How many of these are still around....This one's mine!

Andy Dobson

Yep......A Whyte PRST-1 :shock:

Still going strong after who know's how many owners but now it's mine and thanks to a whole bunch of people here.... this is what she looks like.

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The Northern Monkey

I oggled one of these at Whinlatter last year... crazy looking machines, would love to sit on one though.
what does it weigh?

RevellRider

I haven't seen one of them in years

I rode a pre-production prototype and was scared to push it as it hadn't been heat treated.

Andy Dobson

The Northern Monkey wrote:

I oggled one of these at Whinlatter last year... crazy looking machines, would love to sit on one though.
what does it weigh?

Haven't had it weighed in the new spec but it's heavier than the outgoing Rockhopper yet once it's on the move, it rides like a carbon Rockhopper.

It's uncanny how it tracks and let's you know JUST what the front end is doing while just getting on with the job 8) .

If you ever see one out and about.......Go chase the rider and ask him for a go on it!!!!

'NUFF said"

angry_bird

Not seen one of those in a while. Last I saw was at cannock at the start of June I believe

saltyman

theres one on e-bay now.

Anonymous

I love those. I really like how John Whyte put engineering first, and cosmetics second. As far as I'm concerned, that's the RIGHT way to do it

Andy Dobson

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I love those. I really like how John Whyte put engineering first, and cosmetics second. As far as I'm concerned, that's the RIGHT way to do it

That's exactly why I love this bike.

Andy Dobson

saltyman wrote:

theres one on e-bay now.

grab it NOW!!!!!!!

nicklouse

why its just a single pivot with 4 bar fork.

Anonymous

It's the 4 bar fork that's interesting though, Nick.
(Apart from that, that single pivot location is still used by a metric fuckton of manufacturers)

Andy B

Last time I heard one of those before I saw it...

..creak creak creak creak...

So ugly it makes an Orange 5 look slicker than the Gulf of Mexico

But if it works it works & even better if it brings a smile to your face

nicklouse

yeehaamcgee wrote:

It's the 4 bar fork that's interesting though, Nick.
(Apart from that, that single pivot location is still used by a metric fuckton of manufacturers)

why? there are shed loads in main land Europe. Para fork. Grumman fork to name two.

it was just a way of taking a design cue from some BMW MC bikes.... did not a Whyte get re badges as a BMW?

Andy Dobson

Andy B wrote:

Last time I heard one of those before I saw it...

..creak creak creak creak...

Well maintained then :roll: I've heard many a £1000 plus bike creak like a geriatric as it goes by on the flat of the Downs-Link but have been caught out by the silence of a well maintained £300 bike as it silently sneaks up behind me.....Just saying but GO FIGURE....... :?

Andy B wrote:

So ugly it makes an Orange 5 look slicker than the Gulf of Mexico

But if it works it works & even better if it brings a smile to your face...

And that's the point....It WORKS. And YES, it's uglier than a pit-bull but it brings a smile to my face everytime I take it out because people with everything from tricked up 5's to carbon framed super-bikes to basic Hardrocks and everything in between ALWAYS stop me and ask things like "wtf is that" and "can I have a go on it please"

In my humble opinion...we should petition John Whyte to re-visit this design and see what he comes up with given todays technology.
You would have to offer me SERIOUS money to part with this bike.

Andy Dobson

nicklouse wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

It's the 4 bar fork that's interesting though, Nick.
(Apart from that, that single pivot location is still used by a metric fuckton of manufacturers)

why? there are shed loads in main land Europe. Para fork. Grumman fork to name two.

it was just a way of taking a design cue from some BMW MC bikes.... did not a Whyte get re badges as a BMW?

Ask yourself one question....WHO first used the design in a mountainbike frame?

Take a look into John Whyte's history and then tell me the design is flawed.

MountainMonster

Awesome look bike dude! That thing looks a blast to ride!

Herbie The Dog

It's a Whyte.

'Nuff said.

bearfraser

Is it because me "Whyte"

dodgy

I see your bike has come from the future.

I took one out on a weekend's test from my LBS a few years back, I really enjoyed it. Probably heavy by today's standards though.

Andy Dobson

dodgy wrote:

Probably heavy by today's standards though.

Just like me then :shock:

Stevo_666

You have to applaud John Whyte for putting function over form and doing what he thought would work here. It looks like someone has tried to mate a bike with a pair of shears .

But Whyte is clearly not blind to the importance of looks as the current range of bikes on the whole is quite tasty. Also the sales figures on this model probably gave him a bit of incentive to get the design side sorted...

Anonymous

John Whyte isn't responsible for the current designs, he's retired, and his protege has taken over as lead designer. But, they still have a love-hate thing it seems. A lot of people think they're hideous, personally, I really don't see it with the new ones at all, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.

And Nick, what makes it interesting is that this idea was tried on a mountain bike, and shown to actually work quite well. In fact, at the time, I seem to recall it being hailed as better than virtually any telescopic fork design available.
It would appear to be such a cumbersome heavy thing that it would never work. And though it never did catch on, it really did work.