Whyte T-120s

Whyte T-120e 2011

The T-120 is Whyte’s new 120mm travel full susser. In common with some of the other bikes in the Whyte and Marin range the top tubes are now a little roomier and they run shorter stems, this brings them up to date with ‘modern geometry’. Out on the trail it is light and nimble and well balanced. The longer top tube gives you a bit more space, but the use of a shorter stem still gives you the control you require. This bike positively zips up climbs, the light weight encourages you to push yourself just that little bit harder!

Linky linky

The linkages have gone on a bit of a diet and the whole mounting arrangement to the main frame has been revised, and it has those rather natty anodised bearing covers too!

Front view

Worth noting is the X9 / X7 drivetrain. This was my first time on SRAM’s ten speed set up. I’ve had a decent amount of experience of Shimano’s ten speed SLX now and it’s interesting to see the differences between the two. Like most people I’ve chatted to I find Shimano’s use of the triple with ten speed on the rear rather odd. There are obvious advantages to going to a 2 x 10 set up:

• Less weight
• Less prone to chain suck
• Improved front clearance

To cut a long story short though I loved the SRAM set up, you will find you spend most of your time in the ‘big’ ring though. With a 36t cassette on the back most of the time there is little need to drop to the inside chainring. But of course it’s still there to bail you out if you need it. A great system, I loved it! It’s a shame it’s not retrofittable to existing frames as I’d love to whack a set on the hummer.

Whyte 146

Whyte 146

Here we have something that is definitely more my style! Previously Whyte had the 46 that was pitched as being a bit of a trail centre machine, longer travel for the downhills, but still light enough to climb well too. Well this is the updated version, swoopy carbon long travel lushness with a bombproof feel, light weight and sweet handling.

Front view

Swinging my leg over this bit of lushness I immediately felt at home, it was just like riding my El Guapo, but more annoyingly somewhat lighter and better! It’s decked out with some nice kit, new Easton Haven goodies and a mix of X-9 and X-0. As I said above the 2 x 10 drivetrain is really faultless and really suits this bike well too. Worth noting on both bikes are the new SRAM cranks too, I think they’ve finally got it right with the styling of these, previously if you wanted non shimano generally you got FSA or Truvative and these look way better (in my opinion anyway!).

X-0

New slimmer Y link

So how did it ride? I absolutely loved it, as far as I’m concerned it’s perfection for this sort of long travel trail bike. Laid back, stable and confident, light weight too.

Hopefully this has given you a bit of a flavour for these two, definitely worth seeking out a demo bike once they become available and seeing what they’re all about.

Hummerlicious

A selection of Morvelo riders were there as well as Rob Dean and Jo Burt, I knew it was going to hurt, lets face it a Yorkshireman on a singlespeed was not going to be slow!

Pre ride chit chat with Adrian, Jo, Rory, Andrew and Phil

Posted via email from jimbosussexmtb’s posterous

So while this is a bit of a bike test I only got about an hour on it as I had to wrestle it out of JP's hands!! There a few noticeable changes to Marin's previous designs, the front triangle has a bit less of the hydroforming now and somewhat straighter tubes as a result. The shock mounts have been slimmed down and the top one features the new design 'Y link', very neat looking. As this is a short travel machine the rear swingarm has been slimmed down too, all in all resulting in a neat looking package with very nice lines.

So how does it ride? Well in a word very nicely. If you didn't know the travel before you rode it you'd be suprised to find it's only 100mm travel front and rear! It whips through the singletrack and the light(ish) weight means it's a good climber too (although this prototype had plain gauge front tubes, not the butted ones the final bike will have so it was carrying a bit of extra metal). The front triangle is a bit longer than previous bikes and is fitted with a shorter stem resulting in a sweet handling machine.

Also worth mentioning is the fact this bike came with the new 10 speed SLX drivetrain on it. As usual Shimano's super light shifting action was present. The front chainrings differ from the usual ratios and are now 24/32/42 and we had a 12 to 36 on the back. The result is a lot less shifting around. You can stay in the middle ring more than you would with a 9 speed set up as you have a lower gear for those steeper hills, although to be honest in the dry conditions we spent most of the ride in the big ring! All in all it functioned beautifully, I can't wait to get some onto my bikes…

So we can't wait to get our mitts on the finished item now and give it a blast….

Hummerlicious

Posted via email from jimbosussexmtb’s posterous

Posted via email from jimbosussexmtb’s posterous

It’s long been rumoured that MTB’s would be following on from the lead of road components and go ten speed. What’s interesting though is the somewhat different approaches both SRAM and Shimano have taken. SRAM have decided to go for ten at the back, but drop to two rings up front. Shimano however have stuck with the triple up front. I guess there are pros and cons for both and I’m sure we’ll see over the coming months which proves to be more reliable.

Myself well I prefer the look of 2 x 10 and I reckon SRAM have finally managed to make some cranks that look pretty nice, goodness knows it’s taken them long enough!

Anyway, below are some pictures of the new kit, enjoy…

X9 Crankset

SLX Crankset

X9 Cassette

SLX Cassette

Ride 1: Titus FTM carbon

Titus FTM carbon

I was keen to try the FTM carbon, it’s a similar beast to the Marin Attack Trails that I love so much, so the comparison would be interesting. Obviously it’s a bit unfair to compare the two as they are at somewhat different ends of the price spectrum, but they are certainly very similar in terms of travel and aimed at being good all rounders.

You notice the smooth carbon lushness first, then the low weight. This bike was pretty sensibly specced with XT stuff and yet on the climb it felt like I had a giant hand at my back pushing me up the hill! This bike flies uphill easily and smooths out the trail beautifully. The front / rear balance of the suspension was good and it tackled the sheep trail with ease.

Dropping back down through the golf course down the steep chalky descent it was no drama at all, I kept the brakes off and got to the bottom with a big grin on my face.

So as I said at the top, only a really quick spin, but first impressions were good. This is a light, capable all rounder that climbs well and descends well too. However the frame on it’s own does cost almost as much as an entire Marin Attack Trail 6.8, so obviously you’ve really got to want one. But then if you’re considering a frame like this price usually isn’t your first concern.

Ride 2: Whyte 19 steel

Whyte 19 steel

At nearly £500 cheaper than the Whyte 19 the 19 steel could be seen as the poor relation, but I think that is more than a little unfair. Componentry aside they offer two different ride feels for sure. I rode the 19 trail a while back and absolutely loved it, it’s an absolute trail weapon, it’s light weight and fantastic handling make it a great bike for round these parts. The aluminium frame is not harsh at all, but some of you out there may be looking for that famous steel ‘zing’ and a more comfortable ride. This bike delivers big time, I absolutely loved it. It just felt comfortable and well connected the whole time. The fact I was shouting at the guy on the El Guapo to get off the brakes on the downhill should tell you something

So don’t think of  it as the poor relation to the 19 trail, it has a character all of it’s own and is great fun to ride, why not give it a whirl?

Ride 3: Titus El Guapo

Titus El Guapo

This was the bike everyone wanted to ride, it was specced to the absolute max with the lushest kit you could possibly imagine on it! Obviously the first thing you notice is the weight, yes not nearly as weighty as a Marin, but then it costs a lot more too. It uses the same horst link configuration as Specialized and is pretty active, you can see this as a positive or a negative really, but if you put the pro pedal on for climbing it’s not really a handicap. The plus point is of course that when you get to the top of the hill and turn round to come back what you have is a super plush machine that tracks the ground perfectly and gets you where you want to go, quickly.

This was the only bike that I did the downhill by the golf course without braking, it feels as solid as a rock, firmly attached to the terrain.

There will be a more thorough review to follow, because I liked it so much I bought one

Ride 4: Genesis Alpitude

Genesis Alpitude

I took the Genesis Alpitude as an ‘old faithful’ at the end, I’ve put in a few miles on this bike already and it’s good fun. You can read what I though here.

So there you go, the demo day was good fun, unfortunately the weather was less than fantastic and the numbers suffered a little bit. But we all got some rides in on the bikes we wanted to try and I ‘accidentally’ bought one

Hummerlicious (or Guapalicious!)

The Alpitude differentiates itself from the Altitude by it’s slacker angles, beefier tubing and longer travel fork. When you first lay eyes on this bike the low slung frame and long fork make it look mean as hell and you know it means business.

The top tube is dropped with a neat gusset linking it to the seat tube, not unlike the Pace hardtail frames. The main triangle tubes are made from Reynolds excellent 853 steel and are oversized (although still skinny when compared to an aluminium frame), the compact rear triangle is made from much more slender tubing and the overall result is a very pleasing looking frame. It also has the nice (almost essential) UK friendly addition of crud catcher bosses on the underside of the downtube, which proved very handy on my two test rides! It also has chain guide mounts should you want to fit a chain retention device or perhaps a Hammerschmidt crank.

Genesis Alpitude

It’s kitted out with pretty much an entire SLX groupset, the only differences being the rear mech (upgraded to XT) and the shifters (downgraded to Deore). As is usual with a full Shimano build it all works together faultlessley, with the light action of the shifting a real pleasure to use. The highlight though is the buttery smooth Rock Shox Revelation fork, but more on that later.

After a bit of fiddling with the set up I finally arrived at what seemed to be a good compromise on the tyre pressure, it was very muddy and 25psi seemed to stike a good comfort / grip balance.

One of the unique features of this bike is despite the slack head angle the seat angle is quite steep, this makes it an exceptionally well mannered climber, there’s little in the way of front wheel wander when climbing, except on all but hte steepest climbs, and even this can be dialled out by dropping the fork down to a shorter travel temporarily.

Genesis Alpitude

So how does it ride? Well in a word fun. It wants you to ride quick, it needs you to ride quick. When you really start to push it the bike comes to life, the ‘twang’ of the steel frame is really enjoyable as you speed your way through the singletrack. The compact back end makes manualling over roots and obstacles a piece of cake.

Turn the terrain steep and gnarly and it excells. It’s easy to get your weight off the back and the fork does a great job of keeping everything tracking smoothly in the direction you want to go. Popping of jumps and drops with ease is the name of the game, again the fork saves you if you get it a bit wrong.

You can push it as hard as you like on the downhills and it just laughs back at you, it’s a bike for scaring your mates who have paid significantly more on a full suspention bike as you buzz their rear tyres and then overtake with a grin on your face!

Genesis Alpitude

The only real downside would say is maybe it would climb a bit better if it was a bit lighter. But that said it would probably be at the expense of it’s bombproof descending ability, so perhaps it’s just that I need to get a bit fitter.

For the price this is an amzing bike for riding round these parts, South or North downs singletrack will be hammered with ease and in all likelyhood the only limitation will be your ability to hang on when it encourages you to really go for it.

Hummerlicious

Ice Bike 2010 – Saracen Kili Flyer Ti

Originally uploaded by 18bikes

A lot of you guys out there probably see Saracen from their ‘Ur bike iz saracen’ Halfords days, but some of us can just about cast our minds back to the first explosion of popularity this MTB’ing thing we love so much had.

Saracen were there and their steel frames were something to aspire to, the top end models were sweet. Well Madison have set out to rejuvenate the brand and they have some pretty nice looking bikes too.

But here we have the Saracen Kili Flyer in Ti. Will it get made in 2011? Well I hope so, it makes me go all misty eyed and nostalgic!!

I’ve managed to get two good rides in on this bike, one on the last month’s Quest ride on the south downs and one on a Sussex-MTB ride on the north downs. Also I did the SD ride with the chainstays on long and the ND ride with them short just to see the difference.

Unfortunately though the weather was pretty appaling for both so I’ve not really had a chance to fully let rip on the 19, hopefully I’ll get it again some time in the future though, I certainly hope so as it’s great fun to ride!

So what about the bike? Well the first thing I really noticed was the weight. This bike weighs around 24lbs and as such is nearly 4lbs lighter than my Hummer! My god you notice the difference, though most of that is probably down to the fact I have a coil Pike on the Hummer and that does make it rather lardy.

Whyte 19 trail - excuse my fence!

So back to the Whyte, it’s really nicely specced, to be honest the same sort of spec that any of the Sussex-MTB boyz (or indeed lots of other riders) would actually choose themselves; Fox forks, SRAM X0 gears, Thomson seatpost and stem, Easton carbon bars and of course the lovely new Hope brakes which look like lush machined jewels!!

Hope brakes

So really there’s nothing there that you would want to change from the off, except maybe the crank, but that really depends how much of a tart you are. Truvativ have come a long way with their styling now and the Stylo chainset fitted not only looks good but goes with the styling of the bike very nicely.

Bling!

The ride? In a word nippy! They say “light enough to race, tough enough for trails”. I certainly wouldn’t argue with that. Point this bike uphill and it’s like having an invisible hand pushing you, it’s so light it flies, the balance is great with the 120mm fork long enough to soak up the bumps, but not so long you struggle to keep the front end down the the steep climbs.

Adjustable drop outs - in 'short' mode

The bike is super stable descending, especially with the chainstays on their ‘long’ setting. However I enjoyed it the most with them as short as you could run it. It gave the bike a more playful feel and made it a piece of cake to manual off roots and drops. Initially I struggled to bond with it on the more technical trails of the north downs, however I stopped for a while and took the time to adjust the fork more for my riding ’style’ (I use the word loosely). Speeding up the rebound made all the difference to me as the fork was packing down a bit over multiple root sections. With the rebound adjusted though it was more to my taste and I was able to forget that I wasn’t on someone else’s bike and really let rip on it and just enjoy the ride. Most notably when Michael shouted “Come on grandad” to me at the top of ‘Barry know’s best’. He was forced to eat his words as I overtook him into the first big berm and beat him to the bottom

So what do I think? This bike is a lightweight trail mashing monster. You’d be hard pressed to find something as light and as durable for blasting around these parts. Thoroughly recommended.

Now I’m looking forward to trying the next demo, the new Genesis that’s in the shop.

Don’t forget you can swing your leg over the Whyte or indeed any of the other bikes that are lined up for the 2010 DEMO DAY which is on March the 20th. Contact the shop for more details………

Hummerlicious

Excuse my fence!

This weekend I’ve had the new Marin Attack Trail 6.8 for company. I’ve been looking forward to riding this bike since I saw the new catalogue. I was a big fan of last year’s Attack Trail and I wondered how the new one would compare. There have been a few changes and some weight shed too, so it all looked promising. The travel has been pushed up to 150mm and last year’s Pikes have been replaced with Revelations, the rear shock is a Monarch. Gone is the large plate gusset on the front end, replaced by a much more pleasing looking tube.  The headtube is tapered and the downtube has been beefed up a bit too. The shock links have also been machined out and lightened up too.

New links

Tapered headtube

It would also seem that finally Truvativ have managed to make an attractive set of cranks with the Stylos, very nice. Not bad in the weight stakes either, hopefully the black will stay on the sides and wear well. Amazingly I am well known for my rather cack footed pedalling style but despite all the mud I never scratched it up with my heels.

Stylo cranks

Speaking of which on last years bike I caught my heels once or twice on the swing arm and on the links too, but it didn’t happen at all on this bike, maybe it has been slimmed down a bit?

So how does it ride?

Well I think my companions on the Swinley ride will tell you I was loving this bike from the off. I’m not quite sure how my ’style’ of riding is best described, but this bike fits me like a glove. I never once even thought about how it was preforming, I just rode it with a grin on my face.

Tweakage

The Attack Trail is well at home on the singletrack, but you do have to keep an eye on your pedals as sometimes you can clout them on trail obstacles. But it’s the downhill sections where it really announces it’s intentions, somewhere along the lines of “Is that the best you can do?”. It’s really stable, flickable, and unusually it manuals at the drop of a hat. Those last minute hucks off trail obstacles are easily accomplished and the 150mm of travel are a real get out of jail free during those awkward moments!

Berm fun

The downside? Well I guess if there is one it would be this bike is never going to win any uphill races. However that said it does seem to be lighter than the previous model and you don’t really notice the weight that much. Coming from a bike that is a few pounds lighter than this I can’t say I really felt handicapped. There is an unexpected bonus though, on a steep climb when the bike is in the granny ring the quad link system seems to seek out every last bit of grip there is, providing you can get forward on the saddle and get low you’ll still be riding when your fellow riders are off and walking. It shouldn’t be possible on a bike like this, but it is

Verdict:

So what do I think? I love it. Is this much travel really necessary on a bike round here? Well I ride a hardtail, so clearly no! But if you want a really comfy bike that climbs well, descends like a mini downhill bike, is quick and nimble through the singletrack this is the daddy. You can ride the Attack Trail all day and not feel beaten up. It really is a hoot to ride. It encourages you to ride like a loony and rewards you by getting you to the end in one piece with a big grin on your face, you can’t ask for more than that!

Hummerlicious