You’ve Driven The Vehicle. Now Ride The Bike!

Land Rover isn’t the first off-road vehicle manufacturer to offer a mountain bike range, but their current line-up is among the better offerings.

"Very conservative, but well designed, tidily built & offers a decent spec for the price tag. A good tool for enduro events or day-long rides." - Bikeradar Review

Land Rover’s Mezzana Disc is not a slave to fashion.  It doesn’t use an exotic carbon monocoque frame or apply some fanciful tube profiles, claiming to disperse stress, increase strength and reduce weight better than the next shape-shifting aluminum pipe.  The Mezzana’s relatively plain tubes in stealth black finish won’t win any awards for chassis innovation, but neither are they likely to cause any problems.

You get a forgiving ride quality and nice turn of speed on long rides, which is exactly what you want and should expect in a cross-country race-inspired bike. Land Rover bills the Mezzano as a ‘marathon’ bike,  and it’s a comfortable and efficient platform on which to rack up the miles.

At the front of all this no-nonsense aluminum plumbing is 100mm of air-sprung, RockShox-driven travel with all the adjustable bells and whistles.  Air springs are costlier to make because they demand tighter tolerances, but they’re lighter and often plusher than the coil alternative and they are easier to adjust for different rider weights too.

And even though the frame may not be fashionably exotic, the componentry is cutting edge.

Shimano’s rock-dodging Shadow Deore XT rear mech is light, relatively crash-proof and delivers crisp shifts, while Avid’s evergreen Juicy 3 hydraulic discs have reliable stopping power.

The WTB saddle is one of the best and the lock-on grips won’t budge when things get slimy.

What you get with the Mezzana Disc is what you’d expect from Land Rover – a comfortable ride, sure-footed handling and classic styling that’s more purpose than pop culture driven.  After all, they know a little something about what’s required when going off-road.