Bike Check: Neko Mulally's YT Tues
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The first round of the 2017 DH World Cup is upon us, and the top riders from all across the globe are assembling in Lourdes, France, for what's sure to be an action-packed weekend of racing. Sean Leader recently caught up with Neko Mulally on his home turf in Windrock, Tennessee, to get the nitty gritty details about the YT Tues that Neko will be aboard heading into the race season.
Neko Mulally's YT Tues
Details
• YT Tues, 27.5" wheels
• Frame Size – XL
• Fox 40 Float fork - 203mm travel
• Fox DHX2 or Float X2 shock – 208mm travel
• Renthal Fatbar 790mm aluminum handlebars and 50mm Integra stem
• TRP G-Spec Quadiem brakes
• e*thirteen LG1 Carbon Cranks
• e*thirteen 9-21 cassette
• SRAM X01 derailleur
• ODI grips
• Onza tires (Greina 26psi / Ibex 28psi)
• Weight: 34.5 - 35lb depending on setup
• YT Tues, 27.5" wheels
• Frame Size – XL
• Fox 40 Float fork - 203mm travel
• Fox DHX2 or Float X2 shock – 208mm travel
• Renthal Fatbar 790mm aluminum handlebars and 50mm Integra stem
• TRP G-Spec Quadiem brakes
• e*thirteen LG1 Carbon Cranks
• e*thirteen 9-21 cassette
• SRAM X01 derailleur
• ODI grips
• Onza tires (Greina 26psi / Ibex 28psi)
• Weight: 34.5 - 35lb depending on setup
Neko's Stats
Height – 6'
Weight – 185lbs / 83.9kg
 | I had the opportunity to join the YT Mob this year. They obviously have a really good track record – they won the World Cup overall in their first year as a team, they've got Aaron Gwin who's the World Cup champion and number one ranked UCI rider, it's a team effort to make that happen, and they're offering me the same level of support that he's going to get and access to the same equipment; you can't really beat that. |
How do you set up your cockpit?
| Depending on the course I might change the bar height. Some of the super steep tracks like Andorra or Val di Sole warrant a higher front end, but I generally don't change it too much. I'm running a 30mm rise bar and I've got a 20mm spacer (including the dust cap) underneath the top crown. My front end is on the low to average end; it's not super high by any means, but it gives me room to adjust when I get to those steeper courses. |
Suspension
• Travel: Front 203mm / Rear 208mm
• Pressures: Front: 80psi, up to 86 depending on the course / Rear: 180-190psi
• Volume adjustment: 5 spacers in fork, 3-4 in the Float X2 shock
Do you prefer air or coil suspension? Is there anything different going on with your fork and shock compared to the stock configuration?
| I've been going back and forth since I got the Tues frame. I find them both very good, so it's a tough decision to see which one to go with. I'm kind of leaning towards the air if I can get it to feel the same. It's lighter, more tunable, and I don't have to take all the springs with me. It seems like I can adjust it more with the volume spacers – there's just more you can do with the air shock. If they feel the same to me I think I'll go with the air, but I'm try to shake that out right now. The shock is the stock shim stack, we're running a lower leverage bike with a long shock, so we don't need to go firmer than what the average shim stack is. With the fork, I'm running a firmer valve code with my compression settings pretty open. If I have access to shim stack tuning I I tend to prefer to make it firmer there rather than shutting down the adjusters. |
What have you been running for tires? Do you use any type of flat protection system?
| Preseason I've been using the stock Onza tires, which are the Greina mud tire and the Ibex dry tire. They've been working pretty good for me, but I understand they have some new stuff coming that we should have access to before the first World Cup – Aaron's been working on a tire with them. Onza seems like they have pretty good stuff stock, and they're really motivated to make some new tires that should be out soon. Our team works closely with the Flat Tire Defender guys. Frank Stacy was working with us at Trek World Racing on the tires there, and now has gotten this Flat Tire Defender going. It's his own project, and he's at a lot of the races and really supporting our team. I haven't ridden one, but he's coming out to test with me before Lourdes and get a feel for where that thing is worth using. It adds some weight, but not a whole lot, and it adds ride performance and protection when we need it, so we're going to explore that. |
Was there much of a learning curve getting used to the new bike?
| I was waiting on an XL, so I've only been riding it since February. My first run on it it felt fast, it felt like a real race bike, and everything worked really well. The kinematic is supple and really progressive, which is a good feeling. It has a lot of support when you push in hard with your feet, it doesn't squat, doesn't go too low in the travel, but you still have a really good grip feeling. It makes for a bike that's really easy to get used to and easy to ride. We're running a lot of parts that are different from the full red or blue groupset that most people are running, but I think there's a lot of room to improve on many of the parts out there, and we've got companies that we're working with like TRP and e*thirteen and Onza that are really looking to improve their lineup; the brakes for example are so good, they pull strong and they don't change at all. We're using stuff that's not traditional, but it's working really well, and when I first rode it that's one of the things I was most impressed with. Some of those parts I wasn't sure about, but the people behind them at the brands are really motivated; I think we have a really good team. |
Photos and interview: Sean Leader
MENTIONS: @YTIndustries
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Take note all who painted those crazy custom bikes for Otter; this is what we what our rigs to look like.
AG has said he prefers 29 for that moto feel.
Although I used to love a longer front & rear end for trails????? Perhaps I'm just weird.
The TUES CF models, sizing has not changed. When it came out, it was already one of the biggest bikes on the market. Almost a full size bigger than Devinci, Spec, and some other brands.
Kona, gt, mondraker run big to name few..most others(yt) closer to the brands that run short than those that run long. Sc, intense, devinci have have increased lengths w/recent models.
Or just "iht/űht"
Wait why am I thinking about this
YT = 'Young Talent'
All in good fun. I was curious what Germans called YT, though. I went to the University in Munich, and I speak German, so I was just wondering. I don't think the company even existed when I lived there.
Google yet shows that one german article only...
www.mtb-news.de/news/2008/11/29/1906-neue-bikes-von-yt-industries-sponsoree