The Whyte T-140 is very much the classic trail bike of the Whyte range. Enough travel to cope with most things but with a focus on responsive handling and efficiency to keep you happy to be in the saddle for as long as you have time for.
- Brand: Whyte
- Product: T-140 RS
- Price: TBC
- From: Whyte Bikes
- Review by: Ross Demain for a few hours
This is a first ride review in the very truest sense of the word. Due to school drop-offs, late arrivals, road closures and various other issues, me and Benji not only arrived late, but also missed the Official Presentation on the bikes.
This then left us with just a few hours to not only ride, but also photograph the bikes and all that faff, so this is by no means an in-depth review.
But hey, we thrashed the pants off it for as long as we could. And it turned out to be really fun bike that was very much more than sum of its parts may suggest.
Set Up
Set up for the ride was a pretty quick and faff free affair. The T-140 I rode actually belonged to Whyte’s product manager and had been lent out to another rider before I’d arrived so after a cursory check of sag levels and saddle heights it was good to go. The fork was sitting at around 20% and the rear at my preferred 30%, although once I got into the ride I think it was actually a tad more than 30%.
I’m around 183cm and the test T-140 was a size L. Headline numbers (in the High setting) are a reach of 483mm, 435mm Chainstays, 65.3˚ head angle and 76˚ seat angle, with a BB height of 338.1mm.
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Going Up
The trails we headed off to ride had a bit of a road ride to get there and the T140 span up to speed reasonably well and kept pace easily enough (with an ebike) to get us to the top of the trails. While the amount of technical climbing on the day was pretty limited, we did a fair amount of fire road and gravel track climbs and the T140 did a good job of getting to the top without too much fuss.
The seat angle puts you in reasonably good position for pedalling, although I think Whyte could have gone steeper to further push your hips over the BB, although sliding the saddle forward on the rails certainly helps.
On the first couple of climbs I noticed a bit of pedal bob and flipped the shock into the middle setting. This not only improved the climbing manners, but I also preferred the feel when descending. This could well be due to the rear being slightly over sagged rather than an issue with the suspension / shock tune.
Going Down
The trails that I rode the T140 on had a bit of everything. They were hard, and fast, and dusty and had jumps and berms and steep bits and wiggly bits and basically a bit of everything. And at the bottom of each descent, no matter whether it was steep and rutty or fast and jumpy, I had a big grin on my face.
The T140 feels like a proper trail bike in the best sense of the word – fast, fun and playful. The suspension offers plenty of sensitivity for hovering across rooty sections but remains playful and poppy and wants to load up and jump off everything, encouraging you to look for sneaky doubles and rooty gaps.
The sorted and aggressive geo feels right for fast flowy trails, and lets you change direction quickly and hit turns at warp speed, tipping the front end in and letting the back end snap round. While the T140 comes flip-chip equipped, I only had a chance to ride it in the higher setting, but at no point did it feel too high or steep.
The Grip2 equipped 34 fork might not be the stiffest fork out there, but it does a sterling job of taking the sting out of the trail, with a nicely balanced feeling from the front and rear suspension. And while I did bottom both the front and rear on the T140 a few times, it was on trasils, and at speeds, that I’d usually be riding a 160mm+ enduro bike. But it happily kept going, wanting more with me laughing and grinning.
Overall
This is by no means a full review, but early impressions are that Whyte have got it pretty right with the T140. It climbs well enough, but put it on anything with a bit of gradient and few turns and it’s a properly fun and engaging ride. It’s not without small issues – the seat angle for example – but as an overall package there’s a lot to like and it’s a bike that should appeal to a lot of riders.
Specification
- Frame // 6061 Alloy
- Shock // Fox DPS Performance Elite Evol LV, 210×47.5mm
- Fork // Fox Float 34 Performance Elite 140mm Grip2
- Wheels // Race Face AR-30
- Front Tyre // Maxxis Minion DHF WT 29×2.5in EXO 3CMaxxTerra
- Rear Tyre // Maxxis Dissector WT 29×2.4in EXO+ 3C MaxxTerra
- Chainset // SRAM X1 Eagle 32T 170mm
- Shifter // SRAM GX
- Rear Mech // SRAM GX-Eagle
- Cassette // SRAM NX-Eagle 11-50t 12spd
- Brakes // SRAM Guide G2 R 180/180
- Stem // Whyte Gravity 35mm
- Bars // Whyte 6061 Alloy 31.8mm 780mm 30mm rise
- Grips // Whyte Lock-ON Enduro
- Seatpost // Whyte DropIt II 170mm
- BB // SRAM DUB
- Size Tested // L
- Sizes Available // M, L, XL
- Weight // N/A
Geometry of our size L test bike:
- Head angle // 64.7°/65.3°
- Effective seat angle // 76°
- Seat tube length // 445mm
- Head tube length // 135mm
- Chainstay // 435mm
- Wheelbase // 1,249.5mm
- Effective top tube // 636.6mm
- BB height // 330/338.1mm
- Reach // 483mm
