If you’re looking for a big thumping motocross bike, KTM may be amongst the first brands that come to mind, but it’s pretty safe to say that the same doesn’t apply if you’re after a non-motorised off-roader. Even so the Austrian motorbike maker seems to keep finding its logo plonked under my smelly mountain biker’s body. This is the third KTM that we’ve reviewed in the last couple of years—at this rate I’ll be on a motorbike before I know it! It certainly seems that the cycling side of the KTM brand is growing at a healthy rate, and they now have a number of dealers in every Australian state.

Superfly is the name given to all of Trek’s cross-country 29ers. The name has been running for a while and has a proud history. Trek bought Gary Fisher bicycles back in the day, and Gary’s passion and drive to get 29ers into the mainstream would not have had the effect it did without Trek working in the background. Trek phased out the Fisher name, as the bikes are now simply branded Trek with a reference to the ‘Gary Fisher Collection’, but Gary’s legacy lives on in every Superfly.

Along with Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher, Charlie Kelly and a few others, Joe Breeze was one of the original ‘Klunkers’; the forefathers of modern mountain biking. Despite this historical background the brand which bears Joe’s name has, for many years, been far more often associated with commuting and city bikes than anything which could realistically be called a true mountain bike. For 2014 that has changed, with the release of two new full suspension bikes as well as updates to the hardtail race bikes.

It’s funny how reputations stick. Back in the ’90s many brands had ugly and particularly heavy bikes, but for some reason Norco’s creations hang in my head more than most. Yes they were doing good things on the gravity front but their more XC based stuff was pretty uninspiring.

We’ve had our share of Whytes come through the MBA offices in the last 24 months. This distinctive UK based brand is a minor player in the global bike game, but their bikes have consistently impressed us. A while back I rode their carbon framed 29C and declared it the best hardtail I’d ever ridden—to this day I’m more than happy with that statement!

If you follow World Cup downhill, you’ll know the Devinci brand. Canadian DH legend Stevie Smith took out the 2013 World Cup series on his Wilson Carbon and you can’t buy better exposure than that. If you’re not into downhill or just don’t follow the race scene, Devinci probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind when you think of high-end MTB brands. If anything they are perceived as a new-school MTB brand and you certainly won’t see a horde of them at your local trailhead.

BH is not shy when it comes to the appearance of their bikes. Their curvy Zenith hardtail (tested in May/June/July 2013) and the Lynx dually are distinctive looking beasts, as was the now discontinued Ultimate 26-inch hardtail.

For 2014 Merida has launched in to the ‘enduro’ MTB scene with an all new 140mm travel dual suspension platform; the One-Forty B.

GT was one of the first big names in mountain biking, and anyone who starting riding in the ‘90s will almost certainly remember drooling over a titanium Xizang or an aluminium Zaskar; two of the most iconic hardtails of that era. Although named after founder Gary Turner (not ‘Gran Turismo’ as some may think), the GT label became synonymous with racing fast and living fast—it was a boom era for mountain biking that bred quite a few superstar lifestyles.

Scott can rightfully say that they were at least a little bit ahead of the curve, as almost all the big brands jump onto the 27.5 bandwagon for 2014. Product year 2013 was Scott’s first foray into the middle wheel size with their 150mm travel Genius trail bikes. At the same time Nino Schurter, Scott’s XC star, was winning World Cups with Tomac-esque flair (old-school types will remember Johnny T!) on a prototype 27.5 Scott Scale hardtail.

We get many different bikes through our office and each has its own feel and character. Last year when we reviewed the Pivot Mach 5.7, I found something that really matched my current taste in bikes; it pedalled extremely well for a 145mm travel bike yet still offered amazingly supple suspension and above all it delivered bucketloads of fun. Everyone has individual tastes when it comes to bikes and the Mach 5.7 did it for me—I subsequently bought one.

In this day and age it’s refreshing to see someone who truly has the courage of their convictions, and that’s one thing you can certainly say about Niner. As the name implies, they believe in the 29-inch wheel and they don’t dilute that belief by making anything else. By concentrating on optimising the ride characteristics of big wheels, they’ve managed to establish themselves as a leader in the 29er market, and there’s an almost cult following of Niner fans around the world.

The Anthem is a stalwart of Giant’s mountain bike range. Since 2007 various incarnations of the Anthem have been relied upon to cover the distance as quickly as possible, by Giant sponsored riders and weekend warriors alike. Giant’s short travel dually began life as an awkward looking 90mm travel, 26-inch wheeled alloy machine.

Some years ago now I remember a friend saying to me that cricket was an Indian game which was accidently invented by the British; no-one has a fervent devotion to the world’s slowest game like those from the sub-continent. In the same way, it could be argued that although mountain biking may have been born in California, its spiritual home is almost certainly a few thousand kilometres north in western Canada.

The only thing squarer than a square is a squared-square, otherwise known as a Cube. With its origins in Germany, a country sometimes accused of fostering a fairly conservative (dare we say it, square) mindset, you might expect that the Cube Stereo, which sounds like two squared-squares coming at you from both sides, would be a bit, well, square as well.

It’s been 12 months since I last reviewed a Santa Cruz bike—that was the Tallboy LTc. At the time I spoke of how Santa Cruz didn’t rush into new trends just for the sake of it. It took them until 2009 to jump aboard the 29er train with the 100mm travel Tallboy. While they were pretty late to the big-wheel game, the bike itself was an instant hit and probably one of the best sorted 29ers that we’d seen at that point.