The Top Bikes of 2023

What’s the end of the year without lists right? I mean, that’s why we love this sport: the bikes. Yes, the riding, the community, blah blah blah but let’s be honest, it all comes down to the bikes. If you don’t have photos of your bike in your phone, well then, you’re not really a mountain biker are ya?

Joking aside, there were A LOT of amazing bikes this year. Not just the bigger brands and as-usuals, but up-and-coming brands from seemingly out of nowhere made the list, backed by groups of riders who shred as hard as these bikes go. Big names are still here but two big ones aren’t in the top 10 so there’s that, leveling it out for a playing field that has seen a great year that’s still going.

Let’s get riding. These are the first 5 of 10 bikes of the year, on our local trails.

FORBIDDEN DREADNOUGHT

Definitely not a bike for the weak-hearted, the Dreadnought from Forbidden Bikes takes its name from a destroyer– and what a destroyer it is. Built to be ridden hard and rip apart the gnarliest of trails, the bike features 154mm of frame travel and can (according to PB) take up to a 190mm dual-crown up front. It’s meant to be ridden downhill fast and you can ask BitawBoi what he really thinks about it, since he rides and races on one.

PIVOT FIREBIRD

When one of the best riders in the country consistently wins, you gotta consider the bike he’s riding. 2023 National Enduro Champion Gab Amigo III is definitely one of the Philippines’ best enduro racers, on a winning streak this year matched only by the bike he’s riding: the 2023 Pivot Firebird. Labeled the “FASTEST EWS BIKE” and heralded by many as the ultimate all-around superbike, Pivot got it right.

YETI SB160

Few bikes combine the aesthetics with performance as seamlessly and effortlessly as Yeti’s SB160. One of the winningest race platforms in EWS history, the SB160 is incredibly capable, remarkably balanced, and can go really fast if you want it to. But of course, like every race bike out there — it all comes down to the rider, thankfully, the SB160 is as forgiving as it is aggressive.

TRANSITION PATROL

The only bike back from our 2022 list, the Transition Patrol is hard to argue against. It’s the perfect median, the middle ground between the do-it-all trail master Sentinel and the long-travel, gravity monster Spire. The Patrol is the fun (mixed wheel goodness) and dependable middle child that’s gonna get you downhill while keeping enough in the tank (by way of its geo) for the climb back up.

GT FORCE

Developed for big hitters and gravity fiends, the Force is a line-hunter that, when all else fails, can make its own line up when needed. The obvious updates in geometry really stand out and are a testament to GT’s progressiveness, allowing any rider to take on the wildest tracks out there. We’ve seen it in action and it’s a mayhem machine with the right rider.

Dartmoor Thunderbird

Dartmoor has long been a popular brand in the Philippines, from the legendary hardtails Hornet and Primal, to the Blackbird, the brand is one of the most visible bike brands in the country. So when the Thunderbird came out, “superenduro” was suddenly a Dartmoor thing, and rightly so. This bike deserves all of the hype surrounding it and more.

Did your bike make it?