EEI dirtnrils.co.uk - YT Industries

EEI dirtnrils.co.uk

It's all in the detail and the detail iseverything. Engineering, cosmetics,price, pertormance. Stunning.cc'do*.:FIRST THOUGHTSAlready the Tues has chassis dimensions that work at thehighest level. This doesn't really come as any surprisegiven that YT make a solid range of bikes with fully sortedkinematic and angles. In terms of componentry, well relativeto most other offerings in the downhill sector at 2K this bikehas obviously totally missed the plot: Maxxis 3C rubber,Sram Code brakes and transmission, RockShox Vivid andTeam BoXXer dampers, Race Face bars, e*thirteen chaindevice...this is just so incompatible with what has become theaccepted norm in the mountainbike industry at this price.The YT Tues offers mid range component excellence that doesnot create any real disadvantages to performance.The graphic is balanced and considered, whilst colourco-ordinated anodizing makes for a consistent appearance.Workmanship seems excellent, cable routing a slick mix ofin/external, the weight about average. The only blemishes onthe Tues are the back wheel which was a slight faff to flt, andwe faced some issues with collar/chainstay adjusters, and thefront wheel spacers are the stuff of times long gone. ManywilI wonder whether the killer spec conceals a second ratechassis or inadequate suspension.SECOND THOUGHTSHoIy f-king shit Young Talent, what have you done? whatare the industry going to do? You have created an absolutediamond. This Tues is a jewel not just in the price-band, butin the entire market of downhill bikes at whatever price. YTshould guard the precious shock rate/damper tune balance,for the grip and poise is seriously stunning, I really had to askwhether I'd been stitched up with the dampers, so smoothare they through the range.A quick call to Nuremberg (YT HQ) cleared up the fact thatyes they had checked the oil levels, sprung the bike to myweight, aligned seals and bushes on these dampers. You knowwhat, I'd pay for that service if I was buying a bike. DesignerStefan Willared really is at the top of his game with his bikes.Cornering, straight line poise in the combat zone, speed,balance front and rear...this bike is down and dirty, utterlyfaultless in ride dynamic.CLINCHERYT have no World Cup wins, no rider of truly top-level WorldCup standard even. They have no vintage, no dealers, andon the surface no real depth. What they do have is a trulyawesome downhill bike.Forget about the bolt-on bits, they aII go about theirbusiness faultlessly and as mentioned don't offer any seriousperformance disadvantage over components twice the price. Ibelieve it's largely in the damping. True, suspension will onlyever be a personal thing, but given that nobody really offers afull works set-up, then what YT have here (a properly preppedfork and shock) is of massive value. It's certainly somethingthey should offer as an option. But more than this, it's aboutthe suspension system. Given the miscellany of industryconcepts, often that haphazard mix of linear, progressiveand regressive 'bright idea' percentages that leave youguessing what or where the bike is moving, ultimately a greatproduction bike is simply about speed which incorporates grip,support and control in a variety of environments.Hitting every line, controlled at every fly-off, G-out or rootsystem, the Tues features as not just one of this year's gems butpossibly THE bike of the year. ,,EEIdiInrnß.co.uk

CCEPILOGUEHow to evaluate greatness? Straight out ofthe box greatness?I believe great bikes have a pure neutrality about them.Of the current downhill breeds the latest hard chargingScott Gambler and Intense M9 offer a speed advantageparticularly in tougher steeper Alpine terrain, the MondrakerSummum too, but it is slightly less of a bruiser. For flatterpick-and-drives ironically it's the Ionger travel Santa CruzV10 that has an explosive power transfer. The SpecializedDemo, Devinci Wilson, Morewood Makulu and the TrekSession are all pure race bikes all able to mix it in a varietyof conditions without any need for aftermarket adjustments,possibly the most neutral too, whilst the Giant Glory and GTFury (with some minor mods) can be taken to the top.Metre for metre bikes such as the light and manoeuvrableTrek Session have a slight edge over the YT in places, yetpound for pound the YT obviously has an immense advantage.But like I said, it's not about the money. I look down along, long list of less than perfect production bikes, manyoverpriced and not having learned from the errors made bythe competition or by themselves in previous versions. Maybethese guys at YT have been sharp in eliminating the commoninaccuracies and over-complication?Having gone head to head with some proven high-endwinners, on the whole the YT is certainly no slower thanany other production downhiil bike of whatever value. Inthe right hands and probably (like nearly every top end racebike) with a bit more compression damping it would win aWorld Cup, I have absolutely no doubt of that.For many the crazy low standover will do it, to others theadjustable wheelbase or stunningly fine colour co-ordinationand details. If I were to break down the whoie of the Tuesinto its component parts - suspension, damping, steering,balance, componentry, manufacturing quality, visual, price- and score accordingly then the YT Tues would score higherthan any other downhill bike currently available. E@il dirtNrA.(,,.uk