first-ride

Marin promised something truly new when the invite went out to attend a pre-Sea Otter media camp. The Wolf Ridge delivers on that. Using the NAILED R3ACT-2 PLAY suspension design, Marin claims to have created a 160 mm-travel 29er that pedals and handles well enough to be the “one bike” to ride anywhere and everywhere. ...

Wisconsin is not the sort of place from which you’d expect to receive a package of riding apparel that also included warm and sunny February weather to facilite testing. But, lucky me, that’s exactly what happened when UPS delivered a selection of Bontrager’s 2017 spring/summer mountain bike apparel. Magically, Pittsburgh experienced a series of sunny(ish) days that ...

Ed note: This is part of our initial bike test of three new hardtails introduced at QBP Saddle Drive 2016, each shod with 27plus tires: the aluminum Salsa Timberjack, carbon Salsa Woodsmoke and steel Surly Karate Monkey. Despite their obvious differences, we will draw some comparisons and distinctions among the three, so make sure to ...

Ed note: This is part of our initial bike test of three new hardtails introduced at QBP Saddle Drive 2016, each shod with 27plus tires: the aluminum Salsa Timberjack, carbon Salsa Woodsmoke and steel Surly Karate Monkey. Despite their obvious differences, we will draw some comparisons and distinctions among the three, so make sure to ...

Last year, I reviewed the Ibis Ripley. I liked it well enough, but my tastes in mid-travel 29er leans towards low and slack, while the Ripley is more long-travel cross-country. I also got yelled at (via email) by for being too soft on the bike. Which was a valid complaint, as I had inadvertently cut ...

Fuji is not usually the first brand that springs to mind when most riders think of mountain bikes, but full suspension has returned to the company product line and Fuji’s new Auric with M-Link suspension design just might begin to change minds. The M-Link suspension design was first introduced on Breezer’s Supercell and Repack. Breezer is a sister ...

The RFX has been out of the Turner lineup since 2007 but returns with a vengeance as a fully modern carbon fiber all-mountain bike. The Turner website is already loaded up with prices and build kits, with complete bikes starting at $4,573 for SRAM GX, up to $8,718 with XTR and Enve wheels. Frames are ...

Back in July, SR Suntour invited us to Mountain Creek Bike Park to check out new-for-2016 front and rear suspension products. Although SR Suntour may be best know to some readers as a the suspension brand most often spec’d on trekking and budget mountain bikes, the company has been working incredibly hard in recent years ...

A little over a week ago Rocky Mountain announced its new Maiden downhill bike, and we brought you up to speed on the details here. As we hoped, we were able to ride a few laps aboard an early-production Maiden World Cup at Whistler. After a period of downhill bikes trending steadily slacker, the market seems to have ...

Liv may have cracked the code on how to sell a women-specific mountain bike. While some other brands fuss about paint color and handlebar length (both important!), Liv was taking measurements on how women ride bikes: The average ranges of our body dimensions (inseam versus torso length, for instance), where our power comes from, how ...

Everything is turning up gravel these days, and GT Bicycles has revamped their Grade model which they introduced in 2015. From afar, the changes to the Grade may look subtle but move closer, and you will see some unique updates. The triple triangle has long been synonymous with GT bicycles, and the Grade integrates that ...

A few weeks back, Shimano took me (and other media) to the mountain town of Crested Butte, Colorado for a few days of high-altitude riding on the newly-released, 12-speed XTR M9100. Unlike the previous two generations, this newest version of XTR looks and feels like a true redesign rather than a few small updatess. Shimano ...