11 bestsellers 2023 in the test: Which MTB offers the best value for money?

When Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly launched the first series production of off-road bikes under the MountainBikes brand in 1979, they sold 160 bikes that year. By the second year, they had already sold 1000. By today's standards, you didn't get tyre grip or braking power for 1000 dollars - not to mention damping. On the other hand, the range was manageable and the choice was easy. When production started in Asia at the beginning of the 1980s, prices fell to just over 600 dollars for a mountain bike. Forty years later, almost one million mountain bikes are sold every year in Germany alone. Although e-MTBs now account for around 90 per cent of this total, the market for bikes without motors is also bigger and more colourful than ever before. And something else has changed: Across all genres, bikes have become significantly better, but also more expensive.

To find out which models bikers can still get a particularly good deal on today, we asked the manufacturers for their bestsellers: Bikes that not only sell exceptionally well, but also offer particularly good value for money according to the manufacturers themselves. The bikes sent to our editorial team could not have been more different. From the 1800 euro aluminium hardtail to the almost 8000 euro carbon fully, everything is included. That's a good thing, because instead of comparing the bikes head to head, this time we were only interested in one thing: Where do bikers get the most for their money?

We have tested these best-selling bikes:

• Bulls Wild Edge Team (6399 Euro)
• Canyon Neuron CF 8.0 (2999 Euro)
• Conway RLC FS 7.9 (5499,95 Euro)
• Cube Stereo One44 C.62 Pro (3299 Euro) >> available here
• Focus Raven 8.9 (3599 Euro) >> available here
• Giant XTC SLR 1 (1899 Euro) >> available here
• Radon Jealous 10.0 EA (6499 Euro)
• Rocky Mountain Instinct C70 (7900 Euro)
• Rose PDQ 2 (3799 Euro) >> available here
• Scor 4060 LT GX (6899 Euro) >> available here
• Specialised Epic Comp (4500 Euro) >> available here

Click to go to the individual rating

Other topics in our price-performance comparison

>> Discounts & falling prices: Mountain bikes and e-MTBs are now cheaper <<

>> Big discount campaign: road bike & gravel bike offers for autumn <<

The test bikes at a glance

Since hardtails have almost completely disappeared from the world's cross-country tracks in professional sport, many manufacturers have been rethinking their race bike concepts. This is an advantage for the average biker who prefers a nice tour to a heated race.

With 120 millimetres of suspension travel, telescopic seat posts and wide tyres, new hardtails such as the Focus Raven or the Rose PDQ can be used in a wider range of applications. For many, the increased safety downhill and the riding fun on trails are likely to be of great value.

Direct mail order company Rose is vying for customers' favour with the latest wireless technology, while Focus focuses on maximum versatility. Since nobody wants to ride a heavy hardtail, the carbon frames of both bikes make perfect sense, but drive up the price.

Speaking of light, expensive bikes: mail-order company Radon has reduced its top-of-the-range hardtail model by a whopping 1200 euros in the long term. Weighing less than nine kilos and equipped in the luxury segment, the Jealous is sure to score plenty of performance points. But it still remains expensive.

Only Giant sends a hardtail into the test that really deserves the title "affordable". Just like the high-priced Radon, however, the solidly equipped aluminium bike is clearly designed more for conservative racers than the models from Rose and Focus.

Favourable fullys for trail and tour

Without an elaborately developed rear triangle and expensive shock, hardtails have a clear price advantage - or so you would think. The trail bike fullys from Canyon and Cube show that this is not necessarily the case. Cheaper than the hardtails from Focus and Rose, they are likely to put a euro sign in the eyes of many prospective buyers.

Canyon skilfully exploits its price advantage as a mail order company and puts together a tried-and-tested equipment package that may not exude much glamour, but delivers impeccable functionality. In typical Cube fashion, a particularly lightweight carbon frame makes the Stereo One44 attractive for those who like to pack on the grams.

Fast race bikes for cross country and marathon

Although the Bulls Wild Edge Team is more than twice as expensive as the Canyon bike, it's worth comparing prices again. The professional marathon full-susser has high-end equipment that other manufacturers only treat their race bikes to for 4000 euros more.

The best-selling models from Conway and Specialized are in the mid-range price segment. While Specialized concentrates fully on a high-quality frame with unique suspension technology, Conway chooses a now unusual approach for its price-performance recommendation. With practical details and a colourful mix of features, the RLC FS only marginally meets the sporting demands of a race bike and is more suitable for classic touring bikers.

Powerful all-mountain and enduro bikes for downhill riding

Scor and Rocky Mountain are the most expensive bikes in our performance comparison. For 6899 and 7900 euros respectively, the high-quality carbon full-suspension bikes have a lot to offer. Both manufacturers try to score points with versatile adjustable frames. This is also reflected in the final judgement. In addition to practical riding characteristics, our scoring system also evaluates measurement data from the BIKE test lab, equipment quality, build quality and added value for the customer, such as additional functions or included accessories.

For number nerds and statisticians, this comparison is a land of milk and honey. If, after extensive testing, you put price and points performance in relation to each other, the result is not only a revealing chart, but also a sobering conclusion: on average, expensive bikes are better than cheap bikes. Radon, Bulls, Scor and Rocky Mountain scored the most points overall, but emptied the bank account.

Which MTB offers the best value for money?

The best quotient of rating and cost is provided by the affordable Giant hardtail. From this basis, the prices for better bikes rise progressively - or to put it another way: as you move into higher performance ranges, the prices also climb faster and faster. With their approach to a versatile hardtail, Rose and Focus land in the middle of the price-performance scissors. This is also where the lightweight trail bike from Cube is positioned. If you want to be happy with the independent concept of the Conway, you should carefully consider whether it suits your own requirements, as the company from Lower Saxony charges a steep price for it.

In this purely rational comparison, two bikes stand out from the mass of other bestsellers: although you wouldn't expect any cries of joy when looking at the equipment list of the Specialized, the practical performance of the € 4500 Epic Comp is fully convincing.

However, Canyon shoots the price-performance bird with a very good and wide-ranging trail bike for just € 2999. No other bike can compete with the combination of balanced riding characteristics and the economic advantage of the online retailer.

In reality, it's not the maths that determines how appealing a mountain bike really is to buy, but your own wallet and individual needs. The purchase is only a good one if the bike is also suitable for the favoured area of use and also appeals to prospective buyers emotionally.

In the latter respect, the early bikes of Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly are likely to still get many enthusiasts' blood pumping in 2023. However, it should also be noted that some historic bike icons cost a five-figure sum today.