YT Tues - First Look

Frame Details

The Tues has received a number of small updates to the frame. The cable routing now has internal tubes that carry it through the frame and those cables are clamped under the main rocker link to stop rattle. The internal routing entrance port at the headtube is angled upwards to avoid contact with race number boards. The pivot hardware is now all accessed from one side (as requested by the Mob mechanics), there is an integrated downtube protector and the carbon chainstay has integrated protection, too. The carbon chainstay is said to save 300g, and 200g have been shaved from the front triangle. This gives the Pro Race model a claimed weight of 15.2kg.

The downtube has been shaped to lower shock and linkage deeper into the frame, which drops the centre of gravity slightly whilst allowing the bike to maintain its silhouette throughout the stroke of its travel. Gwin pointed out a few brands' bikes that look good in the pits, but kooky when they are sitting into the travel, and who wants their bike to look nasty in riding pictures?

The rear hub is still 150mm wide and uses a Syntace X12 axle; the dropouts also have recesses to receive the wheel, one of the benefits of a 157mm axle. The derailleur hanger is shaped to avoid chain suck between the cassette and frame and the chain can also be hooked onto the hanger when removing the rear wheel.



All the bearings are now cageless full complement bearings and the pivots with the highest loads (main pivot and Horst pivot) use double row bearings. These bearings should add longevity to the pivot's life and there's been an addition of an extra lip seal to keep out dirt and water from the moving parts.





Suspension

The suspension has stayed pretty much the same; Head-Engineer Stefan Willared and Aaron Gwin said they had conjured up some ideas for an all-new system, but in the end, they were only creating more problems than they were improving. They slightly adjusted some pivot positions to tune the ride. The main difference is 15% increase in the anti-rise figure which means the suspension will be less active under braking but should do a better job of preserving the bike's dynamic geometry. This a benefit that'll give amateur riders a feeling of safety where the pros are so accurate with line choice and braking points. There are a few tracks that this feature will help the pros on, too, such as the super steep Val di Sole.



End stroke progression has been slightly reduced by 5% to get more use out of the last few mm's of travel, but the Tues is still one of the most progressive bikes on the market. This also means that coil spring fans should have no problem switching from air to a physically sprung shock. YT hasn't moved to a metric shock, instead, they have stayed with the huge 267x89mm stroke damper as the longest available Metric shock is 250x75mm.

There has been a small increase in mid-stroke support. Gwin wanted to raise the bottom bracket to have a little more ground clearance in the middle part of the travel, but in the end, the team decided to keep the static height the same and increase the dynamic ride height. Changing the suspension's curve slightly should raise the BB by 2mm with the same suspension settings compared to the previous bike – something that only American Superheroes will likely notice.



Geometry and Sizing

The geometry is also essentially the same. The head angle stays at 63.5º and the bottom bracket drop is -7mm, the chainstay is 435mm on S-L sizes but has an extra 5mm added to the XL and new XXL sizes. All frames have gained an extra 5mm of reach, and the XXL has a whopping 495mm reach giving tall riders plenty of breathing space. All frames can be used with adjustable offset cups from Acros to add or subtract 4mm to the reach, Gwin is currently riding an XL with -4mm cups.



Build Kits

To begin with, there are only two options of build kit, both based on the full carbon frame although we would not be surprised to see an alloy version in the future as well as a big wheeler. The Pro Race 'Mob Edition' is the headliner at €5499/$5499 USD (prices have dropped by around 15% in North America after a change of distribution channel) and is said to be identical to the bike the Mob races, the only difference being the racers have custom tunes (like all of the top riders) and lacks the FTD Flat Tire Defender system which is not an option to install when selling complete bikes online.

If you don't want to be in the Mob, there is a Pro Race version with the same components that has a liquid metal/black colourway. The Race version drops in at €3999/$3999 USD and offers essentially the same build with slightly lower spec parts like the black coated Fox Performance suspension and alloy components from Renthal and E13 over their carbon counterparts.






I was able to hit 7-8 runs on the Losinj World Cup track the day after last weekend's race. It was brutal and forming an opinion of the Tues was close to impossible around (literally) falling off blind drops and struggling for grip on the one-minute of track that was still open to ride.

However, I opted for the XXL size which has the same 495mm reach as the Commencal Supreme V29 I have been riding comfortably on my local trails. Dropping in on the XXL Tues, I was mostly s*** scared of the track, new bike and my lack of skill so ended up riding too far off the back of the bike. I would happily ride the XL in these conditions or reduce the reach with -4mm headset cups. The XXL is probably the only downhill bike, along with the Commencal V29 and Nicolai G19, that will give riders over 6'3"/190cm a comfortable downhill ride.

Shorter riders might need to slam the saddle forwards to avoid tire buzz. My saddle height was comfortable for me, but still buzzed the tire which was also something that happened more to shorter test riders on the same day. It is nice to see a brand adding different chainstay lengths between sizes, but I think there is still a disconnect between an 85mm change in reach between sizes and only 5mm at the chainstay.

The most noticeable feature of the Tues was the drive it creates when pumping or compressing through the travel – it just wants to take off down the trail. It also flies off jumps which is going to make this one hell of a fun park bike when the lifts are open.

There isn't much else to comment on – everything seemed dialed and just did its job. The cable routing and chainstay protectors keept things quiet, and all the bike's features blended seamlessly into a subtle package. In its third iteration, the Tues seems to have nailed all the angles: sizing, geometry, price, weight, style and attention to detail. It is a bike that can be taken from the box, suspension pressured, set up tubeless, and be raced to win. I'm looking forward to getting one on the track to line up against the competition as I focus the rest of my year on testing downhill bikes.

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