There are two priorities to consider when looking for a XC race hardtail; light weight and stiffness. You want both in equal measure, a bike that will respond instantly to your pedalling input and light enough that it'll take hardly any effort to propel you across the line ahead of your competitors. If you happen to have £2799 knocking about in your bank account or under the mattress and want a carbon hardtail that is British designed, the Whyte 19 Race handily fits the bill.
Racing in the UK's biggest endurance mountain bike event, Mountain Mayhem, proved the perfect opportunity to put the 19 Race through its paces in a real world scenario. Taking the bike out for the first lap it's immediately noticeable how stiff the bike is. Not only in the job of converting pedalling power into forward momentum but also how direct the handling is, steering is tight and responsive with the merest body weight shifts enough to drastically alter the direction of travel. In fact, it's one of the stiffest bikes I can remember riding in a long way, I'm actually struggling to remember the last time I rode a bike as stiff as this...
The reason for the bike's stiffness is the uni-directional carbon fibre frame. It's an impressive work of art, all sumptuous curves and massive sized tubes. The rear stays too are eye wateringly huge, and charm their way around the rear wheel ensuring there's decent clearance for heels and tyres alike. Purposeful springs to mind.
Whyte first dabbled in carbon with the impressive E-120 full suspension bike several years ago, and then wisely decided to put all that expertise gained to develop the 19. Frame weight is on the money at 1,150g, but despite the low weight the incredible stiffness that has been achieved is impressive. Partly down to the ambitious oversizing in evidence, but also thanks to a BB30 bottom bracket with push-in bearings (there's an adaptor for conventional bottom brackets).
Whyte is known for its attention to detail, and thus it's no surprise to find there's a good deal of mud clearance and a bash plate on the chainstay to protect the carbon from dropped chains, and a forward-facing seatpost clamp.
All this stiffness means the bike is a thrill to ride, but only if you're prepared to work hard. At low speeds the massive stiffness makes itself felt as the rear wheel pops and jars over roots and rocks. Speed and finesse are needed to 'float' the bike over the bumpier trails, pushing body weight over the front end and getting the fork to do the majority of the trail smoothing.
It's laughably easy to power up the short climbs on this course, and I find my right forefinger reaching for the up shift lever over and over again, to the point where there's so much lactic acid filling my legs I think they might explode. But the Whyte urges you to keep pushing your body to the limit. It's doing exactly what a race bike is meant to do: make you want to ride fast and make it easy to do precisely that.
But saying all this, it's just as home as a fast trail bike if racing isn't your reason for wanting a carbon hardtail. While it's not as comfortable as many other choices, the right rider will enjoy the direct and lively rider in a non-race scenario and for short blasts, it really is a, blast...
The Race model tested here costs the best part of £2800 and for that you get a RockShox Sid Race 100mm fork with a Push-Lock remote lockout lever. The SID is such a capable fork that even away from the smooth confines of the average race track it rarely gets flustered, only when pushing extremely hard.
Shimano's XT groupset with an FSA Afterburner 44/32/22 chainset takes care of shifting, but they might as well have left the two smaller chainrings in the box as you'll only be using the big ring 100% of the time. Elsewhere, XT brakes were as solid and reliable as we'd expect them to be, and the Fulcrum Red Metal 3 wheels, unfamiliar to BM, ticked all the boxes; light, stiff and reliable.
The 19 also rolls out of the box with an FSA K-Force carbon riser handlebar - a choice most XC racers right up to World Cup level are increasingly using - and FSA stem and seatpost with a Fizik Tundra saddle. Also underlining the bikes intentions were the Continental Race King 2in tyres, incredibly fast in dry conditions and coped well in tacky mud too, and even on some off-camber singletrack the side knobs hooked up confidently.
Verdict
On paper it's fairly expensive and there's some strong competition, but riding the Whyte reveals such a sorted race-ready bike that we can't help but put that price tag to one side. Whether you'll be able to overcome the price is another matter, but take one for a spin and you might just be convinced. We certainly were.
www.whytebikes.com
