tech changes, must be in the world of e-bikes. Our mix of e-MTBs for 2023 is more exciting than ever – and more expensive, too, with pricing ranging from a notinconsiderable £7,499.95 to a whopping £10,000. All these bikes are designed to be incredibly capable, but to win, they needed to balance ground-hugging suspension with a bit of pop and liveliness. That, and offer a supersmooth drive unit plus a parts package worthy of their price – not an easy ask!
To pick the eight bikes shortlisted in each category, we called upon decades of testing experience and feedback from first rides and launches to select machines we knew would be up there with the best. Testing involved numerous laps around the Tweed Valley, South Wales, the Forest of Dean and BikePark Wales. Switching bikes frequently and altering the order in which we rode them helped us figure out the all-important details that make a difference during long days in the hills. Then, we took our top three trail, enduro and e-bikes out to Dolceacque in Italy for a final showdown on some suitably rocky terrain. Once the dust had settled, we could only pick one winner in each category. As ever, this was no easy feat and the team genuinely agonised over the decision. Read on to find out which bikes took top honours.