The 9 Best Enduro Bikes of 2023
By: Colin Edwards: Bike Buyer | May 12, 2023
"Enduro" quickly transitioned from a niche race discipline to the hottest trend in mountain biking, capturing the essence of what many riders love most about the sport. The enduro format involves pedaling along mellow trails to the summit, then shredding down the toughest descents. Elegant and simple. As this riding style gained popularity, bike brands tailored their offerings to cater to enduro enthusiasts. Nowadays, every brand has a long-travel bike with excellent pedaling capabilities, perfect for the winch-and-plummet style of enduro riding. To help you navigate the market while choosing a mountain bike, we've compiled a list of the best enduro mountain bikes for 2023, focusing on enduro bikes that strike the perfect balance between pedaling efficiency and downhill prowess.
New This Year:
If you enjoy climbing under your own power and tackling challenging, technical descents, you'll find an enduro bike on this list that suits your style. For those seeking a highly capable all-rounder, enduro bikes are also worth considering when choosing a mountain bike. The 2023 lineup mainly sees color updates as well as the addition of a new T-Type drivetrain offering from SRAM, with most bikes retaining their existing geometry. Every bike on this list can effortlessly handle mellow trails all day or conquer the gnarliest bike park descents you dare to tackle. That's the magic of enduro – these bikes truly do it all.
Santa Cruz Hightower
The newest version of the Santa Cruz Hightower remains one of Santa Cruz's greatest hits of engineering - now further refined and bottled into their most all-terrain of bikes. Big on wheels, medium on travel, short on fuss, this is the do-it-all model that does it over and over again thanks to a versatile balance of geo, spec and durability. If you’re not looking for extremes, just something extremely good, the Hightower is your elevator.
| Wheel Size | Travel (mm) | Original Price |
| 29” | Front: 150 | Rear: 145 | $3,799 - $8,499.00 |
Juliana Roubion - Women's
Whether blind racing or just blindly enjoying the trails as they come, the Juliana Roubion’s MX wheel combo feels like the best mix since Aperol met spritz. A 29-inch front wheel serves up high-speed stability and high rolling confidence. Meanwhile, the 27.5-inch rear wheel makes for an intuitive and highly maneuverable rear end that loves to get sideways around the most ragged of switchbacks. We’re pretty sure there’s no better bike to tackle alpine terrain.
| Wheel Size | Travel (mm) | Original Price |
| 29" Front | 27.5" Rear | Front: 160 | Rear: 150 | $5,499 - $8,449.00 |
Transition Patrol Alloy GX
Party in the front, out-of-control festival in the rear: the Transition Patrol Alloy GX Complete Mountain Bike has gone mullet, and it's the perfect platform for this latest wheel trend. The Patrol is known as the life of the party, as long as we're talking about rowdy bashes that elicit response from the authorities - it'll stay quiet during civilized cocktail affairs but it much prefers the after party. As always, this Patrol is built to be ridden hard. In this aluminum / SRAM GX build, it's one for all-out downhill attack, leading the train down new sections, and straight up getting wild.
| Wheel Size | Travel (mm) | Original Price |
| 29" Front | 27.5" Rear | Front: 160 | Rear: 160 | $5,299.00 |
Norco Sight C1
The Norco Sight C1 29" Complete Mountain Bike is perfect for riders who are looking to get up early and spend all day on the gnarliest trails around. Norco's Ride Aligned™ design system means each size of this bike performs as well as the others--shorter or taller riders don't have to compromise comfort, your size is your size with no drawbacks. 150mm / 160mm travel is the sweet spot for big trail bikes now, getting you out of trouble at the end of the day without sucking the fun out of mellower terrain. With big brakes, aggressive tires, and dialed geometry, the Sight is ready for dang near anything you can pedal to.
| Wheel Size | Travel (mm) | Original Price |
| 29" | Front: 160 | Rear: 150 | $6,399 |
Yeti SB160
After a certain point, it's all about adjustments. The Yeti Cycles SB160 Mountain Bike may be a new model, but it's the result of years and years of fine-tuning by Yeti. This is an enduro race bike through and through, as close to that elusive "DH bike that pedals" as you're likely to find anywhere. Yeti's dropped the 165's travel slightly, but reworked the leverage curves to give this one a very predictable and balanced ride, making it even faster than is reasonable. They've buttoned up the construction and build, too, adding a threaded BB and Universal Derailleur Hanger for ease of maintenance. In the hands of the right pilot, there's not a more capable big bike on the planet.
| Wheel Size | Travel (mm) | Original Price |
| 29" | Front: 170 | Rear: 160 | $6,700.00 - $9,800 |
Evil Wreckoning LS GX
Press Release: Lightly Salted Bae Tweaks Bikes! Evil Bikes is excited to announce a collaboration with Salt Bae, the suavest Turkish butcher in the history of the culinary arts. He's been working behind the scenes, spicing up the Evil product line as only he can, one pinch of elbow-cascading sodium chloride at a time. Our guy Nusret has been tinkering with seat tube angles, reach measurements, and SRAM's Universal Derailleur Hanger, Lightly Salting our bikes to help them climb better while continuing to roast trails like an AGA oven. Salt Bae's spiced the Evil Wreckoning LS GX Complete Mountain Bike to perfection, delivering unmatched trail feel and bold flavors. Climb, rip, survive, repeat. Damn, he's good!
| Wheel Size | Travel (mm) | Original Price |
| 29" | Front: 170 | Rear: 166 | $6,450.00 |
Devinci Spartan A 29 GX 12s
The Devinci Spartan A 29 GX 12s Complete Mountain Bike is a big and beautiful basher. Don't let the smooth lines fool you: this is a bike for heavy duty trails and blinding speeds. Split Pivot suspension design means it does stay composed at those speeds, but there's no denying its capabilities. There's room to tinker with the geo adjust chip, turning the bike into a downhill dominator in the low mode, where the coil shock will eagerly gobble all the rubble under its 29" wheels. Built to last, this is an aluminum enduro bike that'll leave you wanting nothing for quite some time.
| Wheel Size | Travel (mm) | Original Price |
| 29" | Front: 170 | Rear: 160 | $4,799.00 |
Revel Rail GX
Your Revel Rail GX Complete Mountain Bike is testament to your commitment to mountain biking. Equal parts tech and feel, the Rail is aggressive and subdued - depending on your mood. Seriously. The CBF suspension will pedal all dang day, seeing sights and taking breaks to smell the flowers. No problem. When you feel like getting absolutely irresponsible, though, this thing transforms into a bottomless cloud rider. If ever there was a ride for riders, Revel's hit it with this one.
| Wheel Size | Travel (mm) | Original Price |
| 27.5" | Front: 170| Rear: 165 | $5,999.00 |
Orbea Rallon M20
A Basque army knife of a bike, the Orbea Rallon M20 Complete Mountain Bike comes roaring out of the Pyrenees ready for action. Now a proven performer on enduro tracks all over the globe, the Rallon is known for its abilities to handle rides of any gnar factor: from staying stable at eye-watering high speeds to remaining calm on nervous chunk, this bike is pure confidence in carbon fiber. With Fox suspension and Shimano parts everywhere, this is as dependable as it is capable. The Rallon is an enduro phenom that'll nom-nom on all the crunchy terrain your trails can serve up, always hungry for more.
| Wheel Size | Travel (mm) | Original Price |
| 29" | Front: 170 | Rear: 160 | $5,299.00 |
Learn More With Our Other Bike Guides:
- How to Choose a Mountain Bike
- Mountain Bike Sizing and Fit Guide
- How to Get Started Mountain Biking
- Mountain Bike Cockpit Setup & Seat Height
- How to Choose a Mountain Bike Wheel Size
- Mountain Bikes Suspension Basics
- How to Choose a Mountain Bike Dropper Post
- How to Choose Mountain Bike Tires
- How to Choose Mountain Bike Handlebars
- How to Choose Mountain Bike Pedals
- How to Change Bike Pedals
- How to Clean a Mountain Bike
- How to Bleed SRAM Brakes
- How to Bleed Shimano Brakes
- How to Convert to Tubeless Tires
- How to Replace Internal Cable Housing
- How to Adjust Your Rear Derailleur
- Shimano Groupset Hierarchy Explained
- SRAM Groupset Hierarchy Explained
- SRAM vs Shimano Groupsets Compared
- Women's Mountain Bike Buyer's Guide
- What to Bring Mountain Biking
- What to Wear Mountain Biking
- How to Choose MTB Knee Pads
- Gravel Bikes - How To Get Started Gravel Biking
- Electric Mountain Bike Buyer's Guide
- Classes of eBikes
- Bike Helmet Size & Fit Guide
- How to Choose Bike Shoes
- Travel Guides - Where to Mountain Bike
- Travel Guides - Where to Ride eBikes
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The Selection Process:
Our bike buyer has an endless amount of knowledge on all things bike stemming from years of experience in the bike industry in tandem with their countless hours out on the dirt, gravel, and tarmac. evo's buyers assess all products coming to market, lean into this knowledge, and put together this selection of the best products. They have a unique perspective as they truly see everything offered across the category.
Colin Edwards
Meet Colin Edwards, evo's in-house Bike Buyer and mountain biking aficionado. With 15+ years of e-commerce buying experience under his belt, Colin is the go-to guy for all things related to "Riding Dirt." He's worked across various categories, including bike, snowboard, travel, climbing, and surfing, giving him the know-how to recognize and select top-notch mountain biking products for evo's customers.
Colin's been shredding trails since he was a kid, starting on his trusty hardtail Trek 800 Sport. Born and raised in Utah, he recently made the move to Bellingham, WA with his partner, Kenz. Colin's real-world biking experience, combined with his background in product trends, relationship building, and sales analysis, makes him an invaluable asset to the evo team.
When he's not busy handpicking the raddest gear, you'll find Colin ripping through PNW trails or hunting for the world's best dirt. And when the snow falls, he's all about snowboarding. Colin also loves trail running and exploring the PNW's stunning landscape with his two dogs and Kenz.
With Colin's expertise and passion fueling evo's mountain biking selection, you can trust that his recommendations are spot-on and tailored to the evo community's adventurous spirit.