Whyte T129 won it though, Zesty came third.

How’d it get 4.5/5 then ?

Don’t get me wrong I like Zestys

I thought that. seemed a bit critical.

but I think its all wrong and bollox as mine wasn’t in the top three. 😆

Whose the Distributor, advertise much do they?

The Whyte won- definitely not a top advertiser (and Nukeproof/Hotlines, Specialized and Orange, much bigger advertisers, didn’t win) But hey.

it says the shocks are rubbish.

It says they set it up wrong and it didn’t work too well, so they fixed it. More an observation that it’s sensitive to setup than a major criticism, I reckon?

Test fail. My bike was not on the list of tested bikes. I guess it’s too boutique. If it was it would have won I sure 😉

Dont they have those stupid push fit BB that give up after a few months ?

Don’t buy a bike without a test ride?

tbh, i don’t think a 150mm Zesty is really a “trail” bike these days. yes, you CAN use it as a trail bike, but nothing they rode in those videos needed 150mm of travel. So i agree, as a “trail” bik, the T-129 is “better” Add in the higher price and it’s even further behind.

But, if you wanted a bike that you could say also take to the alps once a year, then it would clearly be a much better proposition that either of the other two.

These ‘of the year’ tests just crack me up. They now just remind me of Harry Hill and his comedy ‘of the week’ sketches – like ‘Over-ambitious cucumber fold-over of the week’ (check it out on youtube) and therefore I can’t take them seriously any more.

Like we’ve all been sat here on the edge of our seats, biting our nails awaiting the outcome of a test conducted by a group of riders, probably not that different to a lot of us on here, to see what their opinion is of a selection of bikes that they deem worthy of entering the competition. The test is tosh, ignore it and buy the bike that looks the best, they’re all good these days.

I have a lot of respect for bike companies who don’t do annual changes/releases “look at how we made what you bought look like dog eggs” make properly, release for 2/3 years with running gear upgrades then make the next one better. A bike doesn’t become bad on the 31st December it panders to the “Bike is Good on Paper” crowd who frankly talk a bad game and play a bad game 🙂

🙄 @ bolo

“The main culprit was the basic ‘Evolution’ damper in the rear shock, but excess dive and twang under braking from the 150mm travel Fox 32 forks really didn’t help.”

sounds rubbish to me.

“The main culprit was the basic ‘Evolution’ damper in the rear shock, but excess dive and twang under braking from the 150mm travel Fox 32 forks really didn’t help.”

sounds rubbish to me.

Meaningless without context- many of the other bikes in the test were also on 32s.

Didn’t the same mag rate the Trance 29 as its favourite 29 trail bike and unstoppable when compared with anthem. Then include the anthem (XC?) as #2 in trail bike of the year. Bizarre IMO

Mattgj
when i said the whyte is a load if shit I wrote it because i am seriously gutted with it. it is no where near as good to ride as my old Orange on my local trails. the orange was solid and the white just feels like it is going to fall apart and it dont jump like the orange either. One thing i will praise about the whyte is that it was awesome riding it on the road to work this moring really fast.. only problem i wanted a mountain bike not a road bike. only sold the orange because i fell out of love with it.. the cost of upkeep for that bike was unbelievable and i got it in my head i needed a new bike.

I bought the mag for the feature. Forgetting any bias/advertising type conspiracies the article did seem to contain a number of inconsistencies eg criticise one bike for its weight but not mention it for another of the same weight. Reading the whole mag brought more, particularly regarding the zesty, bike of the year versus ‘our bikes’.

3100 pounds for a bike with poor forks and cheapo rear shock – yet rated the third best bike made this year.

that’s why

3100 pounds for a bike with poor forks and cheapo rear shock – yet rated the third best bike made this year.

You do understand the difference between relative and absolute measurement don’t you?

boloclips: Sorry to hear that you are not loving the new bike, but I’d be fascinated to hear more. It is so rare to hear a negative review of a new bike that somebody has just bought(assuming you are not just winding us all up).

In what way does it feel like it will fall apart? Is it just flexing more. I’ve just been testing an Orange Gyro having spent a while riding an (older) Five and had the opposite feeling, with the Gyro feeling noticeably stiffer than the Five. Could it just be flex in the wheels?

Jumping is an alien world to me, but I wonder in what way it can be harder to jump. The overall weight of the bike (plus you of course) can’t be significantly different to the Five. So, if you launch if off the same slope it should go as far. Is it just the suspension not giving you the same “pop”?