Up next in 10
Jump on board with Wil for the first ride on the brand new Whyte S-120 test bike!
As part of our ongoing foray into the new-school 29er trail bike world, we recently got our hands on a 2019 Whyte S-120 C RS. With 29in wheels and 120mm of travel at both ends, the S-120 slots right into the short-travel trail bike category. Here it sits alongside fellow contemporaries like the Specialized Stumpjumper ST, the Merida One-Twenty, and Giant Trance 29. As you’ll see though, this one doesn’t exactly follow the status quo.
Shortly after pulling the S-120 out of its cardboard box and getting it built up in the workshop, I took the new test bike out to one of my local test loops. I clipped on a couple of GoPros, plugged in a lapel mic, and hit the record buttons to take you along for the first ride...
Want more details on this radical short-travel ripper? Get everything you need to know right here: https://singletrackworld.com/2019/03/2019-whyte-s-120-rs-first-look-video-enduro/
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0:01
[Music]
0:11
Hey everyone, welcome to Singletrack. My
0:13
name is Will, and behind me here I have
0:15
a brand new test bike. In fact, this
0:17
bike is so new, I've not ridden it yet,
0:19
but I'm about to take you guys out for
0:21
the very first test ride.
0:23
[Music]
0:31
Now, as usual, if this is your first
0:32
time joining us, make sure you hit that
0:34
subscribe button so you get notified of
0:36
all the new videos we have coming your
0:37
way in the near future. For everybody
0:39
else, welcome back to the show. Right,
0:42
so the bike in question here, we have
0:43
the Whyte S-120. This is a 120 mm travel
0:47
29er trail bike. It's sort of a burly XC
0:50
/ lightweight trail bike, but in typical
0:52
Whyte fashion, it has some pretty
0:54
radical geometry, which I think makes it
0:56
rather special, at least on paper
0:58
anyway. We've got a 65 and 1/2° head
1:01
angle, which is really slack for a bike
1:02
of this genre. We've got a long top
1:05
tube. The medium bike that I'm riding
1:06
here has a reach of over 450 mm, so
1:09
quite slack, quite long. Now, there are
1:11
loads of really neat features on this
1:13
bike. I'm not going to go into too much
1:14
detail on those right now. What we're
1:16
going to do though, is we are going to
1:17
get out on the trail. I'm going to take
1:18
you along with me. The idea of this
1:20
first ride is for me to get acquainted
1:22
with the new test bike. So, it's an
1:23
opportunity to get familiar with the
1:25
bike and get it dialed in for longer
1:27
term testing. So, if you've got any
1:28
questions for me while you're watching
1:30
this video, drop them into the comment
1:31
section below, and I'll do my best to
1:32
answer them for you. But right now,
1:34
we'll jump on the bike, and we'll get
1:35
out on the trail. Alrighty.
1:38
Okie doke. So, we are starting on the
1:41
section of the Goldfields Track. Now,
1:43
this is a shared walking and mountain
1:45
biking trail. Extends between Bendigo to
1:48
Ballarat. It's about 210 km in total.
1:51
I'm not going to do quite all of that
1:53
tonight. I'm just going to do a little
1:55
section here.
1:57
It's a really good warm-up to start off
1:58
with. It's going to take me to some
2:00
other trails that I'll be riding.
2:04
And it's a good kind of section to warm
2:06
up on.
2:07
Get the legs and
2:09
way!
2:13
Nice little technical rocky section
2:15
coming down some stairs here as well.
2:20
Oh, yeah.
2:24
Nice little drop there just to see how
2:26
we're using the
2:27
travel on the rear suspension. And on
2:30
the fork, too.
2:32
On that note, I've got the suspension
2:34
set up fairly standard settings at the
2:37
moment. So, on the rear shock, we've got
2:39
30% sag. On the fork, I'm running about
2:42
23%
2:44
sag. So, we'll see how that goes
2:46
tonight. First thing I can notice just
2:48
along this starting pedal is that the
2:50
saddle needs a little bit of adjustment.
2:52
The height's pretty good. Fairly
2:54
familiar with my saddle height, but the
2:56
tilt needs adjusting. At the moment,
2:58
it's a little bit nose up. I can feel
3:00
that nose kind of pushing into my groin.
3:02
It's not ideal. So, what we're going to
3:04
do, use my trusty little tool here, T25
3:08
Torx key. There we go.
3:11
Back off the rear a little bit. All
3:13
right, so much better. That small change
3:16
in the saddle tilt has made the world of
3:18
difference. I've got the fork set up
3:21
as per Fox's guidelines for my weight,
3:24
around 70 kilos loaded up with gear,
3:26
which means I've got about 74 PSI in the
3:29
fork, and the rebound is set to 10
3:31
clicks.
3:33
I normally find
3:35
Fox's recommendations can be a little
3:36
bit springy, a little bit fast. So, I'm
3:38
just going to quickly, while I'm
3:40
thinking about it, just add another
3:42
click of rebound damping just to slow it
3:44
down a touch. So, now we're at nine
3:46
clicks.
3:47
Just going to feel for that.
3:49
Yeah, that's a bit nicer. It's sort of
3:51
And I'm going to do the same to the
3:52
shock.
3:53
Just slow that down a click.
3:55
Don't want the suspension rebounding
3:57
away too fast from us. That means on
3:59
chattery rocky stuff,
4:02
front tire's more likely to bounce off
4:03
the rocks. It's not going to follow the
4:05
terrain nice and smoothly. It's going to
4:07
pogo.
4:08
And when it pogos,
4:10
and the tire's in the air,
4:12
you don't have any traction.
4:14
So, I want to slow that rebound down a
4:16
touch
4:17
just to make sure everything
4:19
is staying nice and consistent,
4:20
following the terrain.
4:22
Enough gasbagging about settings. I'm
4:24
going to get into a really fun section
4:26
of trail here.
4:28
It's largely descending with some pretty
4:30
nice rocky rough descents,
4:33
but at the same time, it's got some
4:34
steep pinchy
4:36
uphills as well,
4:38
which is going to really test
4:40
well,
4:41
both the bike's climbing efficiency,
4:44
but also my fitness.
4:46
So, here we go up here.
4:48
Gets the heart rate going along here if
4:51
pushing hard.
4:52
You've probably got no idea on camera
4:55
as far as the
4:58
the pitch of this trail is concerned.
5:00
It's not a hugely steep,
5:03
but it's I can guarantee you
5:05
it's a lot rougher than
5:07
that it looks on camera.
5:09
Woo!
5:10
Oh, yeah.
5:11
Here we go.
5:13
Oh.
5:14
Oh, that's fun. This bike is zippy.
5:18
Remember, this is the
5:19
first time I've ridden this bike
5:21
off-road.
5:23
Now, I'm particularly excited about this
5:24
bike
5:26
because
5:27
the geometry on here
5:29
for this category of bike
5:31
is mental.
5:33
It has
5:34
a 65 and 1/2° head angle,
5:37
and a 400
5:39
I think it's 456 mm reach on the medium.
5:42
The extra large
5:44
is over 500 mm.
5:47
So, it's very, very long in the cockpit.
5:50
Now,
5:51
Whyte's counteracted that
5:53
with this short little stem.
5:55
This is a 40 mm
5:57
40 mm long stem.
6:00
And the bars,
6:01
780 mm.
6:03
They are quite wide
6:06
for an XC trail bike, that's for sure.
6:08
That bar width and stem length,
6:11
they sound
6:12
pretty nuts for a bike
6:14
in this travel bracket, but
6:17
they're made possible
6:18
because of the slack head angle
6:21
and that long front center.
6:23
The other handling attribute
6:25
that's interesting on this bike
6:27
is it has
6:28
a short fork offset.
6:30
This is a Fox 34 Step-Cast, lightweight
6:33
120 mil travel. Oh, yeah, there's full
6:35
travel.
6:38
Oh, this is good.
6:40
I'm enjoying this already.
6:43
This is a lightweight 120 mm travel
6:45
fork,
6:48
and it's been spec'd with
6:50
a 44 mm offset
6:52
instead of
6:54
the more commonly spec'd
6:56
51.
6:57
Now, I've talked about fork offset quite
6:59
a bit in my last few videos,
7:01
but in general,
7:03
to sum it up,
7:05
is that the short offset
7:07
increases the trail figure,
7:11
and the effect of a longer trail
7:14
is more steady,
7:16
stable front steering.
7:18
Basically,
7:20
gives the bike,
7:21
or the front wheel, I should say. Oh,
7:23
pro line there around the tree.
7:26
Gives the front wheel
7:29
more resistance
7:31
to going off line. There's the end of
7:33
that roller coaster trail.
7:35
Good fun.
7:36
Oh, this bike is feeling very good
7:38
already. Can you tell I'm a little bit
7:39
excited?
7:41
First rides on any bike are always
7:43
exciting, but I can tell you there,
7:46
that bike was absolutely owning that
7:48
section.
7:49
So, I'm interested to see how it goes
7:51
on the next bit of trail. I just want to
7:53
make a quick adjustment to the lever
7:55
reach. It's not too bad at the moment,
7:57
but I just want the levers a little bit
7:59
closer in to the grips. So,
8:01
thankfully, these Guide RS brakes
8:03
actually have a tools-free dial here.
8:06
So, we've just got two clicks
8:08
there on the left,
8:10
and two clicks on the right. Yeah,
8:12
that's that's great. Such a small little
8:15
change, but it does make a big
8:17
difference.
8:18
All right, let's get up this climb. Okie
8:20
doke, so we're heading up
8:22
One Tree Hill,
8:23
up a
8:25
fairly rocky kind of
8:27
rutted out climb. Now, I should point
8:29
out that
8:30
the name of this hill is slightly
8:32
misleading.
8:33
There are clearly more than
8:35
one tree here.
8:37
Right, so
8:38
just talking before about
8:40
progressive geometry on this bike,
8:43
that slack head angle,
8:45
short fork offset, long reach.
8:47
But
8:49
although it's quite a long top tube,
8:52
Whyte's been able to
8:54
rein it in
8:55
both by using a short stem,
8:58
but also a relatively steep
9:00
75° effective seat tube angle.
9:04
Now,
9:05
for a bike
9:07
with a 120 mil travel,
9:09
you don't want to go too steep on that
9:11
seat tube,
9:14
cuz the reality is
9:16
you're not sinking into the travel,
9:18
sagging into the rear suspension
9:20
as much as you would on, say,
9:23
a 150 mil bike.
9:25
So,
9:26
although there are some brands
9:28
going steeper than 75,
9:30
Whyte's seen that as a
9:32
good number for this bike,
9:34
and I can tell you it feels plenty
9:36
comfortable.
9:38
I'm able to get my weight forward.
9:40
No worries there.
9:42
And the suspension itself
9:44
feeling pretty good
9:46
efficiency here.
9:48
It is a four-bar suspension platform.
9:51
Oop.
9:52
That's a tricky bit there.
9:56
It's not unlike
9:57
an FSR layout that you find on a
9:59
Specialized.
10:01
And
10:02
the rear shock
10:03
is fairly high volume.
10:05
It's a Fox Float
10:07
DPS
10:09
EVOL
10:10
air can.
10:11
Woo!
10:13
Getting through this rocky gully
10:15
and making short work of it.
10:17
Nice amount of anti-squat there.
10:19
It's kind of keeping the pedals level,
10:22
minimizing the bob.
10:24
I'm going to get out of breath here.
10:27
Woo!
10:28
Try and make it up here.
10:32
I haven't bashed my pedals yet.
10:34
So, that's a good sign.
10:36
Got decent bottom bracket height on this
10:38
bike.
10:40
Which means there is clearance. All
10:42
right.
10:43
Last little section
10:45
and then we're at the top.
10:47
Oh.
10:50
Woo!
10:51
Here we go.
10:52
Up onto the road.
10:54
Woo!
10:55
All righty.
10:57
So, we just climbed up the trail on the
10:58
right here.
11:00
Now we're going to head on the left.
11:02
We're going to head on a nice
11:03
traversing descent.
11:06
And we're going to put to the test
11:08
this bike's descending nous.
11:11
Now,
11:12
not going to push it super hard.
11:14
This is, after all,
11:16
my first ride on this bike.
11:18
So, we're still getting to know each
11:20
other.
11:21
We'll see how
11:23
this
11:24
radical geometry of this 120 mil travel
11:27
trail bike
11:29
handles this kind of
11:30
washed out off-camber
11:33
loose, rocky
11:36
rough and slidy trail.
11:39
All right.
11:40
Take the inside line here. That's a new
11:42
one I learned the other day.
11:44
Woo!
11:45
Wow.
11:47
The suspension is working overtime. I
11:49
can feel it.
11:52
I'm still getting
11:54
good feedback, particularly
11:57
Woo!
11:59
Oh, almost washed out there.
12:02
Bear in mind that the
12:04
tires I'm running on this bike, that
12:06
come stock, Maxxis Forekaster on the
12:09
front,
12:10
Maxxis Crossmark 2 on the rear.
12:12
Nice fast rubber,
12:14
but I wouldn't say
12:17
they're most grippy
12:19
for loose, rocky
12:21
fast descending like this.
12:24
So, we're going to
12:25
keep the things
12:27
Woo!
12:28
That corner there can catch you out.
12:31
Oh!
12:32
That's good times.
12:35
Yes.
12:36
Ah!
12:38
Woohoo!
12:39
Well, that is a lot of fun. I love that
12:41
descent. And for first ride on this
12:43
bike, um felt pretty comfortable kind of
12:46
opening up. I have to keep reminding
12:47
myself, though,
12:49
these brakes are definitely not bedded
12:52
in yet. These are brand new brakes. And
12:54
uh they're Guide RS. Normally, they have
12:56
really good power when they're bedded in
12:58
correctly. So, I was learning that about
13:00
halfway down the descent. Um bike's
13:02
feeling pretty good so far. You can see
13:04
getting fairly close to the top of the
13:06
fork travel there, which is good. And it
13:08
looks like I've kissed full travel on
13:10
the rear shock there.
13:12
That might mean I need a little bit more
13:13
pressure in the rear shock just to
13:15
reduce the sag and give a little bit
13:17
more support for that bottom out or to
13:19
prevent bottom out, anyway. But, the
13:21
fork's feeling pretty good. Whole bike's
13:23
feeling pretty good. So,
13:24
I've got a bastard of a climb to come up
13:27
and I've got one more descent. Yeah, so
13:28
let's get this climb over and done with.
13:30
Oh, man.
13:32
This climb does not get any easier,
13:34
that's for sure.
13:35
I think it's called Lung Buster,
13:38
which is a pretty appropriate name,
13:39
really.
13:40
Now, you won't be able to tell on video,
13:42
but the percentage grade here, actually,
13:44
I don't know what it is, but it's really
13:46
bloody steep.
13:47
Oh.
13:49
And it just keeps going on and on and
13:51
on. I just want to get to the top.
13:54
Woo!
13:56
All right.
14:00
Now, we've got another descent coming up
14:01
now.
14:03
Finally at the top.
14:05
Thought I almost wasn't going to make
14:06
it.
14:08
Get to this descent, make it all
14:09
worthwhile.
14:11
So, this is also pretty quick.
14:13
It's a bit more straight line. We do
14:15
have a couple of cool corners through
14:16
here, but they are really washed out
14:19
rocky gullies,
14:20
which you're going to see fairly soon.
14:23
This is a really common test track for
14:24
me.
14:25
Find it's a
14:27
a really good tester,
14:30
particularly of front end steering and
14:32
stability because a lot of these rocks
14:35
will
14:36
send the front wheel off line. There's
14:38
no question about that. It's just how
14:40
badly it gets sent off line and how easy
14:44
it is to bring it back.
14:46
And here,
14:47
holy moly!
14:49
Woohoo!
14:50
Oh, this bike is floating down here and
14:53
getting faster.
14:55
And these rocks get really sharp here.
14:58
I've got to be careful
15:00
cuz I don't want to puncture.
15:01
Oh!
15:03
Holy moly! This bike is so composed.
15:06
And it only has 120 mil travel.
15:09
Ah!
15:10
And
15:11
it has a bloody Maxxis Crossmark 2 tire
15:14
on the back of it, which is a cross
15:16
country race tire.
15:17
Oh!
15:19
The Forekaster on the front
15:21
is not exactly my favorite tire, either.
15:25
But, this S120 doesn't really care.
15:29
It's got great weight distribution.
15:32
Woohoo!
15:33
Oh, that's rad.
15:36
All right, there we go. That's the final
15:39
descent.
15:40
And that was a bucket load of fun. Um I
15:44
think this bike is going to shred these
15:45
stock tires really quickly. It was
15:47
absolutely barreling down there.
15:49
Definitely wanting some slightly more
15:51
robust rubber on this bike. Um but yeah,
15:53
early impressions are very, very good.
15:56
This is uh quite a nice nimble bike to
15:59
ride. It's actually got a fairly short
16:00
back end on here, 430 mil chainstay
16:02
length. So, along with that short stem
16:04
and wide bars, it kind of keeps the bike
16:07
fairly agile and nimble. So, it's it's
16:09
kind of easy to throw around on the
16:10
trail despite being so slack and so
16:12
long. So, uh already feeling very, very
16:15
good. Uh a few different things I want
16:17
to tweak on here. Um I may look at some
16:19
different tires, but aside from that,
16:21
might add a little bit of pressure to
16:23
this rear shock. I've got about 160 psi
16:25
on here. I might go up to about 170 just
16:27
to give a little bit more support. Did
16:29
hit full travel a couple of times on
16:31
that ride. So, a little bit more
16:32
pressure in the back might work. Fork is
16:34
feeling pretty good, though. I'm pretty
16:35
happy with that. And to be fair,
16:37
everything else is feeling pretty good.
16:39
There's nothing glaringly obvious that
16:41
needs adjusting or changing on here. So,
16:43
little bit of suspension tweaking, but I
16:45
think we're uh we're not far off there.
16:47
I'm going to be riding this for a good
16:49
few weeks and you'll be able to see the
16:51
full review on singletrackworld.com.
16:53
Drop any questions you got into the
16:55
comment section below. Let me know what
16:56
you think of this bike. If you've
16:57
enjoyed this video, please give us a
16:59
thumbs up. And if you haven't done it
17:00
already, make sure you hit that
17:01
subscribe button. Otherwise, that's it
17:03
from me and I'll see you guys next time.
17:05
Toodaloo.
17:06
[Music]
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