Direct sales outfit Propain are a relatively new bike company. At Eurobike 2016, we caught up with founder Robert Krauss, and talked through their range for 2017.
I reviewed the Tyee CF earlier this year and, *cough*, quite liked it. The Tyee has had a few tweaks for 2017, becoming available in a wider range of builds, with a wider range of travel too. First though, the brand new Spindrift:
Here’s the 2017 Spindrift. It’s a 180mm, single crown hooning machine.As well as this Cane Creek DB Coil CS, it’s also available with various air shocks.There were Propain branded hubs on many of the bikes at their stand this year.Though as specced on most of their bikes so far, they’re sticking with Sixpack Racing finishing kit…… Magura brakes …… and Onza rubber.Krauss said that equipment has got to the point where you can design a 180mm bike that’ll ride well and not be hell to pedal on climbs, hence the Spindrift. That said, it does seem to be solidly aimed at bike park riding.As with the Tyee, it gets that neat carbon fibre mudguard.Plus internal routing. If the 180mm Lyrik didn’t already, the complete lack of bottle cage bosses or front derailleur mounts should make the intent of this bike clear.Also new for 2017 is the Rage CF, Propain’s first full carbon downhill bike.You see those headset cups with the offset steerer holes? They’re flippable to make the reach adjustable by plus or minus 10mm. There are also concentric cups to put it at 0mm.The flip chips above that distracting SRAM X0 give you a length adjustment too. The short position gives a chainstay length of 445mm, the long 459mm, which, as we say up here in Yorkshire, is HYOWGE, but it gives stability at high speeds.Oh the DH bike, the carbon mudguard reappears, but extended up and down.Also as you’d expect for a downhill bike, room for a dropper wasn’t the primary design consideration.Even compared to most carbon fibre bikes, the lines in this frame are all clean and organic looking.Curiously, it has a Float X2 rather than a coil shock.Again with those Propain hubs.The text on the seatstay says “Pain is temporary”. Look down to the Tyee frames below to see what the other side says.Many bikes on the stand were being shown with Sixpack’s new Kamikaze saddles, rather than the Fizik ones that have been specced before.For a start, while rear travel remains at 160mm, it’s been tweaked for metric shocks, and it’ll now also take up to a 170mm fork.Here’s the 2017 Tyee CF. The Tyee frameset has a few tweaks to open up suspension options.It still has the Magura MT7 stoppersBut two of the three models available now have SRAM Eagle. Oh, and while we’re in this area…… “Pain is temporary. Glory lasts forever”.This shock arrangement may look vulnerable to UK guck, but with sag, that guard moves a bit lower down the shock body. which makes sense: fork seals withstand muck in this orientation, and so can shocks.Depending on what configuration and model of Tyee you go for, you could end up with a Lyrik, Pike, Yari, or Fox 34.It may have SRAM Eagle on the back, but it’s paired up with a Truvativ Descendant crankset.Yep, 170mm.Here’s the Tyee CF AM. If 160mm is more than you need, this has 145mm travel at the rear, and a max fork travel of 150mm.For the first time, it’s also a Tyee that ships with Fox suspension.Smaller brakes what for smaller riding. If four pots give you too much stop (and those MT7s have a *lot* of stop), these might suit you more.Like the Tyee above, this build also features SRAM Eagle with Truvativ Descendant Carbon cranks.While I was riding a Tyee, a few people asked about this odd lateral offset on the shock.It’s for this well concealed front mech mounting point! None of the Tyees ship with 2x, but the option is there if you want it.The alloy Tyee has had the same geometry tweaks for metric shocks and 170mm forks in 2017.As well as that, the wheels have those new Stans Flow MK3 rims.Robert said they haven’t promoted it much so far, but 1st Ride is Propain’s own brand for kids bikes and components.The Frechdax full suspension kids bike has been around for a few years…… but the Dreckspatz hardtail is new for 2017.1st Ride components are not only designed proportionally for tiny riders, but also meant to be light enough for them to enjoy riding too.These 1st ride forks are largely made from carbon fibre.They also have their own rims…… bars…… and saddles.No skimping though, even the kids get Magura brakes and Shimano 1×10.The widest of these is 680mm. Just showing that, for 2017 at least, all the things we used to ride are now too small for grown-ups but just right for rad kids.No dropper posts for kids yet, but surely that’s only a matter of time?Okay, we may have been on narrow bars in the past, but we didn’t used to ride pedals that tiny.
David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly.
Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.
