[Closed] YT Industries Jeffsy vs Capra

Only website based. If it's trail riding with a bit of CwmCarn then the Jeffsy. The Capra can be a bit of overkill for most riding.

I’ve just switched from a 27.5 2017 Capra to a 29er 2019 Jeffsy and the difference is huge. The steeper seattube angle makes for much better pedalling and the 29er wheels and shorter travel means it just is much more efficient on longer rides.

I don’t feel much slower on the downs either. The Capra is quite a lot of bike to pedal around all day.

I do not regret the switch in the slightest. The Jeffsy is great fun. It’s my first 29er and I’m fully converted.

Maybe I’m just getting old....

YT run a few demo days during the year, well worth getting to one to test ride a bike.

I've got my eye on the Pro Race 27.5, with 160mm front and rear it'll handle anything I'll be able to throw at it, but should still pedal well with sub 30lbs weight and that seat angle.

Based on your type of riding I'd say Jeffsy every time. It's an excellent bike and still very capable on the downs.

As other have said above, the Capra is a big bike to drag round a trail centre and only makes sense (to me anyway) if you do loads of uplift days

If you are going for a carbon jeffsy then I'd say go for the jeffsy. If not then I'd choose the 29er Capra as the Alu Jeffsy still has the old frame which is a bit dated in comparison to the new capra (and new carbon Jeffsy). The 29er Capra is 160mm (unless you go for the pro race model which has 170mm) and apparently YT tuned the 29er capra to be a more efficient pedaller as obviously people that ride 29ers care about that sort of stuff 🙂

I have the Pro Race version of both. Both carbon with carbon rims. Same brakes. Jeffys with 34's and Capra with 36's fork wise. The Capra is about 1kg heavier. Not enough to notice in the real world. The larger volume tyres on it make more difference than the small weight difference.

All day epic XC rides = Jeffsy for sure. But it's also great at CyB and Afan. Slightly out of its depth if you try to race down the black trails. But for a good all round bike it's hard to beat.

I did Cwn Carn on both back to back. On the short punchy climbs neither was faster. On the downhills the Capra just gave me way more confidence. You notice it when you go into the corners as you find your carrying way more speed. You never feel like you can push the Capra to its limit on the jumps / downhills. With the Jeffsy I can take it to its limit.

Longer climbs the Jeffsy wins, but not by much. Smooth climbs for sure its faster, but bumpy techy ones both are the same.

If I go off piste in the Forest of Dean its got to be the Capra. Its slightly slacker, so gives you more confidence. There are a few trails I would not do on the Jeffsy, or if I did do them I would be worried / scared. Also I notice the suspension is just better, as in more capable and seems to eat up the rough stuff leaving you unflustered.

I rode the Capra XC style round the Chilterns for a year before I got the Jeffsy. It was not a slow bike. Pick a faster rolling tyre and its fine for that sort of riding. Kind of depends who you ride with. I dont really agree with the phrase "overbiked" as even in the Chilterns the Capra helped me out here and there. Its bump smoothing ability more than made up for its slightly slower uphill progress. Only when I raced my mates up long grassy climbs did I feel slower. A lot of that is tyre and suspension setup dependent.

For me, if I had to have just one I would keep the Capra. It's a compromise, but I can still ride anything on it. If I had just the Jeffsy then that too is a compromise, but there are some trails I wouldn't want to ride and some I couldn't ride on it.

If by the FoD you mean Dowies / Shutcastle, then the Jeffsy is very good. If you mean the more difficult stuff at say Staunton, well then the Capra for sure. Anything blind I take the Carpra.

Woburn its a 50/50 split. The short punchy climbs both are about the same. It's the blind drops / jumps / gaps on the downhill bits where the Capra can save you more.

Looking at my Strava stats, I ride the Jeffsy more. But thats because I dont live in Wales.

Look out for the YT demo days to get an idea of size and feel.

Actually, thinking about it I'm reminded of a mate of mine who got a Carpa having spent a lot of time on his more XC style bike.

He came out for a ride with me in the FoD (off piste) and basically said it opened up a whole other side of riding that he wouldn't / couldn't do on his more trial / XC style bike.

So it kind of depends on you and what you want to push yourself to do with it. If you dont push your limits and dont try the jumps/gaps/gnarly bits, dont get the Capra. I'm not saying the Jeffsy can't do those things, but it's just the Capra eats them for breakfast and asks more of you than you can probably give.

I bloody love my 2018 27.5 capra. It's obviously great downhill, but I can clear climbs that I hadn't on a trail bike and I've done 40 miles xc type rides on it and yeah it probably didn't set any records on it but it was a pleasure to ride.
If I were buying now though I'd seriously consider the new carbon jeffsy (if I could afford it)

I have a carbon Jeffsy (29er) and an Orange Alpine 6. Thoughts very similar to what Trimix says. Love the Jeffsy for trail centre stuff but IMV not a bike to smashed down rocky descents (I live in Wales). But, it's not far off the pace and it holds its on the local steep stuff too. If I was stick with one bike I'd be gutted to lose the Alpine, but the Jeffsy might just edge it for 90% of the riding I do.

In short, Jeffsy over Capra.

The Capra is quite a lot of bike to pedal around all day.

lol. No it isn't. Capra's are light and have a progressiveAF leverage curve and great pedalling characteristics.
It jumps like a (lightweight) slopestyle bike, Descends like a (lightweight) DH bike and is pleasant to climb all day on.
Personally I don't see the point in the Jeffsy at all. it's the same weight as a Capra so under the same rider they both climb just as fast.

Maybe I’m just getting old….

This!

I bet you simply had more agressive, heavier, softer compound tyres on the Capra thinking you were more gnar on it.
Fit fast rolling tyres to a Capra and they fly.

Yeah, the 2019 capra pro race 27.5 has 180mm of travel front and rear. It may pedal well, but that's not a trail bike.

If my main riding was heavily gravity focused, i.e. uplift days/winch and plummet with with long downhills then yeah the capra would make sense. For all round trail/enduro use the jeffsy will be more than enough.

Well I know that for what I ride here in the NE of Scotland (you know, like the Cairngorms) a 29er Jeffsy is a better bike for me than my 27.5 Capra.

If I still lived and worked in Morzine I would probs have a new (29er) Capra as a one bike for all.
I did love my Capra/s (cracked a couple). But my view has changed since riding the new Jeffsy.

But that’s just my opinion. I wouldn’t presume to think that it is the same as everyone else’s. I perhaps overstated the fact in my previous post.

I bet you simply had more agressive, heavier, softer compound tyres on the Capra

I used a wide range of tyres depending on requirement.

thinking you were more gnar on it

Pardon?

Maybe I’m just getting old….This

I was joking. On account of now riding a 29er. Im not old (relative to the average age here)

Love my 2018 capra cf Pro. Works great for long ride, short rides, uplifted rides etc.

I was joking.

Being pretty old I wasn't being entirely serious myself.. 😉

IMO the choice between the two bikes really comes down to what geometry you prefer more than anything else.
There's no way you couldn't ride exactly the same on either bike.

Having both, in CF Pro flavor, the differences for me are:
Tyre's - which you can change
Head angle - cant alter that
Suspension - you can change it a bit, but the latest 36's just eat bumps and jumps.

Probably in that order. Riding them I cant feel the weight difference.

After having a look they don't seem to be many Jeffsy 27s in the secondhand market, i think it's a bit too expensive to buy new, especially adding on the 70 quid P&P!

Having a look on sales sites, there's the likes of slightly used SC Bronsons going cheaper, so might just have a look around, shame as the jeffsy does look and sound nice

Where you at @argee, more than welcome to through my Capra around and see how it suits.

Cheers, i'm in the Bristol area, to be honest though i'm more jeffsy now reading up on it and seeing the comments, will need to work out if it's worth the extra and get up to FoD for their demo day in May.

I'm in Hampshire so not a million miles away. Definitely get a demo ride in, I'm planning on jumping on the 29 Capra to see how it rides.

I'll be there too, XXL 27.5 and 29 Jeffsy are on my list. It's a bit of a trek from Kent but worth it to decide what I want.