First Ride: Yeti's 2021 ARC Hardtail
The ARC is a bike that has been iconic in Yeti's line for years. First making its debut in 1991 as a collaboration with Easton, the bike was half the weight of its competitors. Thanks to the use of ProTaper tubing the frame weighed a then-scant 3.2 pounds. The ARC, along with the ARC AS and ARC AS LT made up a very successful platform in the young years of mountain biking, ridden to many victories under Juli Furtado, Missy Giove, John Tomac, and other legends of the glory days.
A couple weeks ago, we saw Yeti bring back the ARC as a limited anniversary edition hardtail. Only 100 of the uniquely painted bikes were available. The bike, however, was an entirely new frame, modernized from the last iteration with aggressive geometry and a build kit more suited to take on long backcountry rides, or a weekend of bikepacking, than it was to toe up to the starting line of a cross-country race. Unsurprisingly, the ARC is now going to be a production bike for Yeti, available in a number of builds on one TURQ frame.
 | It should come as no surprise that we’d launch the ARC. It was probably the worst kept secret in the bike industry over the last two weeks. We’ve been so focused on full suspension bikes for the past five years we forgot how fun a hardtail could be. |
Smooth lines and cool colors, the anniversary edition combines classic Yeti colors with modern carbon technology.
The ARC frame is Yeti's only hardtail, with a carbon frame that's designed around a 130mm fork. That gives it a 67° head angle, 76° seat tube angle, 433mm chainstays, and a 445mm reach in size the size medium. The Turq carbon frame weighs 2.82 lbs.
Builds range in price from $3,500 USD for the C1 up to $9,900 for the "Anniversary Edition" that's sure to put a cavity in your wallet. The TURQ frame alone sells $1,900 USD. The complete bike, in size medium, with the T2 build I've been riding weighs 24.5 lbs and sells for $5,600 USD. All frames are covered by Yeti's no-B.S. lifetime warranty. More info on the bike and warranty can be found, here.
When I first saw the 35th Anniversary edition of the ARC I thought, "Well, that's cool, but there's no way in hell it makes sense to pay that much for a hardtail that's likely to be a second bike for many to a full-suspension trail bike." A few days later when I found out I had an inline model of the bike en route, I was pleased to learn that it was a much more reasonable $5,600, which is still really damn expensive considering you can get a really good full-suspension bike for under $3,000, and that there were even more reasonably priced options. Now, I'm not calling it cheap or affordable...but I also don't say that about the Tesla Model 3 as I drive past the dealership and think how it's nice to see there's something more reasonable than the pricier cars on the lot.
Ride Impressions
For that $5,600 you get a 24.5lb hardtail that's pretty dialed right from the start. A Fox Factory 34 fork, DT wheels, and a SRAM X01 drivetrain, along with a 175mm Fox Transfer seatpost. I only have a few rides on the ARC at this point so these impressions are just that, impressions. In no way does this constitute a full review of the bike. Then again, this is a hardtail and there's not all that much going on, so it's pretty easy to quickly get a feel for things.
Pedaling and climbing, the bike's 76° seat tube angle puts me, with my long legs and 73.5cm saddle height, in a comfortable-yet-aggressive position headed uphill. This is a bit steeper than many other hardtails I've ridden as of late and many hardtails currently available. The Santa Cruz Chameleon sits at 72.8° and the Specialized Fuse 29 at 74°, for comparison.
Descending, the ARC is balanced and easy to ride on a variety of terrain. Flowy trails were, of course, its specialty, but more rugged and technical terrain was surprisingly easy to negotiate. The wide and aggressive 2.6" tread no doubt played a large role in this and the bike, as a complete package it's clearly well thought out.
There were even a couple hours clocked with the bike loaded down with a bag full of beverages and snacks and it proved to be an excellent tool in carrying supplies down some pretty technical trails and into the woods for an afternoon of swimming and souvenir sunburns.
So far, the ARC is shaping up to be a jack of many trades and one of the more versatile and enjoyable bikes I've ridden lately.
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I've moved my XT drivetrain on to two different bikes and it's been nothing less than glorious. I had AXS as well and that didn't shift as well as the XT. The AXS/Shimano mix that I'm running on another bike, however, is surprisingly awesome.
I’m only trolling the comments, I do t really care.
It is a breeze to set up, faster than setting up mechanical. You can find tune it with the micro adjust, easier than a barrel adjuster. Don't have to worry about stretched cables or anything...well, you do have a really expensive derailleur hanging off your bike so that's one thing to worry about. Anyways, I highly recommend it.
XX1 - no shimano equivalent
X01 - XTR
GX - XT
NX - SLX
SX - Deore.
Surely the only cavity the dentists buying the anniversary edition will have.
And personally I´m just weary of it. If you are so envious about it: why wouldn´t you just become a dentist, work 20h a week, drive your Tesla, swim in money and rip off your patients.
Rant over
Point is: last trip we did out of 5 guys I was the only one riding an aluminum bike and it´s a Transition, not a Yeti. I´m just fed up with reading these jokes over litteraly every Yeti or other "expensive stuff" article. I´m fed up with being stereotyped because of my profession (not only happens here, I also seem to play golf, drive Porsche and go to Sylt four times a year).
It´s a rant, I stand up to that. Seems like a lot of people feel the same.
Dentists hate is funny, because this is against the essence of capitalism. Which is - rich people buy a lots of unnecessary stuff, which empowers the economy, so more people get rich an can buy stuff. Which is generally great, unless you start thinking about workers making those yeti frames in the far east for like 1% of the final cost. So much knowledge and care went to make a beautiful, overpriced item for somebody to have little fun. Quite a lot of resources was wasted for it, just for someone to emphasize his status.
You're right...there are extremely talented people out there. Imagine how much farther along we might be if the system was able to recognize more of those people.
Mercenary Capitalism: National alligance doesn't mean shit when the profit margin is high enough.
I’m not a dentist, and I’m reading this thread again as I’m hovering my trigger finger over an ARC C2 with AXS, and Fox Factory upgrade to share duties with my X01 Race Turq SB130
My specialized carbon fuse has two tiny "bumps" in the carbon for the bottle mounts. My suspicion is this is so the bolts don't go through into where the dropper is.
A race hardtail would be the real hommage to the original ARC.
sorry thats incorrect. Tomac rode for Raleigh in 91. he never rode a yeti arc. he rode a steel yeti fro & a steel/carbon C26
- carbon chameleon
- aluminum chameleon
- Canfield Nimble 9
- Commencal Meta HT AM
- Sage titanium powerline
There's so much more than material that goes into how a hardtail feels. I've ridden aluminum frames with more compliance than a steel frame, and carbon frames that were stiffer than aluminum, and vice-versa. While we love to lump things into nice, neat little categories, we simply can't infer ride quality based off frame material anymore.
I think the point people are making on cost is that the transitions were heavily discounted for a few years - like half off - probably still are if you can find one.
I had 2 Transition Vanquish and another one with an angle set and 140 RS Pike up front. Geometry was spot on with these modifications and actually quite close to Yeti here.
www.tritoncycles.co.uk/frames-forks-c6/mountain-bike-frames-c48/throttle-frameset-2017-hot-mustard-p21289/s64024?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=transition-throttle-frameset-2017-hot-mustard-size-large-size-large-01-17-10-4021&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&cid=GBP&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7v6Wt8KC6wIVWOvtCh0Xggl2EAQYASABEgJtn_D_BwE
No, maybe, a CLLCTV?
A, um, er, oh damn...it's on the tip of my tongue...
"a flurry of Yeti"
So there you have it, a flurry.
P.S. For those of you who like yeti's brown American cousin, you'll be pleased to know a group of sasquatch is called a yearning.
Kona has been pushing HT geos for years now with the Honzo line while keeping them affordable and offering Chromoly, Alloy and Carbon frames for experience guys to build up magic whips and Yeti apparently "forgot how fun a hardtail could be".
Pricier for a HT but still more “reasonable” for a Yeti and that frame does look like an Izzo without suspension aka it looks rly good.
I wonder how they compare- i don’t really need a FS bike for the trails I ride (flat and flow) and I really like riding hard tail
Good thing it’s not you with the problem.
The C1 isn’t astronomical but you can get the same’ish spec for on something else for the cost of an overseas riding holiday.
I’m sure these will sell regardless of the price. People love the brand....and that’s completely fine.
Yetis will always sell imo