A hard fought category, the Best Bike Under £2500 is where the real workhorses live. Bikes in this category have to be adaptable, tough and good at whatever is thrown at them. There’s great competition in this segment, with a lot of room for the bike-designers’ tastes to show through in spec, graphics and intended use. This year, the nominations are:
Giant Reign 2
Specialized Camber 29 EVO
Trek Slash 7
Giant Reign 2
£2200
‘Shred with confidence’ goes the blurb, and who’s to argue? With the same terrain-swallowing suspension that we loved in the current issue’s bike test, we found the bike to be a flattering steamroller of a machine (if that’s a good metaphor…) Comes with Pikes, a dropper and a whole lot of attitude. What’s not to like?
www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/showcase/reign-27-5/
Specialized Camber 29 EVO
£2000
Coming in a good £500 under our target price, the Camber EVO 29er features a great 120mm travel frame and Fox fork with a lot of rider-based details. The only thing missing is a dropper, but with £500 to spare, there’s enough for a decent one and some matching kit. Our Sim loved the bike when he tested it and we’ve heard good things about it on the trail.
For more about the Camber range, click here: www.specialized.com/gb/gb/bikes/mountain/camber
Trek Slash 7
£2500
The Slash 7 is a 27.5in trail bike, enduro race bike and good times bike in a single box. With top notch spec like a Rockshox Pike and DebonAir shock, a KS dropper and a Bontrager finishing kit, it’s ready to ride-away and have fun out the door. And it comes in the purples!
For more about the Slash range, click here: http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/mountain/enduro/slash/slash_7/