LONGTED! RIDES 0

Team bikes ridden hard for a year

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TOM'S LAST GLEN €3,017 (frame, shock, ISCG mount & headset, exc. shipping & tax) MBUK TV's presenter has just pimped his ride, big time

Within the rosy confines of being a bike tester/journo and all the rather nice side effects that has when it comes to bike and kit, I do try to take a realistic view of bike builds and bike tech. To illustrate, my Glen is alloy, rather than carbon, and I've been running mismatched wheels all year, as that's what I had knocking about.

The brakes I've been using are three years old, and my dropper post is so far past needing a service that it's just going to be run until it gives up. I also spent the bulk of 2025 testing SRAM's mechanical Eagle 90 Transmission, which, while excellent, isn't all that expensive in the grand scheme of things However, I'm a little ashamed to say that this has all come to a crashing end, and, in the past couple of weeks, my Glen has become more supercar than daily driver. The chassis has remained as it was, although I've swapped the upper rear suspension link to switch the frame from 'mullet' mode to full 29er. Up front is the same Fox 36 Factory fork that Alex kindly passed down when he decided to run the RockShox Lyrik from his head-tohead test in the spring. The dropper is still ragged, and I'm running the same 3D-printed Specialized saddle.

But everything else has changed.

Off popped the Eagle 90, and in its place is a brand spanking new, electronic Shimano XTR Di2 drivetrain. I've upgraded to FSA Gradient carbon wheels, shod with Specialized's latest Eliminator and Butcher rubber. Bringing the bike to a halt are the new XTR four-piston brakes, with the levers mounted on a Pro Tharsis carbon bar.

Thankfully, the fitting process was easy you can watch my Ultimate Trail Bike Build video on MBUK TV to see how it all went together.