The Scott Trail MTN Dryo 20 waterproof jacket is a hardy and robust waterproof cut out for the worst of the weather. The material is a tad stiff and you'll be making use of the underarm vents to regulate temperature but it's a good looking jacket that'll stand up to some abuse. 

The postie has had a rest from delivering to off-road.cc HQ these last few weeks as the Christmas break continued on. We are back in full swing now though and the delivery conveyor belt has resumed. 

Argyll and the Isles, Scotland's Adventure Coast, provides an awe-inspiring setting for bikepacking, here Markus Stitz gives us a tour in this gorgeous edit. At 655 km (407 miles) the Wild About Argyll Trail is Bikepacking Scotland’s first long-distance trail that was designed specifically with gravel bikes in mind. If bikepacking in Scotland has piqued your interest at all then this video will have you reaching for the diary to get annual leave booked.

We've got a range of new kit in this week from Guy Martin's Proper Cleaner, giving us no excuse not to get out bikes looks box fresh to the long awaited Shimano Saint clipless pedals. We promise next week we won't wait for a glimpse of sun before we hit the trails.....

Just when we thought we'd seen all the new mountain bikes 2018 has to offer, Orange sprung this one on us at The Bike Place Show yesterday. The T7 (or T9 for the big wheeler) is a gorgeous titanium hardtail made especially to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the company.

Last year our sister site road.cc tested the Bombtrack Hook EXT, a 650b-wheeled adventure bike from the little known German company, and Mike gave it a glowing review. So naturally, when Bombtrack asked if we'd like to test the brand new carbon fibre version of this bike, we said yes, obviously. Wouldn't you? I mean, just look at it!

There was plenty of cool stuff to get our teeth into at The Bike Place Show this week, from a new bike to gold Hope Tech parts to bike packing bags designed for smaller frames. Here are our top nine most exciting things....

The newly launched Halo Vortex wheelset is Halo's tough 'enduro' wheel offering. Beginning in the realms of 4x and dirt jump wheels, their range is now extensive including wheels for all corners of the market, plus spokes, nipples, tape and all sorts of wheel paraphernalia. 

Recently Instagram brought us teaser images of a new bike from bespoke bike brand Robot Bike Co. It was a bike one of the brand's founders, Ed, alluded to in our visit last year but aside from saying something very exciting and a little more accessible was on the horizon he was tight-lipped. We contacted him again to extract more info and this time we got lucky and able to bring you news that Robot Bike Co.

It's fair to say we have been getting on very well with the aluminium 2018 Transition Smuggler we have in for test here at off-road.cc, so when news hit our email inbox of the new carbon Smuggler, the drool really started to roll....