Thursday February 11^th from 5pm

An interesting evening of Bikes, chat, free beer and refreshments.

Struggling to make a decision about what bike to buy for next season? Let Whyte help you to make up your mind at the exclusive “Whyte Night” event at Chevin Cycles

Featuring the design led range of British designed, high performance Whyte Bikes for you to view and drool over in a rare opportunity to see the whole range together in one place – including the unique and groundbreaking E-120, the 19lbs 19 Carbon XX works and the award winning 19 Titanium and 905 trailbikes.

Free refreshments included, such as Beer, Pizza and coffee with a relaxed atmosphere to ask Justin, the Whyte Brand Manager questions about the bikes and the philosophy behind them.

Special offers for any bikes ordered on the night.

5pm -7pm

Please register your interest by calling Chevin on 01943 462773 or emailing info@chevincycles.com as spaces are limited. Click here to visit the Chevin website.

Too far to Travel ? Other Whyte Night events will soon be announced in other areas of the country soon.

The Whyte Winter Series goes from strength to strength with a full field of 600 riders braving the wind and rain of Thetford Forest last weekend to race.
 
Categories of two and four hour endurance races for men, women (and two hour juniors)are topped off with a two-lap fun ride for the rest of the field.
 
Thetford Forest – for the main – is pancake flat but the race courses feature a heady mix of bombholes, singletrack and fire roads – something to suit all tastes in the saddle.
 
Organisers Paul Hore and Frank Jaworski have been running the Winter series in conjunction with their summer event and the massively popular Dusk Til Dawn for several years.
 
The entries are capped at 600 per race and if you want to enter the next round on Sunday, December 6th in Norfolk, go to www.thetfordmtbracing.com. To check results for the last round click on www.timelaps.co,uk

The E120 S has fought off competion from Scott and Norco to win the ‘Best Performer’ award in The Bicycle Buyers full suspension MTB test. Buy the November edition of The Bicycle Buyer to read the full review.

The Whyte 905 has won What Mountain Bike’s ‘Long forked hardtails’ test. They say “For pure performance and versatility it’s definitely worth maxing your credit on the Whyte 905: it’s now lighter and faster and even more fun whatever trail you point it down. Considering the price hikes of most models, it’s decent value too.”

To read the full test review buy the latest edition of What Mountain Bike, or click here.

Put the bite back into your biking with the new Whyte 905 – that’s the message from the folks at Cycle magazine published by the CTC. (continue reading…)

Based just 25 miles from home, I knew I would be riding some very familiar tracks. I also knew the Peak District is local to many riders – it wouldn’t be just me with ‘local knowledge’. The forecast for the weekend had promised hot and dry and it didn’t disappoint, although at times Saturday was too hot! Some of the tracks were still quite wet from the previous week’s rain, but most were riding well.

As always route choice was crucial (along with a good pair of legs). On Saturday I got it just right. Even when studying the map afterwards I couldn’t see a higher scoring route. It gave me a comfortable 50 point lead overnight. Within the first hour I had not been so confident – descending near Edale a large rock had dislodged and broken one spoke and bent another in my fancy Hope rear wheel. With only 22 good ones left I tried to ride a little lighter on it, but then kept forgetting on the fun downhills! Fortunately the wheel was still up to the job. However, I shall be avoiding that track in future. I shall name it wheel wrecker. In an event over five years ago, in virtually the same spot, I had a branch go into the spokes of my front crossmax wheel; it went round, jammed against the forks and locked the wheel. Over the bars I went. That had hurt and I spent quite a few minutes recovering before continuing. Back on route, due to the hot weather I had run out of liquid with over an hour to go, but being the Peak District it wasn’t long before I spotted a pub with an outside tap where I could fill up. Others in the same situation spotted me and also took advantage.

On Sunday as I rode I knew my route wasn’t quite optimum, not helped by the fact that the points values were rubbing off the map as I kept unfolding, looking at it and refolding. I didn’t have a copy of the values so had to be a bit careful. Results showed I had the highest score, but only by 5 points. Still more than enough to ensure the overall win. Another Polaris victory for Whyte bikes – a Whyte or Marin full suss has now won a Polaris every year for more than ten years! Fast, reliable and comfortable.

To see what they say buy the latest edition of What Mountain Bike or read below -

All the Whyte moves.

“This stunning carbon bike confi rms that there are still plenty of good reasons left to love racey hardtails”

Whyte’s production facility has had plenty of time to practise its design and assembly skills on the highly acclaimed E-120 carbon full-susser, now in its second incarnation (see p153 for our Buyer’s Guide review). Superfi cially, a hardtail may seem like an easy R&D job in comparison, but that obviously hasn’t resulted in complacency for Whyte. The 19 Team is a beautifully realised structure that morphs its great looks with the sort of performance advantages that leave you with no excuses to fall back on, apart from the limitations of your own body.

The Frame
The 20lb Team is the king of the hill inWhyte’s 2009 hardtail range, which also encompasses a ‘standard’ 100mm-forked Race at £2152.21, a frame for £1125.53, a 120mm-forked Ti framed Trail for £3130.94, a Ti frame for £1662.85 and the alu-framed 19 Trail for £1956.47. The Team won’t be the most rational choice for the cash starved but it’ll probably be the one you’ll want after you’ve had a chance to test-ride it.

Claimed frame weight is just over 2.5lb, so a sub-20lb build would be fairly easy if you threw money at it – but we suspect that no one is going to be moaning about the complete Team’s 20.2lb heft. The frame’s unidirectional carbon composite monocoque sections result in the sort of swoopy organic looks that could win over the aesthetes before any consideration was given to speed and handling personality. But it almost goes without saying that performance doesn’t play second fi ddle here. All those curves, bulges, ribs, fl ares and tapers are there for good reasons other than looking good, as they create the required mix of strength, stiffness and ultraresponsive ride feel without introducing jackhammer mannerisms over the bumps.

The fine detailing here is superb. The BB30 (30mm axle) oversized bottom bracket shell trims weight and boosts drive power, and there’s loads of mud drop-through room. The bash plate protects the carbon from chain damage inside the chainrings, but a neoprene stay-wrap would have been a useful extra to defl ect chainslap over the bumps. A forward-facing Allen key seat clamp is designed especially for Whyte’s twin slot seat tube top.

The integral headset allows for a very low race style front-end if needed. The geometry assumes 100mm of fork travel, and the Team comes with the light and superbly well-controlled RockShox SID World Cup, with a bar-mounted lockout lever and easy to understand set-up backed up with as much fine-tuning potential as you’re ever likely to need.

The kit
The drivetrain mixes a Shimano XTR gearset with FSA’s BB30-specifi c Force Light hollow carbon crankset, which has the BB bearings pressed into the BB shell. An XTR tubeless-ready wheelset is wrapped with minimally treaded Panaracer Razer XC 2.1in tyres – you’ll find that these are good for high-speed trails and better than you’d initially imagine in the mud. Easton’s superb bars, stem and seatpost keep the weight low and the quality high, as does Fi’zi:k’s Ti Tundra saddle and Whyte’s own bolt-on grips.

The ride
Right from the off, you know the Whyte is something special. It has that seductive mix of race-bike speed and hard-riding trail-bike handling. The steep seat angle sits you slightly forward, allowing you to really get the best from the superb 100mm fork. It’s worth bearing in mind that a well set-up SID World Cup lets you get away with almost as much carefree trail abuse as many longer-travel but lower-budget forks, while keeping the sharp steering and minimal fl utter/dive braking of great short forks.

You’ll notice the no-twist chassis structure and oversized bottom bracket when you put the hammer down – especially climbing or sprinting, which is precisely when the low weight makes its mark. The 19 Team is a bike that seems to surge forward when you exert power, and this can get you out of all sorts of trouble on technical climbs, as well as making it a highly competitive machine against its – or your – peers.

Handling is surprisingly neutral compared with many race bikes; the weight makes it lively but the steering is never nervous. With the Panaracer Razer tyres fi tted, it can be a bit tetchy on wet surfaces and chattery over the bumps, but this could be easily changed with a fatter set of treads if absolute speed isn’t your overriding priority. But even with the minimally treaded Razer race tyres fitted it’s still a great bike for carving technical singletrack, with a surprisingly comfortable ride considering the chassis’ tracking stability.

Verdict
We’re not going to tell you the Whyte 19 is well worth its price tag, because there are far more sensible – and only slightly heavier – versions of this and other carbon-framed race bikes available for less. But as a ‘no compromise’ XTRequipped 20lb package, you might not find a bike that offers such an enjoyable ride on trails that are more technical than a cross-country race course. It almost seems wrong to be having so much carefree fun on a 20lb bike.

“To be perfectly honest, the Whyte 19 is probably the most enjoyable 20lb bike we have ever tested”

Whyte Racer Steve ‘senior’ Heading  is preparing to defend his pairs crown at the Transpoland event and took on the best the army could throw at him in an endurance race WITHOUT live ammo! This is his report: (continue reading…)

Whyte Racing UK’s Veteran Steve Heading scored his best result of the Enduro series with a podium finish at Grizedale.  This is his report: (continue reading…)

Whyte Racing UK team mates Jimmy Taylor and Steve Heading both rode true to form to get top placings in the Marin Rough Ride. (continue reading…)