Propain Tyee — 2025 Update
Wheel Sizes:
- XS–M: 27.5’’ front and rear
- M–XL: 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear, or 29’’ front and rear options available
Suspension Travel:
- Frame: 160 mm
- Fork: 170 mm
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes offered: XS, S, M, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 62.8 –63.9°
- Reach (size Large, 29’’ wheels): 473 mm
- Chainstay length (size Large): 445 mm
Frame Material: Aluminum and carbon fiber versions available
Price:
- Complete bikes starting at $3,399 USD (details in Builds section below)
- Frame kits starting at $1,869 USD (details in Builds section below)
Intro
Propain’s Tyee underwent a sizable update in 2023, seeing new geometry, suspension kinematics, and frame construction techniques. Much like they did with the Rage Downhill bike earlier this year, Propain has found a number of smaller refinements to make to the Tyee, both via small construction improvements and an overhauled set of build options and colors.
We rode the Tyee last year and found it to be a very playful take on a modern Enduro bike. We have one of the new bikes headed our way, but in the meantime, let’s dig into the details of what they’ve changed from the last Tyee.
The Frame
Fans of the prior Tyee will be pleased to hear that Propain hasn’t changed many of the key aspects of the prior Tyee’s design. The frame itself is still offered in carbon or aluminum, along with options for multiple wheel sizes. XS and Small sizes are only available in a 27.5’’ version, while size Medium can be had in full 27.5’’, a mixed wheel setup, or full 29’’. Large and XL sizes lose the 27.5’’ option, with mixed wheel or 29’’ setups on offer.
The XS, Small, and 27.5’’-specific Medium frames are designed to only be run with 27.5’’ wheels front and rear, with a flip chip providing geometry adjustment. That flip chip persists on the Medium, Large, and XL frames, but is primarily used to allow conversion between mixed wheel and 29’’ options. There is an exception to that rule, which we’ll get into in the geometry section below.
Suspension-wise, kinematics remain identical to the prior Tyee. That means 160 mm of rear travel with 113% anti-squat at sag, and compatibility with both coil and air shocks.
The changes begin to emerge when looking at some of the finishing details. Home mechanics will likely be pleased to see that the Tyee no longer uses a headset-only cable routing design, with more traditional internal routing now on offer. Fans of the headset routing option can still go that route, though, with the choice of a ported Acros headset cover or Propain’s own stem-routed option, which relies on a special Sixpack stem design.
Propain has also gone away from their prior brake mount design on the carbon frame, which tucked the brake caliper inside the rear triangle. The new design should be more accommodating of different caliper designs while being easier to access for basic maintenance. The aluminum frame already had a more traditional arrangement and is unaffected.
Fit & Geometry
Propain also kept the Tyee’s geometry the same as the prior version, but there are some differences through the geometry chart, thanks to a taller assumed fork height. For example, the prior geometry chart assumed a 581 mm fork length (axle to crown) for a 170 mm fork with a 29’’ front wheel, whereas the new geometry chart shifts that measurement to 586 mm. It’s a small change, but has cascading effects throughout the listed geometry figures in making the head tube angle slightly slacker, reach slightly shorter, etc.
As mentioned above, the two position flip chip is meant to preserve geometry when swapping between the 29’’ and mixed wheel options. Typically, that means running the Low position with dual 29’’ wheels, and the High position for mixed wheel setups. The High position is also the recommended setting for the full 27.5’’ frames. That said, Propain says you can run what they call the “Shred Setting” on both the full 27.5’’ bike and with a mixed wheel setup by running the flip chip position in Low. The result is a very slack and low setup, which Propain says increases the risk of pedal and chainring strikes.
Let’s use a Large frame to understand what that all looks like. In the recommended settings for mixed wheels (flip chip in High) and for 29’’ wheels (flip chip in Low), the Tyee has a 473 mm reach, 63.9° head tube angle, 635 mm stack height, 622 mm effective top tube length, a fairly modest 22 mm bottom bracket drop, and 445 mm chainstays. When adopting the Shred Setting with mixed wheels by dropping into the Low flip chip position, reach shortens substantially to 460 mm while the head tube angle slackens to 63°, and the bottom bracket drop nearly doubles to 40 mm. It’s not a setting I’d likely use for day-to-day trail riding, but it could be a viable option for bike park riding or shuttling. Just watch those pedals.
Detailed geometry is as follows for all sizes and wheel size options is as follows:
The Builds
We are still confirming with Propain the exact build availability in the US, but given that Propain only lists USD pricing for the two “Signature” builds, we’re guessing those are the options that will be on offer for US customers. Both builds feature SRAM shifting, with mechanical Eagle 70 Transmission on the lower spec Signature 1 build, while the Signature 2 build gets electronic GX Transmission. The Signature 1 build opts for Marzocchi suspension front and rear, Magura MT brakes, and alloy wheels from Crank Brothers. The Signature 2 takes things up a notch with Ultimate-level fork and shock from RockShox, SRAM Maven Silver brakes, and DT Swiss EX 1700 wheels. OneUp V3 droppers come on both versions, too.
Both builds are available for either aluminum or carbon fiber frame options, with the carbon fiber option tacking $600 USD to the asking price. Of course, Propain’s online configuration tool allows ample customization of parts to suit your fancy, so there should still be plenty of ways to tailor these builds to your liking. You can also pick your desired dropper length, wheel size configuration, etc.
Frame kits are also available, starting at $1,869 USD for the aluminum frame and $2,499 for the carbon one.
Full build details are as follows:
- Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle 70 Transmission
- Brakes: Magura MT5
- Fork: Marzocchi Bomber Z (170 mm)
- Shock: Marzocchi Bomber Air
- Wheels: Crank Brothers Enduro Alloy
- Dropper post: OneUp V3 (different lengths configured during build)
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver
- Fork: RockShox Zeb Ultimate (170 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Vivid Air Ultimate
- Wheels: DT Swiss EX 1700
- Dropper post: OneUp V3 (different lengths configured during build)
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) We still haven’t had a chance to compare the carbon and aluminum frames. How do the two differ in their ride qualities on trail?
(2) While it existed before, Propain is now mentioning the ability to run the “Shred Setting” by running the flip chip in the Low setting with a mixed wheel setup. How does it ride on the trail, and what are the drawbacks?
Bottom Line (For Now)
Propain made some small finishing tweaks to the existing Tyee platform, but we applaud the mechanic-friendly changes via the cable routing and brake mount updates. Propain is clearly happy with the Tyee’s playful performance (which we covered last year). We’ll be riding the updated version soon and will report back on how we get along with it a year after last riding a Tyee.
I’ve always been interested in the Hugene. It will be interesting if the upcoming version incorporates many of the same changes.
I have a Hugene for my trail bike and it rips. I slightly enduro-fied the build and it can even handle light bike park days. Super fun.