THE BEST BIKE FOR YOU IS...

THROUGHOUT MY CAREER AS A TEST EDITOR, “WHAT is the best bike?” is the question I’ve probably been asked more than any other

- Matt Phillips

Related questions like “What is your favourite bike?” and “What bike do you own?” get asked often, too. The last one is asked because, people tell me, I ride so many bikes that the one I choose for my own must be pretty great. It’s like asking a vehicle mechanic, “What car do you own?”

I spend much of my life riding bikes, thinking about bikes, talking to others about bikes, and writing about bikes. It’s been my job for more than 30 years: from bike shop salesperson in high school to mechanic while at varsity to an internship with Mountain Bike magazine to Bicycling test editor after university and ever since.

In those three decades’ time, I’ve ridden many bikes, perhaps in the thousands. And there came a moment on every one of those bikes when I thought to myself, “Do I love this bike? Is it perfect? Is it right for me? Is this the best bike I’ve ever ridden? If I could ride only one bike for the foreseeable future, would it be this bike?”

The crazy thing is, as I’ve ridden more and more bikes, the idea that there could be a perfect or best bike in perpetuity seems less and less likely. And now, thirty-odd years into this journey, I’ve all but let go of the idea that the best bike can exist. Or rather, I understand that it can exist, but only briefly. This doesn’t mean I’ve stopped trying to find the best bike in this moment, or that I no longer seek to learn about bikes and why one might feel better than another. I’m always prepared to be surprised, and I believe that any bike can be magical, for explicable and inexplicable reasons.