It wasn’t looking like much of a year for innovation, but there were already cracking bikes around that meant nothing revolutionary was actually required.
On the XC jayboy front, Scott’s carbon fibre Strike bikes became more widely recognised for race proven full suspension performance at a weight that makes most hardtails weep, while Trek’s Fuel can thank the mighty legs of Roland Green for turning its taut suspension into World Cup Gold Medals.

On the forum the Santa Cruz Superlight dominated the wish lists in the start of the year – and for good reason. Genuinely super light, with easy to ride, simple suspension character with minimal maintenance. We eagerly await the virtual pivot path ‘Blur’ version next year. Then some attention shifted to the Ellsworth Truth for actually delivering what linkage suspension had been promising for years. For the indecisive, Marin’s TARA bikes can be tweaked from 4-6″ of travel in seconds and provide big hitting suspension at under 30lbs, bringing Extreme XC / Freeride Lite bikes (whatever you want to call them) within reach of everyone. Whyte’s smooth rolling PRST-1superbike kept Cullen alive through the Schwinn 100 and then gave birth to it’s simpler JW-2 offspring, while Scoop ‘got bored’ of proper suspension and continued his fascination with the Trek STP softail.

And Gary Fisher’s big wheeled “29er”? It’s definitely faster on wide open trails and sweeping corners, lays down more grip and holds momentum better, but is unwieldy on tight stop / start trails which makes it very much a horse or certain courses.

On the more roughty toughty side of the slope, Cove’s Stiffee remained the hardcore bike of choice among singletrackers, but if you really want handling that’s built to push the limits then Planet-X’s Compo scared the sh*t out of us with what it let / made us ride. Its ‘close’ cousin the On-One Gimp developed a similar reputation for sickening strength and abuse absorption amongst jumpers including our dear beloved Dan, and Dark Angel’s 24seven even got us down the BMX for ‘phin air’ (we don’t do ‘phat’) antics. Orange’s Patriot (if you could survive the waiting list), Santa Cruz’s Bullitt, and Rotwild’s RFR made the running in the ‘Freeride’ category, while Santa Cruz’s V10 VPP DH bike treated us to the most impact absorbent but still remarkably pedalable hour of riding we’ve ever had earlier this month.

Below the multi-thousand pound wish list level, Dawes and Giant still amaze us with what you get for your money, with the Dawes Edge FS shaming many of the much more expensive bikes we’ve ridden. Trek, Fisher, Specialized are all on the ball as usual with their most impressive and complete ranges for years, while new distributors are promising and delivering great things from Kona and Rocky Mountain.

That’s all for now folks, we’re off up to Pateley Bridge for a turkey burner ride, but tune in tomorrow for more highlights from the 2001/2002 bike season.

For more information don’t forget to check out the members’ review section which covers pretty much every bike out there, tested in ‘real’ everyday riding conditions, by riders like you.