YT’s latest downhill offering got straight to winning ways under a young Austrian and boasts whilst more adjustability than the outgoing model.
Seen at the opening round of this year’s UCI Downhill World Cup after an off-season being masked by frame covers, the new YT Industries Tues comes with more reach and more adjustability but retains everything that made the previous bike so good.
Pete casts his verdict on the current top spec YT Industries Tues after some serious elevation racked up on a famous Scottish mountain.
Photos by Chris Gibbs.
Key features:
- Fox 40 Factory 200mm fork
- Fox DHX2 Factory shock
- SRAM XO1 DH 7-speed drive
- TRP DH-R EVO brakes
- Crankbrothers Synthesis DH Alloy wheels
- SDG i-Beam carbon post
- £5,999.00 RRP
- UK.YT-Industries.com
Geometry
The YT Tues is available in S, M, L and XL.
S and M come stock as Mullets, the larger sizes as full 29ers. Reach on the M in Low is 446mm with a seat tube of 390mm. Head angle is 63.2 degrees with a seat tube angle of 76.2 degrees. Chainstays are size specific with having 439 or 444mm chainstays. Wheelbase is 1252 or 1257mm.
I opened my new downhill account with the YT Industries Tues Core 4 at Nevis Range with a rather daft nine runs of the World Cup track and felt like I had been tied in a knot the following day. The bike, however was keen for more, so I figured a few more days at the UK’s only World Cup downhill venue would help get me better at dealing with the punishment only Aonach Mor can offer.
Setup on the bike had come after a third of the runs on the opening day, and I was content enough to continue with that as I hadn’t noticed anything lacking. My feet and hands were sore at the bottom of the hill, but this might just be my 12-year hiatus from proper downhill. I know the Renthal bars to be too stiff for me but I wasn’t going to write them off just yet.
Beyond that the kit fitted had been a delight. The Fox Factory dampers in 40 and DHX2 form had done their best to chew up the Scottish granite, the SRAM XO DH drive was smooth and crisp, the TRP DH-R Evo brakes kept me in control and the Crankbrothers Synthesis wheels on i9 hubs with Maxxis DH rubber were still round and full of air.
Learning the World Cup track was a task enough, allowing me to link the sections together as best I could, whilst trying to re-programme my brain to the downhill frequency. Thankfully, the Tues was more than up to the task and the faster I went, the more it came into its own.
With a few more days of lapping out at Nevis Range saw the speed and confidence keep rising. Lines became second nature and the bike felt like I’d ridden it forever. Proof that the platform of the Tues was sound and the setup I had was working.
Getting the lap count into double digits had me thinking that I might have a rear shock spring that’s a rate or two too high, as I was running the spring as loose as it would go without rattling on me. That said, the bike didn’t feel firm or harsh, but it’s usually better to be in the middle rather than at either extreme.
Anyway, I made some minor damping changes, mostly low speed rebound opening a few clicks to get the bike responding to the high speed I was now comfortable with. The bike just kept getting faster and I just wanted more.
Possibly the only grumbles about this bike came to the fore as I approached twenty laps. Whilst the Assegai out front is a solid and capable tyre, keeping me rubber side up when it gets loose, as a rear tyre it lacks the braking grip I needed and would often lock up when I didn’t want it to.
The other grumble was the brakes. The first laps of every day saw the brakes very vague until after the boardwalk, coming into the sweet spot when they’d been heat cycled before fading a touch towards the bottom of the hill. Even when in that sweet spot, outright power isn’t that of a Code or a Shimano 4-pot, and the feel is a bit wooden too. Perhaps a swap to the Organic pads with more bite or a Semi-Metallic option might fare better? A mid-level Code with big HS2 rotors would likely be cheaper and perform better.
All this said, I have tucked just shy of fifteen thousand metres of vertical descent over just shy of 65 kilometeres on the Tues. I feel like I have ridden that track faster than I ever have before and confidently so. I felt like I could attack the track rather than let it bully me about and sketchy moments have been few and far between. The only sure sign of the punishment this bike has received is the dents in both rims. Despite this, the tyres still hold air and the wheels are true.
What do we think?
The YT Industries Tues Core 4 is a downhill bike with World Cup-winning pedigree that works for us mere mortals too. I went from struggling to process downhill speeds to getting after faster lap times within minutes and all the bike showed for it was a few rim dents. Six grand for a bike as good as this, as light as it is shouldn’t be a thing but it is.
We love:
- Low weight
- Solid spec
- Dialled, adjustable geometry
- Sorted suspension
Could do better:
- Brakes lack feel
- Rear tyre not the best for braking grip
