With the New Year just a few days away, Pete picks his best of people, product and places that stood out in another rowdy twelves months of mountain biking.
Pete gives us his top picks from the Bikes, eBikes, Components, Soft Goods, Protection, Service, Tech, Outstanding Performance and Athlete.
Bikes
It was two-way stand-off between the Saracen Ariel 60 Elite and the Merida One-Forty 6000 for this one. Both offering cracking value and an enjoyable ride. The Orbea Rallon M-Ltd gets a nod for sheer downhill speed but is a princely sum indeed.
I thought long and hard about which of the two I’d pick as my own bike, there really wasn’t much between them on either the climbs or the descents.
For its balance of high spec, great value and cracking ride, the Saracen Ariel 60 Elite takes it. I think it particularly goes the Saracen’s way for being completely composed when crawling through the mad tech at slower than walking pace that did it for me. It’s just a very confidence-inspiring bicycle.
eBikes
It was another two-way stand-off for the eBike category both bikes being the mid-power options that are the YT Industries Decoy SN Core 4 and the Merida eOne-Sixty SL 8000.
With much the same going for them in terms of numbers, it came down to how the bikes made me feel, and again, there wasn’t much to separate them.
The YT Decoy SN Core 4 takes it though as it was the bike that I finally made sense of bike parks on, whilst also doing a sterling shift on the messy Austrian and Scottish trails with equal prowess.
Components
There was only ever going to be one winner here. That is the OneUp V3 dropper. Whilst every other dropper post manufacturer doubled down on serviceability and reliability, OneUp took the opportunity to stay a step ahead.
Easily the smoothest post on the market with the lightest lever action, the most drop in the shortest overall post and also the lightest. There really isn’t anything not to like.
Soft Goods
At the start of the year we were very lucky to get the opportunity to design and have made our own Wideopenmag edition Endura jersey. Whilst there’s an awful lot of very good kit that’s come through the test mill this year, namely the Endura MT500 Polartec and Waterproof Jackets, and the 7Mesh Glidepath pants, having your one of one jersey really can’t be beat.
Not only is it as custom as they get, they’re made by hand in Scotland by actual human beings and are just as good as the jerseys you can buy off the shelf, which are also excellent. Big thanks to Katrin at Endura for making this happen.
Protection
A return to actually doing some downhill riding meant that a good full face was required. Enter the Leatt MTB 6.0 Gravity Full Face Helmet. It’s got all the bells and whistles, doesn’t weight a lot and isn’t stupid expensive. I never had to test the safety features thankfully, but I soon forgot I was wearing it.
Service
Support your local bike shop folks.
For me, that’s Keith and the team at Country Cycles in Killearn, just north of Glasgow.
Tech
We acquired a DJI Action 4 and pushed Pete out the door to start making more video content. The DJI makes it somewhat easy to record enough chat and riding to then hack together into an edit. Magnetic mounts make it easy to remove it from the mounts, plus the mount cage is easy to get off the camera. Plenty of battery and card capacity too.
Pete’s attack on the World Cup track at Nevis Range was entirely filmed on the DJI Action 4. Check it out below.
Race
Yes, I only did one race in 2024, The Ex. That said, it retains its charm as a low entry, race-only trails, tight-knit affair that just isn’t replicated anywhere else. Multi day enduros are not common in the UK but Mike and his team make it work, with many folk returning for multiple years in a row. I just wish it was closer to Scotland.
Event
Red Bull Hardline Tasmania saw women competing at a Hardline event for the first time, with it also being the first visit to Maydena Bike Park for the competition. Tasmania was thrust into our collective conscience thanks to the Enduro World Series but it’s now known for pushing the boundaries of downhill racing.
It was beyond rad to see the ladies step up, but even more so with Gracey Hemstreet and Louise Ferguson finishing their finals runs.
Outstanding Performance
We’re struggling to pick between our pal Louise Ferguson crushing it at Hardline Tasmania and Women’s Red Bull Rampage. Both were so cool to finally see, especially seeing as it took so long to get women to Hardline. For its era-defining moment though, we’re going to the women going full send at Red Bull Rampage.
Athlete
With a freshly fused C4-C6 vertebrae, it was doubtful as to whether Amaury Pierron would return to downhill, let alone return to the top. The big Frenchman would prove us wrong in dramatic fashion twice. His winning runs in Les Gets and Val di Solelike he was on rails in the filthiest of conditions showed he hadn’t skipped a beat.
