OUR RATINGS
We base our scores on value for money and performance
EXCEPTIONAL
A genuine class leader
VERY GOOD
One of the best you can buy
GOOD
It’ll do the job and do it well
BELOW AVERAGE
Flawed in some way
POOR
Simply put, don’t bother!
Greetings!
As bike and component shortages continue to make headlines, pulling this mega-test together hasn’t been easy. But we’ve done more than just that – we’ve added a new category into the mix, too. Along with the usual trail and enduro bikes, we’ve included an e-MTB of the Year test for the first time.
Why? Well, if you’ve been to the trails lately, you’ll have no doubt noticed just how popular they are. With sales of off-road e-bikes continuing to pick up pace, we felt it important to cover them for 2022.
Bike costs are creeping up – some of them even increasing while we were out putting the miles in – so we’ve had to adjust and widen our price brackets in order to include some of the most promising-looking models.
E-bikes make even the climbs fun; or at least that’s the theory, which Alex put to the test 
To keep things manageable for the testers, we’ve limited each category in this guide to eight bikes, but have ridden plenty more besides, to give us a solid overview of the market. We think the machines included here give a good idea of what’s currently on offer, so our tests should help to make your buying decisions that bit easier.
This year, the trail bike category spans a price range of £3,299 to £3,999.99 and includes eight do-it-all shredders with between 120 and 140mm of rear-wheel travel. To take the top spot, we were looking for a bike that wouldn’t make you balk at the idea of an all-day epic, but equally, wouldn’t leave you feeling like Bambi on ice when the terrain becomes more demanding.
As for the enduro bikes, well, there are some absolute corkers in the mix. While the price bracket started out a little lower and narrower, availability issues and price increases have pushed it up, to £3,475 to £5,250. Rear-wheel travel ranges from 150mm all the way up to 180mm, and along with some 29ers, nearly half the bikes on test this year have mixed wheel sizes. Not only that, but a number come equipped with coil shocks, too. The question is, which is the easiest to ride downhill fast, while still being pleasant to pedal back to the top?
Finally, there’s our new e-MTB category. Adding a motor and battery to a bike is always going to increase its cost, so our price range spans from £5,999 to £7,699 (but would’ve been lower, had there not been mid-test price rises). We’ve focused on full-power, trail-cum-enduro e-bikes that look to offer excellent performance for the cash. Travel starts at a respectable 150mm and rises to a monstrous 180mm. We’ve looked at how well they descend, climb and endure long days on the hill.
As always, we’ve done our best to put these bikes through the wringer. It’s taken countless hours of fettling, riding, measuring, re-riding, fettling some more and then riding again to reach the point where we could pick apart the details and see just how each bike measures up against the next. As was the case last year, 2022’s picks were very closely matched when it came to performance, making testing that bit harder. Riding each bike back-to-back with the others helped to show where some were good while others were great, although it must be said that, this year, the margins are tighter than ever.
It’s time to kick back, grab a coffee and get reading, so you can find out what our top trail, enduro and e-MTBs are for 2022!
WE WERE LOOKING FOR A BIKE THAT WOULDN’T BALK AT AN ALL-DAY EPIC, NOR LEAVE YOU FEELING LIKE BAMBI ON ICE WHEN THE TERRAIN BECOMES DEMANDING
OUR THREE CATEGORIES
TRAIL
A trail bike should be a great all-rounder – a capable descender but also nimble on flatter trails, good on the climbs and not too much of a drag on longer rides.
Keen on Lycra-clad XC laps as well as rooty off-piste, Tom is well-placed to rate these all-rounders.
ENDURO
With more suspension travel and burlier parts than trail bikes, enduro rigs are built to be hurled down the roughest downhills but still be pedalled back to the top.
Rob has years of racing experience and product testing under his belt, so knows what makes a good enduro rig
E-BIKES
Electric bikes supplement your pedalling power with up to 250W of motor assistance, to make climbs fun, help you travel further or get you back on the bike after injury.
A hard rider with a habit of breaking bikes, motorised or not, Alex pulls no punches with his testing
THANK YOU!
A massive thanks to the guys at BikePark Wales for granting us access to the park to help us get this lot tested – it was greatly appreciated! Cheers to MET helmets, Bluegrass and Madison/ Pearl Izumi, too, for sorting the kit for the photo and video shoots.
