With slackest head angle, longest reach and shortest stem, the Sonder Transmitter is built for bombing, inspiring confidence to fully attack descents.

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The voluminous 2.8in WTB front tyre irons out the small bumps while the big 150mm suspension fork takes all the hits — when it comes to letting go of the brakes and being brave, the Sonder scores highly, trampling over almost anything in its path.

And the tyre choice is unique, with a wider 2.8in front paired with a 2.6in rear. While this works well when the front is weighted on steeps, on the more mellow trails we found it a little vague, making hard work for direction changes.

The BB is also too high which meant we had to hunker more on the bike to keep control, which meant our legs became more fatigued on the descents.

Climbing is affected too as the higher centre of gravity combined with the super slack head angle and short stem make hard work of technical climbs, robbing the rider of energy where bikes like the Nukeproof Scout and Vitus Sentier feel natural and easy.

The Transmitter is available from Alpkit stores in a range of three colours. And it wouldn’t take much to make it go as good as it looks. A shorter fork would bring more control, steepen the head angle, lower the BB height and bring a bit more balance — and perhaps save the Sonder from being branded a one trick pony.