In my head, I’m still 25. Every time I get on the bike, the stress of everyday life fizzles out and I can feel the years drop away. This means I’m still desperate to ride as fast as I possibly can.
This might not be considered a good thing, though, now I’m well into my 40s. My body is certainly trying to tell me that's the case.
Decades of hitting the dirt and breaking myself are starting to catch up with me. That's the reason I’m so obsessive about making my life on the bike as easy as possible. Why not, right?
While all of these things are superb in their own right, together they help make life that bit better and easier-going when I finally get my creaky, wonky body moving.
SRAM Maven brakes
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- £599 / $599 / €699
I’ve always been an advocate of using the most powerful brakes you can get your hands on. The less force you need to squeeze your brake levers with, the better.
Higher-quality, more powerful brakes will leave your hands and arms feeling fresher and give you the confidence to tackle the trail to the best of your abilities.
That’s why I’ve picked SRAM’s Maven brakes as my top stoppers. They’ve been around for close to a year now and seem to be cropping up on more and more bikes, so I’ve ridden them quite a bit. And not just on steep, technical descents on my long-travel enduro bike.
With brands Specialized and Santa Cruz speccing the Mavens on their Stumpjumper 15 and Hightower trail bikes respectively, I’ve been using them on every type of trail going and loving them.
There’s no getting away from how punchy and powerful they are, and they enable you to control your speed with incredible precision and very little effort. What’s not to like about that?
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ION Arcon LT knee pads
- £99.99 / $119.99 / €119.99
When these new ION pads arrived in the office, I didn’t think they’d trump my go-to Rapha Trail pads.
In some ways, they didn’t. I still think the Rapha pads are comfier on longer days on the trail, but the Arcons aren’t a million miles off.
That’s largely down to their silky-smooth sleeve and lack of any bulky, awkward straps that can get in the way when pedalling.
The Arcon pads better the Rapha ones in some areas, though. In terms of coverage, they're a touch longer and wrap your knees more completely, making you feel locked-in and secure.
I’ve pedalled for miles in the Arcons and never once had to readjust them or been left with sores, lumps or bumps from rubbing or chafing.
Annoyingly (or not, depending on how you view this), I’ve also crashed in them – and they managed to ward off any damage and did their job well. For this reason, they’ve stayed at the top of my kit bag and continue to be the knee pads I reach for, no matter what type of riding I’m doing.
Peaty’s Monarch Knurl Grips
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- £24.99
I’m a picky one when it comes to grips – in fact, I am with any contact point on the bike, as it happens. Maybe it’s an age thing because I’m certainly getting more sensitive to these things as the years tick by.
Having used the Peaty's Monarch grips for a year, they’ve established themselves as a firm favourite.
I didn’t realise this until I put in a stint with some other grips for the purposes of testing. While I liked the other grips a lot, it wasn’t until I switched back to the Monarch Knurls that it dawned on me.
As clichéd as it might sound, it was like putting on an old pair of gloves or slippers.
They’ve lived on my long-term Pivot Firebird test bike ever since.
I like the fact there’s a choice of thickness (I’m into the thin 30-32mm ones) and of grip patterns. I prefer the Knurl grips because, although there’s a little less cushioning under your palms, there’s zero vagueness and a better connection to the bike. And that, for me, is critical.
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RockShox Psylo Gold RC fork
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Now, this one isn’t quite in line with the other product choices here, but it's still relevant.
Having tested a lot of bikes over the years, it’s been astounding to see first-hand how far they’ve progressed.
When it comes to technological advancements, most of the focus tends to be on high-end bikes and components. For me, in my early bike-testing years, that meant dealing with some rather rough-riding bikes at the cheaper end of the pricing spectrum.
Brands are now investing in those entry-level bikes, and we’ve seen a serious amount of change in recent years. But some components continued to hold them back, with the suspension forks bolted to the front of the bikes often being the main culprit.
Thankfully, with the likes of SR Suntour, Marzocchi and RockShox, things are improving dramatically.
For me, the RockShox Psylo Gold RC fork is the most impressive ‘budget’ (I’m using this word loosely because it's still £580) fork I’ve tried to date. That means testing cheaper bikes is better and more comfortable than ever.
Its supple action and supportive feel are better than many forks costing twice as much, which is astounding. In my eyes, the Psylo is the unsung hero of 2024 and the more bikes we see this little number on in 2025, the better.
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