Rummms! Tester Chris Schleker has just tipped the Propain over the edge of the 2-metre drop in Sölden to impress us with his style. Now he's standing wide-eyed on the landing hill. Between his legs: the crumpled test bike. The carbon chainstays of the Propain Tyees broke during the landing. Oops! Chris grins sheepishly. It's a good thing the tubes didn't dig into the ground, so Chris was spared the crash. The worst-case scenario only affected the online distributor Propain, because frame breakage is every manufacturer's nightmare. Especially on the test bike, which was given to FREERIDE to get top marks. And the Propain almost managed that right up to Chris' drop. When we gave the broken bike back to Propain boss Robert Kraus, he turned pale. What do we usually hear now? Right: "Unique case", "Pre-series", "Never happened before!" Even the Propain guys from Lake Constance could only explain the breakage with a manufacturing error after a close examination. Because, said CEO Robert Krauss, it was the same frame as the enduro bike; "It must be able to withstand such stunts!"
As proof of his thesis, Krauss provided us with another Tyee AM CF Trail - with the note: "Do what you want with it". You're welcome!
We put our toughest testers on the Propain. First, wrecker Chris "Schlekinator" got hold of the bike for six months and tortured it on Alpine trails, jumplines and his favourite route, the Arzler Alm trail in Innsbruck with its big jumps. He then handed the bike over to bike terror Hans Voglsamer with his 95 kilos of fighting weight and legendary digital braking manoeuvres. The trail bike had to endure 12,000 metres in altitude and 800 kilometres. Last but not least, we also put it through its paces with some alpine freeriding in the Bavarian Alps. Conclusion: The Propain passed its test without complaint. Very good! Its reputation has been restored. Little has changed in the riding impression compared to our test a year ago. We liked the Tyee straight away. One tester put it in a nutshell: a trail duro. Because the trail bike with 150 mm travel at the front, 145 mm at the rear and the fat guide tyre has enduro genes. The plush suspension doesn't get rattled so quickly. For a lot of pop, simply set the shock lever to trail mode and you're off over jumps. The Tyee is more composed than playful, but was lively enough for us.
CONCLUSION: The Propain Tyee Trail is a great compromise for bikers who can't decide between a trail bike and an enduro bike. The Tyee manages the balancing act between smoothness and playfulness. The comfortable chassis can even cope with bike park use. Super: the high-quality equipment. The bike survived the endurance test well, so the breakage really does seem to be an isolated incident.
PLUS Smooth running, equipment, chassis
MINUS Accessibility of the damper
PROPAIN TYEE AM CF TRAIL (M)
Price4220 Euro
Weight: 13,1 kg
Spring travel: 150 MM / 145 mm
Reach: 428 mm
Stack: 600 mm
www.propain-bikes.com
Laurin Lehner
Editor
