Whyte Karve Evo

Thought there was one up on EMBN but turned out to be Steve Jones waffling on about mullet vs full 29, which has been done to death a million times, and sod all about the actual bike. He does my head in, talking to the camera like we're all idiots. Sam Shucksmith didn't seem to be too thrilled to have to be answering all his inane questions.
 
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davosaurusrex said:
Thought there was one up on EMBN but turned out to be Steve Jones waffling on about mullet vs full 29, which has been done to death a million times, and sod all about the actual bike. He does my head in, talking to the camera like we're all idiots. Sam Shucksmith didn't seem to be too thrilled to have to be answering all his inane questions.
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Yeah I seen that also. Steve has a real passion for uphill riding & full 29er bikes, and that’s fair enough, but he must surely appreciate that the vast majority of people viewing their videos are more interested in descending.

He appeared to make an otherwise quite chatty Sam Shucksmith appear disinterested.

Why rattle on so much about full 29er when the bike comes as a mullet?

Hopefully Rob gets the bike soon and fingers crossed we get a decent well rounded review.
 
Entonox said:
This bike looks very nice.

I've always wondered about the lower centre of gravity thing.
Comparing the Avinox 800W battery to the Bosch 800W. The 'extra' length of the Avinox weighs approx 250g. Would that be noticeable?
Some frames have water bottles high up on the downtube. That raises the CoG quite a bit but never seen anyone mention a 700g full bottle affecting handling.
There's loads of stuff that affects CoG - weight of saddles, bar/stems, tubes strapped to top tubes etc - handling never mentioned.
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Not really, talking about the CofG ref water bottles and saddles etc is to talk about a bike riding itself. When the rider is onboard, his weight is through the cranks. The lower the motor, the lower the C of G .
 
AndyWhyte said:
Not really, talking about the CofG ref water bottles and saddles etc is to talk about a bike riding itself. When the rider is onboard, his weight is through the cranks. The lower the motor, the lower the C of G .
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Also affected by rider height. If you're Danny MacAskill at 5'9" and 75kg, you'll have a way better CoG, balance point and power to weight ratio than someone that's 6'6" and 110kg. 😁
 
I’m keeping an eye on this thread as it’s a bit I can’t afford, but I’m curious as I nearly bought an eLyte, without riding one.

It’s a funny old thing though isn’t it, bike reviews?. Whyte may not have many bikes for sending out to journalists and influencers, but I was trying to think of the last time I read a review that said a bike was poor, sub-par. Of course, we’d all like to think reviewers were impartial, but likewise their business model online likely relies on clicks and views, and if you get tarnished as being a bit of grump and not raving over a bike, will you get another from that brand? Unlikely I think. Then there is vicious circle as you have no bikes to reviews, so no content to make, so no views etc etc.

I suppose that is where forums like this come in, if real world feedback from who have spent their old money on it.

I say this as someone who bought there own bike based on a combination of a flash sale and, yes, reading online reviews……

As for Steve Jones, his enthusiasm is infectious. But it does sometimes come across that the newly released bike he is testing is the next big thing. Difficult, I suppose, to call a bike a bag of spanners when you are riding on it with the designer.

Others are guilty of this too..
 
I had the E180 RS and the Karve is its successor. I found the E180RS a bit of a one trick pony. The suspension was still the best suspension set up of any bike I have ridden and downhill it was incredibly capable. I think it saved my skin on numerous occasions as I learnt to tackle more technical terrain. The downside was on steep and technical climbs. I replaced it with a Whyte e160 RSX when it first came out in 2022 and the biggest difference was the front to rear balance. It was/is equally good at climbing and descending .......nearly as good as the E180 descending ,just not as plush on really rough terrain. Both bikes were equally reliable.
Watching Rob's video I would be pretty confident that the Karve overall design has learnt from both the E180 RS and the E160 RSX. That said I am totally happy with the E160 RSX for my riding which is mostly forest trails. If my local terrain was more rocky.. e.g the Peak District or Welsh Beacons......I would be ordering the Karve.
 
Rockhopper70 said:
I’m keeping an eye on this thread as it’s a bit I can’t afford, but I’m curious as I nearly bought an eLyte, without riding one.

It’s a funny old thing though isn’t it, bike reviews?. Whyte may not have many bikes for sending out to journalists and influencers, but I was trying to think of the last time I read a review that said a bike was poor, sub-par. Of course, we’d all like to think reviewers were impartial, but likewise their business model online likely relies on clicks and views, and if you get tarnished as being a bit of grump and not raving over a bike, will you get another from that brand? Unlikely I think. Then there is vicious circle as you have no bikes to reviews, so no content to make, so no views etc etc.

I suppose that is where forums like this come in, if real world feedback from who have spent their old money on it.

I say this as someone who bought there own bike based on a combination of a flash sale and, yes, reading online reviews……

As for Steve Jones, his enthusiasm is infectious. But it does sometimes come across that the newly released bike he is testing is the next big thing. Difficult, I suppose, to call a bike a bag of spanners when you are riding on it with the designer.

Others are guilty of this too..
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Early adopters are the ones that take the biggest risk.......in return for having the ( supposed) greatest and latest. Reviews are bound to mostly avoid negative comments for obvious reasons and unless the testing of the bike is long term you learn nothing about reliability. The buying decision for any bike is best based on trust for a specific brand and supplier and knowledge of component set and geo.
 
davosaurusrex said:
Thought there was one up on EMBN but turned out to be Steve Jones waffling on about mullet vs full 29, which has been done to death a million times, and sod all about the actual bike. He does my head in, talking to the camera like we're all idiots. Sam Shucksmith didn't seem to be too thrilled to have to be answering all his inane questions.
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Agree, this was such a ridiculous focus on a topic people don't need to hear about anymore especially related to a new product release. We wanted to hear about the bike not rear wheel size bologna.
 
Doesn't look like there are many bikes available to even test.

The 9th April was good for Amflow with bikes already made and shipped to Europe, but the reality for others was that it was more of an announcement.
 
Whyte always seem to hardly bother sending bikes out to test, shame as when they do they invariably get excellent reviews.
I seem to remember that Rob has never tested a Whyte.
After owning quite a few though they are probably the only brand I’d buy “blind,” as they always handle excellently and their suspension tunes always seem well thought out.
 
Strange that it’s £500 more but has a 160 36 fork compared to the 180 lyric ultimate. Where is that extra money going, into the carbon rear triangle. I’ve heard that it’s 21 kg
 
kEARNEY79 said:
Strange that it’s £500 more but has a 160 36 fork compared to the 180 lyric ultimate. Where is that extra money going, into the carbon rear triangle. I’ve heard that it’s 21 kg
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Cost price of those 2 forks will be similar. The fox could in fact be more expensive.

That and the carbon rear triangle, like you said will add to cost.

All in, not bad value to be honest. Look at the Pivot AMP'd - thats £11,999 for similar spec!!
 
Rob Rides EMTB said:
Cost price of those 2 forks will be similar. The fox could in fact be more expensive.

That and the carbon rear triangle, like you said will add to cost.

All in, not bad value to be honest. Look at the Pivot AMP'd - thats £11,999 for similar spec!!
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I’ve got my name down for the first wave of karves, I’ve waiting on this new bike to compare them. I’m still leaning towards the 180/180 for the value for money & component's. Although, the 160 model looks nicer with the black & gold colouring & 3-4 kg lighter, allegedly.

Which bike do you prefer Rob?
 
kEARNEY79 said:
I’ve got my name down for the first wave of karves, I’ve waiting on this new bike to compare them. I’m still leaning towards the 180/180 for the value for money & component's. Although, the 160 model looks nicer with the black & gold colouring & 3-4 kg lighter, allegedly.

Which bike do you prefer Rob?
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I really dont know until trying them.

Maybe I'd split the difference and go 170mm on the Karve! 😆
 
Rob Rides EMTB said:
I actually think the shorter travel (I mean its still 160mm!!!) would be great for most UK riding!

In fact, even paired with a 170mm 38 / Zeb might be the perfect enduro sled.
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I was tempted by the Evo but I think it's overkill for where I normally ride (Isle of Wight, south UK). I'm currently riding a gen3 levo that copes well when in Wales, even with it's 'minimal' 160 fork 😂
I've put my name down at my LBS for the RSX, guessing end of year for delivery 🤔 It'll give me time to save 😬
 
jpgell70 said:
I was tempted by the Evo but I think it's overkill for where I normally ride (Isle of Wight, south UK). I'm currently riding a gen3 levo that copes well when in Wales, even with it's 'minimal' 160 fork 😂
I've put my name down at my LBS for the RSX, guessing end of year for delivery 🤔 It'll give me time to save 😬
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I think you made a good choice.

IOW is great for trail but nothing that steep to go for the 180 over the 160.
 
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