Enduros are a wildly popular race format – and it's totally understandable why. Who wouldn't enjoy a weekend spinning up hills with your mates, before descending as fast as you can against the clock?
Enduro racing can also attract a varied range of bikes. While the top pros racing the EWS might all be on the best enduro bikes – 160mm to 180mm race rigs – at a local race you're far more likely to see bikes representative of what we all ride, all the time.
And, with race organisers offering multiple classifications, there's even more scope for bike choice on the start line.
I recently headed to The Merida Ex Enduro, a three-day event on Exmoor, and took a peek at all the bikes being ridden around the 23-stage, 110km course (with more than 4,000m of climbing).
You can also read my Horse for the Course feature on The Ex, where I rode my Marin El Roy long-term test bike. More on that in moment...
David's Starling Murmur
Steel bikes seem to be all the rage at the moment, especially here in the UK where we have a plethora of builders welding together some beautiful machines.
Local to the southwest is Starling, and its Murmur 29er enduro bike is a simple, single-pivot 140mm frame with classically skinny steel built with Reynolds 853 tubing.
Originally, David wanted a new Orange, having owned one in the nineties, but after reading Steve Jones' infamous review in Dirt Magazine and test riding a Murmur at Innerleithen, he was sold.
Reliability seems to be the name of the game for on this build, with a supple Cane Creek DB Coil IL shock, RockShox Lyrik fork, Hope E4 brakes with the Tech 3 lever, which David bought in 2014 and has barely touched since, and a pair of de-stickered DT Swiss alloy rims built onto Hope hubs.
At the front, the wheel gets a nice and broad XM481 rim (30mm internal rim width), while at the back there's a slightly narrower EX471 (24mm internal rim width).
A set of Time pedals, a front mudguard and a frame-mounted mini-pump complete the build.
Anna's mulleted Cannondale Jekyll
Anna rides for Cannondale Muc-Off, and works for UK distributor Saddleback, so it's no surprise that her bike is, a) a Cannondale, b) very clean, and c) decked out with some fancy Enve kit.
The latest generation Jekyll isn't available in her size in the UK yet, but riding the previous generation bike didn't hold Anna back, taking the win at The Ex.
What separates this Jekyll from others, other than the ENVE bits and bobs, is that Anna's running it as a mullet bike: 29in front wheel and 27.5in rear wheel.
This gives Anna a little more wriggle room over the back of the bike when riding on the steeps, and helps keep things nice and agile through the turns.
As for the spec, Anna's bike runs on Shimano’s flagship XTR groupset, paired with a lightweight SI crank from Cannondale.
The Enve Foundation AM30 rims spin on Industry 9 hubs, while the Enve parts continue with the handlebar and stem.
Paul's Merida eONE-SIXTY
Paul rides for Merida UK, and with an ebike category at The Ex, he was on his Merida eONE-SIXTY.
The bike has a full 160mm of travel at either end and is powered by a Shimano EP8 motor. Paul has gone to Marzocchi for his suspension, with a Z1 Bomber fork and coil Bomber shock delivering as much traction as possible.
WTB provides the hoops, with a deep section carbon wheel at the front and an alloy at the rear. Up front, there's a WTB Vigilante tyre, with plenty of tread, while at the back is a super-sticky Michelin DH 22.
Tom's Marin El Roy
I was hoping to show you a lovely Merino steel hardtail, but I didn't manage to grab photos in time. So instead, here's my bike!
It's a hardtail (there was a hardtail class) and it's pretty representative of where enduro hardtails are at in 2021.
The reach is enormous and the head angle is super-slack, which means the wheelbase is very long (1,282mm to be precise). This helps calm the bike down over rough terrain because it pitches back and forth less.
I've slung on some of my favourite tyres to help keep it stuck to the ground. There's a 2.5in Maxxis Assegai on the front in its tough DoubleDown casing with sticky MaxxGrip rubber, and a similar width Aggressor, again in DoubleDown casing, on the rear.
These are mounted to Zipp's fancy 3ZERO MOTO wheels, which allow the rim to twist around the spokes, thus adding comfort and traction – both of which are key when there's no rear suspension!
The El Roy originally had a Shimano Deore groupset but I've since upgraded to a wireless SRAM eTap AXS drivetrain, with SRAM Code RSC brakes and a RockShox Reverb AXS post – one of the best dropper posts out there.
The Horizon CL pedals come from Nukeproof – I love the big platform.
Brett's Santa Cruz Hightower
You can't go to any event in the UK without seeing a flock of Santa Cruz bikes, so Brett's Hightower had to be included (even if it did mess up my theme of bikes based around the letter 'M'. A Murmur, a mullet, a Merida, a Marin... I hope you noticed!).
While you can find Santa Cruz bikes with longer travel, Brett reckons his Hightower is the perfect UK one-bike-to-do-it-all – good enough on the pedals to get him up hills and across lots of ground, and enough travel at the back (145mm) to get down UK trails at warp speed.
Brett clearly likes to keep things nice and tidy, with the best-wrapped inner tube (a super-light Turbolito) I've ever seen perfectly taped below the shock, a One Up EDC pump neatly holding his tools, HKT frame protection strips and an EVOC bottle almost matching his frame's paint job.
I was also suitably impressed by the firepower of his legs over the weekend's riding. Maybe we've all gone soft, but Brett's gearing was on the tall side for such a lumpy course.
With stock of Shimano parts pretty lacking in the UK right now, a last-minute drivetrain re-fresh meant a 10-45t cassette was all he could find. When paired with a 32t chainring and a whole chunk of climbing throughout the weekend, he bossed it on the climbs.
Brett also likes to ride without gloves, but the RaceFace grips provide plenty of control. Other spec choices include a set of good-value OneUp pedals, Michelin tyres and a tiny Garmin Edge 20 GPS computer. What more do you need?
What do you think of these five bikes? Are our picks representative of enduro racing where you are? And what's your ideal enduro setup? Let us know in the comments below.
