Racing is the breeding ground of mountain bike development. This was already the case in the early years at the Repack race on Mount Tamalpais and runs like a red thread through 44 years of mountain bike history. While the bikers of the early days modified bikes with balloon tyres and back-pedal brakes for wild rides through the terrain themselves, nowadays the racers in the Cross-Country World Cup test the latest prototypes. Single drivetrains, 29-inch wheels or ever wider rims and tyres - all development trends that first found their way into racing. And although the trend in professional sport is clearly moving towards full-suspension bikes, an exciting observation was made at the World Championships in Leogang: Four of the top ten in the men's race took to the hardtail on the climbing-heavy, muddy World Championship course. These included silver medallist Mathias Flückiger and eight-time world champion Nino Schurter. In the
It was even clearer in the women's category, where gold, silver and bronze all went to riders on bikes with a fixed rear. What's more, twelve of these 13 bikes were also equipped with a dropper post to allow the saddle to be lowered in technical passages. This shows how important light, fast race hardtails still are, even in the professional sector. The largest German direct-to-consumer bike brands Canyon and Radon share this view and have revised their carbon hardtails for 2021. In a direct duel, we want to find out who offers the better package for 4000 to 4500 euros.
You can download the complete test duel between the Caynon Exceed CF SLX 9 and Radon Jealous 10.0 from BIKE 12/2020 as a PDF below the article. The objective concept comparison including the test reports of the bikes costs € 1.49.
Why not free of charge? Because quality journalism has a price. In return, we guarantee independence and objectivity. This applies in particular to the tests in BIKE. We don't pay for them, but the opposite is the case: we charge for them, namely tens of thousands of euros every year.
