First Ride: YT JEFFSY 27 4

Jeffsy surprised us twice at last year’s launch : first by being a trail bike from YT and second by being a 29er. We’re not among those who have anything against bigger wheels, but YT’s gravity DNA is undeniable and the company sort of has that #26aintdead vibe to it – even though it is and they don’t care. Because at the end of the day, what they DO care about is building good bikes that are fun to ride, and in the case of Jeffsy the trail/all-mountain bike, they felt that the 29-inch wheel was the best tool for the job at hand. What, then, is Jeffsy 27 doing here? That’s what we headed down to Malaga, Spain to figure out.

YT Jeffsy 27 Highlights

• Travel: 150mm F/R (160mm on CF Pro Race)
• Alu or carbon
• V4L rear suspension (Horst Link)
• Pressfit BB92
• Boost rear axle spacing
• Internal/external cable routing
• Integrated chain suck guards
• Availability: now-April 2017 (depending on model)

Initial Impressions

Aside from the size of the wheels, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between a Jeffsy 29 and a Jeffsy 27. They share the same frame layout, but there’s more at work here than meets the eye. To understand the changes, we have to first understand why Jeffsy 27 came to be.

When YT originally set out to build a trail/all-mountain bike, they had no particular ambition to make it a 29er (in fact it’s fair to say they didn’t even WANT to make a 29er). But in the spirit of designing the best trail bike possible, they tested lots of option and to their own surprise got the best results with 29-inch wheels – and that was that. So why now make a 27.5-inch version then? Chatting to Stefan Willared, CTO and main mad scientist at YT, he offered up a couple of explanations: "First of all, to fill a hole in the line-up. Our Capra has slowly been getting a bit more aggressive with each model year, and there are those who felt that the step up from the 140-mm Jeffsy 29 to the 170-mm Capra was too big. Second, there are people who simply don’t want to ride a 29er."

Stepping down to 150mm hits a real sweet spot in terms of balance between pedaling efficiency, playfulness, and “shred-ability”, and it’s this sweet spot that YT’s latest creation seems to have landed on – dead center.

Point the Jeffsy 27 down the hill, and it becomes apparent that although it’s classified as a trail or all-mountain bike, it can certainly do duty above and beyond its pay grade. Within the limitations of the 150mm of travel, we never had a feeling of being in over our heads, including on a bunch of very steep, rough, loose, and technical trails. The extra reach and slack, 66-degree head angle add confidence when loading up the front, and the bike feels roomy and stable over the rough stuff.

The Jeffsy 27 is equally at home in the air, and thanks to its light weight and responsive nature it likes to play around. Go ahead and hit those natural little doubles, the bike bunny hops with ease and is always up for shenanigans. The progressive nature of the suspension adds support and provides a bottomless feel that also helps give the rider confidence. Much like on YT’s Capra, the flip side of all that progressiveness is a bike that can sometimes feel a bit harsh over fast, mid-sized hits.

So who is the Jeffsy 27 for? If you always wanted a YT trail bike but not the 29-inch wheels, Jeffsy 27 is obviously for you. As for mountain bikers in general, we’ve noticed a lot of enduro bikes creeping towards 170mm travel and even more, and that trend looks set to continue with coming product launches as well. We always have a tendency to want more of everything, but for a vast majority of riders, 170mm is simply too much travel. Stepping down to 150mm hits a real sweet spot in terms of balance between pedaling efficiency, playfulness, and “shred-ability”, and it’s this sweet spot that YT’s latest creation seems to have landed on – dead center.

Build Kits and Pricing

YToperates a direct-to-consumer distribution model, and as such, the build kits all offer extra-ordinary value. You’d be hard pressed to find ANYTHING to upgrade on the top of the line models, and the rest of the range is equally impressive in terms of the bling-per-dollar ratio. YT also likes to “spread the love around” a bit when it comes to picking their suppliers, and they have continued to diversify when kitting out the Jeffsy 27. For example, there are dropper posts from Race Face and e*thirteen now present on certain models, and mix-and-match drivetrains involving those two companies as well as both SRAM and Shimano. We have little criticism to offer on the choices made, and we were able to test quite a few of the new components, albeit briefly, with good results.

One point of interest is the FOX Performance Elite series suspension found on the second-from-the-top CF Pro model. At first glance you might wonder why such a high-end bike doesn’t get the Factory series suspension found on the CF Pro Race, but it’s actually not that far off: the Performance Elite series (not to be confused with the “regular” Performance series) features the exact same internals as the Factory series, just the Kashima coated stanchions are missing.

Another interesting point is SRAM’s Eagle, notably the absence thereof on the top-of-the-line CF Pro Race. But the secret is in the name: the Pro Race bike was put together with racing in mind, and YT felt that the 9-44T e*thirteen cassette makes for a more compact drivetrain, and that racers would be more than willing to give up a tiny bit of range in return. The e*thirteen cassette offers up 488% of range compared to Eagle’s 500%, a marginal difference by any standard. For the bird lovers out there, Eagle IS found on the CF Pro.

Our only real complaint would be the 760mm handlebars found on certain builds. As we always say: you can cut but you can’t make a bar wider, and although Jeffsy 27 may be a trail bike by name, it certainly deserves a wide bar by nature.

Pricing (European):

Jeffsy 27 CF Pro Race: 4,499 EUR
Jeffsy 27 CF Pro: 3,999 EUR
Jeffsy 27 CF One: 3,399 EUR
Jeffsy 27 CF Two: 3,399 EUR
Jeffsy 27 AL One: 2,599 EUR
Jeffsy 27 AL Two: 2,099 EUR

For pricing in other geographies, point your browser at www.yt-industries.com and select the appropriate region.

Geometry

The new Jeffsy 27 launches today. For more information, head on over to www.yt-industries.com .

About The Reviewer

Johan Hjord loves bikes, which strangely doesn’t make him any better at riding them. After many years spent practicing falling off cliffs with his snowboard, he took up mountain biking in 2005. Ever since, he’s mostly been riding bikes with too much suspension travel to cover up his many flaws as a rider. His 200-pound body weight coupled with unique skill for poor line choice and clumsy landings make him an expert on durability - if parts survive Johan, they’re pretty much okay for anybody. Johan rides flat pedals with a riding style that he describes as "none" (when in actuality he rips!). Having found most trail features to be not to his liking, Johan uses much of his spare time building his own. Johan’s other accomplishments include surviving this far and helping keep the Vital Media Machine’s stoke dial firmly on 11.