The bikes are split into two categories: Trail covers those with 110-140mm of travel and Enduro refers to those with 150-175mm.
All sit between £2,600 and £3,400, so they're generally the more affordable models in the brands' ranges.
Each one has been through a rigorous testing process and subjected to a lot of miles in some pretty brutal UK winter conditions. From a starting shortlist of 20, we whittled things down to a top five in each category and took the top contenders out to San Remo in Italy for a final test. The fast, rocky conditions allowed us to hone in on the finer points of each and come to a definite conclusion about which ones we believe are worth your money.
The winners are revealed in issue 355 of the mag, in shops now!
Trail
Canyon Spectral CF 9.0 £3,246.98 (inc. shipping)
Commencal Meta TR V4.2 Essential £2,650
Cotic FlareMAX Silver 29 £3,399 (inc. shipping + fork, shock, wheel and tyre upgrades)
Marin B17 3 £2,900
Norco Sight A2 29 £2,750
Orbea Occam TR H10 £3,329 (inc. shipping + fork, shock & wheel upgrades)
Santa Cruz Tallboy R Aluminium 29 £3,299
Transition Scout NX £2,999.95
Trek Fuel EX 8 29 £2,700
YT Industries Jeffsy 29 CF £3,106 (approx. including shipping)
Enduro
Bird AM9 GX £3,363.95 (inc. shipping)
Canyon Torque CF 8.0 £3,246.98 (inc. shipping)
Giant Reign 2 £2,649
Merida One-Sixty 800 £3,150
Mondraker Dune £3,199
Nukeproof Mega 275 Pro £3,349.99
Radon Swoop 170 9.0 £2,912 (approx. inc. shipping)
Specialized Enduro Comp 29 £2,999
Transition Patrol NX £2,999.95
Whyte S-150 S £2,850
