Trail / All-Mountain

The Giant Reign is one of the world’s best selling enduro bikes, and it’s been around in one version or the other for almost 13 years by now. Whilst the basic design concepts behind the bike have not really changed over the years, of course everything else has. Materials, geo, suspension, standards, components…mountain biking never stands still! So in the name of keeping up, we headed over to Italy last week to discover the 6th generation of the Reign. Lower, longer, and slacker seems almost like a foregone conclusion here, but if you want to know everything else there is to know about what...

What began as a friendship within Colorado's once thriving downhill racing scene has since turned into a full-time bike building endeavor, and the partners heading up the Denver-based Guerrilla Gravity bike brand continue to push ahead with interesting new designs. Month after month they keep exceeding projections, and we're certain a good portion of their continued organic growth is a result of listening to the people. Their latest creation, The Smash, is about as true to their roots as a trail bike can be. "Guerrilla" is a community driven effort to spark change, and "Gravity" is the funnest...

The arrangements were simple: "We've got some new prototypes to show you. Where do you want to meet?" "I'll be free March 30-31. Moab? Let's do this thing!" "Deal. Bring a trail bike." Just minutes before they were due for departure from their San Luis Obispo, California office, e*thirteen's Connor Bondlow and Scott Ender waited anxiously for samples to arrive from overseas. The carbon goodies we'd be riding were about as fresh from the oven as you can get. With the Albatross loaded, the two flew through an all day drive to get to Moab. Spring conditions meant hero dirt, loads of spring...

Typically, when a new test bike arrives at our door we know what to expect in regards to geometry, the build spec, travel, etc, but that wasn’t at all the case when the 2018 Rocky Mountain Altitude showed up. Unboxing the bike and building it up, we were scratching our heads wondering how much rear travel the bike had or what the head angle was. Being that the bike was brand new, no online literature had been published, no product manual was included in the box, and Rocky Mountain was being very hush-hush about the whole thing, we were pretty much in the dark. So aside from measuring the FOX...

Orbea recently brought us out to Benasque, Spain, which is a small town nestled within the vast and beautiful Pyrenees Mountains that lay along the border between France and Spain. Why has Orbea brought us to such a unique region? To introduce us to their new 2018 enduro bike, the Rallon. Unlike the previous alloy 27.5-inch 2016 Rallon , the new enduro bike not only makes the jump to bigger 29-inch wheels, but they've also gone full carbon with the 2018 Rallon. With 150mm of rear travel and 160mm up front, Orbea is hoping you get addicted to "Enduralin," or so they say. In their words,...

If you follow the racing scene, you've no doubt seen the Öhlins RXF 36 under some of the world's fastest EWS racers. It will soon be available in a new wheel size and is the company's first publicly released 27.5 model. Just like the well-regarded RXF 34, this bad boy sports a three chamber air spring and multiple external adjustments that allow you to really dial in your ride. What else is new? Let's dig in. Highlights 140-170mm (5.5-6.7 inches) travel options 27.5-inch specific design 36mm diameter stanchion tubes Tunable three chamber air spring system: two positive, one negative TTX twin...

For those looking to go fast and take chances, increasingly capable components and frames mean mountain biking of all varieties is quickly becoming a more aggressive endeavor. For those simply looking to have a good time, those same improvements ensure added safety and fun on the trail. Today Pivot Cycles introduced an all-new bike that will carry them well into the future – the Mach 5.5 Carbon. Part enduro, part all-mountain, and part trail bike, the new Mach 5.5 brings an interesting mixture of travel, geometry, and technical features to the party. With 140mm of dw-link rear travel and 160mm...