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The latest issue of MBR is out now, packed full of inspiring ideas and routes to help you find new places to get out and ride.
What about the magazine itself? Here’s a taste of what you’ll find inside…
On the cover
Dawn patrol, in the Aosta Valley, Italy, photo by Mattias Fredriksson
Editor’s Choice 2019
Over the past year we’ve reviewed hundreds of new bikes and products, some awful, some good and most somewhere in middle. Few are good enough to earn a perfect 10 score in this magazine, where they have to offer genuine exceptional performance to turn the heads of our seasoned testers. Editor’s Choice pulls together the best of the best then, the kit and bikes we can’t find fault with and that we’d put down our own money from. Find out why we rate the Nukeproof Mega and the YT Capra so highly, what the Bell Super 3 and Oakley Drt helmets do so well and why the RockShox Lyrik is still our favourite fork.
First rides
XC bikes don’t come much lighter than this, we swing a lycra-clad leg over the new Specialized S-Works Epic HT with AXS shifting. Plus we ride YT’s first ever e-bike, the Decoy CF Pro Race complete with YT’s own custom battery and mullet wheels; and the NS Define, a short travel trail bike twinned with bike-bike geometry.
Longtermers
After a year in review Laura delivers her verdict on the Rocky Mountain Altitude. JD’s Marin Mount Vision gets a shock swap to find out if it can better handle rough terrain, PB debates the pros and cons of his Norco Sight e-bike as we head into the slower winter conditions, and Ben delves into the murky world of bike sizing.
Bikes in this issue
Calibre Bossnut
Calibre Two Cubed
Canyon Spectral AL 6.0
Canyon Strive CF 8.0
Canyon Torque CF 8.0
Marin Mount Vision 8
Norco Sight C NX12 VLT
NS Define
Nukeproof Mega 275C Pro
Rocky Mountain Altitude Alloy 50
Specialized S-Works Epic HT AXS
Vitus E-Sommet
Vitus Nucleus VR
Vitus Sentier 275 VR
Voodoo Bizango 29
Whyte 905 V2
YT Decoy CF Pro Race
YT Industries Capra 29 CF Pro Race
Buzz
With the decade drawing to a close we thought it was high time we had a nostalgia fest and worked out our favourite mountain biking moments of the teens. Danny Hart’s winning run at Champery is right up there of course, as is the invention of singlering drivetrains. But so too are less obvious moments, like the rise of the youtube generation, the changing nature of trail ownership, and the influence of Danny Macaskill.
Buzz rides: the tough list
The hardest rides you’ve ever done tend to stick in the memory, for good and bad reasons, so we’ve compiled a list of the toughest we’ve ever attempted. From big hike-a-bike’s to dreadful weather, these are the routes that broke our spirits. Now you can try them too!
Regulars
Big pictures
Mailbox: Your rants, raves and witty ripostes.
New series: Your Trails: Tracy Mosely waxes lyrical about her home trails in the Malvern Hills.