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.

 They say bad luck comes in threes and Luke Smith has had his fill of it. Next weekend he is having a weekend off racing! After returning from his all-conquering tour of South Africa the Whyte racer has shown great form but few top flight results. This weekend left him with a puncture and feeling let down. These are Luke’s reports:

Wessex League Round 2 Cyclo-cross race
Newbury Showground

The race started in dreary conditions, to say the least. After a reasonable finish in the first round this time I was gridded on the front row. I made sure I warmed up well because cross races always start hard and fast.

This was no exception. We set off at a blistering pace and quickly three of us pulled away from the rest of the field. I was feeling comfortable in this small group until they started turning the screw and trying to break away.

At this point I lost contact and found myself in no mans land behind the leaders and in front of a large chase pack!

One rider caught and passed me leaving me in fourth place, shortly after another couple of riders joined me and working together we started to pull the third placed rider back. I managed to maintain fourth/fifth position right up until a couple of laps to go when unfortunately I rolled my tubular tyre off the rim!! Nightmare. I was about as far away from the pits as I could possibly be.

I ran around to fit my spare wheel but by this time loads of riders had whistled past. I rode the remaining laps just to finish the event, happy with my form but disappointed with the mechanical.

Gorrick Round 1 MTB race

Despite a fast paced cafe run (we always end up racing, sometimes as hard as an event, on these so called social rides!!) I was really looking forward to the race.

I made sure I warmed up well as the temperature was pretty chilly. After half an hour on the turbo. I was ready for the off. My dad and mate had set me the challenge of setting the fastest lap of day on my opening lap and that’s exactly what I set off in pursuit of doing.

The course was fantastic one of the best circuits I have ever ridden great flowing singletrack, some fast descents and some good stretches of fire road to pick up the pace. I managed to pull away from the other riders and every thing was looking good for a fast lap until whilst giving it full gas on a short power climb my chain gave up and snapped on me.

Race over – after only 16minutes. I was gutted. Thankfully the walk back to the arena gave me a chance to calm down a bit but the journey home was still a bit tense.

So I’m having a weekend away from the bike this weekend. Hopefully I have had my fair share of bad luck and the next race will be a true indication of my current good form!

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.

Whyte racer Luke Smith was disappointed only to get a team second in this year’s Marin Dusk Til Dawn event but the irrepressible rider says he’ll be back next year! This is Luke’s view of the race: (continue reading…)

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…)