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‘Marathon’ bikes – full-suspension machines designed for day-long epics – are big over on the European mainland. That’s probably why German company Ghost offer nine different versions of their 100mm-travel RT platform. The Actinum 5900 sits in the middle of the three-bike aluminium range.

There’s lots to like about this bike, which combines a Shimano Deore XT transmission with a pair of Fox shocks�– not least the fact that the rear suspension works well without relying on a constipated shock for pedalling efficiency. If you like your trails technical, though, you’ll find yourself cursing the low bottom bracket.

Ride & handling:�Reasonable alternative to the norm for those who�ride less-technical trails

Despite claims that the RT’s pivots are positioned in some clever way to prevent pedal input from ruining the ride, we can’t see anything in particular that sets the Ghost’s four-bar system apart from similar supension setups. The proof is in the riding, though.�

The rear end is certainly active over small bumps, sucking up tricky technical climbs with an alacrity that means you can just sit there and pedal. With no heavy compression damping to hinder its performance, the shock just gets on with it.

It’s a similar story on the way back down the trail, helped by spot-on weight distribution and a ride position that feels perfectly balanced. If this were the end of the story we could award the RT Actinum 5900 a gold star and all go home, but sadly there’s a fly in the ointment.�

A low bottom bracket means it’s all too easy to clout the pedals on trail obstacles, particularly if the shock is set up with a decent amount of sag. Less sag helps, but higher shock pressures rob the bike of some of its small bump response. It’s the very definition of a rock and a hard place – and that’s a shame.

Frame & equipment:�There’s nothing not to like about XT, and the suspension is supple and active

Hydroformed top and down tubes form the bike’s backbone and, unusually for an aluminium chassis, there’s barely a straight line to be seen.�Like many new bikes, Ghost have equipped the RT Actinum 5900 with a tapered head tube. By increasing the diameter of the lower headset race, the front of the frame is stiffened and strengthened. Reducing the tendency of the head tube to twist also increases bearing life. It’s a win/win situation.

The vertically-mounted Fox shock is driven via a curvy linkage and needle bearing pivots to improve small bump response, while full-length cables run neatly down the underside of the down tube.�The whole lot is adorned with acronyms aplenty and torque settings for each pivot bolt.

Ghost’s designers give each frame size its own chainstay length, claiming that this results in a better balanced feel. Mud clearance at the rear is tight, though. In fact, it’s among the worst we’ve seen on a 26in-wheeled full-susser,�at least with the 2.25in tyres that it wears as stock. And narrower tyres would make the low bottom bracket even lower.�

It’s unusual to see a plain vanilla Fox Float RL shock holding up the rear of a full-susser. Ghost are clearly confident that careful pivot placement – they call it ‘anti-squat technology’ – doesn’t need a helping hand. The shock is matched to a Fox 32F fork with remote lockout. If you’re a dedicated racer, tend to ride the climbs out of the saddle and worry about fork bob, this is worth having. For the rest of us, it’s arguably overkill.

As for the rest of the kit, Shimano’s Deore XT transmission is still the benchmark by which everything else is judged, while Deore hydraulic discs are up there with the best in terms of performance.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine.

At £750 each, these carbon fibre rims don’t come cheap. The wheels shown here, built on Chris King hubs, come in at £2,000 a set. Compare the specs and performance characteristics against a pair of Stan’s alloy wheels and you’ll be left scratching your head wondering why anyone would spend four or five times as much money.

Our�32-hole Twenty9 XC clincher rims, set up with an ENVE rim strip to be tubeless, weigh 1,534g�– merely ballpark in weight terms. We rate them because of something less tangible: they feel nice off-road. That’s a lot of cash for a word as woolly as nice. However, for nice you could also use fast, forgiving, comfortable, springy, soft and precise.

Soft and precise? While those words don’t sound like natural bedfellows, the ENVE rims transmit vibration and bumps in a different way to alloy ones. You feel everything as a rounder, less harsh ride, like running softer tyres – so yes, soft – only without the low-pressure mushy handling. Precise because the bare rims are very stiff, and as a result of the way they are designed can be built extremely tightly without damage to the rim.�

Both factors make a wheel which demonstrates less deflection in turns, resulting in them going nearer to your ideal line than with less stiff-feeling alloy wheels of similar weight and specs. Even rim fragility isn’t an issue, as our numerous off trail escapades and the Santa Cruz Syndicate downhill team’s use of the 26in all-mountain version has proven. That said, any wheel is breakable.

If you’re a rider with a sorted £4-5k bike plugging serious mileage where the bike is set up as much for precision as it is for long-range comfort then a plan to save for these ENVE rims at £750 each doesn’t work out to be all that extreme. (There are also 26in versions for £100 less.)

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine.

At £750 each, these carbon fibre rims don’t come cheap. The wheels shown here, built on Chris King hubs, come in at £2,000 a set. Compare the specs and performance characteristics against a pair of Stan’s alloy wheels and you’ll be left scratching your head wondering why anyone would spend four or five times as much money.

Our�32-hole Twenty9 XC clincher rims, set up with an ENVE rim strip to be tubeless, weigh 1,534g�– merely ballpark in weight terms. We rate them because of something less tangible: they feel nice off-road. That’s a lot of cash for a word as woolly as nice. However, for nice you could also use fast, forgiving, comfortable, springy, soft and precise.

Soft and precise? While those words don’t sound like natural bedfellows, the ENVE rims transmit vibration and bumps in a different way to alloy ones. You feel everything as a rounder, less harsh ride, like running softer tyres – so yes, soft – only without the low-pressure mushy handling. Precise because the bare rims are very stiff, and as a result of the way they are designed can be built extremely tightly without damage to the rim.�

Both factors make a wheel which demonstrates less deflection in turns, resulting in them going nearer to your ideal line than with less stiff-feeling alloy wheels of similar weight and specs. Even rim fragility isn’t an issue, as our numerous off trail escapades and the Santa Cruz Syndicate downhill team’s use of the 26in all-mountain version has proven. That said, any wheel is breakable.

If you’re a rider with a sorted £4-5k bike plugging serious mileage where the bike is set up as much for precision as it is for long-range comfort then a plan to save for these ENVE rims at £750 each doesn’t work out to be all that extreme. (There are also 26in versions for £100 less.)

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine.

The Links shoe from Teva has a sticky Spider 365 rubber sole. It doesn’t offer the solid, immovable feel that market leaders Five Ten have become renowned for, but something with a little more ‘float’ on the pedal.�

This isn’t a bad thing though, and there’s still plenty of grip, but the Links allow you to adjust your feet a little more easily, making them a good choice for less race-orientated flat pedal users. The feel of the shoes is more like that of a well-supported running shoe and ridiculously comfortable.

On narrower pedals, we did find that the raised arch of the insole initially caused our feet to ache when we were riding rougher terrain, although we soon got used to it, and we didn’t experience the same issues on pedals with bigger platforms. The Ion Mask technology does a good job of keeping your feet dry which is great for riding in wet climates.

This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine.

Arguably the most significant feature of Trek’s Superfly 100 AL Elite is tucked away behind the seat tube. It’s a Gary Fisher signature decal, signifying that this bike is, in genesis at least, the inspiration of one of mountain biking’s founding fathers – and the inventor of the 29er concept.�

The AL Elite props up the bottom of the five-strong, 29in-wheeled Superfly 100 range, offering a trail-worthy spec at a price that just creeps over the magic £2k barrier.�Great handling, sorted suspension performance, decent components and epic mud clearance make for big-wheeled trail fun. The Trek looks a tiny bit pricey compared to some of the competition, though.

Ride & handling:�Fast rolling, great handling trail machine that’ll tackle anything you can throw at it

Big wheels only really look in proportion when they’re connected to a big frame. So our 17.5in test bike, in common with most 29ers around this size, has that slightly disconcerting effect of looking… well, not quite right at first glance. It’s only because we’re all used to smaller wheels, and we only mention it because that ‘not quite right’ feeling disappears the moment you climb aboard the Trek and turn the pedals.

From just-so weight distribution to a wheelbase that’s pretty much the identical twin of 26in-wheeled competitors and a front wheel that goes where you want it to, the Superfly 100 will have uninitiated riders forgetting about the big wheels within the first few minutes. Which is, when you think about it, about the biggest compliment we can pay it. Get on, ride, and enjoy the easy-rolling nature of 29er wheels.

Fox shocks with a high compression damping tune can make a bike feel constipated over small bumps. Not here. The big wheels certainly help, but the Superfly’s suspension remains supple and controlled on everything from technical climbs to flat-out descents. If we were to split hairs, we’d suggest that the front end is a tiny bit slower to respond in fast-changing situations, but that’s the laws of physics for you – more rotating mass, further from the centre of the wheel. There’s nothing anyone – not even Gary Fisher himself – can do about that.

Big wheels with 100mm of travel translate into fast, efficient and comfortable mile-munching. We’ve known that for a while, but what the Superfly 100 does so well is to iron out all the little niggles that have beset earlier attempts at big wheeled full-suspension nirvana. The geometry works, the handling is excellent, the weight is reasonable in an unexceptional kind of a way and there’s even decent mud clearance. Is it the best 29er full-susser available? No. But it’s well worth putting on your shortlist.

Frame & equipment:�We wish the frame finish was a bit neater, particularly around the welded areas

Cramming big wheels into a bike offering 100mm of travel at each end isn’t straightforward. There’s less space for most components, a greater need to pay attention to geometry and a number of stiffness-related issues to deal with. Trek’s design team have been sweating the details, resulting in a frame that’s bristling with mostly subtle design solutions.

Fitting the frame tubes into the available space is arguably one of their less successful achievements, the conjoined top and down tubes necessitating large – and, it has to be said, not particularly tidy – welds. Never mind that, though, because all the functional stuff has been taken care of.

Trek’s Active Braking Point (ABP) pivot – which places the chainstay pivot around the hub’s rear axle – is here in versatile ‘Convert’ form, meaning that the standard 135×5mm rear axle can be switched to a stiffer, lighter 142×12mm design at a later date. A Bontrager-designed hub with widened, bigger diameter flanges and larger dropout contact area performs the same job up front.

The Superfly 100’s fork uses a crown with increased offset, which reduces trail�(the distance between the front tyre’s contact point on the ground and the point where a straight line through the centre of the head tube also meets the ground)�and sharpens steering responses, countering�the 29er tendency to be slow-handling in the turns. Carefully shaped stays wrap cleverly around the rear tyre, giving this bike the best mud clearance we’ve yet seen on a big wheeled machine.�

In common with many full-suspension designs the Superfly 100 struggles to accommodate a pair of standard bottle cage bosses. There’s one set in the usual place on top of the down tube but the second set has been shunted into a position right in line with the spray off the front wheel, under the down tube. You could put a bottle there, but you probably wouldn’t want to.

A Fox Float RP2 shock matches the fork nicely and clip-on sag indicators make the job of getting the right air pressure front and rear straightforward. Predominantly Shimano SLX-based components work well and should prove reliable and Bontrager finishing kit is all top-notch, although we’d swap the tyres for something with more grip if you ride a lot in wet conditions.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine.

With well over 100 years of experience making top-end bicycle saddles, Italian saddle legends Selle Italia know their onions when it comes to comfortably seating cyclists. They reckon the SLR SuperFlow 145 is their most comfortable perch to date.

It’s the company’s first high performance saddle in a width wider than 131mm (not withstanding their ill-fated Yutaak project). At 145mm wide, it follows a trend led by Specialized, whose Body Geometry saddles are available in 130, 143 and 155mm widths to best match the various ‘sit bone’ widths of the people who buy their bikes.

Extra saddle width really works and anyone who isn’t built in the pro-level racing snake mould could well benefit from the added support. We’ve ridden Selle Italia seats for more than 20 years but in the past 10 or so moved away as we’ve tried and liked wider saddles. We currently favour the 143mm widths of the ‘middle’ Specialized trio, so this new Selle Italia saddle suits us widthwise.�

It supports your weight well, spreading the pressure and easing us into longer rides than we could do on any of Selle Italia’s current 131mm-wide models. Then there’s its new, wider, SuperFlow slot. The slotting of saddle hulls isn’t new, but it can help to make riding a less painful and numbing experience by removing the saddle from the central seating zone.�

The width is 40mm where standard SLR Flow slots are 25mm. While we welcome any extra effort to cosset our whatnots the difference in feel/comfort isn’t huge. In fact, we have several non-slotted but more padded saddles that are just as comfortable in that sensitive zone. So the extra hull width works, the extra slot width is debatable.�

The overall shape of the saddle is flat across the top following the Selle Italia house style and will suit most, though we’d love a bit more swoop (and flexibility) in the hull for those with a less flexible position, and maybe even a dash more padding. As it stands the SLR SuperFlow 145 is a step in the right direction in making Selle Italia saddles more comfortable for more riders for more of the time. It’s worth a try.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine.

Charge’s Griddle is a slim fitting, 130mm long, dual density, 89g rubber grip, with a single 3mm Allen alloy locking ring – nothing that unusual, except for the feel. This is both easy on the hands and high traction at the same time.

Thank the raised edges of the little holes in the outer surface for adding a noslip feel even with bare hands. The soft outer Kraton rubber responds to hand warmth and wear, becoming tacky and more tactile the more it is used. Choose from black with red or blue under colour, white with black or grey with black.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine.

Specialized came relatively late to the big-wheeled party but no-one could accuse the California-based company of not making up for lost time. They now make 26in- and 29in-wheeled versions of most of their key models. Tested here is the�entry-level Camber 29, which comes in under the magic £2k mark with a decent-looking spec list.�

The Camber has impressed us in the past, in both 26in and 29in versions, and it continues to do so here. The Camber 29 is a bit heavy next to the competition but the superb handling and wallet-friendly price make up for that. For an affordable entry into big-wheeled full-suspension it’s hard to beat. It’s won over some hardened sceptics, so if you’re unsure, book a test ride.�

Ride & handling:�Thoroughly�sorted 29er handling in�a great value and easy-to-live-with package

Our earliest experience of a big-wheeled Camber was a ride on a pre-production carbon version. We came away impressed with its versatility in a whole variety of trail conditions. It combines the kind of race-bred athleticism that’s capable of demolishing tough climbs with a sure-footed nimbleness on descents that’s normally the preserve of quicker-handling 26in-wheeled bikes.

The good news is that the entry-level model preserves almost all of the carbon version’s winning attributes. Of all the 29ers we’ve ridden, the Camber is one of relatively few that comes close to mimicking a 26in bike in terms of both high- and low-speed handling, with a front end that all but eliminates any sense of big wheel inertia. Pedal, point, go.�

This sure-footed nimbleness makes it instantly likeable, while the big wheels’ ability to roll up and over the kind of stutter bumps that’ll halt a smaller wheeled bike in its tracks helps to compensate for the bike’s slightly oversize waistline. In fact, although we grumbled inwardly every time we had to manhandle the Camber 29 (on and off a bike rack, or over a gate), when it came to pedal power it never seemed to be an issue.

�It lacks the sprightly skip of lighter (and more expensive) competitors but for long-haul epics that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It wouldn’t be our first choice for a potential podium finish but for all-round trail duties with fun along the way, its combination of value and performance is hard to argue against.

Frame & equipment: Budget-squeezing�component choices�have pushed weight up

While the�26in-wheeled Cambers�have 120mm of travel, the 29ers have 110mm… except this one, which has 100mm. It’s down to the fact that this base model uses the M4 aluminium frame of the original 2010 Camber 29 instead of the updated M5 frame used on the pricier Camber Comp 29. It wasn’t possible to adapt the older frame to accommodate more bounce, and it also has standard 135mm dropouts instead of the 142mm+ dropouts used throughout the rest of the 2012 range.

Specialized put great effort into reconciling the engineering and aesthetic components of their frame designs, so that the result both looks right and performs well.�The Camber 29’s smooth, flowing lines and inline shock, seatstays and top tube are no coincidence. The curved down tube helps distribute stress away from the head tube area without the need for a gusset, while the inline stuff is all about improving small bump response and reducing frame weight by making each tube as short as possible.

There’s no doubt that Specialized’s designers have performed a minor miracle shoehorning all the important stuff into a big-wheeled bike and making it ride so well. But you can tell they live and ride in southern California. The Camber 29’s mud clearance at both ends is on the tight side of minimal and, although we had no issues, it’d be a concern for regular use in muddy conditions. All-up weight is another point of contention. The Camber is on the wrong side of 30lb and although it has a price advantage over some of its competition, it could certainly do with losing a few grams.

Bump munching duties are taken care of by a pair of RockShox air springs – an Ario shock at the rear and a Recon Gold fork up front. They’re well matched, although the Ario’s lack of adjustable compression damping might have some riders reaching for the lockout lever on long, smooth climbs. Specialized’s in-house kit takes care of most of the ancillary components, including a saddle that should prove comfortable for long days out.

Fitting a bigger profile tyre on the front isn’t a new idea – Kona did it a lot in the ‘90s. We don’t see it so often now, though, so the Camber 29’s big volume Purgatory front tyre is a novelty. It works well, giving the front of the bike extra bite in the corners and helping the big wheel reduce the fork’s workload in the rough stuff.

The only obvious area of cost-cutting in the Camber 29’s spec is in the transmission, with a downgrade to nine-speed. Although many riders will expect 10-speed at this price, in functional terms there’s nothing to choose between them. A Deore XT rear mech adds showroom appeal and the Shadow design helps keep it out the way of rocks.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine.

A lot of women don’t like bib tights for reasons of practicality. The tailored eight-panel fit of the Witches Britches and blend of Lycra and 15 percent merino wool keep you cosy, the high-cut back prevents builder’s bum if stretched forward and the elastic waistband is comfy.

Seams are flat-stitched, the cut is to mid shin, the Softail pad is comfortable and anti-bacterial, and the anatomical shaping makes for a far better on-bike fit than many general-use tights. These are tough, quick-drying, very reasonably priced and made in New Zealand.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine.

A size large Rapha bib is like a medium in other brands. Worn on their own these very snuggly ones made from ThermoRoubaix fabric are superbly comfy on long steady, rides. For mountain bike use, they’re probably overkill to wear under baggies on shorter blasts.�

The material is tough and a high back panel works well with meshed straps to keep you toasty without sweat build-up. There’s a key pocket in the lower back and the Cytech pad is one of the most comfortable we’ve tried. Flatlocked stitching is used throughout and there’s a Rapha logo’d white stripe below the knee.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine.