[First ride] YT Industries 29er: The Jeffsy

[ad3]When it comes to the world of gravity mountain biking, YT Industries have definitely left a mark that nobody can ignore with the Tues, Capra and Dirt Love. Now as Jeffsy is introduced, their first 29” bike, they attack the all-mountain sector by way of an aggressive 29er. In February, YT invited us to Madeira, Portugal to show us their new two-wheeled machine and have a good time riding down the trails that the beautiful Portuguese island has to offer.

“It wasn’t even our intention to develop a 29er”,  said founder and CEO Markus Flossmann, “We envisioned a bike which helps you reach the most remote places, gets up the mountain smoothly and a beast when it is time to go downhill. All that being playful, agile, fast and unique.”

CTO Stefan Willared and his team put in three years of work to develop Jeffsy. Their mission was clear: to build a trail-rocket which is comfortable and smooth to ride on, lightweight and ready to shred. After various concepts and ideas, they came back with an unexpected result. “We weren’t able to deny the potential benefits of 29ers, even if this meant we had to break with old conventions to provide the basis for a YT trail bike.” said Stefan, “We couldn’t predict that the characteristics of the larger wheel size would fit in brilliantly with YT’s gravity genes. But the outcome is crystal clear: no other wheel size puts you in the sweet spot of the bike so well.”

Specifications

Geometry

Details

On The Trail

We were lucky enough to get our hands on the top of the line model, the Jeffsy CF Pro. Spec’d with some of the best components in the market, it wasn’t hard to get comfortable on it straight away.

The frame is made of high modulus carbon fiber and YT has done a really good job with the geometry. When you pedal uphill, the front end doesn’t lift, and you can charge as hard as you want going downhill. It doesn’t feel like you are riding a 11,9kg 29er with 140mm of travel. We mostly rode with Jeffsy at Madeira’s downhill tracks, as well as some easy going singletracks, but we can say that this bike is made for charging.

As you can see, it doesn’t lack of any maneuverability and playfulness either, you can do everything you want with Jeffsy due to its gravity-inspired geometry. 

As mentioned prior, out of the box, the CF Pro is ready to go. There is no need to change out any components. Just set up the suspension, the seatpost length and pedal out. For 2016, you will find Fox forks and shocks at the top of the lineup for all of YT’s bikes. Jeffsy comes with a 140mm Fox 34 Float Factory fork combined with a Fox Float DPS Factory shock. Pedal uphill, adjust the 3-position lever to Firm; ride on a mellow flat-downhill trail, adjust it to Medium; Open it up at the start of a downhill track and it’s ready to descend.  The frame also appears to have enough clearance to fit a shock with a reservoir should you decide to ditch the inline shock.

With the wide Renthal Fatbar Carbon bars and the short Renthal Apex stem you have all the control and confidence you need to ride any terrain. Add the stiff strong and super-light DT Swiss XMC1200 Spline carbon wheels and you’ll be feeling quite light on your feet. Pedaling, shifting and braking with Jeffsy is a pleasure. The RockShox Reverb Stealth seatpost, the precise and smooth SRAM X01 rear derailleur, Race Face Next SL crankset and Guide Ultimate brakes all played nice together both on the bike and at the cockpit.

Priced at only 4.499€ (CF Pro – top of the range) and with the great performance that it offers, it is safe to say that we are going to see Jeffsy’s worldwide soon.  We’ll reach out to YT for a long term test to see how it does over the long haul, but so far our first impressions are really good.

For more info, visit yt-industries.com or jeffsy.com