Best trail and enduro mountain bikes - Eurobike 2014

Best trail and enduro mountain bikes - Eurobike 2014

New bikes from Yeti, Transition, Rocky Mountain and more

Josh Patterson / Immediate Media

Published: September 5, 2014 at 11:00 pm

The buzzword “enduro” pervaded the Eurobike tradeshow. While the term may be overplayed, the discipline does give direction to the “all mountain” category that has been so hard for riders to define.

As these bikes become slacker and more specific to the discipline, shorter-travel trail bikes are following suit, becoming even more capable at conquering a wide range of terrain. Here’s a look at some of the highlights of this year’s tradeshow.

Yeti SB6c unveiled

Yeti used eurobike as the official unveiling of the new sb6c: yeti used eurobike as the official unveiling of the new sb6c - Josh Patterson / Immediate Media

The worst kept secret of 2015, the Yeti SB6c, is officially out in the open

Yeti Cycles chose Eurobike to officially pull the covers off its new enduro race bike, the SB6c. The company didn’t bother to keep its development much of a secret, preferring to let riders get a look at the new model while it was being ridden to multiple wins — and the series championship — at this year’s Enduro World Series by Jared Graves.

The SB6c features 157mm of rear wheel travel via the company’s Switch Infinity suspension system, which first introduced in conjunction with the shorter-travel SB5c several months ago. It will be offered in five sizes and will be available this October, with builds starting at a staggering US$7,399. (UK and AUS pricing TBA.)

Transitions from Transition

The patrol is transition's new enduro race bike, developed with input from team racer lars sternberg: the patrol is transition's new enduro race bike, developed with input from team racer lars sternberg - Josh Patterson / Immediate Media

Transition is introducing new and a new (for the company) suspension design

Transition Bicycle Company has made a host of changes for the 2015 model year, the most significant of which is transitioning to a new suspension platform. The Horst-Link replaces the company’s linkage-driven single-pivot system on many of its 2015 models, including the new Patrol.

Developed in conjunction with Transition employee and team racer Lars Sternberg, the Patrol features 155mm of suspension travel in a slack, race-ready aluminum frame.

(Transition also has a tricked-out kids full suspension bike called the Ripcord. Click here to read more.)

Liteville pushes “Scaled Sizing”

Liteville has an interesting take on size-specific wheelsizes. the company increases or decreases front and rear wheelsizes relative to the frame size, going as small as a 24in rear wheel matched with a 26in front wheel on its extra small trail bikes: liteville has an interesting take on size-specific wheelsizes. the company increases or decreases front and rear wheelsizes relative to the frame size, going as small as a 24in rear wheel matched with a 26in front wheel on its extra small trail bikes - Josh Patterson / Immediate Media

Liteville uses 24in to 29in wheels across its range

Many companies are taking a proportional approach to wheelsize on their mountain bikes, using 27.5in wheels on smaller sizes and 29in wheels on larger frames. German manufacturer Liteville is taking things to the extreme.

The company’s Scaled Sizing starts with a 26in front and 24in rear wheel on extra small sizes, 26in front and rear wheels on small frames, 27.5in front and 26in rear wheels on medium and large models, and 29in front and 27.5in rear wheels on extra larger bikes.

Click through the gallery for even more new trail and enduro bikes from Eurobike 2014.