The off-road.cc Best Bike Awards continues with our Mountain Bike of the year! From our three MTB category winners announced before Christmas, we have picked the best to take the top spot as our Mountain Bike of the Year. The very worthy winner is the Boardman MTR 8.9, read on to find out why...

• off-road.cc Best Bike Awards - find out what, why and how here
• Winner of the Bargain Buy award - off-road.cc's Best Bikes
• Winner of the Best Buy award - off-road.cc's Best Bikes

The Boardman MTR range was launched in 2018 and we thought the MTR 8.9 model was not just a good bike for the money; it's a bike that's more than capable of shaming machines double or triple the price. We awarded this bike five stars in our review, the Best Buy award and we liked it so much that we wanted to crown it as the king of mountain bikes this year!

The MTR 8.9 a 130mm full susser that manages to deliver the amazing value their full suspension range has always offered, but performance is now a step up thanks to that revised geometry and suspension. It's an absolutely cracking mid-travel trail bike that'll flatter beginners and advanced alike and it's superb value for money, even by the standards of direct-sales bikes. Quite simply, this is a superb bike by any standard and at £1,600, it's an absolute steal.

You can find out more about the Boardman and why it won our Best Buy award here or check out the full review of the bike here.

Tomorrow we will announce our Gravel Bike of the Year followed by our overall Bike of the Year in the New Year so check back soon. 

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