Whyte 729 review

In a running change for , Whyte has routed the derailleur cables through the top tube. The grips lock on with one bolt and they stayed put. Whyte make a little bit of a deal about their wheels. The green anodised hubs look great on the colour-matched bike and the bearings spin with little resistance. Cassette engagement speed is average and pretty typical for a bike in this price area.

The 2. They are comparatively small-fry in the bike game and lack the buying power of the more mainstream brands. Certainly, none of it is fancy. Thankfully the runs X. One nice feature of the crank is the removable spider; riders that want to run a single narrow-wide front ring can remove the spider and get a direct mount ring to replace it.

It saves weight, and looks quite slick. That said, there are plenty of narrow-wide rings available to fit the stock spider. The sits in a precarious spot. People could easily assume that the frame is a basic unit, befitting of entry-level spec as seen on the lower models.

The cheaper models actually offer excellent value if the actual ride quality of the frame is weighted into the calculations. The is still going to face some tough on-paper comparisons, but the frame, fork and wheels make the rest of the package somewhat irrelevant once you hit the dirt.

The faster or steeper the trail is, the more the shines. Hovering above the saddle with knees and elbows bent and a light finger covering the rear brake, the Whyte zooms from corner to corner with ever increasing speed. SRAM's X9 shifter pods use bearings rather than bushings, so the shifting is much lighter and more positive than with the X7 units found on the Specialized and Giant. ComponentsAll of the components on the Ts are spot-on. Factor in the mm drop RockShox Reverb post and slick seatpost QR for those "are we really going down there?

PerformanceThe combination of the slack head angle and roomy cockpit provided us with all the confidence we needed to really let the Ts run.

OK, so the suspension wasn't the plushest in the test, but it is very controlled and stable and doesn't spike like the old Quad design. Better still, the new suspension platform. Lofting the front-end for drops or manualling through the countless puddles littering the trails couldn't have been easier, but the flipside of the super-short chainstays is that the Whyte also climbs more like a 26in bike - you have to get your weight forward and keep your head low to stop the front-end from lifting.

As always, it's a trade-off, but one that plays to the Whyte's strengths. ConclusionSometimes it is incredibly difficult to establish the pecking order in a bike test - repeatedly swapping between the bikes trying to discover each one's strengths and weaknesses while weighing up the pros and cons of the compromises made to achieve a certain ride quality, hit a target weight or simply meet the desired price point.

Not in this test. On the very first outing, in the worst possible weather conditions, the Specialized Camber Comp quickly established itself as top dog. Struggling to come to terms with the more stretched XC riding position on the Scott, the soft suspension on the Giant and the back-end hanging off the overweight Diamondback, the Specialized Camber was racing ahead en route to bagging another test win.

Then the Whyte showed up in the office. Fashionably late, air-freighted straight to us with its soft-touch matt finish barely dry, our five-bike 29er. With easily the best spec in every department, the Whyte Ts instantly had the upper hand over the Specialized.

The slacker head angle and shorter back end meant that the Whyte handled better on the steeper trails we were using for our initial back-to-back tests. Truth be told, we couldn't have had a better first impression of the Whyte. Even so, something about the dynamic geometry of the Specialized Camber, afforded by its more active suspension kept it in the running and kept putting a smile on our faces.

It also made us question the more staid response of the Whyte's rear suspension. It wasn't until we went to Afan, however, that the spanner was thrown in the works of the Whyte's runaway 10 rating. Basically it was the only bike that left our hands and feet tingling at the bottom of the Skyline descent.

Given how well the Ts pedals,. Talk to us! I've some questions We've been asked about anything and everything in the last 10 years, from plain stupid to highly technical. Your question might be somewhere in between. Can you price me the bike without wheels as I have my own? How long does the handover take? As with any product, specification is subject to change without prior notification.