On the far side of the pond, John Watson at The Radavist has written his Starling Cycles Murmur V3 review.

John makes no secret of the fact that he loves steel mountain bikes, and in particular, the previous-gen Starling Murmur that he rode and review for a long old while. Whilst he was fully sold on the Murmur V2, Joe managed to convince him that the V3 would be the better option.

After a few months on one of our handmade mountain bike frames, John offered this insight:

“My favorite thing to do on the Murmur is a left-hand jump on a local trail that lands you into a sharp, left-hook turn. Hitting the jump just right snaps you into a spring-loading position just before you fire out of the landing in the corner like a catapult.”

It’s not all about the descending either. John’s a big fan of his hardtail for maximum efficiency on the chunky uphills…

“however, with the V3’s geometry tweaks, mainly the 1º steeper seat tube and slightly higher BB, climbing got a bit easier. Now, when I hit a steep section of trail, I’ll scooch forward even more on the saddle, and dig in deeper. The bike practically walks itself up steep switchbacks and tight turns.”

“This new Murmur just proves that with the right kinetic engineering, proper geometry, and tube selection, a steel full suspension bike can offer the same, if not better, performance and ride quality as a carbon bike.”

Music to our ears John.

You can read the full review over on The Radavist website here.

To check out the Starling Cycles Murmur V3, head here.