Bicycling’s annual Bike Awards are the culmination of a year’s worth of real-world ride testing of hundreds of bikes. We rode them as you would—commuting on city streets, in the bikepark, up tough climbs, deep in the woods, or just out for a spin after a busy day. In selecting our top 40, we evaluated each bike’s performance, its value, and how it stacks up against similar models in its category. We thought hard about each bike and whether it was one we’d want for ourselves before recommending it. If you’re searching for a new road, mountain, gravel, or commuter bike—or just dreaming—one of these will be right for you.
We have divided 2022's winning bikes into four main categories: Road, Gravel, Commuter, and Mountain. Click on the tabs below to jump to each section and see our top picks for the year. Bicycling members can access longer reviews for the bikes and galleries with exclusive images through the “Read Full Reviews Here” links in each category.
Specialized Specialized Crux Comp
Squid Squid Gravtron
Sage Sage Barlow
trek Trek Checkpoint SL 6 eTap
Specialized Specialized Tarmac SL6 Sport
Cervélo Cervélo R5 Force eTap AXS
Cannondale Cannondale Synapse Carbon 1 RLE
Trek District 4 Equipped Stagger
Momentum Momentum Pakyak E+
Hudski Hudski Doggler City
Specialized Specialized Sirrus X 4.0
GT GT Power Performer
Cero Cero One
Aventon Aventon Soltera Singlespeed
tokyobike tokyobike Bisou
specialized Specialized Turbo Vado 4.0
Brooklyn Machine Works Brooklyn Machine Works/ King Kog Collab
Brompton Brompton P Line
Santa Cruz Santa Cruz Chameleon D AL
As Deputy Editor, Tara Seplavy leads Bicycling’s product test team; after having previously led product development and sourcing for multiple bike brands, run World Championship winning mountain bike teams, wrenched at renowned bicycle shops in Brooklyn, raced everything from criteriums to downhill, and ridden bikes on six different continents (landing herself in hospital emergency rooms in four countries and counting). Based in Easton, Pennsylvania, Tara spends tons of time on the road and trail testing products. A familiar face at cyclocross races, crits, and bike parks in the Mid Atlantic and New England, on weekends she can often be found racing for the New York City-based CRCA/KruisCX team. When not riding a bike, or talking about them, Tara listens to a lot of ska, punk, and emo music, and consumes too much social media.
