First rides SWINGING A LEG OVER WHAT'S HOT THIS MONTH

Forbidden’s launched a new enduro machine; will the Dreadnought rule the trails?

- Alan Muldoon

FORBIDDEN DREADNOUGHT XT

£6,399 / 29in / forbiddenbike.com

NEED TO KNOW

• Named after a destroyer, the Dreadnought is the big gun in the Forbidden range

• A 100 per cent rearward axle path delivers 154mm of travel

• High-pivot idler design dramatically reduces pedal kickback

• Full carbon frame construction gives a 3.32kg frame weight

• Updated sizing makes a medium Dreadnought equivalent to a size-large Druid

• Currently available in two builds, XT or SLX, with a frame-only option for £3,399

Forbidden now has a big gun in its fleet. But who needs the Dreadnought when the Druid is already billed as being so capable? In short... everyone. Let me explain.

In many ways Forbidden painted itself into a corner with the Druid, kinda like when your only tool is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. That’s not to imply that the 130mm-travel Druid is a blunt instrument, far from it. It’s just that the Dreadnought is more refined. When Forbidden only had a one-model range, the Druid had to cover everything from trail to downhill. And even if you believe in high-pivot witchcraft, that’s clearly a stretch of the imagination by anyone’s standards.

In fact, Forbidden did a good job of convincing riders and journalists that the rearward axle path is so efficient at gobbling up the chunder, you really don’t need anything more than the Druid. The truth is, it doesn’t matter what path the rear axle follows, you only have the travel you’ve got. And given that Forbidden measures travel along the arc of the axle path, not vertically, you’ve actually got less than you think. Also, it’s telling that almost everyone that rides the Druid hard switches to a coil shock to make the suspension work better.