PYGA have been around for a couple of years now, started by Patrick Morewood after he left the company that bears his name. We loved the hard-asnails short-travel OneTen650 we tested last year, so were super-keen to get on the 29er version as soon as possible.
The frame
The triangular-section top tube is locked against the extended seat tube
with a big reinforcing gusset. The main pivot is driven through the centre of
the box-section seat tube and the stout chainstay tips are tied together with a
Syntace X12 screw-through axle. The tapered seatstays use a double-sided mount
on to the chainstays, and align very neatly with the short, stout rocker
linkage.
The kit
Despite an XC style 110mm (4.3in) of travel, our test bike came built up
with a 40mm all-mountain stem and 750mm bar, which totally suited it. The
OneTen29 frame comes with a RockShox Monarch shock, in this case paired with a
RockShox SID fork.
The carefully placed single pivot is designed to give excellent
suspension stability with a single ring but still works well with the SLX
double fitted here. Our test bike rolled on Stan’s Crest rims on Hope 2 EVO
hubs and PYGA’s UK distributors R53 Sport included a RockShox Reverb Stealth
dropper seatpost.
The ride
The OneTen29’s extremely stiff frame tells you exactly what’s happening
so you can push the limits of the components with inspiring interactivity
through feet and hands. The low bottom bracket trades more regular
crank-to-ground contact with the potential to hold a carving line with
rock-solid authority, while the slightly chainleveraged suspension feel gives a
great balance of small bump and chatter smoothing traction with instinctive
feedback for exactly what’s happening under the rear tyre.
The relatively steep 69.5-degree angle keeps the steering fast and
reactive, which feeds into the rich interactivity of the ride – it’s a bike you
want to blast down, up, along or off the trail on as fast as possible. The SID
fork comes with some worries about it twisting and tripping up under hard
braking and tight turning though, and you’ll definitely want a Schwalbe Hans
Dampf or something similarly grippy up front, rather than the fast but less
aggressive Nobby Nic Evo.
It’s a cliche, but squeezing the shock between the rocker linkage and
the extended tips of the chainstays (rather than the mainframe) gives the
suspension a bottomless feel. There are limits to the 110mm (4.3in) of rear
travel, but they’re further away than you’d think and you have to work the bike
hard to find them – the PYGA chops the tops off steps and sucks up surprisingly
large drops without stumbling. The rocker alignment means there’s a natural
initial resistance to movement but otherwise the RockShox rear shock feels
consistent and neutral.
Tough, tight and a ton of fun, Pyga’s OneTen is a proper incitement to
riot, from big days out to black run descents
FRAME Hydroformed 6066-T6 aluminium, 110mm (4.3in) travel
FORK RockShox SID RCT3, 120mm (4.7in) travel
SHOCK RockShox Monarch RT3
DRIVETRAIN Shimano SLX
WHEELSET Stan’s ZTR Crest rims on Hope Pro 2 EVO hubs, Schwalbe Nobby Nic Evo
29x2.25in tyres
BRAKES Shimano SLX
BAR/STEM Truvativ Jerome Clementz BlackBox, 750mm/Sunline V1 AM, 40mm
SEATPOST/SADDLE RockShox Reverb Stealth/Massi ProDue
WEIGHT 12.8kg (28.2lb)
