Italians have played a major role in shaping the development of road bikes. The big MTB trends, on the other hand, have always come from the USA. The USMA MAX SLR is an aesthetic hardtail at the height of the times. But it can't set new trends. The handling of this bike is balanced. So its pretty intuitive to control on singletrails. When sitting in the saddle, the posture is neither overly sporty, nor uber-comfortable. This should make the USMA MAX SLR suite the taste of most bikers. On the downhill, however, the Wilier is left in the dust by its competitors. The easy rolling tires, the 520 wide range of gears and the lock-out capacity of the suspension underline the sporty ambitions in the uphill.