Whyte’s new 2017 range is now making its way to bike shops near you. Hannah went along to a local Dealer Day (where your local bike shop goes to view the range and decide what to order in for you to go and buy) to take a peek at what’s new. Here we round up the full suspension bikes for you.
T-129 RS
Price: £2,750
Here we have the T-129RS, 120mm travel front and rear, with Whyte’s SCR ‘Single Chain Ring Suspension’ geometry, which makes use of the space freed up when you don’t have to allow for front mechs and big front chain rings. To quote the Whyte brochure…
“That means symmetrical stays rather than weaker, heavier pipes offset around the chain and tyre. We could also increase the rear pivot span by 20, giving an overall stiffness boost where it’s the most obvious for power delivery and handling precision. Add lower weight, better weather proofing, better durability and simpler, faster sequential shifting and you can see why we’ve extended the advantages of SCR to even more bikes in our range for 2017 as well as featuring SRAM’s incredible 12 speed Eagle transmission on our Works models.”
It’s not all about the Eagle though – Whyte has also flown the new Shimano 11-46 cassette in from Japan specially, so that these new bikes will be some of the first on the market to use them.
Wider wheels – 27mm internal width.
With an increased rear tyre envelope, there’s room for a 2.3in High Roller II – although the bike comes with a 2.25in Maxxis Crossmark II on the rear. As with most Whyte bikes, the tyres are offset, so on the front you get a 2.35in Maxxis Tomahawk TR.
Whyte has taken a different approach to sizing for bikes that come with dropper posts. Since you can now get a much longer stroke of dropper, Whyte has compressed the differences in the seat tube length. So, if you want a longer bike, you can size up but use a shorter stroke dropper. If you want a shorter bike, you can size down.
This bike photographed is an XL, just in case you thought it looked huge…it is.
Shimano XT braking.
This is the T-129 RS, which comes in at £2,750. There’s also the T-129S at £2,299, which is a somewhat louder lime colour.
G-160S
Price: £2,399
This is Whyte’s Enduro ripper. The S Model comes in ‘that’ Lime, while the new RS model is the subtler option.
The RS at £2,999 comes with SRAM Eagle.
Or you can go all out, with the G-160 Works at £4,499.
The Yari on the S is replaced by a Lyrik on the RS and Works models.
Again the SCR geometry makes things symmetrical – and looks like plenty of room for EnduroMud too.
If you’re not going for the SRAM Eagle equipped model, you get SRAM GX. GX for Goshawks? Goshawxx maybe? Oh go on, don’t groan.
T-130S
Price: £2,299
130mm Trail/Enduro bike, this year featuring SRAM Level TL brakes, SRAM GX crankset, and RockShox Reverb Stealth post.
Clearance for that EnduroMud again.
If you like all your components to match, this could be the bike for you.
Nom nom nom, delicious satsuma flavour bike?
T-130C Works
Price: £4,799
If you like the orange but want something higher end, you can go for the carbon fibre option. Also available in a RS model at £3,599.
Carbon models are only available in medium, large, and extra large, so small and extra small frame riders are going to have to look elsewhere. Although don’t forget that Whyte have compressed the sizings, so with a shorter dropper you may be able to size up.
Boing! There we have it, a full range of bounce for every size of bump. If you’re after a few numbers for a bit of a geek out/technical appraisal of the most appropriate bike to fill that space in your shed, here you go:
| Model | T130 | G160 | T-129 |
| Size | M | M | M |
| Head Angle | 67.0 +0/-1 | 66.0+0/-1 | 67.0 +0/-1 |
| Seat Angle | 73.5 | 74.5 | 74 |
| Top Tube | 611.1 | 636.6 | 613.4 |
| BB Height | 331 | 340.5 | 335 |
| Stand Over | 766 | 813.5 | 805 |
| Wheelbase | 1156.5 | 1211.7 | 1176.1 |
| Chain Stay | 420 | 425 | 430.9 |
| Seat Post | 30.9 | 30.9 | 30.9 |
| Head Tube | 115 | 110 | 100 |
| Seat Tube | 431.8 | 431.8 | 431.8 |
If you’re looking for for bang for your buck than boing, hop on over to check out our round up of the 2017 hardtail offerings.
Comments (7)
Comments Closed
I like the ‘just change the length of your dropper’ approach to seat tube height. Smart thinking.
Got mine then immediately went on holiday! At least it means that when I head back home there will be an upside!
offset tires? whats that about then?
Three grand with Eagle? Seems good value. I was expecting it only to be on silly price bikes. Perhaps we now live in a strange world where 3k is normal…
Still loving my G150, and these all look even better.
Does the stand over height remain the same between sizes? If not, I can’t see how changing the saddle height will accommodate different height riders.
Not trying to be snarky, genuinely interested!
andybrad: There’s a gnarlier tyre on the front, and a faster rolling tyre on the back.
LAT: Using the G-160 as an example, standover heights for S,M and L are 805.5, 813.5 and 820.5 respectively. So they’re still different. The seat post length is compressed, so there’s less of a difference between the sizes in this dimension, but there is still a difference in top tube lengths: 607.6, 636.6 and 655.9 respectively to use the same bike as an example.