You know we love to review mountain bikes, and we’ve been doing a lot of test riding lately. Here are five 27.5 mountain bikes that you may want to take for a test spin before making your next new mountain bike purchase.
Yeti shook up the mountain biking world with the announcement of Switch Infinity suspension, a double-barreled Kashima-coated revamp of the wildly popular Switch suspension found on bikes like the venerable SB66 and SB95. Unless you are in the market for the absolute lightest cross-country bike, or want a mostly-dedicated gravity bike, the Yeti SB5c is designed for almost everyone in between.
The GT Force Carbon Pro is an enduro force to be reckoned with as it blasts down absurdly technical descents with nary a thought for the terrain it travels over. While it may sacrifice a bit on the climbs in exchange for descending prowess, that’s intentional. The Force is unabashedly all about descending, and it is unnervingly good at it.
The Scott Genius LT 710 is hands-down one of the best mountain bikes we’ve ever ridden, with fantastic on-the-fly adjustability, extremely light weight for an all-mount rig, spot-on geometry, and superb overall performance. It retails for about $5,700 for the 710, with some more affordable models available, and the top-end model topping out at $7,700.
The 2015 Trek Slash Carbon was just announced, and it’s already turning heads! This rig hates going slow, especially over technical terrain. It comes alive the faster you go. It is a low, slack, gunslinger aiming straight for the podium. If you are looking for a light, stiff bike to race Enduro or go bigger than your friends on your local trails, the Slash C is a bike worth trying.
The Foundry Tomahawk is a thrill to ride, and what it lacks in component choices it makes up for in performance and handling. For serious racers under 5’7″ or so, this will be a formidable race day tool that can also handle day-to-day trail and training rides. The light weight takes a lot less energy to pedal and the carbon frame is comfortable and forgiving.
8 Comments
Oct 29, 2020
Canyon Spectral, Ibis Mojo HD5, Transition Scout, Transition Patrol, Revel Rail, Yeti SB140, Santa Cruz Bronson
Honorable Unique Mentions would be:
Canyon Torque, Yeti SB165, Kona Process, Diamondback Release 5.
Sorry, I'm just a geek.
Sep 2, 2014
My son just got an Intense Tracer 275 -- very impressive bike, somewhat similar to the Santa Cruz Bronson. The demo day put this one at the top of his list.
Sep 5, 2014
Sep 4, 2014
Sep 8, 2017
Sep 2, 2014
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/bikes/model/anthem.advanced.27.5.0.team/18752/76184/#overview
Sep 2, 2014
Sep 1, 2014