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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 what you’ll find inside…

On the cover

Al Muldoon rounds off a day’s ride in Surrey, on the Cube Stereo e-bike

Landowner lockdown

Mountain bike trails around Calderdale are facing an existential crisis, increasingly sabotaged and at risk of closure by land owners at odds with mountain bikers. We investigate why mountain bikers are being mislabelled as destructive trail users, and how MTB advocacy group Ride Calderdale is trying to bring riders and other land users together… all at a time when we’ve never needed our outside space more.

First Rides

The Specialized Stumpjumper has been breaking new ground for decades, the latest S-Works Evo continues that tradition with more geometry adjustment than you can shake a protractor at. Plus first rides on the Pyga xxx trail bike, new NukeProof Mega 290 Pro, and the Nukeproof xxx hardtail.

Longtermers

PB sizes up the Radon Render and reckons it comes up too short after comparing it with the Ghost Hybride ASX. Meanwhile JD figures out what the Cannondale Habit does best – messing about in the air. Laura mullets her Scott Contessa Ransom to figure out if the smaller wheel will help the bike’s cornering prowess. And Ben dishes out his verdict on the Canyon Strive, is the Shapeshifter technology a godsend or just extra faff?

Bike test: E-bike of the Year

The pace of e-bike development is astonishing, year on year we see better motors, more battery life, superior integration and all round superior bikes. If you’re in the market for an e-bike then our review is essential reading: on test is Merida’s e-One Sixty 8000 with the latest Shimano EP8 motor, the Trek Rail 9, Specialized Turbo Levo Comp, Cube’s Stereo Hybrid 160 and the Whyte E-160 RS.

Product

SRAM’s new GX groupset gets put to the test, now with a 10-52t cassette and a 520% gear range. Plus we review Tahoe waterproof trousers from Alpinestars, Redbull Spect Whip goggles, and loads more.

Tested: Waterproof jackets

Essential winter gear, a decent waterproof jacket really can be the difference between a fun ride at a miserable drenching. This year we’ve reviewed…

Bikes in this Issue

Cannondale Habit Carbon 3
Canyon Strive CF 8.0
Cube Stereo Hybrid 160
Hope HB130
Merida e-One Sixty 8000
NukeProof Mega 290 Pro
Radon Render 10.0
Scott Contessa Ransom 910
Specialized Turbo Levo Comp
Trek Rail 9
Whyte E-160 RS

Never get sick

The latest science says mountain biking is one of the best ways you can strengthen your immune system, here’s how you can ward off pathogens this cold and flu season and maximise your time on the bike.

Skills: Corners

Are you stalling in corners, or losing speed and flow round berms? It’s a problem as common as mud, says Dirt School’s Andy Barlow – he shows us how to push for grip, get our body position right, and gain speed and control.

The kids go free

Working from his garden shed in Newport, a grandfather has single handedly rebuilt more than 500 bikes and donated them to kids and essential works. We meet Mike Jones and ask him what got him started and why he’s turned his garden into a bike charity.

Mailbox

The best of your comments from social media, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

My best trail

Chris Porter, Mojo Rising and Geometron founder, reveals his favourite ever trail, in the Spanish Pyrenees.