We’re one week into our Advent Calendar so what better time to get you thinking about next year. Here are the bikes you should look out for in the next 12 months

Evil Insurgent

To complement the shorter-travel The Following, Seattle-based outfit Evil has launched a new 650b trail bike called the Insurgent.

Evil Insurgent in the Slimeball yellow

It has 151mm of rear travel, a full carbon frameset and the new Delta Link suspension, which is a single pivot design developed by Dave Weagle. The Delta Link has a Flip Chip built into the link, and by simply reversing the chip you can lower the bottom bracket height. The Insurgent also comes with a custom FSA offset headset, allowing you to slacken the head angle by just under a degree.

Flip Chip is between the swingarm and Delta Link

In the UK the Insurgent is around £2799 for the frame only and there will also be complete bike, but UK prices are still TBC. You can get the Insurgent in this yellow colour or a raw finish called murder black. More info can be found at silverfish-uk.com.

Mondraker Dune Carbon

As the name suggest the Dune Carbon gets a full carbon frame for 2016. It has 160mm of rear travel, a 170mm Fox 36 fork, 27.5in wheels and also comes with adjustable geometry. You can adjust the head angle using Mondraker’s off-set headset cups and add or subtract length from the chainstays with different dropouts.

Mondraker Dune Carbon RR

Like all Mondrakers the Dune features Forward Geometry. In simple terms that means it has a really long wheelbase but comes with a short 30mm stem; the result is a really stable bike with ultra responsive handling.

Stubby 30mm stem on the Mondraker Dune Carbon

For a frame only the Dune Carbon will be £2999, while complete bikes start at £4599. Importer Silverfish will have the Dune range at demo days so you should be able to see how good the Forward Geometry is for yourself. There’s info on dates and the whole Mondraker range at silverfish-uk.com.

Orbea Occam

We saw Orbea’s new Occam bike back in the summer and there is video of this new bike already on our site. It’s definitely worth a look if you want some real detail on the new range.

Orbea Occam AM 27.5in

Essentially there are two Occams – the TR shown below, which has 120mm of travel and 29er wheels and an AM model above, which is a 140mm bike with 27.5in hoops. The reason Orbea has split the range in this way is because it’s pushing taller riders towards the 29 and short/medium riders onto the 27.5in.

Orbea Occam TR 29er

The Ocaam TR has a full OMR carbon frameset and new UFO suspension system based around the flex stay design that Orbea uses in a slightly different form on its short-travel race bikes. The flex works like a conventional pivot but it’s around 120g lighter, requires zero maintenance and actually looks a lot cleaner.

UFO flex stays

To underline the size-specific nature of the two models the 650b Occam comes in small, medium and large sizes, the 29er in medium, large and extra-large.

Orbea is doing direct sales and you can see all the 2016 bikes and full UK pricing at orbea.com/gb-en.

Transiton Patrol Carbon

With a carbon front triangle the Transition Patrol has gone on a diet for 2016. It still has a 160mm fork and 155m at the rear end, 650b wheels and Transition’s proven Giddy Up Link suspension, but the new Carbon model is several hundred grammes lighter.

Transition says the carbon Patrol’s kinematics (suspension mechanics) have been tuned so the bike bobs less on the climbs, but still has loads of grip and shouldn’t bottom too harshly.

UK Importer Windwave is offering the frame only for £2599 and three complete bikes using different builds starting at £4399 and topping out £6199. The full range should be available around Chirstmas. Go to windwave.co.uk for more info.

Yeti SB4.5c

When naming its bikes Yeti uses a combination of letters and numbers but it’s not always obvious what they mean, so let us explain. In the case of SB4.5c, SB stands for Super Bike, the number relates to the amount of travel (4.5inches) and C means the bike has a full carbon frame. It doesn’t mention it in the contraction, but the SB4.5c also has 29er wheels.

YETI SB4.5c with 29er wheels

The SB4.5c uses Yeti’s new Infinity Pivot suspension system. This is an evolution of the older Switch system that has been tuned on this short-travel 29er to improve pedalling and offer a bottomless suspension feel.

Switch Infinity’s movable pivot

The SB4.5C is full carbon with a claimed frame weight of 2.45 kg. It also features a Boost 148 rear end and an oversized PF30 bottom bracket to increase stiffness. Silverfish is only offering one complete bike in the UK using a full SRAM X01 build for £5,999 but you can buy a frame only for £2999. Both should be available sometime in September.