First rides

Some of the most common mountain bike technologies today were once written off as gimmicks, fads or outright failures. But while the initial backlash was often loud, many of these so-called bad ideas

The Kado is Whyte’s newest carbon fibre e-MTB, fitted with Bosch’s latest Performance Line CX Gen 5 motor and an 800Wh internal battery – and it’s blisteringly fast to ride. Despite having less suspen

Merida’s Big Nine and Big Seven hardtails offer premium tech at an entry-level price KEY STATS Travel: 100mm (Big Seven) or 120mm (Big Nine) fork Wheels: 650b (Big Seven) or 29in (Big Nine) Frame: Alu

There are some good eggs in the bike industry, and Jake Ireland from Sprung Suspension is one of them. He’s always keen to help with my suspension-related woes, working his magic on my longtermers’ fo

Back in 2018, I took the new 3T Strada for a month’s riding in Australia. It was fitted with SRAM’s Force 1 mechanical groupset and I thought the new-fangled 1x11 setup would be all I’d need for road

The e-Cygnus is Andorran brand Forestal’s downcountry e-bike. It has a carbon fibre frame, 29in wheels and 120mm of travel front and rear, with pedalling assistance provided by a mid-power Bosch Perfo