Ten of the world's best mountain bikes

This 170mm travel aluminium enduro bike instantly won us over with its modern and very thorough approach to geometry and sizing. The result – ride quality and handling that is class leading. How does it ride? We were blown away on our first ride and this sensation stayed with us. The Swoop is so low, so slack, so balanced, and just a hooligan through and through. There simply can be no measured remarks about this bike when the delivery is simply so flat out in its nature. This is a long travel bike that has a light ride character, is reasonably quiet and has excellent balance between flex and stiffness. We’ve yet to find any real-world compromises.

‘Progressive geometry’ is a phrase thrown around repeatedly at the moment but there really are only a few brands that have instilled this thinking throughout their range – not just on the longer travel bikes. The T-130 trail bikes are a great example of this and really are an exceptional design. This all-aluminium bike doesn’t mind a touch of abuse – and why not? That’s what’s it made for after all. Yet again we see Whyte pushing to the front of what’s happening not just in the UK but worldwide. The T-130 is a truly brilliant trail bike. 

Is there a mountain bike that can do it all? Climb up the hills like a mountain goat and descend faster than a scalded cat? Enter: the Trek Slash. When you’re ascending you feel the benefits of massive 29-inch diameter wheels, a featherweight carbon-fibre construction and a telescopic seatpost that can be raised or lowered for maximum efficiency. Point it downwards, though, and you’ll be thankful for all 160mm of its suspension as well as a near-perfect frame geometry and a penthouse-level spec of parts and tech. In mountain biking they call this a ‘quiver killer’ – the only bike you’ll ever need.

If you want to get from the top to the bottom of a hill as fast as possible then there are few bikes more capable than the Specialized S-Works Demo 8. The bike features a unique, asymmetrical, fully carbon-fibre frame that houses a rear shock custom built by Moto GP legends Öhlins. The bike has 203.2mm of suspension travel that tames the bumpiest tracks. If you want proof, look no further than Aaron Gwin who piloted it to the 2015 Downhill World Cup title. It’s an instantly eye-catching and uncompromising machine. There really isn’t anything better when the going gets rough.

If all that pedalling sounds too much like hard work, then you need to get on board the e-mtb trend. Basically, you take a standard mountain bike then add a lithium battery and a 250-watt motor so you can ride further, harder and faster – in most people’s mind a win-win. This is relatively new technology so there are plenty of duds around but you can’t go wrong with the Merida eOneSixty 900E, proven to be more rugged than most e-mtbs. You may not have heard of Merida but it’s one of Taiwan’s biggest companies and actually owns nearly half of Specialized. Our kind of electric dream… 

At 15.1 kg this is one of the lightest bikes on the market, in fact possibly the lightest. There’s lots we like about the Rage, no more so than its ride character. Its very quick across the ground, efficient at pumping terrain and very, very stable through broken ground. The bike is quiet and has a good feel to its bones. The suspension is supportive, there is little noise form the transmission and even though the Rage is slightly flexier than many other carbon bikes in certain directions, the feeling is good.

The Alpine 6 is an incredibly capable bike. In fact when it comes to uplift sessions on longer travel enduro bikes it’s the bike most of us would reach out to. It’s a bulletproof choice, silent and simple when heading into tricky encounters. It is low, long and slack but still a bike that gets from A to B on flatter grounds pretty efficiently. There are better choices when it comes to climbing, and the new 29ers from Orange – the Stage 5 and 6 – will undoubtedly add that extra grip and momentum for added efficiency when going up. The Alpine 6 though has its eyes firmly on the next descent.

From the start the Moustache Samedi Down has a real purposeful shape to its chassis, slack and long, a shape very close to many current downhill bikes in a similar size. The long chainstays means there is slightly more weight up front than normal and the bar/stem fitted was particularly low – however on the hoof the Moustache feels super steady, with little weight transfer as the bike enters corners with both wheels drifting rather than one or the other. The Samedi is totally all-action. This is a quiet bike, an exciting bike and one that can tackle pretty much anything.

We’re as deeply impressed with this bike as always. The Tues is so composed and predictable it becomes easy to plan ahead down the trail. The addition of Fox has taken an edge off the stiffness of the Bos that the Tues used to be equipped with. The weight distribution feels much better on the XL and means there’s no more constant counter-balancing for larger riders. At some point we’re going to stop being surprised every time a new Tues rolls through the door and we end up loving it. How do they make it so fast, so composed, so well specced and yet so cheap? When is the bubble going to burst? The answer is not for another year at the very least.