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Do we know what the YT Capra is yet?

supercow

Monkey
Feb 18, 2009
969
128
The Megavalanche is once a year, I want an AM bike for the rest of the year too.
I'm not convinced that a 170mm bike will feel all that great on some of the trail centres we have in the UK.
 

vikingboy

Monkey
Dec 15, 2009
212
2
Ive lived with a 160 and 180mm bike in the Uk and TBH you just find off piste stuff to hit stuff faster and harder. Climbing up was never my thing though so could appreciate that if you want a bike for year round groomed trail centre use with a 50/50 mix of UP&DH, it would kill a lot of what fun is left in those places. I'd take a hardtail for UK trail centre use TBH.
 

frango

Turbo Monkey
Jun 13, 2007
1,454
5
Guys, it may be dumbest question in this thread, so far ;)
But, where is it actually written, it's 650b bike?
I can't see it in specs, I can't see it on tires, is the fork 650b only?
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,289
5,029
Ottawa, Canada
170mm and 65° head angle may be spot-on for alpine-style riding (long climbs and long descents). But for the up-and-down-over-and-around type of riding, it might not be ideal.

Being a subscriber to Dirt, I definitely get the feeling Steve Jones has a big-mountain bias in his reviews, which is entirely irrelevant for me and my type of terrain... Not sure why I subscribe really. Other than maybe they write about trips and destinations we typically don't see or hear about here in North America.

But yeah, I agree. Seems like a 170mm is a lot of bike for most people. Maybe a 150mm bike would complement their line-up nicely... Kind of like Norco's Sight and Range or Specialized's Stumpy and Enduro, or Trek's Fuel and Slash.... etc etc etc...
 
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vikingboy

Monkey
Dec 15, 2009
212
2
I used a loupe I had lying around to zoom in on the tyre markings in the photo - nerds unite and all that. Not enough resolution to clearly read it but Id wager 75% odds it says 27.5 rather than 26.0
As Sethimus says above though, it would be a odd decision making a 26" frame set right now given the tide has most definitely turned towards bigger wheels for this kind of bike.
 

frango

Turbo Monkey
Jun 13, 2007
1,454
5
you really think a company is still investing in 26" molds for carbon frames in 2014?
Well, I don't... but Specialized case, which kept 29" for 2014 proves, that you may just have a different idea... 170mm + 27,5" would probably make it similar to Scott Genius LT... pretty unique bike...
 

Samoto

Guest
Dec 16, 2013
402
0
solve it with help of 20mm fork spacer and headset angle cups?

170 and 65.5ha doesnt scare me. Maybe people are afraid to think that YT Capria may replace Mustang (dh) :)
 

UncleHowie

Chimp
Feb 9, 2011
76
0
Switzerland
170mm and 65° head angle may be spot-on for alpine-style riding (long climbs and long descents). But for the up-and-down-over-and-around type of riding, it might not be ideal.
It's a german brand and I guess most of their customers are from germany/switzerland/austria. So that much travel makes sense and there is a lot more competion from well known brands that make bikes around 140mm travel.
 

Mo(n)arch

Turbo Monkey
Dec 27, 2010
4,441
1,422
Italy/south Tyrol
They definitely have customers in every country in yurp.
And outside the alps (thinking of the steeps in Switzerland and France) a trail bike with max. 150mm and an aggressive geo makes far more sense. Makas the tamer tracks more enjoyable.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Ive lived with a 160 and 180mm bike in the Uk and TBH you just find off piste stuff to hit stuff faster and harder. Climbing up was never my thing though so could appreciate that if you want a bike for year round groomed trail centre use with a 50/50 mix of UP&DH, it would kill a lot of what fun is left in those places. I'd take a hardtail for UK trail centre use TBH.
Some of us live in places where there is just no terrain for such a bike. It would feel sluggish and booring to ride a 170mm bike here and when I go to the hills I take my dh bike. It's a great bike if you want one bike that can do dh tracks and xc riding but for me not so much. I will take a spitfire over this every day.
 

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,208
581
Durham, NC
Assuming the angles are all good (which appears to be the case) it looks like a sick, sick bike. Plenty of shorter travel options on the market, it's nice to see something with a bit more travel where there are less good options.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Assuming the angles are all good (which appears to be the case) it looks like a sick, sick bike. Plenty of shorter travel options on the market, it's nice to see something with a bit more travel where there are less good options.

I don't understand why everybody is saying there are plenty of other shorter travel options on the market? How many 650b light trailbikes with agressive geo are there on the market? Spitty, The New Knolly, Stumpy Evo, Canyon and Kona. While we have a ton of bikes aimed at the mega. Maybe not all 170mm travel but a lot of them burly enough to take it (Rune, Spesh Enduro, Mondraker, Scott, again Canyon and a ton of others).
 

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,208
581
Durham, NC
I don't understand why everybody is saying there are plenty of other shorter travel options on the market?
Maybe because you've very narrowly limited it to bikes with "aggressive" geo. I'd argue that a 130/140mm bike doesn't really need to have geo that is all that agressive. Fun yes, but not necessary.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Maybe because you've very narrowly limited it to bikes with "aggressive" geo. I'd argue that a 130/140mm bike doesn't really need to have geo that is all that agressive. Fun yes, but not necessary.
It's useful if you live in the flatlands. You still sometimes want stability or at last not xc angles and not xc bb heights when having fun. My current trail frankenbike is pretty agresive in the geo dept and I'm pretty sure many people would prefer it over it's shaved leg competition.
 

supercow

Monkey
Feb 18, 2009
969
128
Guys, it may be dumbest question in this thread, so far ;)
But, where is it actually written, it's 650b bike?
I can't see it in specs, I can't see it on tires, is the fork 650b only?
Those mavic wheels only come in 650b no?
 

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,208
581
Durham, NC
It's useful if you live in the flatlands. You still sometimes want stability or at last not xc angles and not xc bb heights when having fun. My current trail frankenbike is pretty agresive in the geo dept and I'm pretty sure many people would prefer it over it's shaved leg competition.
I hear what you're saying and mostly agree. I just don't see the need for a 66 degree head angle on a 130mm bike. Low BB's all day though :thumb:
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
I hear what you're saying and mostly agree. I just don't see the need for a 66 degree head angle on a 130mm bike. Low BB's all day though :thumb:
Saying agressive I didn't exactly mean 66. My current bike sits at 66.7 and I don't think I need it slacker. 67, low bb, short cs and a steep seattube are what I would be looking for.

btw. Looking at our local enduro forums (yeah we have those) I get why they went with 170mm travel. A lot of local enduro guys are people who tried dh, didn't do well and now are riding nothing more than mellow trail riding but a bigger bike means a bigger e-penis for them. Kinda like huck bikes of the old days. I see way to many people riding mellow trails on 170-180 bikes because they become hardcore when no one is looking.
 
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vikingboy

Monkey
Dec 15, 2009
212
2
interesting the Bos model is 170/170 and the Rockshox is 160/165mm travel
Good spec on all those bikes.
 

frango

Turbo Monkey
Jun 13, 2007
1,454
5
But, they even took this fact into consideration... HA (and others) are different for different sub-models... like 0,3* :D
 

vikingboy

Monkey
Dec 15, 2009
212
2
consequence of different fork A2C measurements I would imagine etc
65.3 is spot on in my book for this sort of bike. Actually quite tempted to order one TBH....
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
I don't get Steve Jones. In the Capra hype piece he complained how the Wicked had a too high bb when the difference between both bikes is 3mm. The headangle diff is 0.7 deg. He also complained how the Wicked was too short with only 11mm WB difference. Is he being serious? An offset bushing set would make a bigger difference.
 

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,208
581
Durham, NC
I don't get Steve Jones. In the Capra hype piece he complained how the Wicked had a too high bb when the difference between both bikes is 3mm. The headangle diff is 0.7 deg. He also complained how the Wicked was too short with only 11mm WB difference. Is he being serious? An offset bushing set would make a bigger difference.
To be fair, he did say "slightly too high" and "a bit too short". :D
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
To be fair, he did say "slightly too high" and "a bit too short". :D
As much as I like reading dirt Jones could very often be replaced by a random review generator. Seriously. All of his reviews are the same and share no info. Just divide the bikes in a few classes:
1. "Top spec - best bike evar"
2. "super slack ha - best bike ever but we didn't know how to set up our suspension"
3. "advertised in dirt - best bike ever"
4. "Looks like a session - best bike ever"
5. "small company, not advertised in dirt - good but not as good as the big company that supplied us with a pimperer build test bike".


I could swear there were times when reading his reviews didn't make me think RC has a brother that swapped the uphill fetish for a slack headangle one.
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,536
5,470
UK
Saying agressive I didn't exactly mean 66. My current bike sits at 66.7 and I don't think I need it slacker. 67, low bb, short cs and a steep seattube are what I would be looking for.
each to their own, personally I don't really want rear suspension at all unless it has proper DH geometry but for me a wee DJ hardtail with a 100mm fork has always been more fun everywhere other than longer rough/punishing descents. My thinking is if it isn't optimised for the part of the ride I'm carting it along for why even bother?



btw. Looking at our local enduro forums (yeah we have those) I get why they went with 170mm travel. A lot of local enduro guys are people who tried dh, didn't do well and now are riding nothing more than mellow trail riding but a bigger bike means a bigger e-penis for them. Kinda like huck bikes of the old days. I see way to many people riding mellow trails on 170-180 bikes because they become hardcore when no one is looking.
Ha ha... you've just summed up the current fashion in the entire UK mtb scene right there.. although it seems to be as much about being seen in POC kit as owning the correct e-douro bike
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,536
5,470
UK
These days I'm knocking around on a Enduro SX 120mm 4x bike built up as a light-DH bike with 65deg HA, its fast as hell but tires me out very quickly. It doesn't ride the gnar as well as a bigger bike so you need to be a bit more on the lookout and reading the trail ahead to get on the brakes to catch too quick entries into sections where 160mm+ would carry you through - not sure I'd want to spend an hour on the Megavalache track with it though. Prediction would be Id have to scrub speed way too often to be as quick as a 160mm bike and would likely crash at the bottom due to fatigue (its hard to crash in the middle bit across the fields)
I too have an old SX (115mm) set-up as a 65deg,12.6" BB mini DH bike.. you're spot on about having to be stronger/fitter to ride the bike DH compared to a 200mm travel bike but I think you're way off with the braking strategy.. those things become harsh as **** if you even lightly squeeze the rear brake lever while descending anything choppy, IME what you actually need to do is trust the bike, jump/pump more and choose slightly different lines than you maybe would with a DH bike and rear brake way less. (especially dragging) The shocks on those old frames heat up stupidly fast on longer rougher descents and damping fades so you need to set em up old skool from the start (faster rebound) and learn to ride them like they have a blown shock.. mine does actually have moar shims but that can only help so much with such a retarded leverage ratio.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Ha ha... you've just summed up the current fashion in the entire UK mtb scene right there.. although it seems to be as much about being seen in POC kit as owning the correct e-douro bike
Naah. Here the trend is hating on anyone in new flashy full moto/dh gear while riding slightly older, slightly less flashy full moto/dh gear. For the uphills they just use freeride shorts aka dh shorts with pockets.
 
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frango

Turbo Monkey
Jun 13, 2007
1,454
5
Maybe YT wanted to create very cool, light, etc mini-DH bike and the did it quite well... but, instead of call it properly, they went with 27.5/enduro hype :)

Frankly speaking, if I compare Capra Pro to my current Glory which is 180/203mm travel and weighs 14,5kg (incl. pedals), it wouldn't be that crazy to switch bikes... more than 1kg lighter, more versatile, dropper s-post, suspension might not be the worst in the world... maybe HA on Capra is not what I want ;)
 
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norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Maybe YT wanted to create very cool, light, etc mini-DH bike and the did it quite well... but, instead of call it properly, they went with 27.5/enduro hype :)

Frankly speaking, if I compare Capra Pro to my current Glory which is 180/203mm travel and weighs 14,5kg (incl. pedals), it wouldn't be that crazy to switch bikes... more than 1kg lighter, more versatile, dropper s-post, suspension might not be the worst in the world... maybe HA on Capra is not what I want ;)
Put an offset headset on it and you will end up with the same head angle you are currently running, same for bb height. Not that you would betray your company ;)
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Looks like a fun bike, be interesting to ride one.

Or I could just listen to some of you, treat a guess about what it would be like as fact, and make fun of anyone who chooses to ride something different than me.