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Next week, I'm going to demo a Whyte S150 crs.
From the reviews, It's sounding(and looking) like this may be the perfect bike to see me in to my MTB'ing retirement.
( I'm 6'2" and nearly 52 years old).
For the last few years, I've been riding an On One 456 evo Ti 26"and although I love the bike, I want something that will be a tad more forgiving on the old posterior.
I won't be bothered about the old "Gay 29er" jibes, nor will I worry about folk lambasting me for purchasing an environmentally unfriendly frame( I recycle and eat Dolphin friendly Tuna).
What might disgruntle me is the chance that I could have bought a better bike for the same(or less) of my hard earned.
What else should I look at?
Vitus Escarpe 29 VRX ?
Orbea Rallon?
Factor in I can only buy on finance.
Any recommendations?
Cheers
Sorry, love mine. Saw me round Strathpuffer in good style, so it does well enough putting the miles down on xc courses, and it does downhill far better than I can. Couldn’t say it’s better than anything else out there, but it does seem bloody good to me.
btw - I’m 6’3 and the xl fits me well. Though it might feel a bit long as used to older school frames (whyte e120 and 2010 spicy) but feels spot on, and did from the start.
Happy with mine too.
186cm on an XL and fits me well with a 40mm stem. Really happy with the fit of the bike, although the seatpost is slammed with the 170mm reverb (33" legs). Weighs 14kg dead with the alterations below.
Swapped the brakes over with a pair of slx's that I has on the previous bike as I'm not a fan of guide r's at all, lack feel and cook on longer descents with a lot of freestroke. I also swapped over a pair of fatbars and put a 1x reverb lever on but the rest of the kit is solid. Factor in a tyre change as well, I put a mary on the front and the HR2 on the back, but while great for trail centres it lacks traction on steep loam so will swap for a dhr2 when it wears.
Pedals well although it is a tad bobby when standing, but way better than the mega it replaced. Downhill it's excellent, the new pike really is a step up over the old one and the slammed bb makes it super confident in corners and steeper stuff. Jumps well too.
The shock took a long time to set up and still isn't quite there, but much better than initially. It's needed a volume spacer and will probably put another one in as it's quite linear. It's also hard to get a balance on medium hits between packing up and being too bouncy, but like I said i'm 95% happy with it now, will try a shockwizz on it soon as well. It also hoovers all small bumps especially with the big wheels.
Do people still make negative comments about 29er wheels? I kind of think of them as the "normal size" now. Lol
I don't own the Whyte but from the reviews I doubt you will be disappointed! 😃
O.P.
You are 52 years old and this bike is going to see you into your mtb retirement ?
Are you planning an early retirement then ?
Don't know about the S150..but if it's anywhere near as good as it's little brother the T130 ..then you will be well pleased ..
Wheelbase have this on 0% finance ..
29er wheels just seem right for someone over 6’. Seems odd when I ride my 26er now, just out of proportion.
I have a 2018 Escarpe VRX. Can't fault it atm other than it's a bit porky but I'm coming from a 120mm 29FS, still sub 33lbs, use British Cycling for 10% off. I was also looking at the 150 but couldn't justify the extra £1400 for similar spec and only saving 1-2lbs
FWIW Dirt just voted the orbea rallon as best in test in their LT 29er group review.
FWIW Dirt just voted the orbea rallon as best in test in their LT 29er group review.
I'd love to read that article, but the ads block all the text regardless of how long I wait or where I scroll!
Not much between the Rallon or the S150, I personally dont like the look of the Vitus and think its a tad heavy and the geometry isn't comparable. Maybe factor in if you can buy locally to help with future issues and up keep and also that Orbea has quite a wait on delivery for them at the moment.
The Whytes come out heavy in real world as well. Which bit of the geometry isn't comparable as they are very similar?
66/74.5 to 65.6/74.5 head/seat angles
1238/1231 wheelbase
638/641 stack
467/474 reach
788/796 front centre
450/435 chainstay
Not much in it really. The Whyte is more "amazing mega reach enduro mega avalanche" I guess but the OP is on a 26" HT so might just be a bit too long/extreme. For the £1400 saving you could get a decent set of wheels, carbon bars and end up at almost the same weight with loads of money still left over.
Granted the Escarpe isn't bright yellow. It was my biggest issue coming from a bright yellow Camber but I quite like "stealth" bikes and have had a few black ones before.
Money no issue I would get the Whyte purely as it's yellow 😉
Edit: OP, might be worth trying something a bit shorter travel, the 130 Whyte or something as when you go up in travel/weight it does take a bit of life out of "normal" xc pottering which is something I've noticed. On the flip side I am enjoying the downhills a lot more!
For what it’s worth I was in a bike shop yesterday and they had a couple of orbea rallons and they were gorgeous. The Whyte’s a good looking bike but those orbeas are lovely.
https://dirtmountainbike.com/bike-reviews/trail-enduro-bikes/vitus-escarpe-29-vrx-dirty-dozen.html
Can't beat the bang for the buck with these
Just buy it, you owe it to yourself.
Not the answer you were after but hey.
I have the Rallon. Chose it over the Whyte as I just liked it better - both to ride and to look at.
The Vitus and NukeProof Mega 290 both get great reviews and cost (a lot) less though. Mega 290 with room to upgrade/customise was also on my radar!
It has a non standard fork offset so you might not find it easy to replace the fork and could be stuck with a useless lump of carbon if the fork fails in future.
So how did I do?
Simply to the Op ..Im not going to try to talk you out of it as the one I demoed was simply brilliant .backed by one of the best customer services going .. a very very fast bike
Can I suggest the metal version? Would save you a bob or two and would allow you to buy the plus wheelset. Granted, baby blue colour not as nice as the black and floro, but it has grown on me. Had mine for 4 months. Love it. Same age as you and come from hardtails so definitely enjoying the comfy ride! Quite impressive how different the wheelsets ride, like having two distinct bikes. I test rode the Works and didn't think there was £3k difference in feel or maybe I'm just easily pleased.
Got the alloy version as well - couldn't really justify spending more but would consider it. Fantastic bike, love it. In my experience it's always worth getting the bike you want (as long as you can afford it) as you'll probably keep it longer, ride it more and in the end probably save money over buying several eBay specials that are not quite what you wanted in the first place.
Pick - was tempted by the + wheelset as well, would like to get a + wheeled boost hardtail so I can swap wheels over as needed/on a whim. But that does mean buying a whole new hardtail...
Heh, neilc1881, guess you could say to yourself you didn't buy the Works version so enough money was saved to buy a nice hardtail... As a side issue, prior to getting the 150s, I was offered a shop soiled Halo Vapour 50 with a 2.8 minion which I stuck on my Clockwork Evo. Was (is) fab. 142 rear end meant sticking with standard 27.5, but didn't really matter. The front is so planted the back just does its own thing. This experience with plus tyres convinced me to get the second wheelset for the Whyte. You get some alarming pedal strikes at first and they are harder work on the ups, but pay big dividends on the downs.
On the other hand I demoed the half carbon jobbie and well it was okay . At £3850. It needed to be a lot be than okay.
Also rode a mega 290 team - better than the s150 imho . Demoed a StaStarling Murmur , within ten minutes I new it was right - bought one .
Have a look at the YT Jefsy. Far better bike for the money. Whyte's are heavy as they have poor spec for the money