YT Industries as a bike company was imagined just 10 years ago in an attempt to build an affordable dirtjump bike. In the years since the ‘Young Talent’ brand’s birth, YT has come a long way. For 2018 the brand goes back to its roots & its mountain bikes get a new look. But not before giving a behind-the-scenes mini documentary look at the company’s history with its development riders. Plus the return of a dirt jumping Dirt Love hardtail…
Chronicling 10 years of YT
Since 2008, German founder Markus Flossmann has taken YT from those first 150 steel hardtails to a company whose carbon downhill bike has been ridden to the last two elite men’s UCI DH World Cup series wins, as well as 5 individual World Cup wins. Now take a look at the history of the company as they take us inside the last tens years working together with passionate designers and elite riders from the Red Bull Rampage to the DH World Cup.
YT – Live Uncaged
The core of the updated branding is to celebrate ten years of YT Industries, but also to introduce new 2018 versions of their key bikes. Their two core bikes – the all-mountain Jeffsy & downhill Tues – remain themselves unchanged. But each gets new specs and a new look, carrying over some of their cool ‘Liquid Metal’ finishes. And now they are once again joined by a dirtjumper – the new steel Dirt Love.
Dirt Love steel hardtail dirtjump bike
Watch their mini documentary above and it’s clear YT’s roots are in dirt jumping. So while full suspension trail, enduro & DH bikes have taken most if the company’s R&D efforts, YT still spared some for the new Dirt Love.
The 26″ wheeled hardtail takes hydroforming usually reserved for aluminum to shape a modern double-butted CrMo steel frame capable of taking a beating. YT first wanted to build the bike in steel as that’s where their dirt jumping roots lie.
But they knew with a different approach they could pair the improved flex character of steel to build a lighter, stiffer & stronger frameset. The frame gets horizontal track end drops with built-in chain tensioners, a threaded BB, and internal wedge seatpost clamp, and a tapered headtube.
The new bike gets one size and one build for $1300/1000€ with a Pike DJ fork, SRAM Level TL brakes 7 a 35mm high rise cockpit.
Jeffsy 27 & 29 full suspension all-mountain trail bikes
YT’s best-selling bikes, the updated gravity-inspired Jeffsies have adopted an ‘Eleven+’ gearing concept, with all of the all-mountain bikes opting for the new 1×11 e*thirteen TRS+ cassette for its 511% gear range (even wider than SRAM Eagle 12 speed setups.)
Whether you want 27.5″ or 29″ wheel for your aggressive trail bike, or to go carbon or alloy, YT has an all-mountain bike for you, starting at $2300/2300€ in aluminum and climbing to $5000€ in carbon with full Fox Factory suspension.
Tues World Cup winning downhill bike
There’s not much you can say against a $5000€ downhill bike that out of the box has taken more World Cup wins than any other bike, often at much higher price points. The 2018 YT Tues CF Pro Race is the exact build Aaron Gwin is racing in the World Cup, and that we got an up close look at this past race season.
The lesser builds make the same suspension & ride available down to just $2400€, and feature updated race ready build kits.
Find Your Young Talent
Part of YT’s updated branding has also been to calling back to their Young Talent roots. They put together an interesting microsite that looks beyond just their pr
