Just come from a little Whyte demo day where I got to test the S-150C Works, then the T-130S and finally the 905. Here's some thoughts...
S-150C Works - took a fair bit of effort to get up to speed and was quite slow to turn in to corners/berms etc - now my (severe lack of) fitness may have had a big factor but it was definitely more of an effort on this vs the other bikes. I would imagine once you're up to speed and if you're hitting some gnar then the 150mm travel 29er would come into it's own, but it just felt slow and ponderous getting up to speed, and if you dropped off the boil you then had to power it back up to speed. It felt light, but not £5500 with a carbon frame, carbon wheels, carbon cranks, carbon bars light - I'm 6ft 3 so tested the XL size, it felt a nice weight - maybe around 29lbs, certainly a few pounds lighter in the hand than the...
T-130S - ...which felt noticeably heavier, being an alloy frame and alloy rims (i29's) as well as no carbon anything. I'd take a guess at 32-33lbs for the XL model I tested. However, instantly, on the first couple of berms I was like 'yeah, this is much better!!' - it was far easier to get up to speed, much quicker to accelerate and much better through tight berms and corners. Overall just a lot more flickable and eager to turn, and less effort to climb and get up to speed. Overall I was far less tired on the T-130 than on the S-150 - this may have been down to me being on my second run so it was less of a shock to the system but I did feel like it took less effort to ride. The revelation RC's felt great, although I don't think the sag on the pikes on the S150 were set right as they were much harsher. I'd be happy with the Rev RC's on a future bike though, nice and plush.
Both the above bikes had GX or XX1 eagle which was awesome, the Hope rear hub on the S150 sounded amazing. 😀 The both climbed extremely well, no noticeable pedal bob when sitting and spinning and I kept both in the 'open' mode on the rear shock, really didn't see the need for anything else. They gave no more than 5-10% away on the climbs to the...
905 - ...which even though you could feel the bike surge forward with each pedal stroke, didn't really climb much better than the 2 FS bikes. It handed similarly to the T-130, nice and quick to accelerate, quick and flickable in the corners, but then of course, there's the comfort. I'm the wrong side of 35 now so this is a big factor, and even on the relatively smooth fire road climb and with 2.8" tyres I could feel the bumps impacting my sitbones, when riding some rougher stuff it just confirmed one single fact.
I need a full suspension bike.
The lack of eagle meant I was going for another gear when climbing when there wasn't one there, it was a lovely bike but comfort is just such a huge factor that I don't think a hardtail will be on my shortlist now. Hitting some small elevated drops where the FS bikes would have the rear pop up a little but otherwise feel composed, the HT rear end bucked up below me. The 2.8 tyres did have loads of grip though, but they seemed a bit more draggy that the 2.3's on the 2 FS bikes, and they certainly didn't make up for the lack of suspension in the comfort stakes.
So, 27.5 medium travel FS it is!!
I did about 8-9 miles in total, 3x 2.5 miles runs plus one part twice on the first run, on pretty smooth trails with some man made features (a rock garden descent, several rock 1ft drops, and a flat rock garden. Nothing too challenging but a nice mix of up and down and pedally flat bits with some bits to test out the suspension.
All 3 bikes fitted me well, they all have similar vaguely similar geometry:
S-150: 65.6 HA | 74.3 SA | 490 reach | 1251.6 wheelbase | 435 chainstay
T-130: 67 HA | 73.2 SA | 483 reach | 1196 wheelbase | 420 chainstay
905: 65 HA | 73 SA | 476 reach | 1221 wheelbase | 430 chainstay
It's possible that the longer wheelbase and longer chainstays of the S-150 made the handling seem slower on top of the bigger momentum caused by the wheels, another bike I'm looking at is the Virus Escarpe VR which has the following stats:
Escarpe VR 27.5: 66 HA | 74.5 SA | 495 reach | 1234 wheelbase | 435 chainstay
Hopefully this will have the stability with the longer chainstays, reach and wheelbase but with the flickability and acceleration of the 27.5 wheels, the best of both worlds 😀
Definitely try other brands before buying. I tested several Whytes and they all rode like a sack of spuds. Eventually bought a Scott Genius, the difference is night and day!
Yeah I will do - I'm going to the MBR demo day in FOD in April so should be good for trying a few bikes.
Oh and to add - I'm not a hugely experienced rider, I used to do loads of riding about 13-15 years ago but have been out a few times over the last few months on hire/demo bikes. So my thoughts will be different to an experienced rider, things that are important for me might not be for a very fit rider.
The Whyte t130 is a brilliant bike ..however comparing it to a bike which cost almost twice as much is not a direct comparison ( but I very much doubt it's twice the bike !)..
The Whytes (and long/low/slack bikes in general) do favour more advanced or aggressive riders. If you don’t get your weight forward over the front they understeer which only gets worse on steep descents.
The S150 will ‘feel’ slower handling as it is one of the new range of reduced offset bikes, so increased trail on the front wheel will be more stable but require more effort to initiate a turn. 29” wheels will add to this vs the t130. It is more of a feature than a fault though and I’m sure most would easily adapt to it, however I can imagine it feeling a bit unwieldy at slow speeds.
I have a T130c and it is great by the way! Very good all rounder and for what is now a 4 year old model it is still up to date geometry wise.
T130 is a great all-round bike, fun and playful but it can do fast as well. Not as fast over really stuff as a 29er or longer travel bike but just so versatile. The carbon T130 is now a 3 year old design, i’d expect a new or revised version for 2019 MY, I’ll be interested to see what they do with it!
I'm sure where I rode had an effect on how the bikes felt, for me I'll be riding mostly swinley, Surrey hills, friston, bedgebury (which is where the event was) and local trails in and around Maidstone (bluebell hill, north downs way).
Smooth pedally trails with tight berms probably don't suit the s150 the best!
Also this was my first ride on a modern full suspension bike since about 15 years ago, I was expecting them to be efficient when pedalling/climbing but not as good as they were, it was hard to tell I was on a FS bike tbh.
It's all good feedback though, I think for my style of riding a long travel 29er would be overkill except for maybe the odd holiday to the Alps, there was one short sharp climb which I made it up on both the 905 and s-150 but had to walk on the t-130 so that's possibly where the lower weight came into it, but I'm sure as my fitness improves the difference will be reduced.
Interesting thread.....
I've narrowed my next bike down to either a 905 or a T-130 but haven't ridden either yet. Been riding since 1988 but not so much since 2012. Current rig is a 26" titanium hardtail which I've had for years and it's great, but something that can handle trail centres and well as climbing old xc style is what I want.....I'd appreciate ideas on this!
Get some rest rides, especially if you've never ridden a modern full suspension bike.
ta11pau1
Have you decided / bought a bike yet ..if so what did you go for ?
Wheelbase in Staveley have knocked 1k off 2018 models ..T130rs
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Yeah I bought a Vitus Escarpe VR 27.5 a few months ago, although I test rode the whytes they didn't offer enough value at the normal prices. The escarpe is a good all round trail bike, 140/150mm, a bit longer than the T-130 but quite similar.
Just looked at the sale, the RS model is very good value, 34 performance elite forks will be very good.
