Reid Bikes are all about bang for buck, and their direct sales model is helping them deliver some impressive bikes at very good prices. We reviewed Reid’s aggressively priced Solo 360 last year. Quite simply, it’s the sum of its parts, which happen to be very bloody good for the money.

It doesn’t add up…

The Reid Solo is an alloy-framed, 27.5″-wheeled hardtail, and it’ll set you back just $1799. That’s not a lot of money when you start to do the maths on this bike – in fact, from a purely component perspective, this is the best priced hardtail we’ve encountered. The reliable Shimano XT groupset gets the nod for all aspects except the hubs, but it’s the choice of a FOX Performance fork that’s really impressive. Most bikes at this price point will be equipped with a far less capable fork than this.

What’s changed from last year?

Reid have taken on board some of our feedback from last year’s review too – the new version of the Solo comes with a 1×11 drivetrain, and the bars are wider now, both of which are sensible improvements. It’s also now running through-axles front and rear. ‘

Where will you test it?

It’s definitely true that a 27.5″ hardtail is best suited to smoother, faster trails, and so we’ll be testing this one out on the fast singletrack of Glenrock MTB Park. We’ll let you know how it stacks up soon.