Best Bike Over £4500 – Singletrack Reader Awards 2018 Finalists

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The Finalists

  • Mondraker Foxy XR 29
  • Orange Stage 4 Factory
  • Santa Cruz Bronson Carbon C XO1 Reserve

Voting instructions are at the end of this article. Read on to learn more about each finalist.

Imagine for a second that you have unlimited funds, no mortgage, and no bills. It’s dream bike time, but you only have 3 bikes to choose from. Which will it be?

Mondraker Foxy XR 29 

Foxy!

If you want a fast bike, we’re talking supercar fast, then this is the one to buy, hands down. It took Mondraker a good while longer than most brands to get onboard with the idea of a long travel 29er, but the wait has well been worth it. Whereas most brands decide to skim a little travel off 29er versions of bikes Mondraker has added 10mm more front and rear. With 160mm up front and 150mm out back the Foxy 29er sounds like a monster truck on paper, but on the trail this is an agile rally machine, with tons of grip, acceleration and bag loads of confidence.

Orange Stage 4 Factory 

fox 34 step cast float fork stage 4 orange fit 4 wil
A rare wheels on the ground moment!

The Orange Stage 4 is the shortest travel bike to make the finals in this category, but where it lacks in mm it more than makes up for with fast, agile handling, and it’s not afraid of hitting those bigger lines either. Every time we speak to someone who has just ridden a Stage 4 we get the same story. The expectations are a nervous XC ride, the reality is a bike that will hang on the heels of any top enduro machine on the market today, will climb more efficiently and is easier to get airborne. Fast, flat-out fun!

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Santa Cruz Bronson Carbon C XO1 Reserve

Chipps and Rat Boy approved!

When Chipps first rode this latest iteration of the Santa Cruz Bronson he suggested it was so good it might kill the 5010. That was quite a statement but judging by how playful this longer travel bike is he might be on to something. The updated Bronson takes on the design of the Nomad with the shock mounted low down in the frame for a lower centre of gravity for all the jibbing you’ll like be performing, but with 150mm of VPP travel the Bronson will happily get rough when it needs to too. Enduro, downhill, playing in the woods and taking you on an epic slog, it seems the Santa Cruz Bronson does it all.

Those are the details, now which one of these dream bikes gets your vote?

How to vote

The voting page opens at midnight Saturday 15th September. Come back after then to..

Cast your vote by clicking this link


Click here to see all our other categories and finalists

Andi is a gadget guru and mountain biker who has lived and ridden bikes in China and Spain before settling down in the Peak District to become Singletrack's social media expert. He is definitely more big travel fun than XC sufferer but his bike collection does include some rare hardtails - He's a collector and curator as well as a rider. Theory and practice in perfect balance with his inner chi, or something. As well as living life based on what he last read in a fortune cookie Andi likes nothing better than riding big travel bikes.

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OFFER ENDS 31st MARCH