Voodoo Wazoo brings two firsts to the £500 hardtail category: first bike to sport 2.8in Plus tyres and to benefit from the extra stiffness of a bolt-thru fork.

Of the two, it’s the high-volume tyres that are game changing. By increasing the amount of rubber on the trail you can turn in harder, brake later and find traction where other bikes spin out. But it is not just grip that’s increased. With bigger tyres you can run lower pressures so they offer more comfort and control too.

Sounds great, so what’s the catch? Bigger tyres are heavier, plain and simple. The inner tubes are much fatter too; so one way to mitigate the extra rotating mass is to go tubeless. It’s not going to bridge the 2kg gap to the test winning Vitus Nucleus VR, but it would get it under 15kg.

That’s not the point though, because we’re convinced fatter tyres are the way to go, especially on hardtails – just look at how many Plus equipped bikes there are in the £1k Hardtail of the Year class.

So the Voodoo Wazoo Plus offers a glimpse into the future, but it’s not quite there yet. The fork spikes on square edge hits and with no damping it’s also a bit of a pogo stick when you apply pressure to the pedals. The bike needs wider rims though to really get the most out of those monster truck tyres.