We've got a load of reader opinions below, but if you'd like to add your own experiences of Preston, or you have any more questions please e-mail us with a summary and we'll post them here in this handy space at the bottom of the page.

Dear Editor and Gentle Folk,

I have a Preston (normal not superbike) as one of 5 mountain bikes that I share with my wife (she has one). All of our singles are full suspension units (including a 7+10 inch travel downhiller) and we also have a mountain tandem. I do not race bikes but particularly love downhill and jumps and spend about 4 to 8 hours a week on the bikes (I only do it for the exercise, honest). So I suppose I am a bit of a mountain bike freak despite my advanced (48) age and "respectable", sedentary job - I head up an aerodynamics group (in a Formula 1 race team).

Preston is my favourite bike. It looks a bit weird but that is almost an advantage as the thing does attract lots of comments. Strong points are responsive steering and fabulous front end. The rear end, which is geometrically identical (well as near as I can measure anyway) to the Mount Vision, copes normally and hence feels hard compared to the front end the Mount Vision because in some situations it feels like it needs more rear travel, but the reason is simply that the front end copes so well, not that the rear end is inferior. I suppose Mr Whyte should look at applying some of his magic to the rear end next.

Having so many bikes, I like to swap and change and see how the bikes handle various types of terrain and obstacles. Preston is particularly good at riding over obstacles. A change of level of up to 5 or 6 inches or so can be taken sitting down if the tyres are pumped up (thin tubes supplied are vulnerable to pinch punctures so I have now replaced them). On twisty single track, front end grip and response to steering input is the sharpest of all my bikes (a real joy).

If the bike has a weak point it is that the front end lands hard from a jump if you pick it up too high. This is probably due to the suspension motion which helps it step over obstacles as the wheel seems to move back initially as it moves up and so feels stiff on first landing a jump. The answer is to fly flatter and land the wheels almost together. It is a cross country bike so does feel harder than the downhiller in general, so bomb holes and big jumps are not its forte - but if you want to cover ground up and down it is just fantastic.

I have just one problem. My wife! I made the fatal mistake of letting her ride it! In fact I positively encouraged her! I know, I know, that was a stupid thing to do. She claims it is hers and now wants to ride it whenever we go out together! Don't you just hate it when that happens! Claims it's more stable than the Mount Vision (she has gone over the handlebars 3 times on that, and it has sapped her confidence).

So for the sake of marital harmony, For Sale, Marin Mount Vision - one gentle lady owner (also ridden by one lunatic husband). Cheap! Oh well, at least when we have two I will get to ride the new one.....

Willem Toet Farthinghoe, Northants

Whyte Preston

Based on 2 * 3hr xc circuits in the peak district.

Plus Points

Lateral rigidity and overall ride - I went down rocky river beds faster and more confidently than ever before.

Climbing efficiency - Minimal bob - stayed out of the granny ring for an entire 3hr ride in the peak district with some big inclines. felt like a hard tail but without the hard edge.

Negative Points:

Front end felt twitchy and light on steep uphill sections. Test bike was an early prototype some mechanical teething troubles/ironing out still to be done.

Overall- beats my Orange X1 into a cocked hat!

Regards

Richard R

Whyte PRST-1

I ordered my Superbike at the beginning of June, and received it early July, so it was one of the first "batch". I was moving from an Orange O2 with Pace Suspension forks, so full suspension was always going to be a learning experience for me. My original intention had been to go for a Marin Mount Vision, but stock availability and wanting something a "bit different" led me to the Preston - especially after the rave reviews from pre-production models. I then decided that I was spending *that* much money and I wanted disc brakes, so I may as well fork out the extra money for a superbike - even though I'd always said that XTR is just a rip-off.

So - got the bike, off to my usual trails in North Wales - fantastic ride, my usual rocky downhill is becoming a bit of a blur, when I hit the patch of mud at the bottom, and the bike and I depart company! The Continental tyres (Twister and Explorer) might be ultra-light weight but I just don't like them. After a month of trying my old tyres etc., I settle on a pair of new Michelin Wildgripper Hot S which are much better.

Weekend - off to the Lakes...around some trails near Ambleside then off down the edge of the lake towards Claiffe Heights....the chain snapped! Hmmmm.....I'm not an expert mechanic by any means, but I was convinced I should have had some spare pins. Anyway...various botches later I end up pushing it back to the car! The shop did give me a new Sachs equivalent which has worked flawlessly so I'll put that down to a faulty chain.

After about 10 days, I took off to the French Alps (a long planned holiday) - being a new bike, it drew plenty of admiring (or were they "weird"?) glances from everyone. So, quite a good environment to test a new bike! The lift attendants had a bit of a hard time figuring out which way to put the bike on - there normal steering/downtube methods didn't exactly work! So, what did I learn in this week? It climbs just as well, if not better than my hardtail so I was pleased about that as I'd expected to lose some performance. Disk brakes were a bit of an eye-opener for me....I didn't understand anything about pump-up, but you soon get used to it, and making those adjustments. You will get this on most of the downhills in the Alps as they're just so much longer than in the UK - it happens very rarely over here because we only have "hills" really! I'm not the most technically competent downhill person in the world, so I probably don't push it to it's limits on these bits. But, basically - I am going faster and haven't had any weird steering problems that some people have reported. Having said that, I might have gone faster on any full suspension bike....

In terms of aesthetic design (and to some degree, functionality) there's a couple of things that need looking at: * The cable routing is "adequate", but you will get lots of cable rub - it's best to forget about the little clip in the middle and just zip-tie them to the front. Buy lots of carbon patches! * I noticed some rubbing from a pedal on the swingarm but it took a while to work out exactly how it could be happening. Essentially, with a Middleburn chainset and it's initial position (since changed), it was possible that for about 10 degrees of the pedal stroke, at full compression, there would be a slight rub against the swingarm. Whether this was just my bike or it's all of them I don't know - but I've been promised a new swingarm.

* How on earth do you fit this bike to a roofrack? I would like to have it on one of the fork mounted carriers, but the non-standard drop-outs means you can't do this.....No problem, says Whyte Bikes....we have converters. But I'm still waiting for one that will actually work!v * In a crash it would be all too easy for the forks to swing round and dent the frame...I've fitted a "bumper" made out of an old inner tube to the part of the frame that could get knocked. Something that looks better than this should have been fitted to it initally!

Paying that much money for a bike, you obviously expect the quality of all the finishing kit to be top notch, and (in my opinion) it is - Easton Carbon fibre bars, Hope XC4, XTR mechs, Middleburn Duo chainset etc.

It's endured a good summer's riding without too many problems. A few things coming loose etc., but nothing more than I've had with my Orange really. One rather scary incident when the saddle decided to depart from the seatpost! Basically, I think I'd got a bit used to the fact that I didn't need to check it was tight (like the instructions said I did).......so one day it decided to try and teach me a lesson. With hindsight, a lucky escape - but I now carry around a *complete* set of Allan keys!

Whyte Bikes did pull out quite a few stops to get me the bike in time for my holiday in France, but I haven't been that impressed with them since then. Still waiting for the replacement swingarm and the roof-rack/hub conversion kit gadget. The dealers I use have been very good - always keen to check that the bike's OK etc., and they do keep chasing Whyte Bikes for me.

I guess it's closest competitor is the Marin Mount Vision Pro - the PRST-1 is different to almost any bike on the market. Sometimes the differences make it stand out from the crowd, but other times they can be just plain annoying e.g. the quick releases. That doesn't mean the quick releases are bad....they're just different! But there again, if people didn't innovate we might all be riding around on Penny Farthings! Apart from some of the gadgetry, the main thing that makes this bike stand out is the front suspension system. I have seen reports of strange handling/steering characteristics but can't say that I've noticed any. Maybe I don't push it hard enough, or I'm not a technically astute engineer - I don't know. I had previous experience of Pace EVO2 forks and can't say I've noticed a huge difference. It is quite a high riding position but I like that. The main difference to me has been having full suspension, and because of that and the fact that it's different to 99.9% of all other bikes, I'd probably buy another one if I had to. But, I'd still look at the Mount Vision again! Regards Anon

Hello, I took an early model demo bike round the Hayfield circuit last week. Conditions were wet and muddy. I had trouble with the chain locking up due to a design fault on the rear suspension arm. I e mailed ATB sales to ask if they recognised this problem,they said they did and had introduced mods to the latest frames. Overall I thought the ride was excellent,also White were very helpfull and answered my questions accurately and promptly.

Best regards , Dave Eaton

Hi Scoop! I had a test ride some months back, doing two rides over a couple of days, one being around Leith Hill (Surrey). I was the second rider on the bike, and by the time I handed it back the cables had worn thro the paint! The frame seemed to amplify all the usual noises ( as do the new Marins), but otherwise the bike felt good and gave me confidence. The front did tuck in a bit sometimes, but probably just needed some fine tuning. What concerns me is (i) the longevity of all those pivots which are well placed to collect all the crap, particularly at the front, and (ii) the late change from the promised magnesium frame which may not have been considered as carefully as it should have been: I would expect these metals to have very different strength & fatigue characteristics. All IMHO of course.

Simon White

Simon Gant I've had two Preston's over the last year (the first went strangely missing at Manchester airport baggage handling) and have a few comments having ridden an tweaked them: Gripes:

1.) It would be nice to have a tunable front air shock available. At present this only comes with the superbike spec and if you wish to upgrade other options you have to buy the Fox Float R unit at full price (240 quid), no trade in. I have found the coil unit that comes as standard (with 600lb/in) to be a bit harsh on the small bumps. This may also be due to having to put a certain amount of preload on the coil to keep the linkages under compression all the time. If you run with no preload and do a decent-sized bunny-hop, the front end will make a big clank as the linkages loosen as you lift off and are then rammed back in position when you land. Whyte will swap the coil for a choice of two dual-rate springs (although this does not seem to be advertised much) which provides some improvement, but the best solution, in my opinion, is to go for an air shock that you can tune to your own body weight and riding style. Apart from this you save about a pound in weight by shifting to the air unit.

2.) The paint job is totally crap. Not the colour scheme - I'm sure some people like battleship grey - but I was down to bare aluminium on some parts where cables rub after one ride. They do provide you with patches to cover these up, but all the same I wouldn't expect it to abrade that easily.

3.) I've fitted Hayes discs and there is about 15mm of spacers on the front and 4mm of spacers on the back required when matched to Hope hubs. This is on top of Hayes 3mm of lateral adjustment on the adaptor plate. I had them fitted at Bicycle Doctor in Manchester, so it's not just my inept mechanic skills. The amount of spacers seems a bit much and although the dropouts look neat, it seems some more thought could have gone into matching them with disc systems. I don't know if there is a similar problem with Hope XC4's that come on the superbike spec.

Other than that, no problems. The back-end is laterally nice and stiff and the front end does what you want it to. I can imagine that without without the fancy geometry at the front, the stability could get tricky when you compress the front suspension to the maximum, with the steepened head angle (although one should perhaps question why you are braking hard and steering at the same time). The weight is okay, not superlight, but okay for the amount of travel it has. It's nice that they recently "upgraded" parts of the frame, for free and all, although the upgrade is in the Micro$oft meaning of upgrade here (i.e. bug fix).

Um... nothing more.

It all reads a bit critcal reading through this again. I love the damn bike and I can't wait to go out on it again, so they must have done a good job. Overall, I would recommend anyone considering a XC/freeride bike go out and buy one.

Cheers

Simon

Preston my be rather ugly with a look of a bike that's been involved in an accident, but from the riding position all you see is the handlebars & lots knarly terrain (+ people staring & pointing). I bought it to cope with the Long extreme descents & monstrous climbs we have here in the Swiss Alps. I have not been disappointed. Yes I threw the tires and tubes away, & every biker you meets wants to have a ride.

Marins may look right, and the BMW is definitely prettier (put portly) put the plush front end is a revelation on steep descents. even with the front brakes hard on the front still soaks up all bumps. Its done 1500km with no problems, surviving big endos unscathed. I must congratulate Jon Whyte in getting the design & component selection right.

regards Clarkeee

JACK PETERSON. Northamptonshire.

BIKE MAGIC MEMBER. oops left it a bit late as usual - i'll blame the ice and SNOW yes ! at yesterdays Dark & White trailquest. Sod the grammar for speed, sorry, here goes:

Marin pro owner for 3 years great bike except poor clearance and poor early Manitou forks- got through two fork lowers as braces cracked. On hearing of Preston release thought answer to all my prayers ie no forks and whopping clearance, and the chance to be different - suits me sir. Ordered in jan 2000 and waited, glad they ditched the mag frame as never really confident it could take uk weather abuse (have you seen Rockshock forks corrode to dust in winter?) Getting impatiant i borrowed demo XT version to do the Schwinn 100km event(big thanks Leisure lakes) and was immediatelly impressed, and happy at my decision to order. On a strange bike i came in 25th and had a ball flying down the moutains. this long hard test also showed an early problem of cable to frame wear , the rear cables has worn a groove almost through the toptube, and the need to ditch the tall bar position. Finally got the Superbike on 1st july and before a wheel was turned fully re-routed the brake and frt gear cables and protected the frame, ditched the bar spacer and lowered the bars. Very suprised to find a rapid rise rear mech as standard, my personal favourite for gear changing on the climbs., one less expense. 1st real ride straight into a race, perhaps not the best way to bed in a new bike, 45 mins into it i gave up thoroughly pissed off; chain off front rings constantly --- poorly set up and needed very carefull shifting. rear mech cable slit like a ripe banana --- no ferrule on cable so it peeled open on curve. seat constantly lowered itself then fell off clamp ---- same old marin clamp probs and the need to do up the alien post 'tiny' screws 'bloody tight' brake fluid all over bars and controls -- some idiot had overfilled the reservoirs so that if they tightened the caps down the brakes locked on, so they left them only part screwed on , dumped excess fluid - sorted, carried on. Finally the chain snapped and i spat the dummy, it broke at the link -- signs of incorrect assembly i thought.

Not a great start, a bit of a Friday model me thinks, but once i had sorted out these problems - "if you want a job doing etc" all was well. One other complaint was about the aheadset a cheap and cheerfull ball race affair , the spec stated a cane creak SL5 was to be fitted (and they had even tried to get away with fitting a cane creak topcap as a disguise), Leisure lakes confirmed it to be a cheapo aheadset model , the sales guy Andy at MTB sales personally phoned me to ensure me he had personally brought them over himself, Not being a great whinger i fitted my trusty 4 year old Chris King (top gear) and forgot it. 2 weeks after a race at Chicksands Bedfordshire on my Marin I returned with the preston for a great comparison. Using the same basically rooty fast sandy course the difference in front end feedback was astounding, confidence in the cornering and stiffness of the front end meant i was flying through loose corners, most of which are at the bottom of fast decents. With the marin (then fitted with SID xc forks), i would run out of track, but initially with the Preston i had a foot or so of more track on the exits, for the same speeds . Hence every lap i'd up my speeds untill i was using all the track again, i also found myself entering blind corners at silly speeds nowing that i could dig in and tighten my line without fear of washing out -- sold you bet. The secure feel when riding ruts is excellent i'm sure the flex free steering has saved me no end of times from that common crash cause, of riding up the edge of a rut and washing out. Another big advantage i feel is the inherant anti dive of the front end, when you find those sudden suprise gullys or drop offs on fast descents that normally have you near endowing on telescopic forks, the Preston swallows them whole and spits them out before your backside even thinks about clenching. Since getting the bike i have won 3 races and our local 10 round moutainbike series, having only ever won one race previously, due to the bike ? it certainly helps. I changed the front Middlburn big ring to a 44 tooth, and after some initial doubts about the two ring system i'm now a big fan .Yes care is still needed in setting up the front mech and shifting from big to small ring which has to be done over the right terain, otherwise the chain will drop off as the mech takes up the larger than normal slack, due to the gjump in teeth. A great bonus when climbing is never having to decide when to change to the granny, as you are invariably on the inner ring and just shift down as far as you can go , saves all those curses at the times the chain refuses to get off the middle ring. I might change my mind though next year when the lack of really small gears breaks my knees when trying to better my time at the Cristalp.

As per Marin (probably all fox shocks) the weak link in the suspension appears to be the damper bushes, the front has already worn and i will be replacing it over christmas , looks like we have to get used to it being a regular service item !! . Hows yours bearing up, no pun intended. Its a bit exposed up front , i've seen numerous homemade crud guards, mine is dampproof felt, tied under the front suspension arm, a job for Mr Crud - Whyte should commission them I'm sure they would sell one to every owner. Another maint' point has been the Hope 2 pot pads , the originals are as bad as every one says , a pair of pads per muddy weekend is very expensive at this time of year. Have finally got hold of some EBC Gold pads, which i didnt think exsisted from my local dealer, and they are FANTASTIC, i thought the Spannish pads were the Red pads, still wating for those.

Winter has been made fun by the bikes mud clearance, no more running 1 1/2" contis. So now the descents remain fun, and you seem to be able to hit really deep mud at crazy speeds and not lose the steering, again must be the taught front end, several mates have been pissed off with my refusal to dab on some of our local bogs, that have proved impossible before.

Have to say i'm not convinced that the front main pivot ball bearing thing can last, the seals are ingenious in design, having greased it a few times it still looks good, wouldn't want to try and remove that microscopic allen key that holds it though, so hope the lifetime guarentee is genuine.

Seat problems still abound, i've found that you have to keep it totally degreased and done up very very tight to make it stay put. The pin siezing in should not be a problem as i've also found the need to take the seat out after every wet ride and turn the bike upside down, as the frame fills up with with water through the many 'coating' holes.

Bikes use to date is 900 miles,according to my speedo, all long epic rides or competitions and it seems over 75% in mud, ie minimal road miles, i love the bike and am convinced it has improved my riding particularly technical climbing and fast cornering .

I like the use of British components on a british designed frame and hope Whyte prosper in their ideas, I can see me being a long term owner and i look forward to hammering this bike in to the ground , hopefully not to soon though.

Sorry for rambling but i feel i have given this bike a good caning and hope my views are useful.

PS. met a fellow member at the weekend who has snapped his forks just below the top mount, seems on crashing the forks turned to full lock, then on hitting the frame the only movement left was at this thin section. oh dear ! seems i might still have to replace foks in future after all.

Chris Ambler

The fork design does have flaws. ie. lacking lateral strength.

During a Sunday morning club ride one of our members managed to re-arrange the geometry of a Preston Whyte Bike. He got the front end sideways after taking on a huge (4 inch) root in the middle of the trail. After picking himself and the bike up the forks did not point in the same direction as the rest of the bike. The lower fork arms where both crimped and bent to the left. I am sure any other bike with more conventional forks would have come through this sought of crash without such major damage.

I would like to add that the bike was a demo bike on loan (whoops)!!!