Entry-level mountain bikes have got so much better over the last decade. Older budget bikes ranging from £500 to £1,000 would certainly give you a taste of mountain biking, although the ride would often feel precarious, rough and rattly.
Thankfully, brands such as Whyte and Giant have stepped things up, creating bikes such as the Talon and Secta, which will not only help you take on proper trails, but enable you to enjoy them safely with more confidence.
At around the £1,000 price point, these bikes are at the top-end of 'entry level' and come adorned with all the kit you’d likely get on far pricier trail bikes, albeit much lower-spec equipment. Still, seeing dropper posts, 1x gearing, wide bars, hydraulic disc brakes and an air-sprung suspension fork as standard these days on bikes at this price just shows how far we’ve come.
But, can smaller brands such as Whyte take on bicycle super powers such as Giant? On paper, at least, it certainly appears so.
Giant is the biggest bike brand in the world, with huge buying power and some of the best manufacturing capabilities going. It touts the Talon (of which there are five models, ranging from £525 up to the £999 Talon 0 you see here) as the starting point for the mountain bike experience, and has designed it to take on more than just blue-graded beginner trails.
Whyte is a far smaller brand, but has a reputation for creating bikes that punch well above their pay grade. The Secta range consists of three bikes, ranging from £899 up to £1,499, with the Secta S I’ve tested sitting in the middle (there’s also smaller Secta 26 bikes for younger riders).
As with all Whyte bikes, the idea here is to deliver a trail bike that can handle proper trails, straight from the shop floor without having to bolt a host of upgrades to make it work.
These bikes not only need to deliver on the trail, but offer some versatility, too, especially if they need to double up for commuting duties.
That means they need to offer a broad gear range so they can be ridden just about anywhere, geometry that’ll feel confident on the trails but not sluggish or cumbersome anywhere else and components that do exactly what they’re designed to do, well.
This may sound straightforward, but delivering all of this at a competitive price is a massive feat, especially for smaller brands.
I hit the trails to find out if British brand Whyte’s Secta S has enough fight in it to take on global mega-power Giant’s Talon 0.
Introducing the bikes
Giant Talon 0
For just under £1,000, the Talon 0 offers up a svelte, beautifully shaped alloy frame.
It's kitted out with a Shimano Deore 12-speed drivetrain, Shimano hydraulic disc brakes, Maxxis tyres, Giant’s own 100mm-travel fork (or 80mm on the smallest sizes) and an own-brand, two-position dropper post with 100mm travel on the S and XS bikes, and 120mm on M and larger sizes.
The Talon rolls on 29in wheels in sizes medium to double extra-large, and 27.5in hoops if you opt for the extra-small or small frames.
Giant Talon 0 specifications
- Frame: ALLUX-grade aluminium
- Fork: SXC32-2 RCL, 100mm travel
- Drivetrain: Shimano Deore M6100 12-speed rear mech, shifter, cassette, KMC X12 chain and ProWheel MPX crankset
- Wheelset: Shimano hubs with Giant GX03V rims
- Tyres: Maxxis Rekon Race dual compound EXO 29x2.4in
- Brakes: Shimano BR-MT200 (180mm/160mm rotors)
- Bar/stem/grips: Giant Connect Trail, 780mm / Giant Sport, 60mm / Giant Sole-O
- Seatpost/saddle: Giant Contact Switch Core 2, 120mm travel / Giant ErgoContact Trail
- Weight: 13.93kg (medium, without pedals)
- Price: £999
SQUIRREL_13661997
Whyte Secta S
Like the Talon, the Secta S also uses an aluminium frame, but this bike is built around a slightly longer fork, boasting 130mm of travel, delivered using the RockShox Recon fork.
It, too, uses 29in wheels wrapped in Maxxis tyres. But, despite the extra £100 over the Talon 0, the Secta S uses the cheaper Shimano CUES drivetrain, offering up 10 gears.
Whyte has opted to go with Tektro disc brakes and a size-specific long-travel Tranz-X dropper post.
Whyte Secta S specifications
- Frame: 6061-T6 aluminium
- Fork: RockShox Recon Silver RL, 130mm travel
- Drivetrain: Shimano CUES U6000 10-speed
- Wheelset: Alloy, unbranded
- Tyres: Maxxis Rekon dual compound 29x2.4in
- Brakes: Tektro M285 (180mm/180mm rotors)
- Bar/stem/grips: Whyte 6061 alloy, 760mm / Whyte alloy, 35mm / Whyte Trail lock-on
- Seatpost/saddle: TranzX, 170mm travel / Whyte custom
- Weight: 15.35kg (medium, without pedals)
- Price: £1,099
SQUIRREL_13657899
How do the Giant Talon 0 and Whyte Secta S compare?
While both bikes here are designed to be your gateway to riding proper mountain bike trails, the two brands have approached designing these steeds a little differently.
Take their head angles, for example. Giant’s Talon 0 is designed around a 100mm-travel fork and offers up a steep-ish (even by cross-country standards) head angle of 67 degrees (and even steeper at 67.5 degrees on the XS and S sizes). That’s in comparison to the Secta’s, which is a raked out 63.5 degrees, suggesting the Whyte design team may be putting more of an emphasis on descending stability over anything else.
Don’t forget, though, that despite the 3.5-degree difference between the two bikes, as their forks cycle through their travel, with no rear suspension to sag in unison, they’ll get steeper. With a 130mm fork up front, the Whyte could sit closer to the 65-degree mark once you take sag into account, while the Giant could be over 68 degrees.
Similarly, Whyte – a brand known for pushing geometry figures – has gone with a 445mm reach on the size medium. Now, that’s not overly long by any stretch, but it is 9mm longer than the Giant.
It doesn’t sound a lot, but factor in the difference in head angles and the front centres (measured from the centre of the bottom bracket to the front axle) differ by quite a bit. The Talon’s measures 714mm, while the Whyte’s is 780mm. On the trail, this will make a difference to handling – especially at speed – with the Whyte, in theory, feeling more stable.
Out back, the Talon boasts proportional chanistays, meaning while the smaller sizes use 440mm stays, the medium frame and above jump to 455mm. Whyte uses the same 443mm chainstay length across all four frame sizes.
Then there’s the stack and bottom-bracket heights. These help to determine the relationship between your hands and feet. While the Giant’s 606mm stack and 322mm bottom-bracket height, coupled with the 604mm effective top tube length, help to deliver a racier, more cross-country focused ride position, Whyte’s is more like a trail bike.
With a considerably higher stack height of 644mm and a bottom bracket that sits only 298mm off the floor, the Secta places your hands higher and feet lower – great for tackling steeper sections of trail.
But if you think the Secta is designed only with descending in mind, you’d be wrong, because Whyte has tried to keep it feeling nicely efficient when you’re sat in the saddle with a 76-degree seat angle. The Talon’s is slacker at 74.5 degrees.
Details matter
Both the Secta S and Talon 0 are made from aluminium, and feature beautifully formed tubes and sleek lines, along with SRAM’s Universal Derailleur Hanger standard, making sourcing a replacement a little easier if you mangle it. But, in other areas, things differ.
The Talon, for example, features mounts for mudguards or racks, making it a versatile all-rounder, should you need it to ride to work on. You can also switch to a double ring setup should you want to boost your gear range – something you can’t do on the Whyte.
Whyte’s take is possibly more trail-focused, with a gear mount on the underside of the top tube to stow maintenance essentials when you’re out in the wilderness.
One area cheaper bikes were notoriously bad for a few years back was the lack of frame protection, particularly on the chainstay. Thankfully, both Whyte and Giant have stepped up and ensured the Secta and Talon are protected sufficiently, helping to keep chain slap and noise to a minimum.
When it comes to clearance through the chainstay and seatstays, Whyte tops the charts, with room for up to a 2.6in-wide rear tyre, while the Giant will take up to 2.4in.
Cables are routed internally on both frames, although the Secta features larger ports than the Talon, and uses tight-fitting rubber cable guides to help hoses or cables stay securely in place.
Some give and take
Whyte has splurged a bit of cash on the very recognisable RockShox Recon Silver RL fork. It has 130mm of travel controlled by the Motion Control damper, which has a crown-top compression-adjuster dial, enabling you to firm things up or lock the fork out completely, if needed.
It uses an air spring, making it very easy to adjust to suit riders of different weights. Giant, on the other hand, use its own, lesser-known SXC32-2 RCL fork, which is also air sprung and features a lockout dial.
Giant has specced the M-XXL bikes with a 100mm-travel fork, again hinting at the Talon’s cross-country credentials.
Giant has saved a bit of cash with its own-brand two-position dropper, compared to the stop-anywhere TranzX post found on the Whyte. The medium Talon 0 gets only 120mm of drop, too, compared to the 170mm of travel you’ll find on the medium Secta S.
But the Giant trumps the Whyte when it comes to gearing. That’s thanks to the 12-speed Shimano Deore transmission, although money is saved on the crankset, which is from ProWheel. The Whyte also sports Shimano gearing, this time from the lower-spec CUES range, and with 10 rather than 12 speeds to choose from.
Giant’s choice of brakes will also win over some riders. Shimano’s MT200 brakes might not feature all the fancy tech seen further up the MTB brakes hierarchy, but they’re still dependable stoppers. Similarly, Whyte’s Tektro M285 brakes are another decent entry-level choice, even if they’re not quite as well known.
The bikes are quite evenly matched when it comes to tyres, with the Talon 0 and Secta S sporting rubber from Maxxis. While the Giant gets the slightly shallower-treaded Rekon Race tyres, Whyte has gone for the standard Rekons.
Overall, both spec sheets balance out pretty well, with some parts better than others in specific areas across the board. It’s just a shame Giant couldn’t spec lock-on grips, especially considering the lengths they’ve gone to with the rest of the spec. While I could live with the chunky diameter, ride in the rain and be prepared for the grips to spin on the bar.
The Giant is a chunk lighter than the Whyte, though, which may help novice riders on the climbs. At 13.93kg, the Talon 0 is pretty light. The Whyte weighs in at nearly 1.5kg more, at 15.35kg.
Giant Talon 0 vs Whyte Secta S ride impressions
To put these bikes to the test, I rode them back to back on terrain that you'd typically expect entry-level hardtails to encounter. That included everything from blue-graded trail-centre loops to more challenging red trails and some natural singletrack thrown in for good measure.
Setup was easy, thanks in part to both bikes featuring air-sprung forks, enabling me to set sag very quickly. Rebound damping and tyre pressures were set to suit my 68kg weight and riding style.
Reaching for the top
Instantaneously, it’s obvious that these two bikes have quite different characters.
The Talon feels decently efficient and eager on the climbs, encouraging you to push that bit harder.
While the lower-treaded Rekon Race tyres roll fast, it’s the geometry that stands out. The lower front end encourages a racier, more stretched-out position on the bike, from which you can really wind the power on.
Coupled with the steeper head angle and longer chainstays, it helps to make navigating tight uphill switchbacks a doddle. It’s easy to keep the front wheel weighted and on your line of choice without too much in the way of additional steering inputs.
It's a different story on the Secta S, albeit only slightly. The taller stack height, bigger-travel fork and slacker head angle create a more relaxed seated position on the bike.
Although the steeper seat tube angle still props you right up over the bottom bracket, the higher bar position and additional overall weight mean things feel a little less zippy on the climbs and require a bit more effort in certain scenarios.
Steep, uphill turns require a little more energy when it comes to keeping the front tyre from wandering and unweighting, despite the longer front centre. It’ll still do the job at hand, but it’s clear that more patience is required when making your way to the top of the hill on the Secta S.
Longer, undulating climbs also highlight the difference in gearing. The Whyte’s lowest gears (34, 41 and 48t) have bigger jumps between them (39, 45, 51t on Deore), and on really brutal inclines, can’t match the 51t bail-out option (both bikes use a 30t chainring) found on the Giant, meaning a little more muscle is required to keep your legs turning. The shifting on the Secta isn’t quite as slick or crisp either, although that's unlikely to worry too many potential buyers.
That’s not to say it’s totally plain sailing on the Giant, though. I found, once wet and caked in mud, the KMC chain started to become noisier and grumbly compared to the all-Shimano affair found on the Whyte.
On the climbs, then, while the Talon 0 feels more like an XC bike, the Secta S is more of a do-it-all trail bike, but that’s by no means a bad thing.
Meandering menace
The Giant is a formidable climber and feels just as sprightly when zipping along winding singletrack. Speed comes easily on smoother trails, and then when things get twisty, its reactive nature means you can hit the brakes early, drop a shoulder and slink your way from turn to turn without hesitation.
The Secta S feels a little slower to get up to speed, but holds it incredibly well once you’re trucking. Its slacker head angle requires a slightly different approach through the turns and needs you to keep your weight over the front end to prevent any understeer. But once you have this figured out, you can really start to push the Secta S.
It helps that Whyte has gone for a dropper that can stop anywhere in its travel. This ups trail flow and means, should you enter a technical section that still requires a bit of pedalling, small adjustments to saddle height can be made to give enough of a buffer when it comes to moving the bike around but keep the saddle just about high enough that your legs don’t tire too quickly.
The same can’t be said for the Giant. Although it feels great when blasting along fast sections at the trail centre or ducking and diving between the trees on natural singletrack, you quickly need to make the choice of having the saddle up or down. I found this a little awkward at times, high-posting it into sections awkwardly, or dropping the saddle fully where I wanted it to be a little higher. Taller riders will likely struggle more because the 120mm drop doesn’t increase across the bigger frame sizes.
What’s more, compared to the Tranz-X post on the Whyte, Giant’s Contact Switch Core 2’s functionality is pretty clunky. The remote feels decent enough, but the post's action isn’t particularly smooth and after only one ride in the wet, the one on my test bike got sticky.
Fortunately, giving it a quick grease helped rectify this and any reluctance it had to raise itself again soon disappeared. Still, it feels pretty basic compared to Whyte’s offering.
Horses for courses
Where the Whyte really comes to the fore is on the descents. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no slouch on the climbs and certainly has a spring in its step on flatter trails, but get it pointed downhill and the gap in performance to the Giant really starts to grow.
The Giant still feels smooth and solid when descending, but its steeper head angle, lower front end and less sensitive fork can’t offer the same level of confidence as the Whyte. There’s also a bit of cable rattle on really rough trails, which can be hard to ignore.
Its fork can’t match the suppleness of the Recon on the Secta S, requiring more of an impact to get moving. That means it uses the 100mm of travel quite conservatively, but it deals with medium-sized hits well enough, and it takes a fair old thump to properly bottom it out.
The Recon, with its 130mm of travel, is far more sensitive, fluttering in and out of the early part of its stroke as you trundle over trail chatter. It’s supportive enough, too, when you want to push things a little harder, and thanks to that extra 30mm of travel, offers up more of a buffer for those bigger, heavier landings. It also means your hands feel fresh and less beaten-up on long, rough trail-centre descents.
But it’s the Whyte’s geometry that helps make it feel so stable. The low bottom bracket, long front centre and slack front end add a calmness to proceedings that the Talon can’t quite match. This, in turn, bolsters rider confidence, enabling you to push the bike and yourself into trickier territory.
On natural, muddy trails, neither bike has tyres that’ll cut into the dirt all that well, although the Secta S’s Rekon tyres offer a little more braking and cornering traction.
That said, you’ll need to haul on the Tektro levers of the Whyte harder than the Shimano brakes on the Giant because they don’t feel as if they offer the same bite, requiring more in the way of hand power to bring you to a stop. I also found the Tetktros suffered more in the wet, feeling less consistent than their Shimano counterparts.
Still, brakes aside, the Whyte remains the bike to be beaten when gravity takes over. It’s more sure-footed, composed and confident when the trail gets rowdy.
Giant Talon 0 vs Whyte Secta S bottom line
Deciding on a winner here is tricky.
On the one hand, the Talon 0 offers great gears, solid brakes, fast-rolling and comfortable tyres, and a sprightly feel to proceedings that makes it feel like a far pricier machine. It’s also got the added versatility with the rack mounts, should you need it for more than ripping around trails at the weekend.
It certainly feels as though it leans a little more towards the cross-country end of the spectrum thanks to the shorter, steeper geometry. This isn’t a criticism, you just need to be aware of what sort of bike you’re buying.
The Whyte, on the other hand, is more of a do-it-all trail rig.
That’s clear on mellower trails and descents, where the Giant can’t quite match the Secta S’s confidence or prowess, especially on faster trail-centre runs or more technical, natural terrain.
And the Whyte trumps it in terms of spec when it comes to the stop-anywhere dropper post, supple, longer-travel fork and, of course, the lock-on grips, which, unlike those on the Talon, won’t start spinning on the bar when wet.
It might not be the speediest on the climbs, but when it comes to all-round trail manners, it can do just about everything well. In fact, like the Giant, the Secta S feels like a pricier bike. It’s solid, quiet and hard to upset.
As ever, it depends on the type of riding you’re keen on doing. If you value efficiency and mile-munching over everything else, the Giant is a safe bet. But, if you’re more of an all-rounder, you’ll not go wrong with the Whyte.
As for a winner, it’s a close call, but the overall performance of the Whyte clinches it for me.
