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Thoughts on the Whyte Suffolk

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  • October 21, 2014 at 12:50 pm #22607
    parksey

    I know these sort of posts can be a bit repetitive, but I was just looking for thoughts on the 2015 Whyte Suffolk please…

    I’m after a new bike as a C2W purchase. I don’t want to call it a “winter trainer”, as I don’t race, it’s rather intended as a commuter/weekend steed to better cope through the less pleasant months of the year, so disc brakes and ample clearance for wider tyres and proper mudguards are essential.

    The Whyte seems to tick a lot of boxes, haven’t ridden it yet but will stop by the LBS on a Saturday for a quick spin. It seems decent value too, although I’d be interested in opinions as to whether it’s worth the extra £200 over the Dorset for what, so far as I can tell, appears to only really be an upgrade to an 11-speed 105 groupset from a 9-speed Tiagra/Sora mix.

    Suggestions for any alternative bikes would also be welcome. A CX bike is not really what I’m after (unless it’s got road gearing), and I’ve already got a Trek Madone, so am not looking for anything too similar to that either. Boardman is out of the window too as I can’t use Halfords with my C2W scheme.

    The £1200 price of the Suffolk is very much the top of my budget, which is the usual £1k C2W limit with a small top-up.

    Cheers

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  • April 3, 2015 at 10:37 am #818559
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    Ynotmi

    I’ve recently replaced the
    I’ve recently replaced the 2014 Suffolk with a 2015 model and have to say the later model is like a different bike. The 2015 has had changes to the frame and Whyte have fixed other problems that were apparent with the 2014 model. Although I’ve been happy with Shimano’s 10 speed 105 set-up, the 11 speed shift action is so much better and adds to the enjoyment of the bike.

    I also went down a frame size. Previously I had the 56cm frame, but I have changed this for the 54cm. At 5ft10, Whyte’s sizing guide recommends the 56cm frame, but I have found the 54cm frame to be a much better fit. In size terms it feels much closer to my Boardman Team Carbon 56cm frame.

    Like many others, I bought this bike as a winter commute. I wanted something with disc brakes and mounts for mudguards and racks. I have a daily round trip commute of 42 miles (into London) and wanted something tough enough to stand up to high mileage and winter.

    The disc brakes do need to be set up properly. I also found changing to a sintered pad has improved braking performance. They work extremely well – so much better than my experiences with mechanical brakes.

    Yes, I had problems with the 2014 model. Whyte’s customer service has been fantastic. Which is why I decided on the 2015 model. I’m glad I did. In fact, I’m so pleased with the 2015 model, I’m going to use it through the summer as well.

    Two words of advice when buying this bike: Get the 2015 model and be careful on sizing. Fantastic commute bike now that Whyte have got it right!

    March 30, 2015 at 8:17 pm #818557
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    jonnyglasgow9

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    March 30, 2015 at 8:05 pm #818555
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    jonnyglasgow9

    ps. the brake cables should
    ps. the brake cables should never be tightened without the lock screw being inplace. If they are tightened too much the pads will not “float” properly and as a result will wear unevenly. My new brakes fitted 2-3 weeks ago by the bike shop had been tightened well past this point. If in doubt check the trp website for more info.

    My rear brake never worked as it should. Thought it was my fault with some careless Lube. Replacement pads and proper disc clean still didnt help. Bought extra fluid topped up reservoir . None of this helped. It was a fault with the original brakes one of the pistons wasnt moving freely. So after a year I have working brakes.

    March 30, 2015 at 7:55 pm #818553
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    jonnyglasgow9

    https://picasaweb.google.com/
    https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LgMXo-p5pOeOdwvcdTH0E8XfkH94lOhf7BATiAqKqIc?feat=directlink

    Follow up to my original post from 02/11/2014. My frame had just cracked and I was waiting to here back via my local Whyte bike shop. The link above shows the new spacing of the cable routing which is much further apart from the original frame. What really frustrates and worries me is that I had registered my bike and my details via their website to benefit from their free extended frame warranty. I suspect Whyte must have realised fairly early on that there was a problem with the frame. I also think that they are lucky no one has had a more serious accident stemming from these failures, which have the potential to be fairly catastrophic if the frame was to fail on a 30+ mph decent. They had the option to contact the resellers or in my case and probably quite a few others directly.

    I bought this bike because it was one of the few bikes at the time that met my requirement list. I really wanted to like this bike . On paper it looked perfect, including some glowing cycling press reviews.

    The reality has been a bike that has persistently let me down time and time again. This on at least 2 occasions have left me stuck quite far from home. This was bought as a “Winter” bike in the end I’m lucky if I’ve done 500 miles on it in the last 12 months. This is a result of the amount of time the bike has been rendered unrideable due to mechanical failures. In the end my “Summer” bike has been left filling the gap.

    The failures include, Frame failure (replaced), Freehub (replaced but still does not run very free), bottom bracket failure (replaced) , several spokes ( more recently complete real wheel rebuild with all new spokes), replacement trp hy/rd brake set. This week I have been told that the rear bearings need replaced but the bike shop are telling me its wear and tear and not warranty. Not sure this is reasonable after around 500 miles and have never encountered it on any other of my own bikes. Already looking at some cheap mavic one disc replacements.

    The only part that seems to be OK is the shimino groupset. This rest of the kit in my opinion is manufactured from a composite of papier mache and Swiss cheese. The UK based distributor have been good in replacing the parts quickly with the minimum of fuss, but that shouldn’t really be the case with a new bike. I have always felt since the problems began that I would eventually get the bike I wanted. It just doesn’t feel reasonable that the bike was sold in its original form which in truth wasn’t fit for purpose.

    Given the choice again I wouldn’t buy this bike. To be honest I would put me of the Whyte brand completely. The bike will eventually be OK, but again that shouldn’t really left to me to spend a year sorting it out.

    0.5/5

    March 30, 2015 at 12:34 pm #818551
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    parksey

    Fair comment. The Inflite AL
    Fair comment. The Inflite AL 8.0 S is a broadly-similar prospect to the Suffolk, but I’m still too much of a novice to comfortably buy a bike online, I’d rather have the LBS service of ensuring I get the right size and set-up for me. To anyone not fussed, it looks like decent value.

    Oh, and I was buying on Cyclescheme too, meaning both brands were out the question.

    March 29, 2015 at 8:32 pm #818549
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    Leodis

    I would go for either the
    I would go for either the Canyon or Rose CX.

    March 29, 2015 at 8:14 pm #818547
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    parksey

    I’m now 3 months on from
    I’m now 3 months on from picking up my Suffolk and I stand by my January comments. It’s basically everything I want a commuter bike to be; fast, comfortable and capable, and mine is holding up perfectly well. I still wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

    The issues above, from what I can tell, all seem to be with the 2014 model (the grey one), and have hopefully been resolved for 2015.

    March 29, 2015 at 6:23 pm #818545
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    fenix

    Either that or too busy
    Either that or too busy replacing the cracked frames with new ones…

    March 29, 2015 at 6:12 pm #818543
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    Al__S

    despite one or two
    despite one or two disastisified customers on here, I’m interested in it. My friendly LBS would like to sell me one, but are struggling to get them in stock as Whyte aren’t making them fast enough!

    March 29, 2015 at 5:33 pm #818541
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    Jonomc

    Update from Dec 3rd on this
    Update from Dec 3rd on this horrendous bike: After owning this for 9 months now, I’ve had more mechanical issues than I wish to mention. However, after xmas I started developing leg and back problems down my RHS resulting in time off work and trips to the physio. -fun times <:P This all appeared out of the blue one day without any real explanation and has had me off the bike for 6weeks.

    Today, I thought I’d have a look at my position on a few of my bikes to see if I could ease my back pain a little. Whilst tinkering I noticed that the drive side crank on the whyte is 175mm… Strange, I thought, I never usually use a crank that long, I turn the bike round and check the LH crank 172.5mm.

    I reiterate: THE WORST BIKE I’VE EVER OWNED!

    March 20, 2015 at 7:26 pm #818539
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    jonnyglasgow9

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    January 31, 2015 at 7:18 am #818537
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    I_like_bikes

    Hi Julianrh,
    I’m also
    Hi Julianrh,
    I’m also thinking about getting this bike – how does it handle? Was it the 9.0 or the 9.0s you got?
    Have you had canyon’s before – is it fast on the road or should I look at their road bikes instead?

    Thanks in advance.

    January 30, 2015 at 11:18 pm #818535
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    parksey

    Cheers for the advice re the
    Cheers for the advice re the brakes. Mine’s going in the shop any time now for its initial once over, so the plan was to get them to give me a 101 on adjusting road discs. Failing that, YouTube!

    Glad to hear you’re enjoying the bike.

    January 30, 2015 at 3:59 pm #818533
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    olic

    parksey – pretty much agree
    parksey – pretty much agree with all of that having covered a lot more miles since October

    It’s certainly nothing like as rapid as my normal road bike but for my 16km commute it does the job nicely. I’ll certainly keep an eye on the frame but I’ve not had any issues so far with cracking on my 2015 model. One thing I would add is that before buying one make sure you understand how the TRP brake setup works – it’s not very intuitive and it’s easy to completely mess up. I’m not sure if mine wasn’t quite setup correctly in the first place or whether I made a mess of adjusting them, but I suddenly realised I had no braking power during one ride! They’re actually really easy once you understand how they should work

    January 30, 2015 at 9:08 am #818531
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    parksey

    Haven’t been on here much in
    Haven’t been on here much in recent weeks, but I’ve been receiving emails with new comments on this topic which I’ve read with some interest.

    I picked up my 2015 Suffolk about 6 weeks ago now. I can’t have put more than 200 miles on it so far, but from what I have seen, I’ve been very impressed.

    I’ll admit now that it’s not as “fast” as my Trek is, in fact, with mudguards, rack and other accessories fitted, you can certainly feel the additional weight in the bike, but then I didn’t buy it as a race bike.

    For the purpose of getting me to and from work, whatever the weather, it’s a huge improvement over the Trek. I can actually now corner and stop when it’s wet, and the mudguards keep both me and the bike mostly clean and dry. Ok, the coverage of the front mudguard could be better, but how many other road bikes out there will let you take full, fixed mudguards and 28mm tyres?

    An early criticism though is perhaps the stock tyres, Maxxis “Detonators”. The grip is actually alright, but for a tyre that’s supposedly meant to cope with all conditions, the puncture protection is woeful. The front tyre was knackered within 100 miles, but they’ve both now been replaced with GP 4 Seasons.

    I couldn’t be much happier with it though. 11-speed 105 is pretty much flawless, it’s got the right spread of gears for me, with the extra-low 34/32 ratio giving me that little bit of reassurance on bigger hills, particularly with the extra weight in the bike. I personally think it’s a very nicely-finished bike, plus it’s vastly more comfortable than my Trek too, the sort of bike you could do serious miles on without issue.

    I’ll definitely keep an eye on the frame though, especially around the cable exit points, as I’d be lying to say that the above comments haven’t concerned me. I did mention it to the chap at the LBS when I collected the bike, who acknowledged that he did know of instances of frame replacements on 2014 models, but understood that Whyte had “addressed” this for the 2015 bikes. Worst case I’ve got a warranty with Whyte, and it sounds like they’re pretty quick to deal with problems anyway.

    I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Suffolk to anyone looking for this style of bike.

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