Canfield Brothers is known primarily for distinctive and innovative big-hitting downhill bikes, but for 2008 it’s moving firmly into the “going uphill too” category with a range of new bikes based on the latest incarnation of its short-link rear suspension design.

The new suspension is claimed to allow the bike to “pedal the same in all of the chainrings in the front”, although given Canfield’s background you won’t be surprised to learn that “all” actually means “both”. The design will be found in four models made up of two travel choices and two build strengths – choose from 5-6in light, 5-6in strong, 7-8in light or 7-8in strong.

A glance at that list quickly reveals the idea of “7-8in light” as being a rather interesting one, and happily we recently managed to get a brief spin on that very bike, the Canfield One. It’s certainly a frame that threatens a degree of shifting of the all-mountain goalposts – with a Fox DHX 5.0 Air shock, the One frame weighs a claimed 7lb, making a low-to-mid 30s full bike entirely possible.

It certainly pedals impressively well for such a long-travel bike, while remaining supple enough to sniff out traction on uncertain surfaces. Some sort of travel-adjustable fork is a must, though – with head angles in the 67-68° range and a slack seat angle too, you’ll have to contend with a bit of a wandery front unless you can pop the fork down a bit.

Climbing on the One is a remarkably painless experience, then. And coming back down again is simply fantastic. The back end feels bottomless yet controlled, and you’re certainly not going to be using “not enough travel” as an excuse. Handling is very DHey, which may require a bit of mental readjustment for riders from an XC backround – if in doubt, go faster and it’ll all start to make sense. It doesn’t feel at all flimsy, either.

As recently as two months ago we’d have said that 6in bikes were probably about the limit for all-round, all-day bikes. Now we’re not so sure…

Almost as surprising as the ride is the price – importers Riding High UK say it’ll be a very reasonable £1,399 (with shock) once production bikes arrive in the UK in February.