Trail Bike of the Year in association with Alpinestars

We’ve tested Whyte T129 a couple of times in its various guises over the last few years and it’s also spent a season getting battered in our longtermer test fleet.

This year, the T-129 range consists of two models — the ‘S’ for £2,450 and the ‘RS’ tested here. Both use the same single ring specific, SCR aluminium frame, but with different priced build kits and suspension components.

Watch now: Trail Bike of the Year 2017

Whyte T129 RS

For £3K, the spec on the Whyte T-129 RS is good quality, but the key difference between it and the other bikes in the 29er category is the frame material — they’re carbon, the T-129 RS is alloy.

Usually this would negatively impact the overall weight, but check the spec table and you’ll see the Whyte T-129 RS is nearly a 1kg lighter than the Specialized Stumpjumper.

With around 20mm less travel front and rear, you could argue the Whyte T-129 is the odd one out in the travel stakes too, but take a couple of measurements and you’ll see it has a slacker head angle, shorter chainstays, longer wheelbase and greater reach than the Cube, Specialized and YT.

So while the lack of travel does indicate that it’s not as capable, it actually has the most up-to-date geometry, which is why we’ve included it in this test.

Suspension

With less travel and 110mm Boost hub spacing, the Fox 34 Float on the Whyte T-129 RS is noticeably stiffer than the more expensive Factory 34 we included in our group test last month.

There’s not a lot of adjustment with the fork though — the Grip damper only has compression, lockout and rebound — and it also felt a touch harsh on bigger, square-edge hits.

To be fair to Fox though, we were running the fork pretty firm to make it more balanced with the rear suspension.

In fact, the T-129 has always felt a little lacklustre on the rear, and the Fox Float DPS Performance shock on the RS version has not helped matters.

It felt overdamped, which didn’t seem to be the case when we tested it previously with a RockShox damper.

Components

Although the bigger 29er wheels and long/low geometry add stability on faster rougher trails, we’d like to see a slightly wider handlebar than the 760mm fitted for more controlled steering.

We’d also like more rise too, due to the head tube on the Whyte being so short.

While we’re at it, we’d also beef up the grip diameter, because the stock grips don’t offer much in the way of comfort, and we’d definitely lose the plastic end caps too — one of them deformed in a crash, creating a sharp edge that dug into our palms when riding.

Whyte runs a Maxxis tyre combo on the T-129 RS — a Tomahawk on the front and a Crossmark II on the rear.

Neither tyre was particularly good in sticky conditions — the Tomahawk has sharp, deep side knobs but the centre tread is very shallow and didn’t offer enough straight-line stability on wet trails.

Yes the Crossmark II rolls fast, but it also steps out too readily on slippery off-camber trails.

Performance

It’s ironic that the Whyte T-129 RS is the oldest design here, but it has the most up-to-date geometry.

The shape is excellent and, with the firm suspension, it’s an efficient climber and mile muncher.It doesn’t sport the plush, playful feel of the Stumpy, or the responsiveness of the Jeffsy though.

In an attempt to remedy that, we spent a lot of time playing around with the shock settings, experimenting with different amounts of sag and alternating between one and zero clicks of rebound.

Even then, the Whyte T-129 RS didn’t feel as supple or active as we remember.On steeper descents the low front end also comes into play, pushing rider weight too far forward.

To counter this we ended up running the fork firmer, but even with it propped up we never felt as committed on the descents as we did on the other three bikes.

To get the most from the Whyte T-129 RS we reckon you have to back off on the steep stuff and then get your kicks elsewhere.