Devinci's 30th Anniversary YYZ Bike
This year marks three decades in the bike-building business for Devinci. And as we throttle it into our dirty thirties, we’re partying like it’s 1987 with a limited-edition rollout of an extra-retro experiment: The YYZ.
A story of creation, YYZ’s roots hearken back to the late ’80s when Devinci was an infant brand bench-making aluminum frames at its headquarters in Chicoutimi, Canada. The mountain bike scene was similarly milk-fed back then, in the process of meandering from Marin County, California to Vancouver’s rugged North Shore. The geographical gear-shift spurred big changes to bike designs in general. And around the same time that New Kids On The Block was making little girls scream, the bike industry was jumping on the mountain bike bandwagon with a deluge of neon-spewing hardtails.
![Devinci YYZ 30th Anniversary]()
![Devinci YYZ 30th Anniversary]()
The reincarnated YYZ riffs off the original XYZ with assorted ’90s flavors such as crossover top-tubes, triangles galore, and an elevated chainstay. Beyond the frame, the 30th anniversary build fires up the flux capacitor with componentry that vibes toward the contemporary. SRAM, also celebrating an anniversary in 2017, has been a project co-conspirator since the get-go. YYZ drivetrain operations are powered by the Chicago-based company’s XX1 Eagle weaponry. Its cockpit, on the other hand, comes courtesy of Chromag out of Whistler. Finally, a RockShox fork and stylin’ Maxxis skinwall tires complete the look.
In the late ’80s, the XYZ was a cutting-edge prototype with the kind of artistry you’d appreciate while ogling it through your bitchin’ Oakley Blades. Today’s YYZ is the party-on incarnation, representing decades of team and trail-driven innovations. This bike will remain an experiment project with a limited production of three scratch-made frames. “Overall we’re just a bunch of passionate riders with a factory at our disposal,” Boulais says. “We’ve been creating, and building bikes here for the past 30 years and we’re still having a hell of a good time doing it.”
Get a first glimpse of the neo-retro YYZ this April at the Sea Otter Classic.
MENTIONS: @devinci / @SramMedia / @Chromagbikes
 | One of our long-lost designers came up with the original XYZ mountain bike design. It was kinda like this ugly-duckling of ridiculousness. With no one to explain it to us, we decided to bring it back and interrogate it for secrets. That’s how the YYZ was born. |
A story of creation, YYZ’s roots hearken back to the late ’80s when Devinci was an infant brand bench-making aluminum frames at its headquarters in Chicoutimi, Canada. The mountain bike scene was similarly milk-fed back then, in the process of meandering from Marin County, California to Vancouver’s rugged North Shore. The geographical gear-shift spurred big changes to bike designs in general. And around the same time that New Kids On The Block was making little girls scream, the bike industry was jumping on the mountain bike bandwagon with a deluge of neon-spewing hardtails.
| These were the first attempts at core mountain bikes. They marked the start of the long twisty road we’ve been on in the industry—lots of swings and hits… plus a few misses. The XYZ may not have been a sales home run but it’s one of the most intriguing Devinci designs from the era. |
The reincarnated YYZ riffs off the original XYZ with assorted ’90s flavors such as crossover top-tubes, triangles galore, and an elevated chainstay. Beyond the frame, the 30th anniversary build fires up the flux capacitor with componentry that vibes toward the contemporary. SRAM, also celebrating an anniversary in 2017, has been a project co-conspirator since the get-go. YYZ drivetrain operations are powered by the Chicago-based company’s XX1 Eagle weaponry. Its cockpit, on the other hand, comes courtesy of Chromag out of Whistler. Finally, a RockShox fork and stylin’ Maxxis skinwall tires complete the look.
 |
| SRAM’s Tyler Morland found himself interested in YYZ and helped us out with parts to make this dream-build possible. We wanted the old school to meet new standards. That also includes Boost, a good reach, slack head angles, and short chainstays. |
In the late ’80s, the XYZ was a cutting-edge prototype with the kind of artistry you’d appreciate while ogling it through your bitchin’ Oakley Blades. Today’s YYZ is the party-on incarnation, representing decades of team and trail-driven innovations. This bike will remain an experiment project with a limited production of three scratch-made frames. “Overall we’re just a bunch of passionate riders with a factory at our disposal,” Boulais says. “We’ve been creating, and building bikes here for the past 30 years and we’re still having a hell of a good time doing it.”
Get a first glimpse of the neo-retro YYZ this April at the Sea Otter Classic.
 |
MENTIONS: @devinci / @SramMedia / @Chromagbikes
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You have the suzi-Q
The trend of the past few years has been:
1. Take a component
2. Make it bigger
3. ???
4. Profit!
So if you take a retro steel frame and combine it with modern components, you'll end up with a bike whose frame tubes are thinner than the fork, handlebar or seat post so it looks ugly.
But Devinci's bottom tube is quite thick so it looks nicely balanced.
I have a cracked Ti Mega hanging in my living room.
So true and well stated. Nice project - keep the good times and fun bikes rollin'!
Not vulnerable to chain suck (non-issue nowadays)
Minimized chain slap (also fairly negligible now)
Lets you run a belt drive
Permits very short chainstay frame designs (see trek stache)
Cons:
Not stiff (fact)
Not pretty (opinion)
Cons: potential losses in structural integrity/drive stiffness/subjective aesthetics
Cons: they constrain the range of options for designing linkages on duallies, particularly by making it hard to keep the lower pivot close to the BB. This is less of an issue on single-pivot bikes, which is why Orange uses them. They also tend to create a lot of chain slap, as the chain acts like a trampoline and shoots up towards the nearby underside of the stay, although this is also less of an issue now that clutch-equipped derailleurs are a thing.
Overall, they're suboptimal for multi-pivot duallies, but fine for a hardtail.
I did ride the Trek Stache a few years ago. I got that same feeling from the rear. I could feel the wheel twist under power. Maybe it was the plus tires. Maybe the 24 hole Sram wheels. All 3 maybe? Something was moving around in the rear and my quads aren't half the size they once were. BTW, had the misfortune of being the owner of a Trek 9000 elevated chainstay full suspension bike. That broke at the BB too... New designs, new tech, new standards(Ugh!) not really any good reasons today to resurrect them because today's bikes don't have late 80's early 90's issues.
All that's missing for me are single speed sliders.
I liked the Butcher-the key letter there is the 'd'
I'm glad they're back in their place.