2024 has been a tumultuous year, and not only in terms of culture, politics, technology, sport, and climate, but actual interesting stuff like riding bikes. So to remind us of all the things that happened in the world of mountain biking, that have already been erased and overwritten several times in our world-weary cerebral cortexes, here’s a look back at the last 12 months.

 

2024 began, as it usually does, with January, and the prediction from market research ‘experts’ Mintel that biking was about to bounce back in a spectacular fashion. Which must have come as music to the ears of brands like Orange Bikes, who were in administration as the clock chimed midnight on the 1st of January.

Mintel claimed that fervent e-bike sales, and a growth in women cycling, would boost the bike industry by 12% in the UK over 2023. Hold that projection in your mind as we leaf through the rest of the year’s headlines…

To be fair to Mintel, Strava’s year in sport sort of backed up that forecast, with the fitness app revealing that mountain bike rides were up 13% in 2023. Weirdly this was totally dwarfed by gravel riding, which was up 55% globally. Which just goes to show, you can lead a cyclist to dirt, but you can’t make them choose the right bike.

January saw the return of Saturday evening TV classic, Gladiators. Which rekindled memories of Jet and Wolf – and all the other original cast that haven’t been ousted for steroid abuse or convicted of drug offences – among anyone who grew up in the nineties. And mountain biking got its primetime 15 seconds of fame thanks to Scottish downhill and enduro racer, Kerry Wilson, who swung her pugil stick all the way to the semi-finals of the competition and gave gravity riding some literal airtime in front of 5 million viewers.

To Wales next, and in news that will shock precisely no one, a government-funded body struggling with financial issues seeks cut-backs at the expense of public services. Yes, it was the announcement that three popular MTB trail centres, including the pioneering Coed y Brenin, might be forced to close due to lack of funding. Struggling land manager, Natural Resources Wales, was forced to ‘critically review’ its provisions, despite protestations from humble mountain bikers all the way up to Welsh MPs.

Before the month was out, there was good news at Orange Bikes, which managed to find a path out of financial strife that somehow involved buying the metal fabrication business that makes its frames. Both of which were seemingly owned by the same person to begin with.

February saw Cannondale release the Moterra SL, and offer e-bikers the chance to have their cake and eat it. With a full-power motor, full-size battery, and sub-20kg weight, it looked like the brand had put the lightweight e-bike market on notice. Scott also came out with a new six-bar Ransom enduro bike, and Focus unveiled its superlight, 16.2kg, Vam2 SL e-bike.

The UCI decided to show off its latest MTB discipline to several bored skiers with the inaugural Snow Bike World Championships in Chatel. Amid the grassy, climate change-ravaged slopes of the Portes Du Soleil, Danny Hart attempted to compete against a field of alpine locals who could ski before they could walk. And with no reports, no live coverage, and no interest, no one actually knows how he got on.

Contrast that with Red Bull’s Hardline Tasmania, which seemed to have every mountain biker on the planet glued to their phone/laptop/65in smart TVs. For a demonstration on how you organise an event and build hype, the two races were literally poles apart. I mean Hardline had it all; from 70ft jumps to snakes on track, it was Crocadile Dundee on wheels. And the racing had real drama, too, with Ronan Dunne beating Hardline specialist Bernard Kerr, to kick off a breakout season for the young Irishman. Then there was Jackson Goldstone’s crash, an ACL-busting tree hug that made everyone watching the livestream do a real-life shock emoji with their face, and the whole elite male downhill field secretly breathe a sigh of relief that they wouldn’t get their asses whooped all season.

New bikes continued to spill out of the floodgates through February, with a new Spectral from Canyon, new lightweight e-bikes from Cube and Scott, and revamped trail and enduro bikes from Privateer. SRAM joined long-running British soap opera Eastenders, by getting rid of Dot – in this case from its new flagship Maven brakes (joke copyright Guy Kesteven).

You wait years for a new Merida e-bike, and like buses, three come along at once, all at the beginning of March. But to keep consumers on their toes, Merida came up with a cunning model naming convention, possibly inspired by British attempts to thwart invading Germans in WW2 by rotating signposts and switching street names. Where the 26kg eOne-Sixty got the suffix ‘Lite’, rather than the 22kg carbon version, and neither model got 160mm of travel.

In preparation for the Paris Olympics, and the biggest prize in XC racing, Specialized launched a new Epic, now called the Epic 8, indicating how many iterations of the bike there have been in its lifespan. And in a potentially terrifying indication of what could happen to the human race, it replaced the old bike’s Brain with AI style tech.

Just three months after a huge move from Muc-Off Commencal to Canyon CLLCTV, Thibaut Daprela departed by ‘mutual agreement’ from his new team, without turning a pedal in anger. Mystery surrounds the reason beyond the official statements, with Daprela claiming a smear campaign was waged against him. After competing as a privateer in 2024, we will wait and see if any teams pick him up for 2025.

In product news, Atherton Bikes launched a new S.170, using machined lugs and aluminium tubes that are cheaper and quicker to produce than the additive manufactured titanium versions found on the A.150. Mondraker resurrected the Dune as an e-bike, Norco released the high-pivot Range and Sight VLT, and Fox took over the internet with its gold finish, new dampers, and reverse arch 32 XC fork.

Everyone hates roadworks, but Highways England gave Gloucestershire riders even more reason to loathe them in March as Flyup 417 bike park was forced to close due to a massive dual carriageway project. And like some tortuous temporary traffic lights, Flyup has been given the green light, followed by the red light, twice during 2024, with the park aiming to reopen in March 2025, although the road project isn’t due for completion until 2027.

Canyon’s first lightweight e-bike hit the virtual showrooms in April with the launch of the NeuronOnFly. Instantly it became the cheapest e-bike on sale with the Bosch SX motor, yet it was still more than double the price of Decathlon’s Rockrider E-Expl 500 S.

In trail news, BikePark Wales cut the ribbon on eight new jumps to make the A470 jump line 30% longer. But this was just the entree to a banquet of updates revealed in a planning application to the council. Highlights of which include 27 new trails, extra uplift routes, and new skills areas.

The first round of the DH World Cup came to Fort William, where Vali Holl ensured the perfect launch for the new YT Tues downhill bike by winning the Elite Women. And in the men’s, Loic Bruni finally found some Fort Bill mojo with a dominant win.

One of the original lightweight e-bikes, the Orbea Rise, was revamped in May, with a Cannondale Moterra rivalling Shimano EP801 motor, 630Wh battery, and sub-19kg claimed weight. Also that month, McLaren dropped a bombshell by launching an e-bike with almost double the torque of a Bosch CX motor. And one of the funkiest integrated handlebar designs since the Raleigh Vektor.

Just a few months after Kona raised eyebrows with its buy a bike, get one free offer, the celebrated Canadian brand’s financial difficulties bubbled to the surface. Saviours came, however, in the shape of Kona’s original founders, who bought the brand back and vowed to return to a dealer-focussed sales strategy.

May also saw the return of the ‘skinsuit’ to downhill racing with the controversial Fox Speed Suit, Ronan Dunne continued his run of form with a win at the Polish round of the World Cup, and Deathgrip 2 hit the big screen with all the slow-motion loam explosions you could ever hope for.

Red Bull headed back to Wales for the original Hardline, spiced up to the Carolina Reaper end of the Scoville scale with a canyon gap that had the world’s best genuine crapping their pants. In the end, it was pulled after a huge crash in practice, and guess who? Yes, Ronan Dunne out-done everyone to win the 10th edition and roll away with a bonus Red Bull sponsorship.

For decades, mountain biking in the UK has not had a unified voice, with the likes of IMBA, the CTC, and British Cycling attempting to represent the interests of riders, but never quite hitting the spot. But in June, a momentous moment for mountain biking was the formation of the UK MTB Trail Alliance, where strength in numbers and collective experience seeks to help steer riding in the UK towards a brighter future.

July marked the launch of Specialized’s 15th Stumpjumper full-suspension bike, a lightweight e-bike from YT, a convertible high/low pivot Lapierre enduro bike, a new Trek Top Fuel, cheaper wireless shifting from SRAM, and about 15 alternatives to the Presta valve. But the biggest news was the shock entry of drone manufacturer, DJI, into the e-bike market.

DJI’s impressive new motor seemed to catch the whole industry napping, with more power, better technology, and less weight than any of its rivals. And because none of the legacy brands wanted to take a punt on the Chinese consumer tech giant, it had to start its own bike brand, and make a frame to mount it on. In the blink of an eye, bikes that had just been launched were, on paper at least, made virtually obsolete.

In Paris, Tom Pidcock lambasted the Olympic mountain bike course as ‘bland’, and ‘one line’, then proved it was all sand-bagging by cutting off home hero Victor Koretsky just metres from the finish line. In a thrilling race, punctuated by, er, punctures, the young Brit became the second man ever to win two successive Olympic Gold medals in mountain biking.

The French disappointment was more than compensated for by the emphatic victory of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot the day before, in her swansong off-road event before transitioning to the road.

What to say about Ford’s arrival in the e-bike market in August? It’s hard to know, because, like most commentators, the Bronco and Mustang left me speechless. And not in a good way. With an integrated motocross-style saddle, handlebar-dashboard, rear hub motor, and 30kg weight, Ford’s efforts show how most automotive brands still haven’t got a clue when it comes to bikes.

Schwalbe chose August to launch its new radial tyre tech – helped by the hype around Amaury Pierron’s incredible mud-slide to victory in Les Gets – Santa Cruz revealed the new Bronson, and Fox shattered the glass ceiling for dropper posts with the wireless £1,100 Transfer Neo.

September started with drama at the World Championships in Andorra, where Puck Pieterse secured the Women’s XCO, Alan Hatherly and Victor Koretsky turned the tables on Tom Pidcock in the men’s (followed by a rapidly improving Charlie Aldridge), while Loris Vergier and Vali Holl pulled on rainbow jerseys in the Elite Downhill. And a huge shout out to Danny Hart finding form again in fourth place.

Gee Atherton was at it again in Ridgeline 5: Resistance, thankfully minus the horrific crash this time.

Canyon launched the second of its SL e-bikes – the Spectral:ONFly, Santa Cruz released the new Hightower, and Bosch came out with its 5th generation CX motor, lighting the fuse on an array of new e-bikes from Trek, Focus, Cube, Orbea, Haibike, and Mondraker. Then Santa Cruz shocked everyone with a new Bosch-equipped Vala using a FSR-style four-bar linkage.

Greg Minnaar rolled across the finish line at Mont-Sainte-Anne for the last time at a World Cup race. In a career that has lasted a quarter of a century, and three different wheel sizes, Greg has won four World Championships and three overall World Cup series, even earning a spot on the podium at Les Gets in his final year.

History was made in Utah in October with the first Women’s Red Bull Rampage. Eight women built and rode lines sculpted into the famous red dirt, showcasing the rapid progression in women’s freeride over the last few years. 28-year-old Robin Goomes, from New Zealand, earned the highest score, but it was women’s mountain biking that scored the biggest victory.

In the men’s event, ‘Brendan woz robbed’ once again, with a line that many said was unrideable in the lead up to the finals. Which only served to inspire a string of riders to film themselves having a go at the line once the event had packed up.

With the end of the World Cup season, and a massive shake-up due in 2025 for the Downhill series, numerous familiar teams won’t be lining up on the start line next season. Madison Saracen, the Union, Dorval-Commencal, and others have all announced they are stepping away. With increased team fees, and the industry looking to cut costs in a stagnant market, it’ll be interesting to see who ends up where when the music stops in the new year. There are bound to be casualties, and hopefully some new brands competing that we haven’t seen for a while. Watch this space.

Also in October, with its Rocket, Cotic either launched the antidote to all those cookie-cutter e-bikes, or a throwback to 2014, depending on your perspective. Despite the steel frame and external battery, there was nothing retro about the price – starting at nine grand is about as 2024 as you can get.

Earlier in the year, we pondered whether motorcycle brands were poised to take over mountain biking. In November we were proved spectacularly wrong as Yamaha announced it was stopping selling e-bikes due to the woeful market conditions. And to prove this wasn’t an isolated issue, it recently emerged that the KTM group (not KTM Bicycles – that’s a separate company) which owns GasGas and Husqvarna is around €3bn in the red, and has an inventory of 265,000 unsold motorcycles. No word on how many unsold e-bikes are sitting in its warehouses, but we’d be surprised if KTM’s financial woes don’t have some kind of knock-on effect on its e-bike plans going forward.

In November we finally heard the news we all feared regarding Coed y Brenin – this hugely historic visitor centre will close in early 2025 unless a private enterprise or community group steps in to run it. As Natural Resources Wales takes less of a stake in the recreational side of the forest, it is feared that planned felling, or simple storm damage, will render the historic trails unusable.

Three new bikes from Calibre, Voodoo, and Boardman significantly reinvigorated the budget full-suspension market in November. All three get 29in wheels, alloy frames, modern geometry, dialled suspension and well considered spec sheets, while hitting the key price point around £1,500. By far and away, these bikes represent the key to keeping mountain biking as accessible as possible.

As 2024 drew to a close, Forbidden stole the limelight with a social media post that pointed to the brand’s upcoming e-bike being powered by a DJI motor. Scott launched the futuristic-looking Patron, Commencal announced a Bosch SX-powered Meta enduro bike, and Canyon faced the costly process of recalling what must be thousands of batteries found in Spectral:ON and Torque:ON e-bikes. Not only will Canyon have to recycle these old batteries, it has to engineer, produce, and supply new ones to customers FOC, and in some cases pay compensation. Oof.

 

Then the December storms really hit, physically and metaphorically, with Storm Darragh unleashing untold damage on trails across the UK, followed by the shock news that GT was going to be held in stasis going forward, and that was followed almost immediately by Rocky Mountain announcing it had sought legal protection to enter a restructuring phase and in search of a viable future. Not the Christmas cheer anyone was hoping to hear. So that’s 2024 out, what’s in store in 2025 is anyone’s guess, but we’d be surprised if recovery comes as quickly as everyone is hoping. But what do we know? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.