The R8 creates that feeling, snaking through the fading sinews of a little-used singletrack with leaves grappling at your bars as the trail narrows and your grin widens. A bike designed to truly fulfill an overused adage about bike and rider connecting as one.

The geometry defines the bike, steep enough to handle with rapidity, but slack enough to keep you in the middle of the bike. Double butted Reynolds 853 tubes add a definite spring, but keep weight down with a comfortable responsive ride. Pannier mounts, tire clearance and mud guard bosses add further usability with top-tube routed cables keeping grime at bay.

The R8 is a true rider’s bike, one that rewards the purist but punishes the lazy of line choice, a razor sharp traditionalist built with the best of the modern. Resist long travel; it’s time for an XC renaissance.