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Materials


Titanium

Titanium has what many believe to be the most sublime ride characteristics of any frame material so when we set out design a Ti Hardtail, we knew it had to be special.

As with our eponymous aluminium Whyte 19, the UK designed titanium Whyte 19 Ti features new and exciting technology from the outset, and some elegant tube shapes too. We chose to couple a classic looking tubeset in cold worked 3AL-2.5V titanium with a simple and elegant seat stay design that does away with unnecessary welding and enhances the ride comfort and feel inherent in titanium, still further. Using longer, uninterrupted and curving tubes for the seat stays allows more trail feedback to disperse through the chassis and adds comfort compared with shorter tubes joined with unnecessary welds that are more commonly used in monostay designs. We also include the latest Press Fit 30 bottom bracket technology for lightweight additional stiffness, with long bearing life and finally our celebrated 19 dropout, allowing geometry adjustment and even hassle-free conversion to singlespeed transmission. Combining this technology with our very latest 19 Trail bike geometry and designed from the start for a 120mm travel fork, we have a lightweight responsive ride, with that legendary ride “feel” that only titanium can offer.

Steel

For the ultimate steel frame we went straight to the masters of steel tubing technology – Reynolds. Manufacturing butted tubing for bicycle frames in the UK since 1898, and still producing the high end tubesets like 631 in Birmingham, as they have for 110 years, Reynolds still push the boundaries of what is possible with steel like no other manufacturer.

Why 631? As we designed the frame for the steel Whyte, we were clear on a few essentials; the frame must be strong, light and stiff but still have that essential compliant and lively ride we expect from steel. It must also exceed CEN test standards (as all frames in the Whyte range do). 631 met all these criteria perfectly, and actually even exceeded 853 in back to back ride testing when we were trialing various prototypes to find the optimum ride feel – especially when combined with the classic and elegant compound bend rear stays we first used on the 19 Titanium.

Aluninium

For our Aluminium trail frames, we use perhaps the ultimate refinement of aluminium alloy frame materials - specifically developed for use in hydro-forming and welded frame construction. Our selection of premium 6061 grades of Aluminium allows us to use tubes of thinner wall section. This translates into thinner tube butting profiles over the entire length of tubes and means that for the same strength, stiffness and fatigue characteristics we can engineer a lighter chassis.

Whyte hydro-formed aluminium frame designs concentrate on designing the best most efficient shapes for the chassis. Our seatstays and chainstays have extensive shaping and tapering to increase strength and stiffness generating volume where it’s needed, provide maximum mud clearance at key areas of the frame, as well as producing a frame that has a clean and elegant overall design profile. The hydro-forming design and production process give us the best results in achieving the tough design criteria set out by the Whyte design team.

     
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
     
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