Key points

• YT Industries releases first trail bike
• 140mm travel, 29 in wheels, adjustable geometry, carbon and aluminium versions available
• Prices from £1,781

So this is what Jeffsy is then?

Yep. After all the speculation and mystery the YT Industires Jeffsy is finally upon us and under the cloth all along it was a 140mm 29er trail bike. You may think this is hardly revolutionary but when you look beneath the surface we think it could be a mini game-changer.

A 29er doesn’t feel very ‘YT’ though

When the YT Industries motto is “good times” it is kind of easy to see why you’d say that, after all, 29ers have always been seen as more efficient than fun. YT admits it had no intention of making a 29er (it has, in fact, gone on record as saying riders on 29ers look like “an ape riding an ostrich”) but when it started on this project it soon became apparent that the big wheels were perfect for its all-mountain vision.

You have to be honest though, whatever your opinion of 29 inch wheels, YT has made them look stunning. The aluminium and carbon versions of this bike all share the same sculpted silhouette and we love how clean it looks.

What sets it apart from other 29er trail bikes?

The Jeffsy has some pretty nifty features. First comes the proportional chainstays. This means that sizes S and M use 435mm chain stays while the L and XL bikes get them 5mm longer. YT claims that this keeps the handling balanced across the range.

Secondly is the flip chip geometry. Adjustable geometry is nothing new, but to see it on a 29er trail bike is more than welcome. It shows that YT understands that riders may want a racier setting for getting up the hills but that it won’t forget its gravity roots with a slacker setting that can be activated pretty much on-the-fly.

Well, that’s not exactly cutting edge…

We agree, the Jeffsy may not be leaps and bounds ahead in terms of tech but it just does everything so well, and there’s no better place you can see this than in the sizing. It’s only a few mm longer than offerings from Trek and Specialized but we think the numbers are totally nailed.

Here’s the important question, how did it perform?

We were lucky enough to get a preview ride of the Jeffsy in Medeira and with three days of it between our legs it’s safe to say we love it. We were riding the top of the range CF Pro model but we found the carbon frame to be just pliant enough and the suspension wonderfully progressive to give an agile yet capable feeling.

You can definitely feel the benefits of the 29er wheels as the Jeffsy covers the ground effortlessly and it was only when we took to the roughest of enduro race tracks that we felt the bike got out of shape – not bad considering it was 20mm of travel down on the bikes that are designed to tackle such routes.

We genuinely believe the ride is so good that the YT Industries Jeffsy could blow the doors clean off the 29er trail bike category.

There must be some downsides though?

We could nit-pick at the fork and say it isn’t Boost, even though the frame is, which obviously means the wheels aren’t quite as stiff as they could have been. Also the pound is slumped against the euro at the moment, meaning that the prices aren’t quite as good as they could have been six months ago.

Prices start at €2,199 (£1,781) for the Jeffsy AL that comes with a Pike fork, a Monarch shock, a Reverb Stealth groupset and an SLX groupset. and go all the way up to €4,499.00 (£3,643) for the CF Pro with Fox suspension and an X01 groupset.

For more information click here.