Kyle Smaine was raised right at the base of South Lake Tahoe’s best mountain bike trails. He spent the winters skiing until the snow melted and then began chasing thrills on Northern California singletrack. Consumed by a winter contest circuit as a professional halfpipe skier, he is one of the only testers without extensive bike racing experience…yet his Strava times say otherwise. Kyle has spent several summers wrenching on bikes at a local shop and likely empties too much of his bank account to feed his bike addiction.
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Kyle Smaine
Review Editor
Showing 1-15 of 17 by Kyle Smaine
10 Best Mountain Bikes
We're always searching for the best new mountain bikes. After researching the latest and greatest models on the...Best Hardtail Mountain Bike
We conducted a mind-numbing amount of research to identify the most compelling hardtail mountain bikes available...Santa Cruz Hightower CC XO1 Review
Santa Cruz recently redesigned their popular do it all 29er trail bike, the Hightower, turning it into a hard-charging...Top Pick
Ibis DV9 NX Review
The Ibis DV9 is a zippy hardtail mountain bike with a high-end carbon fiber frame and well-rounded performance...Editors' Choice
YT Jeffsy AL Base Review
The YT Jeffsy AL Base is an impressive sub $2500 trail bike and the winner of our Editor's Choice Award. This is a...Santa Cruz Tallboy Carbon C S Review
The redesigned Santa Cruz Tallboy is another of a new breed of super capable short travel trail bikes. This 29er trail...Salsa Timberjack NX Eagle 27.5+ Review
The Salsa Timberjack NX Eagle is a versatile bike at an attractive price point. On-trail performance won't blow you...Cannondale Habit 6 Review
The Cannondale Habit 6 is a mid-travel trail bike with a need for speed. A long and slack geometry along with 130mm of...Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt Alloy 10 Review
Rocky Mountain is well known for making excellent mountain bikes, but the Thunderbolt Alloy 10 is the least trail...Kona Satori Review
The Kona Satori is an affordable mid-travel trail bike with a unique and performance defining geometry. This is a...Commencal Meta HT AM Essential Review
The Commencal Meta AM HT Essential is a hard-charging hardtail that delivers high-speed stability and a playful...Whyte 901 2018 Review
The Whyte 901 is a hardtail mountain bike with enduro-inspired geometry. This bike operates very well at high speeds...Top Pick
Kona Hei Hei Trail Review
Kona's Hei Hei Trail is a versatile all-around trail bike that has a bit of an XC oriented feel. With 140mm of...Intense Spider Foundation Review
The Spider Alloy Foundation is the most affordable trail bike in Intense's range of mountain bikes. With a nice build...Giant Trance 3 Review
Giant's Trance 3 2019 impressed our testers, especially for the $2,000 retail price. It performs as well as many of...
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