Ben Smith

mbr art editor

Ben Smith

Ben has been designing mbr magazine for almost as long as he’s been riding mountain bikes. From racing XC (badly) back in the ’90s on rigid hardtails to an occasional foray into Enduro racing today (also badly) Ben is as keen to get out and ride now as he was all those years ago – so much so that he recently moved to the Forest of Dean from his old home in Surrey to enjoy the bigger hills and longer trails that the FOD has to offe

Shimano AM9 mountain bike shoes

  • March 30, 2023

This AM9 (903) shoe is the latest in a long line of burly DH/enduro clip-in shoes from Shimano that goes back to the iconic white and black ‘Stormtrooper’ shoe of…

Haibike AllMtn CF12

  • January 27, 2023

Haibike has been producing contenders for the best e-bike award longer than most. And by only producing e-bikes it’s not tied to building electric versions of existing analogue bikes in…

Scott Stego Plus

  • September 8, 2021

The Scott Stego Plus is constructed using EPS foam to absorb high speed impacts along with polyurethane pads to deal with lower speed impacts. Plus MIPS!

camelbak skyline lr10

  • February 24, 2021

Camelbak Skyline LR 10 has a 3L bladder and 7L of storage capacity and is the perfect size for trail riders who don’t need to carry everything with them.

  • October 19, 2020

Shimano ME5 SPD shoes are just that bit more comfortable with better fit than their rivals. This iteration is being discounted - more of a bargain!

giro ventana

  • October 19, 2020

Giro Ventana are really comfortable shoes that work brilliantly for all-day XC epics, through to sessioning super-techy enduro trails.

bell full-9

  • January 13, 2020

The Bell Full-9 Fusion MIPS helmet is a budget full-face DH helmet based on Bell’s top-of-the-range carbon Bell Full-9 helmet.

invisiframe

  • April 9, 2018

Invisiframe also do kits for cranks and forks if you want to keep everything nice, and will do custom kits for bikes that haven’t been covered already.