I bought a T-130 Yari a few weeks ago and I love it. I was having a hard time choosing between an On One Codeine, Bird Aeris, Whyte T-130 and Whyte G-160 but followed head instead of heart.
I’ve got a Commencal Meta AM29 as my other bike and despite them both being trail bikes they are different animals.
Firstly, I can’t comment on suspension as I’m not knowledgeable in that way. Both bikes work just fine for me.
The 29″ wheels on the Meta are a great skills compensator and I thought I’d struggle on the slightly smaller rims – not so. You can feel the 27.5 turn in quicker but it’s incredibly stable and keen to deal with any roots or rocks – I guess that’s because of the slacker geometry and lower BB height.
I’ve swapped the standard tryes – WTB Riddler on the rear and WTB Trail Boss on the front to start with, now running WTB Trail Boss on the rear and a WTB Vigilante on the front. Both tyres were a doddle to set up tubeless on the WTB rims.
Their looks to be a bit of clearance on the rear for a larger tyre but I couldn’t honestly tell you how much (I’ll have a look tonight when I get home).
I was at Cwmcarn yesterday, did a loop of Cafall and T-130 climbed way better than the Meta, descended far quicker than the Meta (though the trail was drier than previous outings). I ventured on to Pedalhounds for the first time. A couple of runs later I was getting myself into ‘hold your breath’ moments whilst the bike dealt with everything in its stride.
I started replying to this thread about five hours ago so apologies if I’ve missed off anything specific.
🙂
Edit – my first two rides were on the standard tyres in the claggy mud of the Surrey Hills. The tyres clogged quite quickly but only on the treads, mud didn’t clog between the tyre and rim. They were some of the muddiest conditions I’ve ridden in too.
