First Ride Whyte Part One – T130

Neil from Whyte popped by last week to show is some of the 2016 models. So naturally, we grabbed them, and ran off into the hills with them for an hour or two (I know! During work!). Over the next few days we’ll let you know what we thought of all of them… first up, here’s the T130, which is, surprisingly, 130mm of aluminium trail-terrorist.

The T130 RS is a sleek looking thing, all colour-coordinated graphics and flowing lines; we were pretty excited to have a test ride. The bike is specced rather nicely – a Boosted Pike RC with 130mm of travel up front, Monarch Debonair RT3 at the back; a XT 1×11 drivetrain with a RaceFace Turbine chainset, XT stoppers, Reverb, a Boosted back end. Geometry seems to tick all the right trail shredding boxes too: 67 degree head angle, size specific seat angle (our Medium was 73.5 degrees), and comfy-long rather than super-stretched out – 449mm of reach on our Medium, with a 50mm stem. Chainstays are a very-commendable-indeed 420mm, and at the other end, handlebars are 760mm wide. So let’s get on board and see what’s what…

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Firstly, any ride out of the valley requires a substantial climb to start off with. And the position was pretty impressive in that regard – you’re over the front enough that it didn’t get too wandery. There are lockouts, but the suspension is sorted enough that you don’t really need them – there seems to be minimal pedal feedback even if you’re properly mashing the pedals (although in this circumstance there is a small amount of bob, it’s not really a problem). There are plenty of gears with a 32T front and a 42T; there isn’t much climbing you’d struggle with.

Tyre choice also met with a thumbs up – WTB Trail Bosses are pretty good all-round rubber, and they managed to cope admirably with the few (hence very sketchy) off-camber rooty traverses hereabouts, and descending was all about the numbers – on these first impressions, the geometry works well. Plenty of cockpit space and front end stability worked with the short back to keep things chuckable – even if the weather of late meant that descents were definitely of the ‘aargh’ variety.

The RS retails for £2,750. And after this brief taste, we’re looking forward to a full meal soon… You can find more details on Whyte’s website here.

Barney Marsh

Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.

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