Brand Showcase - Whyte
Tuesday, 08 November 2011
Whyte are a British company best known for their mountain bikes and have always been personal favourites amongst the staff. Whyte were started by Jon Whyte using his knowledge as senior suspension designer for the world championship winning Benetton F1 team. Whyte played a massive part in kicking off the popularity of full suspension mountain bikes by providing some of the first truely efficient, reliable and effective suspension designs.
All of their mountain bikes are always perfectly suited and designed for the British climate, coming with proper tyres and work in mud, plenty of mud clearance on the frame, specially designed seat tube slots and lock on grips for when things get slippery.
The Whyte designed Mount Vision was the first full suspension bike to ever win a cross country race at national level under the legs of current Whyte/ATB employee Paul Lasenby. The Whyte B-17 and Whyte 46 were the first 6 inch travel bikes that were also a reasonable weight and pedalled efficiently. To this day they are still refining their bikes to keep them at the cutting edge of performance and technology with bikes such as the 146 and T-120.
Whyte aren't just about full suspension bikes either, their hardtails are amongst the best in the business and are always designed to suit their native British trails and conditions perfectly. They are one of the few companies to offer two different styles and geometries of hardtail to suit different types of riding.
They offer the 100mm 800 series and 20C hardtails aimed more towards the traditional cross country rider. While they only have the traditional 100mm of travel on the front Whyte's geometry is such that they still handle very confidently and even their race proven 20C carbon hardtails can still tackle the toughest terrain a cross country ride can throw at them.
The 120mm 900 series and 19 Trail series bikes aimed more towards the technical trail rider. The longer travel forks combined with a slacker geometry combine to create a bike that can outgun many full suspension bikes when the trail points downwards without having the extra maintenance of pivot bearings to worry about. The Whyte 19 is available in aluminium, steel and titanium for those who want a choice of frame material. The 19 also has unique adjustable dropouts that both allow you to change the geometry but also make it the perfect frame for singlespeed and hub gear use too.
Since the 2012 range Whyte have also made hardtail 29ers but with their own slant on the geometry. They have combined the benifits of the faster rolling larger wheel size with super short chainstays to keep the bike playful and lively. They have already been a huge hit and for many are the first 29ers to win them over from 26" wheels.
Hybrids are something that Whyte have started doing in the past few years and they have proved a huge success. Again Whyte have designed these bikes to cope with our damp climate and have put their own unique take on some of the tired designs other companies stick with year after year. Disc brakes feature throughout, plenty of clearance for mudguards, and confident handling inspired by their mountain bikes.
Check out Whyte's website for more details on their models.
Don't forget that we now have an email newsletter too. Sign up for the latest news, local events and special offers.
To sign up to our newsletter click this link and enter your details.
