2018 Whyte T-130 S Blue

Whyte's T-130 series has been hoovering up bike of the year awards and highly rated reviews for a couple of years now and its easy to see why. Devised to give you the chance to conquer every aspect of off-roading, they are both light and efficient enough to hold pace with the fastest on race day, but also tough and disciplined enough to tackle the gnarliest runs. Delivering such balanced, composed and fast bikes, the series rewrites what you would normally expect from a 130mm full suspension trail bike. In 2018 Whyte have continued to polish the spec on their T-130's, making them even more refined and further cementing their place as one of the best trail bikes going. For 2018 all 3 aluminium T-130's have received an upgrade to their forks and all their cassettes are at least 11-46 teeth, ensuring every T-130 has a hugely capable range of gears.

Benefiting from the same multi-award winning frame as the rest of the T-130 series, the T-130 S has Whyte's full pedigree geometry. Starting with the front and working back Whyte push the front wheel out on the T-130's and slacken the head angle to 67 degrees, creating a very stable front end predisposed to self correcting and maintaining its momentum. A low bottom bracket increases stability further, making for pin-point carving on bends. These efforts to improve stability don't compromise agility however; Whyte equip the T-130's with a short stem and wide handlebars, so that close handling of the front wheel is retained despite its extra relaxed geometry. The rear wheel of the bike is relatively tucked in for tight rear end control. This clever geometry makes the T-130's immensely stable and efficient at eating up the terrain for immense speed, with the sharp and responsive handling for equalling confident trail shredding.

Whyte open up further possibilities with their T-130 geometry by designing them around the single chainring concept. Firstly taking the front mech and additional chainrings out of the equation makes for a simpler more durable mountain bike with better weight distribution and lower overall weight. Secondly not having to accommodate a front mech means the T-130 frames can be designed with symmetrical chainstays, which are lighter and stronger than the asymmetrical chainstays required to make room for a front mech and chainrings. Thirdly it means the rear pivot span can be increased for improved stiffness and therefore handling and power transfer. For 2018 the T-130 S has been equipped with the largest range of gears available, thanks to SRAM's 12spd GX Eagle groupset. Boasting a whopping 10-50 cassette, paired with a 32 tooth chainring, the T-130 will positively fly up steep and technical climbs with more than enough top end for descents. A vast improvement over last years 11spd 30x10-42 setup the T-130 S has raised its impeccable game even further.

The T-130 S has also advanced in the suspension area for 2018. The upgraded RockShox Revelation RC fork is designed from the ground up around the top tier Pike, making the Revelation RC very capable of managing difficult terrain and combined with Whyte's innovative geometry the front end of the T-130 S can handle extra tricky trails with serious panache. Not to be outdone at the back of the bike the T-0130 S utilises RockShox' Monarch Debonair RT shock, for an overall high spec suspension rig. There's even more RockShox gear on the T-130 S, with the Reverb Stealth seatpost, providing reliable saddle dropping performance, as and when you want it from its handlebar mounted button. SRAM's Level TL hydraulic disc brakes put you firmly in control of speed management provide excellent stopping power when things do get a little scary.

Whyte round the T-130 S build out with WTB's tubeless ready STp i29 rims laced onto Whyte's own hubs to make reliable wheels that will stand up to substantial punishment. The tubeless ready WTB tyres come from the very top of their range, making sure the T-130 S has the tyres it needs to deliver the outstanding performance it is capable of. The T-130 S has been established as one of the best “bang for buck” mountain bikes for the last couple of years and the 2018 incarnation only extends this reputation further. The technological advancement to SRAM's awesome 12spd Eagle makes the T-130 S a better bike than it has ever been before. For any rider looking for serious do it all performance mountain bike the T-130 S is versatile enough to deliver speed, control and confidence on a plethora of different trails and off-road courses.