2.25's came on my Whyte 19 Steel. Very happy with them. Did not expect much from looking at them but they roll well and grip feels fine most of the time. They don't clog wth mud much but they also don't grip with it well either. On dry dustry trails they are fab and they drift lovely before the side knobs bite and they rail round berms.

I plan to run them through the summer for which I think they will be ace, when it turns gloopy later in the year I'll be bunging on something a bit more aggresive.

Hi Jason… this is bizzare… normaly put faces to forum names but doing it this way round is even more fun 8)

It's not about the bike… it's about the cheese.

5 mile rim job on the Friday social ride.

30mins to make it SS for the SSEC2010 after my other bikes wheel died.

Sizing – it's a medium and I am half an inch shy of six foot.

The little things count for a lot – the grips and saddle are fantastic as are the 75mm stem and wide bars… perfect for a play bike like this (IMHO)

One thing I have changed – the steel non carrier type sprockets were cutting into the Hope body after one ride so I switched to an XT which I had around…
I will change the seat quick release – it's too ugly to belong on here… and I will probably change the gears to XT so they match my other bike for easy swappage.

mafu26 – yes – My "Sunday" name is Brian :P

Spoke to Whyte on the phone and the bottom bracket is a known issue with an early batch of the steel 19's. Should be a quick fix and I have the go ahead to do it myself rather than losing the bike to the shop for a few days (as an ex-shop monkey I know what I am doing… as long as I keep clear of the beer before doing this… but you get the point).

I'll possibly remember to take some pictures as well :roll:

PS – I've spoken to ATB/Whyte a few times about the bike and they have been great.

Ah yes… I had a few nips of Taz's green-meanie before the moshing started. Perhaps the two events were linked in some way?

Sorry for using the 'R' word nichemeister – my chain broke during a gentle pootle round the forest :lol:

Brilliant weekend. If anyone fancies a ride and a beer in the North East of Scotland I can be contacted somehow :arrow:

Did you break your Whyte on the sunday afternoon then Messiah? Expensive weekend for you – Dave

Nonono – just the explosif wheel and the Whyte chain during the race… :oops:

Sunday singletrack after the pub was ace… very worth not getting home till midnight for.

That pic is not mine – and that is a Ti 19 :mrgreen: I wish I had the pennies for that.

My 19 Steel came with the SS dropout in a baggy but I didn't have it with me so I used the normal dropout. I also didn't have full tooling so i left the three rings on :oops:

Big hand of thanks from me. Broke two bikes in two days but worth it.

I can say that my Whyte 19 Steel has had a real baptism of fire over the last week. I was at the SSEC2010 at the weekend and on the social Friday ride my retro explosif rear rim exploded, which would have ruined my weekend had I not also packed my week old Whyte 19 Steel.

I bought the 19 steel because I like steel and the adjustable dropouts gave me options… which I was not expecting to need one week after picking it up.

Anyway… 30 mins on the Friday night saw the gears removed and the chain shortened before I had my first beer. The cables all came off in a one'er and will be easy to re-fit.

For the next two days me and the Whyte bonded spectacularly well. It's no weight weenie race bike but it did the job and allowed me to play on the jumps and enjoy the descents more than I would have on my retro rigid V-brake Explosif :roll: . I'm tempted to leave the gears off it for a bit longer but where I live is a bit hillier than the FOD so we shall see. My chain snapped on lap two but some kind soul gave me theirs so I could complete three laps before succumbing to the lure of beer.

Geometry and ride feel are lovely. I'm still fiddling with the forks but so far I am very happy with my purchase except for the bottom bracket which feels a little tight and is not loosening off. I'll drop it in at the shop in the next few days and see what they say…

oops… It fits my design breif… steel, adjustable dropouts, longer than 100mm forks with bolt through, relaxed head angle and short stem :-)

A bit more than just good so far. Handling wise I think it's brilliant; a real playfulness to it which I am enjoying. It's much lighter than the hardcore hardtal I am used to riding and yet it tempts me into launching all the gaps and taking air whenever I can… but unlike must light weight XC bikes it has the geometry to handle the speed and takes the landings without getting all skittery. So far big plus points for the geometry which feels pap on.

How much of what I am enjoying is down to the angles or the "steel" would be an endless debate… but there a softness and spring to it which is much more like my old Explosif SS than it is my Trek 8900.

I'm off to the SSEC on Friday and it's tempting to rip the gears off this and give it a whirl rather than take my usual SS machine?

The bottom bracket is still a bit tight and the BB30 means I cannot fit any kind of bottom bracket mounted chain device… but I think a bike this light suits 3 rings as I'm spending a lot of time in the big ring… it's super fast on the dry trails thanks to the Maxxis Aspen tyres.

It fits my design breif… steel, adjustable dropouts

First ride and it's all positive so far. No idea what a 905 is like although a friend may get one next week. In contrast to my last alloy hardtail this absolutely has the feel of steel which is what I was after… so far I'm smitten with it which is what I would hope to be with any new bike.

First evenings tinkering coming up to apply the copter tape, lower the bars a tad and work out why the BB30 is a little tight.

Note – seatpost is 27.2mm and it does not have the fancy seat quick release… the one on it is a bit poor but I think I have a Salsa which will fit.

The SRAM X5 shifters feel a little "low rent" but I've been an XT man since 93 so they would probably be on the move even if they were great.

Tyres are remarkably grippy. Not great in mud but they seem to keep you going which is fun to spin and bounce the back till they bite – very interesting.

I plan to pick mine up tomorrow…

A walk through the snow is often worth the effort…

Typical question – with £700 in your pocket would you spend it on.

A. Whyte 19 Steel frame (my current favourite for many reasons)
B. Cotic Soul (other favourite but missing the fancy dropouts which I like)
C. Second hand Cove Hummer (example as one in classifieds – known chainsuck issues though)
D. Unknown quantity E-bay frame with possible issues

Or – budget creep on up to…

E. Rock Lobster Ti (not quite the geometry I want)
F. Van Nicholas (again – not quite the geometry I want)
G. Voodoo D-Jab – (Geometry looks good – fancy dropouts)
H. Genesis Altitude Ti – (Geometry looks good)

Or – budget creep even further on up to…

I. Ragley or on one (good geometry etc)
J. Cotic Soda (good geometry etc)

Or – kill wife, get away with it and spend the life insurance on…

K. Whyte Ti (my current top of the line drool machine)

Some decisions are very difficult… but if I was planning to spend £1200 to £2000 for the Ragley or Soda or the Whyte Ti I would probably buy the steel version and ride it for a few months first to be sure I'm happy with the geometry. Second hand value will be high enough to not lose much and at least you know you will love what your getting.

My experience of riding friends cheap Ti bikes means I would not go down that route… geometry is top of how a bike rides, the material it's made from effects the toppings and the lightness of the sponge.

I have one of these I will sell.

I stripped my year old Hope yesterday and I was not overly impressed with what I found; it was full of mud and grit.

The CK I had before was much better sealed but it marked the steerer which I was not happy about.

Past experience with Cane Creek has put me off them and I have had good times with FSA Orbit Extreme – but MX, XLII and lower I have found not to last very well.

I've just ordered an Acros from http://www.balfa.co.uk as I've heard good things about them… I hope it works out for me.

A tensioner will have drag and you can't carry out bizzare fixie experiments with them.

Go with adjustable dropouts.

5 year old Nucleon.

33 x 18 got me round at night with hopeless lights… wrung what you brung 8)

Just use a disc brake hub and bolt a sprocket onto the disc side – problem here is you have to use rim brakes and if you do flip/flop your brakes and wheel dish have to be set up perfectamundo.

Works for me… although quite why you would want to do such a stupid thing I cannot reason :lol:

Gulp… I've just looked at a map and seen where this is being held!

I've not been that far from home since the restraining order.

Excellent information folks… cheers!

It's the new stuff I'm on about… I know all about the old stuff.

Great guy to deal with.

It was green and very very lush.

I'm also looking to replace some Pushed Pike's with Revelations… or possibly Magura Thor?

I'd like the 19 Trail in Alu but the price tag is a bit stee-eep

*tumbleweed*

As above – simple service is easy. I like TFT and it's worth it if you have problems to fix or are after some tinkering within the fork. Push upgrade worth it if you frequently overcome the damping of the fork with your RAD biking powers. The seals that TFT fitted were better than the originals in mine and are probably worthwhile upgrade – enduro's I think. TFT are usually very helpful on the phone.

Balfa Minuteman.

The BlackSpire seatpost is long enough to get me up to the woods, and sinks low enough into the frame for me to get really silly.

2.5" DH tyres on hardtails rule

Hope 6Pot Ti brakes enough for ya?

The Pike forks have blown up a few times on big landings even after I changed to a firm spring . I'm now running the "Push" upgrade and I'm happy on a Firm spring and enjoying the performance … must be the heavy langings to flat

It's a really solid feeling bike with this set up and really happy with it. I doubt I''ll manage to break it but that won't stop me trying

Gratuitous in use shot

I have other bikes but this is my workhorse which see's most of my stupid local forest action and almost never gets cleaned. Roll it out of the garage, ride it out hard, quick wipe with an oily rag, shove in garage, repeat. Local forest is a bike-breaker and my bikes have evolved to get tougher after breaking many frames and parts over the last 18 years of riding. I bit the bullet this year with new wheels and hand me down brakes from my big bike… I wish I had put better brakes on this years ago.

If you think the breathability of Event or Gore-Tex is bad you should try one of the cheaper Hi-Viz bright yellow jackets. I bought an Altura Nightvision a good few years ago and it was pure boil in the bag. It had pitzips and breathable pockets but I still had to really control my effort to prevent swimming in it. I eventually figured out what effort I could make it work at for the hour long commute but it was always best to carry it in the bag – and it was a heavy b*&^&*.
I also had Fox rain jacket that a was see through plastic shell and it was really dreadfull – purely for the DH crowd.

My newer Gore jacket is much better – not brilliant but much better. Don't expect miracles – it's a sweaty sport we do and a certain amount wet inside has to be expected. But at last it's wet and warm when it's cold out.

On a side note – I was at Glentress in the summer and it was raining. I could not believe all the people riding out of the car park with jackets and even trousers on… it was so stupid when it was warm out and all you needed was a long sleeve top and maybe a windproof in the bag.

We mountain bikers seem to be obsessed with "kit", and hence the answer to all the conditions we ride in is to throw more "kit" at them. The less you need to wear the better in my opinion. It's a 30min ride uphill to the forest where I usually ride which is a great warm-up even in the rain, it's also a horrible 10min freeze down on the way back home. I tend to ride-out without a jacket and pack a windproof/waterproof for the way home (in the winter I also pack an extra warm layer and a dry hat). Common sense.

I'm not so sure there is much weight difference between V2 and M4.

Nice pictures and a good quick write up.

If only I could get one these through Halfords with the £1000 bike to work voucher.

Pissing on your mates nearly new XT hubs because it's frozen while your 8+ year Hope is working fine… priceless.

Anything other than the cheese is a distraction.

Slice of apple or grapes to cleans the pallet.

The only reason to drink wine with cheese is if either are rank – cheese and wine parties were invented to hide poor examples of both. :mrgreen:

shouldn't exceed 70?
why the hell not?

I drive on winter tyres and don't hesitate to drive up to the tyre limitation. T rated is 118mph! I use H or V rated tyres & am in Germany almost every week & happily enjoy the autobahn 'limits'.

I put the 70 up with question marks behind it because I remember that from somewhere… which could have been to do with using studs in Norway many years ago? So out I went in the cold to check mine and they are "H" Pirelli "Snowsport" tyres… which means they are good for 130mph. :? But all the speed rating means is that a sample has been tested to 130mph without falling apart. It does not mean they are good at running at that speed for any length of time and give good grip and handling. I'd rather drive by feel and I have to say these don't feel great at much above 70-80… they feel fine and grippy but the rumble and judder begins not to feel great… which is all fine since I don't drive zee German Autobahns every veek :roll:

I live in the NE Scotland. I have winter tyres which I put on for about 4 months a year. If your car has performance low profile tyres the differences are astonishing – especially in the snow but even when there is a lot of water on the road or it's cold out the softer silica tread compounds make a big difference. The downside is the extra drag (a few less mpg) and the extra noise (rumble). They also don't feel as good in the dry and you really shouldn't go above 70 (??????).

As to whether it's worth it… depends how often you change your car… and what price you put on your winter mobility. They are ace for getting up to the mountains in the winter, end of discussion. I used to run studded winter tyres but they became difficult to get hold off, and to be honest the modern silica ones are really good anyway.

From my experience a front wheel drive car with winter tyres will get on better through the snow than a four wheel drive with summer tyres… as long as you keep your right foot in check.

Nothing better than passing stuck four wheel drive cars with your bog standard two wheel drive car :o)

It's a bit like buying winter SPD shoes. You'll wonder how you got on without them, and they make your summer shoes last longer.