2020 Whyte G170 S
In 2018 The Whyte G170 S got a perfect 10/10 in a review from MBR. PinkBike also voted it as the best value for money mountain bike at the PinkBike awards in the same year. It was released to meet the demand for gravity focussed enduro riding and racing. It originally came with 170mm travel and progressive geometry. The 2020 Whyte G170 S has gone through some updates and improvements. These improvements make this competent bike even better for tackling the rough stuff.
Whyte Mountain Bikes
Whyte is known for building bikes to cope with the riding conditions you experience in Britain. For a British rider, this is quite important, as many mountain bikes are developed in California, Taiwan and Italy. Which is excellent, but British riding has its own challenges.
How Whyte Bikes are Designed for British riding
- Clearance between the wheels and the frame is essential in Britain. Sometimes the mud can build up jamming the wheels, preventing them from spinning. The large clearance means that there is less chance of the dirt clogging everything up.
- As the weather isn’t always dry, water can corrode the cables. Whyte encloses the cables with full outer casing.
- Due to the soggy British weather, rain can get inside the frame. Therefore, on Whyte mountain bikes, where cables are internally routed, there are frame hole grommets. These prevent rain from getting in where the cable enters and exits the frame.
- Mud is a characteristic of mountain biking in Britain. Therefore, the slot at the top of the seat tube is forward-facing. This is to keep the mud out flicked up from the back wheel.
- Whyte’s full suspension mountain bikes have a lifetime guarantee on the pivot bearings. This is a big deal, as these wear out, especially when the bikes are ridden in nasty weather conditions regularly.
- On Whyte hardtail mountain bikes, the seat clamp is easy to operate with cold hands. Their Getta Grip seat clamp is ergonomically designed and can operated while moving. This means you can drop the saddle without stopping.
- If your bike has a dropper seatpost, it will have an Intergrip integrated seat clamp. This combines a rubber o-ring seal for the top of the frame seat tube and a rubber collar around the post to keep out the rain.
- Whyte has avoided press-fit bottom brackets and continued with the traditional threaded versions. This is because they found them to be more reliable easier for most home mechanics to maintain.
However, all this said the 2020 Whyte G170 would be at home in the French alps as much as it would be on a wet weekend in the Lake District.
2020 Whyte G170 Updates
Suspension
The 2020 Whyte G170 S has 180mm of travel up front, thanks to the very nice RockShox Lyrik Select RC. The rear shock is the super plush RockShox Deluxe Select, giving you 170mm of travel. This fork is more sensitive than its predecessor and will give the bike more grip.
Frame and Geometry
The 2020 Whyte G170 s’s frame hasn’t gone to exotic carbon fibre but sticks with aluminium. This is no bad thing, as it keeps the price down to a reasonable £2,499.
On following with the modern geometry craze, the 2020 Whyte G170 S has gone lower and slacker. This means that the front wheel is further in front of the rider, making the bike more stable on steeper descents. The stable feel comes from the way the steering “self corrects” and keeps you on track when it gets technical. The 2020 Whyte G170 S also has a long reach with a short stem. This is to make the bike feel nimble and easy to change direction quickly. With the wide riser handlebars, it is said that you get good communication and connection through the Whyte Lock-on V grips.
The 2020 Whyte G170 S is lower than its predecessor too. This means that the centre of gravity is lower, giving you lots of grip in the corners. The back end is very short to provide the G170 S a playful feel. The shortness makes it agile enough to hop over features on the trail easily.
Wheels
For enduro riding, your bike needs to have though wheels. The 2020 Whyte G170 S doesn’t let you down in this aspect either.
It rolls on WTB ST i29mm 2.0 rims. These are shod with TCS front and rear-specific tyres. This to help give the bike neutral handling without too much drag.
The Whyte G-170 S has been future-proofed with extra width built into the rear chainstays. This allows you to go wider later on, as they are suitable for wide high volume tyres up to 27.5 x 2.8″, while maintaining mud clearance. This gives us an idea of what manufacturers are planning for the future of bike design.
Features
To add to the value for money of the 2020 Whyte G170 S, you get a sealed InterGrip seatpost, huge mud clearance & a new Enduro bearing design. This is to give you more reliability. As with all Whyte Full Suspension Mountain Bikes, the Whyte G-170 is covered with a lifetime bearing guarantee.
This mountain bike has a beefed-up rear triangle. This is made to work perfectly with a single chainring, along with SRAM Eagle 1×12 transmission. Which I am a massive fan of. The rear end is made wider, to not only accommodate future large wheel sizes but to make it stronger and more resistant to flex. This makes a bike more responsive.
Stopping power comes from the SRAM Guide GE 4-pot 200mm rotor brake callipers. I have heard mixed reviews on these, but I really like them. They are used on downhill and eBikes, so they need to be powerful to stop all that weight. You can adjust the reach of Guide brakes, to ensure you get the best feel on the lever for one-finger braking. They also feature a stainless steel Heat Shield between the pad and the calliper body, to help ensure consistent stopping power while reducing brake fade.
All enduro bikes should have a dropper seat post. The 2020 Whyte G170 S, has the Whyte Drop. It has a smooth-operating bar-mounted Paddle Remote, making it super easy to adjust the saddle on the move from high enough for efficient climbing to dropping it out of the way when you are tackling steep descents.
Specifications
| Frame | 6061 Alloy, SCR Aluminium Front Triangle with Tapered Head Tube and Intergrip Seat Clamp System, ISCG 5 Guide Mounts, Alloy Symmetrical SCR Rear Triangle, 148mm Boost Dropouts |
| Fork | RockShox Lyrik Select RC 27.5”, 180mm Travel, 37mm Offset, DebonAir, Charger 2 RC Damper, Fast Black Coating, Tapered Steerer, 110mm x 15mm Boost, Maxle Ultimate |
| Rear Shock | RockShox Deluxe Select + RT, DebonAir, Fast Black Coating, Adjustable Rebound, 2 position compression adjustment |
| Headset | FSA No. 57E Orbit ZS, 1 1/2” Lower and 1 1/8” Upper Sealed Cartridge Bearings |
| Shifters | SRAM SX Eagle, MMX, 12 Speed |
| Rear Derailleur | SRAM SX Eagle, 12 Speed |
| Chainset | SRAM Descendant 6K Eagle, X-SYNC 2, Direct Mount 30T, DUB, 170mm, Boost, 12 Speed |
| Bottom Bracket | SRAM DUB, BSA, 73mm |
| Chain | SRAM Eagle, 12 Speed |
| Cassette / Freewheel | SRAM PG-1230 Eagle, 11-50, 12 Speed |
| Rims | WTB ST i30 TCS 2.0 System, Pinned Joint, Tubeless Ready, 32 Hole |
| Hubs | Alloy, Double Sealed Cartridge Bearings, Front – 15mm x 110mm Boost Through Axle, 32 Hole, Rear – 12mm x 148mm Boost Through Axle, 32 Hole |
| Spokes | DT Swiss Champion 2.0mm, Black Stainless, Brass Nipples |
| Tyres | WTB Vigilante TCS System 27.5” X 2.5” Light/High Grip, Tri-Tec triple compound, Slash Guard sidewall protection, Front, WTB Trail Boss G2 TCS System 27.5” X 2.4” Tough/Fast Rolling, Tri-Tec triple compound, Enduro Casing, Rear |
| Brakes | SRAM Guide GE, 4 Pot, Front – 200mm Rotor, Rear – 200mm Rotor, Internal Routing |
| Brake levers | SRAM Guide GE, MMX |
| Handlebars | Whyte Custom 6061 Alloy, 30mm Rise, 35mm Bar Bore, 780mm Wide |
| Grips / Tape | Whyte Lock-on V Grip |
| Stem | Whyte Gravity Stem, 35mm Bar Bore, 35mm Extension |
| Saddle | Whyte Custom, Dual Density, Triple Panel Design |
| Seatpost | Whyte drop.it Post II, 30.9mm, S 125mm Travel, M/L/XL 150mm Travel, Paddle Remote Lever |
Are you going to buy a 2020 Whyte G170 S?
The 2020 Whyte G170 S is a very well specced bike and actually very good value for money. Details are limited at the moment, but for £2,499 the 2020 Whyte G170 is a bike that will get you up and down anything. From Local trails to alpine descents, I’m sure this is a bike that will not disappoint.
2019 Whyte G170 Range
At the time of writing, the 2020 Whyte G170 S isn’t available to buy straight away, just pre-order. However, if you are happy to go for a 2019 bike, you can get it delivered in no time. Depending on the version you go for, they are priced above and below the 2020 version. But, you may want to check them out.
The 2020 Whyte G170 S is very interesting. I have to admit that this whole niche is very new to me. But, I have a 6-year-old grandson who is highly interested in dirt bikes and mountain bikes. You have provided some very powerful information here. You give the step-by-step information ofnWhyte bikes. Your pictures of the bikes, including the information on geometry, frames, and models were also visually appealing and helped with understanding the bikes. I was surprised though by the prices. It never dawned on me that these could cost more than two thousand dollars!.
Thanks to you I now know what to look for when I take my grandson shopping. He’s going to be very impressed by my newfound knowledge of these bikes.
Thank you for this great information.
God bless you!
Hi Ronald,
Thanks for your comment. You might want to check out my guide to kid’s balance bikes.
Great review. Thanks. But to clarify, the 2019 spec bike already had a 180mm travel fork. Please look at the figures before publishing content.
Hi Sam,
Thanks for pointing that out. I have now corrected the mistake.
Tom