2019 YT Capra 29 AL Base Bike

(discontinued)

I demoed a lot of bikes before throwing a leg over the Capra. What set the Capra apart for me was that I could setup the bike for good small bump response without blasting through the travel on bigger and faster hits. I later found out why; the Capra's rear suspension was designed to be progressive enough to be compatible with both air and coil shocks. I've heard from other riders (usually 50 pounds lighter than my 220 pounds) that they never used the last 1/3 of rear travel and felt that it was a bit of a waste, I seem to be able to get deep into the travel without fully bottoming out.

When you lean this bike over and plow over some mid-corner roots, the bike never delivers the drama your mind is expecting. I over-steered all over the place until I got used to how well the Capra can hold your intended line. The frame can take a dual-crown fork, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Either way, I was surprised by how many of my favorite descents became brakeless runs with the Capra. And when you do need to slow it down in a hurry, the 200mm rotors front and rear clamped by Code R 4-piston brakes leave little to be desired. Again, with all the weight transferring to the front the bike continues to track where you point it without squirming or shuddering. The confidence this bike gave me led me to immediately order knee pads, because when things eventually do go wrong I'll be going so fast that I won't get to choose how I hit the ground.

My only sore spot about the bike was the stock tires and how poorly it seemed to pedal uphill. Replacing the stock dual-compound Maxxis DHR2 with an Aggressor on the rear made a measurable difference on my local loops. I replaced the front DHR2 with a MaxxTerra compound Maxxis DHF in the 2.5 Wide-Trail format, which helped it to transition from corner to corner more consistently and really seemed to help on the damp roots that litter the trails here in North Georgia. I improved the uphill pedaling by reducing sag to somewhere in the 25% range. At 30% the rear will never step out unexpectedly or buck you, but you really feel the pedal bob. Just 5% less makes this feel like a trail bike with 4 water bottles strapped to it.

The Capra is the kind of bike that makes you examine the time in your life when you were a Weight Weenie and how much you wasted bending and breaking things. You would have been so much happier with a pound more metal in your frame (in the right places of course) and wider rims with fatter/tougher tires. I already have a bike for racing XC and going uphill as fast as I can, and it's a hardtail designed for the mission. For everything else, I reach for the Capra knowing I'll be fast enough to never be last up the hill on the group rides while leaving everyone for dead on the descents. Oh, and don't forget you can get all this capability for around $2,500.