These are mbr’s choice of the most exciting products of 2018. British made dropper posts, alt drivetrains, computers that live inside your tyres and more.

>>> 12 predictions for mountain bikes

1. U.S.E. Helix dropper post

UK brand USE have been around pretty much since the year zero of British mountain biking and they’re well known for their static seatposts. Seeing them finally reveal a dropper post is a pleasing sight. And in typically USE fashion, it’s significantly different design to how everyone else makes droppers. It’s an entirely mechanical design which prizes practicality and serviceability.

2. Box Components drivetrains

Box Components are not going away. They have a fight on their hands against the twin behemoths of mountain bike groupsets – Shimano and Sram – but they’re confident they offer something significantly different to the established giants.

3. Hutchinson Conect’Tires gadget

Essentially a compact digital air pressure sensor with built-in communication with smartphones. The Hutchinson ConecTires lives inside your tyre (mounted at the valve hole inside the rim) and beams out live tyre pressure info to an app on your phone. It even has a motion tilt sensor in it so it knows how much you get your lean on (or not). It can assess your riding and then give you advice on setting up your tyres to best suit your rides.

4. Crank Brothers Klik floor pump

Crank Brothers’ very top of the line track pump. Magnetic, minimalist and comes with a ‘burst tank’ for blast-inflating tubeless tyres.

5. BOS Deville 53 AM suspension fork

After hiding in the sidelines for a couple of seasons, French forkers BOS are back with a vengeance it seems for 2018. Much simpler in setup and options than previous techno-tastic BOS suspension forks, the new 150-170mm Devilles basically offer you three selectable preset tunings.

6. Rotor RVolver hub

It’s all hidden away inside a rear hub but Rotor’s RVolver freehub design drastically reduces the drag of your rear wheel, resulting in longer freewheeling and less energy lost to friction all round. Not only that, it may also have an added benefit of reducing undesirable drivetrain forces on bike rear suspension.