RAAW Yalla!

Phwoar. It’s been a while since I’ve owned a ‘big bike’ and I can hardly contain my excitement.

Having enjoyed the Madonna V3 so much, I was keen to see what the Yalla! was all about for MTB coaching in Queenstown. I appreciate RAAW’s continued support for me as an ambassador. It’s awesome to see how many people are in NZ are interested in these bikes.

I did about 500 Skyline laps last season, close to 100 laps at Coronet peak and a bunch of trail rides/travel when I was taking MTB lessons last year in Queenstown. Despite the Madonna V3 handling it admirably, I did miss the capability and brutish security of a DH bike. It will be nice to spread the wear across two bikes when I’m coaching - and with that in mind I have chosen as many similar parts as possible on each bike so maintenance is cheap(er) and easy(er).

I’m writing this waiting for the snow to bugger off and the bike park to open up, so I haven’t ridden it yet. The anticipation is palpable!

Bike Set Up

About me - I’m 178cm, and 85kg kitted up in normal riding gear. When I’m MTB coaching in Queenstown, my hip pack tends to weigh about 4kg, which I usually set my bike up to accommodate.

Frame - RAAW Yalla!, size large, -5mm headset cups. I have got a few different shock mount configurations from the Madonna V3 to try, but this is in ‘mid/mid’ for now.
Fork - Rockshox Boxxer Ultimate. Stock for now.
Shock - Ohlins TTX22 M.2. 434lb spring.
Wheels - DT Swiss 350 hubs, 32h, DT Competition spokes, DT FR541 rear rim, DT FR560 front rim, alloy squorx prolock nipples. Stans tape and sealant. Of course, I found the brass nipples after I had built the back wheel.
Tyres - Schwalbe Magic Mary Firstride Front, DH Casing (21-23psi), Continental Argotal Rear, super soft, DH casing (26-28psi). No inserts. I just had these lying around.
Brakes - Sram Maven Ultimate, 203mm Magura Storm HC 2mm rotors, organic pads.
Gears - Sram GX DH 7sp mech, shifter and cassette, X1 chain, Descendant 165mm crank w/ 34t ring, BB83 DUB BB, SP41 cable housing
Sitting - Raceface Ride seat post, Burgtec Cloud Boost saddle.
Cockpit - Deity Micro DM 30mm stem, Deity Blacklabel bar 38mm rise/780mm wide, ODI reflex grips (thin ones)
Pedals - Deity Supervillain
Other - MRP SXg chain guide, standard RAAW headset

Backstories

Sizing

I was really torn with sizing on this one. Do I want a DH bike that’s bigger or smaller than my trail bike? What sort of riding am I really going to do most of on this? The notion of a ‘park’ bike in Queenstown seems a bit odd to me, because we just don’t have ‘park’ trails in places like Whistler. It’s generally pretty steep, rough and tech - and the big jumps are over in Wynyard (where I see a ‘park’ bike would hold more relevance), but I don’t ride there very often. In the end I took RAAW’s advice of choosing the same size as the Madonna V3 to have as much familiarity between the bikes.

I was still a bit nervous about the size of it, though - my last DH bike was a 2019 Commencal Supreme 29 V4 with a reach of 445mm and wheelbase of 1258mm. The large Yalla! measures up at 480mm reach and 1300mm wheelbase, which is a bit of a jump, but the medium option was a fair bit smaller than my trail bike (even after stretching the chainstay and headset cups).

So, I went for the large Yalla! and opted to shorten it up a bit with -5mm headset cups. There’s also the option for a -5mm chainstay axle kit, but I thought I’d leave that for now.

Set Up

It’s amazing that the Yalla! shares so much of the Madonna hardware - including the shock mounts, which I had good fun experimenting with last season. The fork and shock are set up roughly for now. No doubt I’ll get the BYB data acquisition kit on to get some measurements once I’m up to speed with it.

Brakes

I’m excited to try the Mavens. I have never properly used Sram brakes (save for some code R’s which lasted a handful of rides before being swapped), so this will be interesting. The rear brake mount on the bike is 203mm specific and Sram rotors are all 200mm, so that’s why I’m not using Sram rotors. It seems a bunch of Sram riders aren’t even using the HS2 rotors with these anyway.

Wheels

I got them as a prebuilt mullet wheelset with FR560’s front and rear. The Yalla! is primarily designed as a full 29” bike, so I swapped the rear 27.5” FR560 for a trusty 29” FR541.

I’ve spent a bunch of time on full 29” DH bikes and I’ve not gelled with mullet trail bikes, so I’m not too fussed about going against the grain of the current mullet DH bikes. All I want it to feel like is a big Madonna.

Suspension

A yellow shock and red fork is quite the eye catcher. But, I have really enjoyed the Ohlins shock on the Madonna, so I wanted to keep it the same for the Yalla!. I love the serviceability and durability of the Rockshox forks, so I opted for the new Boxxer. I’ll be interested to see how the stock Charger 3 rides in this fork - I didn’t get on with it in the past. The new Charger 3.1 kits are retrofittable, or there’s the fluid focus kit option too.

Other

The tyres are just what I had lying around - I chose ones that would give a bit of bite in the soft spring conditions. I don’t care much about rear tyres (so long as the casing is supportive), but I’m very fussy with the front tyre. These Magic Marys have been fantastic.

The 30mm stem is there to keep the front end short - but, it means the handlebars block access to the fork’s air top cap, which for a tinkerer like me is not ideal. I can see that being swapped out for a longer stem, but I’ll ride it for now.

Super excited to try the new Deity pedals, they look very sharp indeed. Will they outshine the Chromag Daggas? Time will tell…

Now, for the snow to melt!

As a MTB coach, my gear gets used. A lot. Over the years I have used a huge amount of gear from different brands and have put them through their paces. Some have triumphed, some have been been average, and many have failed. This blog series aims to give you an honest insight into the stuff we rate and trust to use in our daily work as mountain bike coaches in Queenstown. While we do get some support from brands, the majority of our gear is purchased through stores, just like any other customer. In the cases where we have pricing privileges, we’ll make it clear. Ultimately, we choose everything we use.

Stuff We Use - RAAW Yalla! | Onward MTB