Women’s-specific bikes? You mean there’s bikes specifically for women? Well there certainly are these days and they’re not simply gent’s models painted pink either. So we’ve enlisted the help of three female riders and asked them to assess a trio of mid-priced 2004 full sussers from Cannondale, Scott and Trek. Makes a change from our ugly mugs, we’re sure you’ll agree...

IT'S AN AGE SINCE WE PUT TOGETHER A TEST ON SHORT-TRAVEL RACE BIKES. But as we had a couple of teams at the Saab Solomon Mountain Mayhem event, we thought we'd unpack the Lycra and muscle into the front row of the grid for some hot enduro action