Whyte 46 2006

Posted by Matt January 19, Leave a comment. Thomas subsequently went on to own one for a couple of years until he broke the forks and decided his riding style needed something a bit more robust. Matters have never really improved since, with each successive design managing successfully to turn its back on looks in the quest for engineering efficiency. Regardless of such noble intentions however, its a competitive marketplace out there and it seems that commerical conservatism has finally caught up with Whyte bikes.

Over the past few years the flying V layout has been seen on Marin full sus designs and has proved to be both lightweight and torsionally strong, at the same time allowing the rear shock to be partially shielded by the seatpost from the worst of winter mud.

The Whyte takes the design one step onwards, with smoothly shaped top and down tube swoops in place of the Marin kink. The monocoque construction has been carefully profiled to remove as much weight as possible, contributing to the low overall weight of the bike Whyte quotes If you look at the picture at the top of the page you can see how high the front end is and the relatively slack head angle, presumably to accommodate the huge amount of front travel available.

The bike is finished is an attractive, laquered gun metal grey paint which shows off the subtle profiling very well, far better than can be seen in the photographs here. It seems that Jon Whyte has heeded the complaints from earlier owners that the paint he uses is too thin and given the Whyte 46 a decent paint job to warrant its price. Discrete graphics complete the picture. The overall effect of the design, paintjob and graphics is to quietly shout quality — most people who saw the bike on our demo day were immediately drawn to it, to ask about it, try it, feel its weight and so on.

Any bike is only really as good as its bits. Sounds obvious really but its surprisingly true, especially in this case. It suits the ethos of the bike well, both are lightweight but designed to provide significant travel. We were a bit concerned that when we picked up the test bike the forks appeared to be slightly out of true looking down from the top but no-one noticed this when riding.

To be fair, Thomas was probably the only one to give the bike a proper work out anyway. Anyone who has spent time on a Marin QUAD will know just how good the rear suspension design is in producing an exceptionally smooth but beautifully balanced ride.

These features and the tremendous climbing ability that comes with it have transferred to the Whyte 46 in such a way that you tend to take it for granted.

With that kind of travel available it would be reasonable to expect the Whyte to be compromised in some way but the QUAD tricksyness and hyper plush front end, coupled to the stupidly light weight meant that the bike felt as though it was just cruising, which for most of the time it probably was.

Whyte seem to be quietly trying to move into new territory here without upsetting their hardcore and hard won band of loyal owners. The shocks where both shot and it was squirming everywhere. I can do most repairs myself so tried to go through the bike piece by piece, it was then I found every nut and bolt was virtually seized due to the age of the bike.

My verdict is stay away get something newer it will save you money in the long run. It has had: — new front wheel bearings — new frame bearings expensive but very easy to extract and fit — new shock bearings and bushing — new stem the adjustable oversize one — very wide bar — complete fork strip — dropper post. It has the alpine link which significantly slackens it and drops the BB.

Even with a cheap back wheel it is pretty light for the amount I paid for it. I also love the fork. Once you get the hang of it it strips to pieces in minutes and having done that it now feels buttery smooth.

I do long rides and some trail centre stuff. Weird tall, longish-travel bike with XC geometry. I borrowed one for a week when it was current and hated it with a passion. That said, I was on an AQR holiday in the Pyrenees a couple of years back and one of the other guesst had one and rode the wheels off it quite impressively. A friend had one for a few years.

I got to ride it quite a few times. To be honest I thought they were fairly rubbish. Even back then they felt too tall and not long enough.

Breaking was the best thing he ever did. But on an off day, it really felt like you were balancing on a unicycle six feet in the air.

Personally I loved it until I fell back in love with hardtails thanks, Cotic , and eventually stripped and sold it in parts. But, I did the Dyfi on it a clean hour faster than I managed the following year on my Soul, and did the C2C in three days, so it was far from a slouch. As has been said, the Alpine Link made a big difference.

I had a Marin Wolf Ridge, pretty damn similar to the Whyte, in the early-mid noughties and it was indeed like riding atop a giraffe. Is Was the Whyte 46 still ever a great bike? I have a Marin Rock Springs which is very similar with fixed mm rear suspension and I think the Alpine link as standard.

I purchased it second hand for a trip to the Alps and it has now done 4 weeks in the Alps and a couple of weeks in Spain. All of the above said, only the frame and rear shock are original.

Replacing the QR rear with a through axle and changing the wheels for some cheap All Mountain wheels made a difference to the rear flex, mm forks, wider bars, shorter stem and a dropper post have all improved things each year.

I keep thinking about replacing it but struggle with spending a few grand on a bike that gets ridden for a couple of weeks a year…maybe for next years trip! I doubt time has improved any of these things. This topic has 38 replies, 28 voices, and was last updated 4 years ago by sillyoldman.

Viewing 39 posts - 1 through 39 of 39 total. Always fancied one but just wondering how it would measure up against more modern competition. Posted 5 years ago. Email in profile.