Exotic Beauty

A glorious day enjoyed in my garden, (after much pruning / trimming and weeding)

The bikes look at home there mate! Nice garden! Did you stay in and watch the racing?

Nah mate, i was working in that garden since 8:00am and only finished at 1:00pm, before what you see my grass was knee high, and the weeds had taken over the patio, not even the cats wanted to go out there, but not anymore!! I got all the tools out of the shed and went to work on it with vengeance. it took me two strimmer as the first one f’d me off and I ended up doing a Pete Townsend with it (smashed it to pieces cause it was old and crappy and kept chopping the trimmer line) I went to Homebase got a new Black & Decker strimmer and after that it was all nice and easy. I filled up a total of 12 large garden waste bags. gee! now i am knackered.

Nice bikes never seen suspension like that on a pushy before is that custom made? nice garden too

No its a regular issue bike from Jon Whyte, who used to design Benetton Formula 1 chassis, that model however has been since discontinued, I bought the frame only and built the rest around it with components of my choice

Whyte PRST-1 - World First review from Maximum Mountain Bike - December 1999 Issue

The best XC bike ever built?After months of enforced silence, we finally lift the lid on the Whyte prototype, Preston. As it’s Christmas soon, we thought we’d bring you the story of a miraculous birth in a manger that could change the mountain biking world as we know it. All right, there’s no mangers, but Jon Whyte and Adrian Ward, ex-Formula 1 engineers behind this immaculate design conception, do work in a (semi) converted pigshed. After perfecting the rear of the Marin FRS bikes, they found that whichever fork they specced for the front just didn’t perform as well as the rear. They decided to start from scratch with a new suspension system for the front using linkages to drive a standard shock unit. As no big company could take the risk, ATB Sales set up their own development company, “Whyte”. A free R&D rein also allowed them to try ideas that they’d been kicking around for a while, like the under-bottom-bracket swingarm and a QR catch dropout with 20mm spindles. The first prototype was hammered and hand welded into shape a year ago, and due to its mechanical “ugliness” was codenamed “Preston” after the sinister robot dog of Wallace and Gromit fame.

IntroductionWe met Preston at a secret rendezvous in Yorkshire a month later. Having signed the appropriate confidentiality forms, we rode into the hills. Initial impressions were amazing, super plush fork action leaving the handlebars motionless while the upper linkage tracked the ground exactly. Throw it into corners or try to steer out of wet ruts and the lateral rigidity at either end nailed traction. All the tracking and feedback of a rigid bike with leech-like terrain-following suspension. For the next few months Preston was ridden until it collapsed, then butchered, transplanted and reshaped several times to gain stiffness and reduce weight. But there was still the issue of unconventional looks to overcome. Secret demos were taking place with key dealers to see whether they thought the ride advantages overcame the visual strangeness before the risk of putting the bike into production was taken. Everywhere he went Preston got a resounding thumbs-up. As one tester said: “There’s nowt different riding around on this bike to wandering round with a face like mine. It’s the other people who have to look at it, not you.”

LinkageThe upper section uses multi-profiled tubular aluminium with lifetime-warrantied cartridge bearings at each corner. The lower wishbone yoke is a Y-shaped multi-profile box section carrying the steering pivot (see below), lower shock mount and rear cartridge-bearing pivots. Using a linkage gives many advantages over a standard telescopic fork. As the shock is mounted further back, so is its weight, leaving the front end as light as a rigid bike. Using a linkage also means the path of the axle under compression can be tuned by changing the length of the linkages. Preston uses a J-shaped compression path with moves the wheel slightly backwards at the start of the stroke. As well as helping deal with blunt frontal impacts (kerbs and logs), it keeps the steering “trail” (distance of wheel in front of straight line taken from headtube) that provides the stability practically constant. This contrasts with telescopic forks where long-travel models can reduce trail from around 80mm to zero or even minus figures, resulting in extremely unstable handling in situations where control is most important.

Fork legsPreston’s front end is a fully rigid “A” frame structure, with box section legs. Two plates above the wheel carry the lower linkage mount, while the two upper links sit outside the apex of the fork on a “lifetime warrantied” cartridge-bearing axle. The one-piece fork gives plenty of mud clearance and stunning rigidity. Also, unlike telescopic forks with only slim slider bushings to keep alignment, there is no flexing or binding as the front wheel is forced backwards under braking or impacts.

Steering pivotMoving rotationally and vertically with no rattle, slop or binding, this is a very specialist bearing that took some finding. Essentially it’s a polished steel ball with an aluminium collar cast round its surface, a process as difficult as the idea is simple. Still, it’s lasting well enough to be given the same life-time warranty as the rest of the bearings.

FrameThe frame uses a box section spine from headtube to bottom bracket, with conventional seat-tube and rear half of the “toptube”. The forward pivot is almost central on the frame, opposite the rear shock mount to centralise lateral stress. The forward shock mounting sits just behind the stumpy headtube.

Rear pivot pointPreston retains the same rear pivot point and “lifetime-warrantied bearings” the same design team developed for the Marin FRS series.

Dropouts20mm hub axles provide increased tracking stiffness through greater contact Jon and Adrian mated ideas drawn from Honda race bikes and Michael Schumacher’s Benetton nose cone to create a swinging “clasp” dropout that locks in place, via a profiled bolt and half-turn cam lever. The 20mm spindle sections can be bolted onto the end of any existing hub, immediately increasing steering twist resistance.

VerdictAs you’ll see from the pictures, Preston is a true prototype, hand-welded and beaten into shape without the use of alignment tables, tube profiling or sheet metal bending facilities. Cornering stiffness and trail feedback is almost as sharp as you’ll get on a rigid bike, only with all the traction advantages of suspension. Once you’re used to the “float”, the steering geometry lets you brake deep into corners and hit the squarest objects full bore. The hindquarters are also noticeably stiffer than any of our benchmark bikes, with massive lateral feedback for traction in the sketchiest conditions. We’ve ridden Preston as hard as we can but he steadfastly refuses to give us any nervous moments. There are forks and rear set-ups that come close on rigidity, or weight, or plushness, or big hit capability, but nothing that matches the all-round performance of this bike. Add the absolutely unheard of concept of zero maintenance and you’ll see why we’re getting excited. With highly probable (we’ve seen some of the samples) production weights dropping to around 23lb, all that remains to be said is that the editor’s credit card details are already with the appropriate authorities, so join the queue after us.

oh… and before any would be thieves or have-a go heros even think about it, my bikes sleep here at night:

Metal bunker, 5 mortice lock, up down, left and right of the 2 doors, bolted and cemented into concrete pavement. ALARMED positioned right on the back of my house. see attached pic.

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nice bikes mate that push bike looks extreme! can you stunt it?

nice xt, my mates neighbour has one in black with the xt forum stickers

i wouldnt of posted about your lock up though mate, now any thieves no what tools to bring

yeah and i am waiting for them. lol, plenty more tools indoors to greet them. besides you cannot see the box from the main road, and the address? lol

Was looking at those bike safes, how easy is it to get the bike in/out?

I’m in love with your bicycle Capmoto. What a beauty!

Yup she sure is fine.

And good work on the pruning, very tidy.

You see that bottom tray? it is mounted on rollers which run on two tracks, it slides out and then you lock it when fully extended, ride or push the bike in the middle until you reach the front wheel clamp rocker, you slide the front wheel over the rocking clamp which locks the bike upright without the need for the bike stand. unlock the tray and push it back in, it is so light you only need one finger.

lock the tray back, shut left door, bolt left door from the inside (two bolts one up and one down), close right door + turn the key 5 times til all the five mortice (15 cm long each) are fully locked. The alarm I’ve fitted myself on the inside.

ive been toying about getting a bike safe ,they sure look good

wicked bike lovely garden.I could do with some weeding done in my garden if you have time.