Reviews

The Cyclone (picture to follow)

The Cyclone is one up from bottom in Ridgeback's urban mountain bike range. Like its stablemates it has a gusset-reinforced rigid aluminium frame, with a low bottom bracket so you can get a foot down easier at the lights. There are frame fitments for anything you want to add: a rear rack, guards, even discs.

Gearing is 24-speed not 21, so you get a sturdier freehub rather than an old-fashioned threaded hub with the bearings way in-board of the drop out. The 48/38/28 chainset ramps up the gearing for commuting but the range is wide enough to go off-road too - watch for pedal clouts - or to lug loads on road.

Continental slick tyres let you keep up with the traffic around town and cope well with potholes, but you won't be winning races with roadies. The quick releases on the wheels are a risk: bind to the frame with a plumber's hose clamp to prevent theft.

Mongoose Khyber Super (picture to follow)

Mongoose rocked up at the Mega Avalanche in Alpe D'Huez in July to launch the Khyber for one good reason. While enduro DH events are still in their infancy outside France, Mongoose see them as a potential 'next big thing', and bikes that can haul uphill before hammering pro level downhill are a lot of fun, as the new Khyber proves.

The new frame is somewhere between the Teocali trail bike and the Black Diamond freeride bike. Oversized hydroformed tubes kink for plenty of standover, while the multiple pivots of the Freedrive system sit in a tight knot underneath. Length is the now classic 'not quite XC' stretch that makes it easy to throw your weight around.