Singletracks Trail Bike of the Year brackets revealed

In 2025, after three rounds of head-to-head competition and thousands of Singletracks readers’ votes, the Ibis Ripley was named the trail bike of the year.

This year, the competition is back with two big changes. First, we started by asking for your nominations, and more than 500 readers submitted their picks, which included more than 70 different trail bikes. We also split the competition into short- and long-travel bikes, doubling the field and setting up a final showdown between the two sides.

But this isn’t just a popularity contest. To set the brackets, our editors considered not only how many nominations each bike received, but also how each bike is positioned and what makes it unique. The result is a competition that pits the best trail bikes of 2026 against one another to find out which bike you, the reader, think is best.

If you take a look at the list below, you’ll see bikes from big brands and bikes from small brands. There are carbon bikes and metal bikes too. Some use simple suspension designs. Others are complex. As the competition unfolds, we expect to uncover which features and specs mountain bikers prize the most.

From 70+ bikes, the field has been narrowed to 16 top bikes. These bikes range from 120mm to 151mm of rear suspension travel. For this competition, the dividing line is essentially the rear-travel midpoint — 135mm. Two of the bikes below have exactly 135mm of rear suspension travel and fall into the “short-travel” category.

Short-travel trail bikes

Ari Cascade Peak
Canyon Lux Trail
Forbidden Druid
Intense Spider
Revel Ranger
Santa Cruz Tallboy
Starling Murmur
Transition Spur

Long-travel trail bikes

Atherton A.150
Cotic Jeht
Evil the Offering
Ibis Ripmo
Pivot Switchblade
Specialized Stumpjumper
Trek Fuel EX
Yeti MT

As the tournament progresses, you can keep up with the latest matchups and cast your votes here.

There’s no prediction market set up for the 2026 Singletracks Trail Bike Tournament (that we know of), so tell us which bikes you think will make the final in the comments below.

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