2025 has been a year of sharp contrasts for the mountain bike industry. While parts of the cycling world are still dealing with the fallout of recent economic pressures, shifting ownerships, and tightening budgets, there have also been genuine moments of optimism, innovation, and surprise.
- The making of British mountain biking
- The Canyon Spectral AL and Yeti LTe: Liam’s best tech 2025
- off.road.cc’s overall Gear of the Year 2025
From the revival of once-lost brands to fresh faces shaking up the status quo, and from uncertain racing futures to breakout technologies capturing the internet’s attention, this year has been anything but dull. Here’s a look back at the highs, lows, and everything in between that defined mountain biking in 2025.
A good year for Nukeproof
While the headlines have been filled with negativity, there has been some good news for once-thought-long-gone brands. Nukeproof is one of the big names to come back under new ownership.
Belgian Cycle Factory, the company behind Ridley, picked up the ex CRC Wiggle brand and hired some top industry brass to relaunch the much-loved bike brand in 2025. At Eurobike, we got our first glimpse at new bikes, including an updated Dissent downhill rig with a new rear end, and since then, the brand has been steadily releasing bikes and reigniting their social media channels. There are also rumours of new models in the pipeline and a possible return to racing in 2026. Watch this space!
A bad year for YT, Deviate, and NS Bikes
On the flip side, it hasn’t been a great year for all bike brands. Most notably, YT Industries took up many of the headlines with financial woes, and eventually was relaunched by original founder Marcus Flossman. YT’s turbulent year not only affected the brand and the staff, which made it such a huge player in the MTB world, but also customers and their high-profile downhill race team made up of top talented including 6x World Champ Vali Holl.
It was also a bad year for fans of high-pivot Scottish brand Deviate, which was bought out of insolvency by its co-founder Ben Jones. And NS Bikes have also hit rocky times as its parent company 7Anna, filed for bankruptcy.
Mixed year for downhill racing
Downhill racing still doesn’t seem to be back to the levels of excitement under WB Discovery as it was under Redbull, but the level of racing and calibre of riders are arguably the best we have ever seen.
Despite issues with her main sponsor, Vali Holl managed to take the overall World Cup win, and for the men, it was Jackson Goldstone who came home on the top step ahead of Loic Bruni and Luca Shaw.
The 2026 season sees new rounds added, including South Korea, but there are rumblings in the paddock that we might see fewer teams racing next season, and top riders are struggling to secure deals as sports marketing budgets are cut.
A good year for Avinox
For a company that has never had any MTB product before, DJI has really shaken the industry. The drone and action camera company launched its Avinox motor system two years ago, but since then rebranded it as Avinox, which is now run as a separate entity, and now powers more than just Amflow bikes.
The hype around the high-power 1000W motor seems to have become the magic formula for content creators wanting to guarantee clicks, with the entire e-MTB market wanting to get their hands on the latest Avinox-powered bikes. And the excitement sees no end in sight, with more bikes and brands launching by the week and rumours of even bigger things to come in 2026!
A mixed year for Shimano
This hasn’t really been reported anywhere, but it’s a feeling that I get. After all, it was only a few years ago that Shimano’s EP8 had the same type of engagement and hype that the Avinox M1 has today, but things have changed, and they have changed quickly.
Behind Avinox, Bosch, and Browse, Shimano is losing market share in a space where it was once close to the top of. Combine this with the news of a new motor from Mahle and others, and Shimano looks to be in a very weak position. On top of this, the launch of Shimano’s wireless Di2 drivetrain caused a stir for a little while, but already feels outdated when compared to SRAM’s AXS tech.
Shimano is a giant, though, and while it might be losing ground at the moment, it surely has the skills, capabilities and the budget to turn things around, but will it be enough to get Shimano back to the top?
A good year for new brands
One thing that is clear from 2025 is that those brands that we’ve all grown to know and love in the cycling industry are struggling, and it’s even clearer to see when new upstart brands appear out of nowhere and start to leave their mark.
Again, Avinox and Amflow spring to mind, but there were also surprises from the likes of Megamo (Spain) and Crussis breaking into the UK. Looking further afield, brands from Asia are also upping their game. Lewis, Teewing, Velduro, and more are brands that we simply had never heard of before 2025, and now they seem to be giving larger brands a run for their money! The question is, can it continue? Will these new brands be able to capitalise on the hype, or will the old, more established brands regroup and spring back?
A big year for chain dampening products
Some say they help prevent pedal kickback, and others say they are designed to reduce the effect the chain has on the pedals. Whatever they do, the effect on the rider is similar – a calmer, quieter ride that is meant to reduce feedback from the drivetrain to the rider and suspension, and oh boy, have there been a lot in 2025!
Obviously, O Chain has been around longer than just last year, but this past 12 months have seen an explosion in new products claiming to offer solutions to similar problems. Rimpact launched its own chainring with internal elastomer dampers to dampen the chain, e*13 received a lot of attention for the Sidekick hub, and even DT Swiss joined the party with the DEG DF (Degrees of Freedom) anti-pedal kickback hub upgrade.
What’s next?
If 2025 has proven anything, it’s that the mountain bike industry is in the middle of a major reset. Legacy brands are being forced to adapt or rebuild, new players are moving faster than ever, and technology is advancing in directions few would have predicted just a couple of years ago.
There’s uncertainty ahead — for teams, riders, and manufacturers alike — but there’s also no shortage of creativity, ambition, and passion driving the sport forward. Whether the next few years belong to resurgent icons or bold newcomers, one thing is clear: mountain biking isn’t standing still, and 2026 is already shaping up to be another pivotal chapter.
