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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 a taste of what you’ll find inside…

On the cover

Ben Smith rides his Trail Bike of the Year contender, the Radon Slide Trail 9.0. Photographer: Roo Fowler.

New Series: Trail Blazers

Sheffield has embraced mountain biking like few other urban centres, building trails, businesses helping shape its culture around the sport. How has it done it? Part of the kudos must go to Ride Sheffield, a dedicated group of volunteers who got organised and showed the rest of us how it could and should be done. We head to steel city to take a closer look.

First Rides

Pace is back in the full suspension game with a full-carbon 29er trail bike called the RC295, complete with modern geometry, sorted spec and reasonable pricetag. Plus we try out brand new e-bikes: Canyon’s Spectral:On with carbon frame and internal battery; and KTM’s Macina Kapoho with 160mm travel.

Longtermers

Flick a switch on the Scott Contessa Ransom and you’ll toggle between 170mm and 120mm travel, front and rear. Sounds neat, Laura reveals how it works out in the real world. Plus updates on the NS Synonym, Canyon Strive, Nukeproof Reactor and Norco Sight.

Product

The SRAM AXS Reverb takes raising and lowering your saddle to the next level, if you’ll pardon the pun. Wireless, electronic shifting comes at a price though, so it’s time to decide if it’s a must-have addition to your bike, or a unnecessary expense. Plus we head-to-head the Endura MT500 Freezing Point Jacket and Polaris Tor, and review Ride Concepts’ TNT shoe, Burgtec Penthouse flat pedals and loads more.

Tested: Wheelsets

Great wheels can transform the ride of many a bike, adding zip, strength and poise to your ride. With so many models on the market the choice can be bewildering, so we’ve picked the best eight wheelsets to begin with, before whittling it down to two winners; in the carbon and alloy categories.

Trail Bike of the Year

Trail Bike of the Year is the most important bike test of 2020, in it you’ll find the nine best 29ers that have been designed to savage the kind of trials most of us ride week in, week out. Yes I said 29ers, because we reckon the advancements in big-wheeled bikes have squeezed out 27.5in machines, making them less relevant for our Trail Bike category. We’ve split the test into two, shop bought and direct sales bikes, with two different pricepoints — don’t buy your next ride until you’ve perused these pages.

Bikes in this Issue

Canyon Spectral CF 7.0
Canyon Spectral:On Al 6.0
Canyon Spectral:On CF 9.8
Canyon Strive CF 8.0
Commencal Meta TR 29 Ride
Cube Stereo 150 C:62 SL 29
GT Sensor Carbon Pro
KTM Macina Kapoho 2972
Norco Sight C NX12 VLT
NS Synonym TR2
Nukeproof Reactor 290C Elite
Nukeproof Reactor 920 Elite
Pace RC295 Ultimate GX
Radon Slide Trail 9.0
Scott Contessa Ransom 910
Scott Genius 920
Vitus Escarpe 29 VRS
Whyte S-150C RS V2
YT Jeffsy Comp 29

Get fit for riding

Fitness experts Fit4Racing show us how to get faster and stronger on your bike in this resistance workout seroes: this month it’s the mighty deadlift, the best exercise for transforming your mountain biking.

Skills: progressive drops

Drops on natural trails come in many different shapes and sizes, from rollable ones to big gaps — Andy Barlow from Dirt School shows us how to safely tackle it all.

Buzz

E-bikes are quicker up hills than regular bikes, but what about when it comes to the descents? We conduct our own little experiment to which is the king of downhill.

My Best Trail

Photographer Andy Lloyd whisks us away to a secret trail high in the Alps, complete with scary exposure flow for days.

Want the latest MBR delivered to your door every month? Check out our latest subscription offer, or try MBR’s digital editions on iPad, Android, Kindle and more…