DH Field Test: YT Tues - Ready to Race or Rampage

Frame Details

Amongst the cleanly-crafted carbon frame lie three flip chips to adjust the geometry: one at the lower shock mount to change the BB height/head angle, another at the dropout for chainstay length variations, and a clever wheel size adjustment housed in the linkage.

Flipping between rear wheel sizes is straightforward in theory, but a third set of hands could come in handy. To make such that change, you’ll need to remove the link, flip it to the other side of the bike and reinstall the chips in the orientation as identified. The procedure can be a little tangley while trying to juggle all of the pieces, including the extra washers that double-seal the bearings.

To adjust between chainstay lengths, a flip-chip is located in the dropout but requires the brake mount can be reversed to account for the rotor displacement. Wisely none of the frame’s hardware, aside from the bottom bracket, threads directly into the carbon - even the upper shock mount nut and bolt are replaceable.

Throughout the rest of the frame, tidy integrated fork bumpers double as the entrance for internally routed housings and a decent level of molded rubber lines the swing arm.

---

Suspension

YT didn’t reinvent the wheel when building the latest generation Tues. They stuck with the four-bar design they’ve been using for over a decade, however the leverage ratio has been lowered in overall progression. The goal here was to offer a more consistent mid-stroke for more support, while still supplying a supple feeling at the beginning and building enough bottom out resistance at the end of the 200mm of travel. The Tues models are equipped with 250x75mm coil shock but there’s the possibility to run an air spring with this leverage curve as well.

Looking at the kinematic graphs, there’s nothing alarming or extreme about the values. On the trail, that’s apparent because the Tues never does anything erratic or unexpected. It’s mild mannered and responsive on flow tracks. When pushed hard on the most serious trails, it’s predictable, no matter what size rocks are in front of you, or lack thereof.

As expected, it doesn’t have the same bump-eating prowess of the high pivot machines or quite the same ability to stay poised under braking. Then again, it does get up to speed a whole lot sooner, whether that’s pumping to accelerate or just pedalling.

---

Geometry

Typically, we see downhill bikes offered in three and sometimes four sizes, so it’s ultra rare to see YT produce the Tues in five sizes, especially since this model is made from carbon, which comes with an increased investment cost.

To the customer though, that’s a huge bonus because the Tues can fit a huge range of riders, all the way from 154cm (5’), up to 203cm (6’8”). The reach measurements on the five sizes start at 430mm and work their way up in 20mm increments, making the XXL 510mm.

Flip-chips were first brought into frame design to change the head tube angle and BB height. You’ll find one in place on the lower shock mount which toggles the Tues between a 63.5-degree head tube angle and 351mm BB height in the “regular” setting and 63.2 and 346 numbers in the “low” position.

Adding to the wealth of in-frame customization is the fact that the chainstays are somewhat size specific, on top of having that 5mm of adjustment. In the shorter setting, the chainstays for each frame size are as follows; SM, MD: 438-443mm, LG: 440-445, XL, XXL: 450-455.

There are no limitations on which frame size can handle a given wheel size either - even the size small frame can handle a 29” rear wheel in the shorter chainstay setting, although it’s unlikely you’ll see that combination.

---

Test Bike Setup

By now it's clear that the Tues can handle both a 27.5 or 29” rear wheel. During this test, we exclusively opted for the smaller of the two to make the most comparable notes between bikes, however, you can find our thoughts on the full 29er setup in the First Ride where we did back to back laps comparing the two wheel sizes.

In that previous session, I settled on a 450 pound spring and found that to be ideal, never bottoming unexpectedly or riding too high in the travel. The rear shock clickers ran close to the advised settings from Fox for that spring weight and travel. Up front, the fork was pumped to 87 psi with 5 volume spacers with the damper more open than Fox's suggested.

We also kept the chainstay in the longer setting of 445mm, which isn’t as long as we’d hoped for. A 10mm flip-chip might have been a better use of that feature. The lower shock mount stayed in the lower/slacker of the two positions to give a 63.2-degree head tube angle and the top crown sat on top of the tall head set cap.

---

Descending

From a side view, the Tues’ sharp straight lines give a low-profile look to the bike and that’s an apparent trait of how it rides as well. What the frame might lack in terms of a slack head angle, it makes up for in stability with a low center gravity. The stance is not too far from the Frameworks DH too and could be thought of as the new-school downhill geometry where stability is gained from higher stack values and longer wheelbase numbers rather than just a slack head angle. This puts the rider on the bike where their feet are low to the ground giving a proud standing position. This places their hands more so on top of the front axle pushing down on it rather than behind it pushing it forward. What that means on the trail is that while thundering through wide open sections or destroyed bike park corners the front wheel has an inclination to tuck rather than stand against the bumps.

I could see some racers installing offset headset cups for a slacker head angle and possibly wishing for a longer chainstay. But YT set out to build a versatile gravity bike, one that can be raced flat-out and still remain active, yet provide responsive nature for other riders who could care less about lap times. That’s where the compact wheelbase lends to being much more reactive through jump trails and tight corners compared to a bike like that Intense M1, which lumbers along until it gets up to speed.

Either way, one thing you’ll find on the race track and in bike parks alike are braking bumps, and although the Tues tracks through them moderately well, it doesn’t come with some clattering that can be felt through the bike. Doing back-to-back laps on four other bikes made this apparent and, like the Glory, there was a higher degree of feedback from the chain moving about. Another culprit that could tame some of the vibration down was the short amount of housing that can hit the frame near lower shock mount.

Components like O-Chain and STFU chain dampers are designed to negate those vibrations and forces felt by the rider which ultimately lead to a smoother ride. In fact, most of the YT Mob team is running such devices. There's also been experimentation with an idler pulley to accomplish similar tasks, but that can have negative trade-offs in the pedaling efficiency department.

Overall though, the Tues was one of the easiest bikes to just get on with. Its high versatility and regular flavor can cater to any type of rider with its various geometry adjustments, plus, all of that comes at relatively low cost in comparison to some of the other bikes on test.

---

Technical Report

Acros Headset: High bar heights might be all the rage, but in our case, we wanted them lower. That wasn’t possible due to the huge top cap on the head set. Of course switching that out in the long run, or moving to a lower-rise bar is an option, would be a possibility, however, we likely won’t be the only ones to run into this issue. In our opinion, starting with a slimmer top cap is ideal - it’s easier to add stem spacers than find a new headset component.

Flip-chips: The Tues has two sets of these; one at the dropout and another in the seatstay-link pivot. The chainstays can be altered by 5mm, which is hardly noticeable and 10mm would have been a more logical choice for the trouble. Changing between the rear wheel sizes involves removing the two “wings” or links that the shock passes through and switching them to the other side of the bike. Flipping the chips in those is the second step. In doing so, you’ll need a careful hand to manage a seal and an aluminum cap/spacer on each face of the bearing (those have a specific direction that they need to face as well) - tidy in theory, cluttered in practice.

Cable management: When I first rode the Tues, the chosen test track was slower and smoother than the high-speed, hammered trails of the Whistler Bike Park. That’s where we noticed more noise from the bike. The housing can tap against the small arm of the lower shock mount.

Up front, a tidy fork bumper guards the top tube from the fork stanchion while creating a port for the internal cable routing. That’s well executed except that for forks narrower than the Fox 40 the turning radius might be tighter than expected.

---

Pinkbike's Take

---

---

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech Field Test DH Bikes YT Industries Yt Tues