Trail bikes are more capable than ever thanks to these 3 category-defining trends

The ‘trail bike’ category is easily the broadest mountain bike genre out there, comprising of a wide variety of bikes that should be able to handle just about any trail.

While there will always be an element of compromise when it comes to a bike that needs to be pedalled uphill as efficiently as possible, but still handle a thrashing on the downs, Bike of the Year testing showed me that in 2025, the best trail bikes are more capable than ever.

That’s down to a number of things, ranging from their proportions to how much travel they have on tap.

While some trends are more obvious than others, they all help deliver bikes that make fewer compromises and are, ultimately, more fun to ride, no matter what the trail looks like.

It’s not the travel that matters – it’s how you use it

Only a few years ago, separating a trail bike from an enduro bike started to become tricky.

Rear-wheel travel was on the increase for both categories and intentions started to blur somewhat.

While enduro bikes continued creeping up past the 160mm mark, trail bikes topped out at around 150mm.

For a while, 140-150mm of travel was pretty much all you’d see when it came to proper do-it-all trail bikes that enabled you to ride just about anything.

This year, things feel different. Just look at Bike of the Year. The winning bike (the Atherton A.130) has only 130mm of travel, as does the Forbidden Druid. Then there’s the Pivot Trailcat LT with 135mm, the Yeti SB140 LR with 140mm and the Specialized Stumpjumper 15 with 145mm.

And don’t forget the recently launched Propain Hugene, which has had its travel reduced to 130mm.

These examples all prove that it’s less about how much travel there is to play with and more about how that travel is managed and controlled.

Less travel doesn’t have to strictly limit the trails you can ride, either – especially if a brand can deliver it in a way that ensures the bike can handle even the biggest hits (I’m looking at you, Forbidden Druid).

While limiting how much your rear wheel can move may dampen aspirations of taking your trail bike to thrash your way down an Alpine downhill track, it boosts things such as efficiency, playfulness and agility in some cases.

That means on duller, mellower trails where bigger-travel bikes can be a real drag, this fresh crop of shorter-travel rigs feel amazing, lively and – most importantly – loads of fun to ride.

The burlier, the better

Next up, are the parts being bolted to these frames.

Mountain bikers were, for many years, fixated on weight. Even downhillers. But the times, they are a-changing.

Ask a rider if they’d rather haul an extra few hundred grams up a hill or spend a ride dealing with punctures and I bet I can guess their answer.

Tyre specs are now better considered, with manufacturers opting to put (in many but not all cases) a tyre with a tougher casing at the rear.

That’s largely because these bikes are so capable now, they’re able to ride demanding trails or tracks in the bike park, where the lightest, flimsiest tyres will be destroyed.

Take the Forbidden Druid 3 and Canyon’s Spectal AL 6. Both brands spec the lighter Maxxis EXO casing up front, with the tougher and heavier EXO+ at the rear.

This’ll add weight, but some brands will go further, using a stickier, grippier-compound tyre at the front, increasing the rolling resistance slightly, just as Santa Cruz does on the Hightower, using a 3C MaxxGrip tyre from Maxxis.  

As ever, it’s a fine line between adding durability and boosting capability, and going too far and making a bike too bulky and cumbersome so it starts to feel dull to ride on anything other than steep trails.

It’s not just tyres, though. Brakes are another key area where we’re seeing changes.

When I went on the Stumpjumper 15 launch back in 2024, I was surprised to see Specialized speccing SRAM’s Maven brakes. The same brakes touted as the ultimate enduro and downhill stoppers were now on a relatively short-travel trail bike.

This trend has continued, with the likes of the Pivot Trailcat LT, Santa Cruz Hightower and Forbidden Druid also sporting them.

To some, this may seem a little like overkill, but on a do-it-all machine, having powerful brakes is no bad thing. Hear me out…

Better brakes make riding safer. These ultra-capable trail machines feel so confident on the trail, it’s easy to get carried away and up the pace prematurely. Should things start to go wrong, having some punchy stoppers will help you scrub speed quickly and avoid danger.

Alongside that, descending a massive descent, where you’re on the brakes more than you’re not, is tiring. Reducing hand and arm fatigue will help you retain control for longer and feel fresher for the trails ahead.

Like the tyres, we’re talking extra weight here, but better brakes will boost what and where a trail bike can ride. That’s certainly what the brands seem to think.

Perfect proportions

Trail bike geometry has been progressing over the years, and as a result, we’re seeing bikes with slacker head angles, steeper seat tube angles and longer reaches as a result.

That is, of course, a common trend across all mountain bikes over the last decade or so. What’s interesting with trail bikes, though, is that the figures here are now almost mirroring those of enduro bikes – in some cases at least.

Cast an eye over any of the geometry charts from the Trail Bike of the Year contenders in 2025 and you’ll see head angles hovering around the 64-degree mark. This sort of figure was reserved for enduro bikes up until a couple of years back, now it’s starting to become the norm.

Reach figures are also being stretched. Canyon’s Spectral AL is a prime example of this. The size-medium bike has a reach of 475mm. That’s a number you’re unlikely to see on a lot of size-large bikes from only a couple of years ago.

And, of course, we can’t comment on geometry without mentioning seat tube angles, which are getting steeper and steeper, all in a bid to produce a comfortable, efficient seated position.

I measured the A.130’s seat tube angle at just over 78 degrees. That would have been scoffed at five years ago. Now, it’s what riders expect to see.

There are also taller stack heights and longer chainstays creeping in, both of which help to promote a more confident, commanding stance on the bike.

Many brands are also implementing proportionally sized chainstays, meaning they grow as the frame size increases, in a bid to keep every rider, no matter how tall or short, as well-centred between the wheels as possible.

The reason brands are doing this is quite simple; better geometry delivers a safer, more stable ride – and if done well, it doesn’t impact on agility or manoeuvrability on the trail.

Ultra-capable geometry can also help you ride around the fact that some trail bikes will have less travel. I know I’ve just droned on about how good shorter-travel bikes are, but they have their limits.

Thanks to their stretched-out proportions, the current crop of bikes still feel stable and relatively composed at higher speeds, compared to bikes with the same amount of travel, but much steeper angles and shorter wheelbases.

Where next?

Over the next couple of years, I’m hoping we’ll see a rise in the popularity of shorter-travel trail bikes fitted out with components that’ll more than handle everything from a long day in the hills to an Alpine descent, as well as a few laps of the bike park.

The current crop show us just how capable bikes built like this can be and, more importantly, that you don’t always need enduro travel numbers for the riding most of us consider to be mountain biking.

While bigger-travel rigs are great for proper downhills or the annual pilgrimage to the mountains, the rest of the time they’re probably overkill.

So, if you are in the market for a new MTB and generally err towards bigger-travel bikes as standard, make sure you take a look at the bikes included in Bike of the Year. These shorter-travel rippers are proof that trail bikes really are more capable than ever.