The YT Tues Pro can only result in a positive outcome…

KEEP THE REVOLUTION ROLLING

From Dirt Issue 142 – December 2013

Words by Steve Jones. Photos by Steve Jones.

The great and often giddy paradox of marketing and performance that often exposes itself within mountainbikes comes crashing down to a more absolute level in the YT Industries range of bikes.

There was a time when cheap adverts made no effort to hide poor bikes, conversely that shamelessly high–budget spin fooled people. Thankfully things have mellowed out a touch. In YT we have a company with a good image, solid marketing, whose bikes deliver top dollar performance and leave you enough cash to go down the pub every night for years to come. Given such opportunity sadly you still see gentlemen on the uplift with carbon downhill bikes sporting bald tyres, scratched goggles, sandwiches and a flask.
Still, no reason why a man cannot be ‘cool with the carbon gang’ and still be able to have his steak and chips and a good ride? Some of the blame on this must be levelled at the ill–informed pedalers of such goods, be it shops or manufacturers. You CAN get a €30 steak at a starred restaurant after all.
In the monthly ruck of numbers, adverts, components and marketing, the general chat down the woods with the boys sometimes gets forgotten too. Thank goodness for that yes. That bikes are often bought on reasons other than performance – sometimes decisions are made to be different, for the colour, the available discount, sponsorship. The philosophy on these pages is to find the best, and yes money does buy you performance some of the time, but rarely does it deliver perfection.

Here then is a bike deemed by some to be an inconsistency. The World Cup winning BOS RaRe fork and Void shock, DT Swiss wheels, Renthal, Maxxis, Race Face and SRAM fitted to a much loved, well designed frame and united with a mouth–watering price tag. It’s a head scratcher that’s for sure, but for goodness sake don’t dwell on it too long otherwise you’ll be getting bitten in the arse seeking an alternative.

Enough of the politics of value for the time being, what about the V4L kinematics? You have to love the YT description, “Softly in response, linear in the course of travel and progressive enough not to sag in the suspension travel and eke towards the end of the travel.” Ok boys, but let’s not forget the glorious BOS dampers and the ability to change the chainstay length from, 425 to 435mm with the ‘Easy Adjust’ dropouts.

For £2,700 (current currency conversion) this is some bike even before it hits the hill, yet as many marks that it gains in components and presentation all can be undone if the execution misses the target.

RIDE

From the moment the YT box arrives you know that you are dealing with a good company, one that cares. The presentation is good, the cardboard even feels stronger and better quality than normal boxes, the receipt also reminding you that the pub will not be out of bounds for the rest of the season.

Graphics and frame finish of the Tues is balanced, attractive and on par with any other brand on the market, but what hits most strikingly is the overall lowness of the Tues, from shock layout swooping stealthily from swingarm into linkage, through shock and onto downtube and that very unique head tube area. The standover height is insane (in a good way) and overall geometry not a million miles off as Specialized Demo in size large.

At which point it gets very slightly scratchy. Our first run out was slightly disappointing, the bike feeling harsh and certainly not as smooth as the RockShox BoXXer/Vivid combo version we had a few years ago. After several runs we can now put this down to the ‘box fresh’ BOS dampers that needed some wearing–in time. There is no better downhill fork than an Idylle RaRe, but I’m not totally sold on the Void rear, it needs mellowing a touch.

What’s it like though? The overwhelming feeling is the precision up front, the contact that the wheel has with the ground at all times, it doesn’t punch back with insensitive bounce, it simply sucks it up and pushes you forwards. The BOS has sensitivity, that superb high–speed compression/rebound stability gives very little bounce off the front wheel. At the moment of impact the BOS reaction time is crazy fast – it responds, just enough, not too much, leaving the rider too steer (and not with a front end that is moving up and down or side to side too much or too little). That might be the first point of contact but how many times does this transfer through the frame. The size is decent for a large although six foot plus riders will be screaming for a bigger bike.

AND?

The YT Tues Pro can only result in a positive outcome. If, as in previous reviews, the bike is marked out of ten, and whose performance is measured not simply against its similarly priced counterparts but on all levels, there can only be one conclusion – this is best production downhill bike on the market.

€3199
www.yt-industries.com

SPEC

Check the links below for more from YT Industries:

DirtTV: Enduro bike test introducing the YT Industries Capra

YT Industries sign Cam Zink for 2014

Dirt 100 2014 – YT Industries Tues 2.0 Comp Edition