First Ride: Yeti’s New SB150
Yes, it holds a water bottle. But there's much more to Yeti's new SB150 than the two appropriately placed bolt holes in its carbon frame. It's the most aggressive 29er that the Colorado-based company has ever released, with geometry numbers that place it on the cutting edge of the long and slack movement. The SB6 and its 27.5” wheels used to be the burliest machine in Yeti's lineup, but this new beast has taken the crown.
As the name suggests, there's 150mm of travel out back delivered by Yeti's unique Switch Infinity suspension design. Pair that with a reduced offset 170mm fork up front and you get a bike that's designed to take on pretty much any type of terrain imaginable, whether that's an Enduro World Series Race, laps in the bike park, or bashing around on your local trails.
As the name suggests, there's 150mm of travel out back delivered by Yeti's unique Switch Infinity suspension design. Pair that with a reduced offset 170mm fork up front and you get a bike that's designed to take on pretty much any type of terrain imaginable, whether that's an Enduro World Series Race, laps in the bike park, or bashing around on your local trails.
Yeti SB150 Details
• Intended use: all-mountain / enduro
• Wheel size: 29"
• Rear wheel travel: 150mm
• 64.5° head angle
• 433mm chainstays
• Boost 148 rear spacing
• Sizes: S-XL
• Lifetime frame warranty
• Price: $5,199 - $10,399. Frame only: $3,800 USD.
• www.yeticycles.com
• Intended use: all-mountain / enduro
• Wheel size: 29"
• Rear wheel travel: 150mm
• 64.5° head angle
• 433mm chainstays
• Boost 148 rear spacing
• Sizes: S-XL
• Lifetime frame warranty
• Price: $5,199 - $10,399. Frame only: $3,800 USD.
• www.yeticycles.com
There are five different build kits available, along with a frame only option, but even the GX Eagle base model will still leave a sizeable dent in your bank account – it's priced at $5,199 USD. The frame alone is priced at $3,800. For recent lottery winners, the top of the line XX1 Eagle option can be upgraded with DT Swiss XMC carbon wheels, putting the final price at $10,399.
The SB150's carbon frame still has that distinctive Yeti look, thanks to its clean lines and the Switch Infinity suspension layout, but the downtube now straightens out a few inches before the bottom bracket, creating enough room to fit a water bottle, which is a welcome sight.
The shock is no longer attached directly to the swingarm, as it was in past models. Instead, there's a short aluminum link that sits just in front of the seat tube, with two curved links sandwiched inside it that are attached to the shock.
The shock is driven by a short link mounted just in front of the seat tube.
Yeti debuted their Switch Infinity system four years ago, so the basics should be familiar to many riders, but if you need a refresher, here it is: The system uses two short Kashima-coated rails (courtesy of Fox Shox, who collaborated with Yeti on the design) located just above the bottom bracket to manipulate the bike's axle path. Initially, as the bike goes through its travel the carrier moves upwards on the rails, giving the bike a rearward axle path for improved pedaling performance. As the rear wheel goes deeper into its travel, the mechanism moves downwards, reducing the amount of chain tension for better big hit absorption.
Geometry
The SB150's geometry is what truly sets it apart from any of Yeti's previous offerings. It's slacker, with a 64.5-degree head angle, and longer, with a reach of 480mm for a size large. Tall riders haven't been overlooked either – the 505mm reach of the XL should fit riders up to 6'6” without any issues. In order to help keep the bike manageable while climbing, the seat angle sits at an appropriately steep 77-degrees.
Yeti also chose to spec the SB150 with a reduced offset fork (44mm instead of 51mm), which is becoming a common choice when it comes to this category of bike. How much handling difference the reduced offset truly makes is up for debate, but it does reduce the wheelbase slightly, and can add a little more stability at higher speeds.
 | I've spent the better part of the last week riding the SB150 around the trails in Whistler to get a feel for how it handles. While it by no means constitutes the time we'll put in on it for a full review, I've logged quite a few hours and feet (meters) of elevation both up and down on a smorgasbord of trails in the valley. I'm 5'10", and the size medium, with its 460mm reach, felt longer than what I'm used to, but not in a way that made me consider sizing down. The bike feels well balanced, and put me in a good position to pedal up both steep, soul-crushing fire road climbs along with technical singletrack. When climbing, the bike doesn't need to have the pedaling platform on the shock engaged to minimize bob, as there's not much to be found. It may seem like a little detail, but having the ability to carry a water bottle in the right spot really is a key feature of the SB150. I enjoyed the way several of Yeti's previous creations rode, most notably the SB5.5, but was I never able to consider a long-term commitment with any of them because there was nowhere appropriate to put a bottle. Descending, the SB150 feels ready to go to battle. While it pedals uphill as if it has less than 150mm/170mm of travel, it has plenty of brawn for the descents, with a very neutral and centered feel. The suspension stayed active, soaking up small roots and rocks along with larger hits. I rarely reached the end of that 150mm of travel, and the couple times that I did blow thru all those millimeters, it was well deserved. The one nag I have on the spec is the rear tire. The 2.3" Maxxis Aggressor works well, and I'm sure it's well matched to the drier, hardpacked trails around the Yeti headquarters, but I'd personally prefer something with a more aggressive tread pattern, like a DHR II. That's a minor quibble, because otherwise the SB150 is fully ready to get after it right out of the box. We're going to keep on putting the miles in on this blue machine - look for a long term review once we've really put it to the test. |
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Please incl. The Bird Aeris AM9
You would have to spend 80k to get a factory race Husky. To make a 10,000$ mountain bike race ready you would only have to spend like 1,500$ more to make it race worthy and replace oem junk.
A better comparison would be that Husky vs a Kenevo... oh wait
That said you CAN race a stock MTB or stock Moto competitively atthe international level. The hard part is the support. Replacing tires every ride, rebuilding shocks constantly, replacing frames. The motos explode at the same rate when you're quadding on the limiter for 90 minutes for 4 days a week.
"Guys-
Regarding bottle cage placement, I asked the design team about this and their sound-bite response was something to the effect of "you can either have a bottle inside the front triangle or a bike that rides awesome... pick one."
I guess that makes me a moron in your view but I bought into the 30 mm spindle and this is how I'm making it work.
Don’t like the prices? Vote with your money.
A YT or Commencal rides just as good and costs not even half the price....
My point was that a high end shock on the top tier frame isn’t necessarily a reason for a $3800 frameset.
A good example of this is Intense who are arguably less boutique now that they are neither handmade and are consumer direct. A Carbine SL with a RS super deluxe is $2200, a quick look says the Super is a bit cheaper to find than a X2 but not to the point of being $1600 cheaper.
So let’s look really boutique at a brand like Unno. The Burn is a $5k frameset, but it’s handmade in a first world country, uses a shock which from what I found starts at $650 as is also more boutique than Fox or RS. Does this justify the $5k price tag, to me certainly more so than a frame made in Taiwan and equipped with a relatively run of the mill (but still excellent shock).
And if you want to argue a bike/company that’s popular in CO (at least the front range) let’s look at Guerilla Gravity. A Smash with semi custom paint, welded by a guy I can go and talk to, and equipped with a Push 11-6 is $3260, still $540 cheaper than the SB150 which at that point is a matter of material cost.
Honestly I don’t care who rides what or what material your frame is made of but arguing that the X2 and Yeti boutique are not great justifications for an almost $4k price tag.
I'm in the market for a bike sometime next year and especially in Europe there isn't much difference between prices if you want a carbon frame and that X2. That shock is often not available with the frame and that friggin thing costs nearly 900€ here! 1015 $ to be exact...
If I build my high end dream bike I much rather pay 3800 € and have the frame with the desired shock than paying 3500 € and getting a Super Deluxe like with Santa Cruz.
The only competitive (-ish) priced carbon frames here are Intense (but rather expensive for a direct sales brand) and Ibis. Even a Rocky Mountain Altitude frame with DPX2 costs 3700 € over here...
Last year Yetis cost the same with the DPX2 and the years before they were about 4500 € (5250 $) for the Float X. That's at least something so I'm not complaining...
We all would love to get our dream frame and build it up, but I would really say that is often just not affordable unless you look at used frames or bring parts over from older bikes. So I think the pricing of the complete bikes is a bit more important, and that doesn't seem unreasonable for the market Yeti is looking at.
I own a Canyon road bike though, as that one isn't as important for me.
For longer rides I bring a backpack with an emergency blanket, slightly more tools, and a light jacket. It's also a great place to stash my pads or helmet for the long slogs out.
For me it really depends on the humidity...in the fall and spring I barely drink anything. But in the summer I drink about 1L/hr.
i will never buy a specialized bike again, but i have to give it to them for their Zee cage. side entry, never lost a bottle, and i very likely ride rockier terrain than you do. i recommend it to everyone that i see lose a bottle
new.yeticycles.com/bikes/sb130
en.nicolai-bicycles.com/frames/ion-g15
Directly from their website: "HERE’S EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OUR LIFETIME WARRANTY: All 2019 (or newer) frames, including the Switch Infinity link, are covered for life against damage due to manufacturing defects for the original purchaser. Paint and finish are covered for 1-year. We will repair or replace, at our discretion, any frame we deem defective. There are a few conditions: you must register it online at YetiCycles.com/registration and you must take it to an authorized Yeti Cycles dealer for processing. Warranty does not cover damage due to ordinary wear and tear, neglect or intentional destruction. From a slingshot or your truck. If you happen to have a crash or non-warranty situation, we’ll get you back on the trail with a reasonable replacement price. Same conditions as above. Lifetime Warranty applies to all 2019 and newer frames (including the SB100). Model year 2018 and older frames will be covered under our previous warranty (5-year or 2-year based on time of purchase). Simple as that. No fine print."
Why my worries on warranty... the Yeti is prone to breaking despite being represented by one of the roughest, bulldogish, bad ass, trail crushing riders in the sport. Something I thought was a thing of the past, still seeing new models not hold up here in SoCal. Frames are cracking and/or busting.
Kind of falls in line with the iPhone model... up price and make less durable due to the thought of replacement in a couple of years. Love the way my SB5.5 rides (best bike I've ever riden), just sucks having that feeling I will not have the support when an issue may arise upon an off /rant
5000$ with fox performance, level brakes, slx drivetrain and shitty wheels. How stoked are you guys, this is so affordable!
FWIW, the similar alloy Sentinel GX is 4300$ (nicer comp set) and their NX version (shitty comp set, include suspension) is 3200$ (all USD).
Materials aside, that horizontal down tube looks absolutely terrifying for going full speed into a chunky rock garden...
I also have to imagine that the marketing budget is pretty comparable to the R&D budget, but I don't have any grounds to claim that. Either way, it's not like Yeti charges people to watch what seems like high-quality/expensive edits. I'd also hope Yeti has generous benefits for the nice people that work there.
I would rather go for tailored Nicolai or UNNO+ Direttissima+ trip to Alps
Canfield Riot For the win!!! Only other bikes I’d really be interested in personally would be a GG smash or Pole evolink
We're now a couple of years in (I think) - what are they like to live with?
What is the service life of the system?
Have they ever caused issues for the owner, and if so are they a cheap and easy to sort as a cartridge bearing (which is essentially what the system replaces)?
Replacement Switch seem easy enough to get but set you back about AUD400/GBP230 for the unit.
There was a lot of fear of wear when they first debuted but IMO that is unfounded. The system works amazingly well and last when properly maintained. Great bikes. Love mine.
I have 448mm on my current size XL frame and it feels very good compared to other 'ultra short' CS's I've tried.
i of course haven't ridden this bike, but my experiences with Transitions 2018 demo fleet, which have very similar reach and CS lengths, made me realize how much grip you can get out of a bike that, from the numbers, you would assume would take weight off the front, when it fact, it puts weight more weight on the front and keeps you out of the back seat
i'm not surprised that more and more geometries are going in this direction- it's an incredibly confidence inspiring design because it makes it so hard to pull back on the bars in sketchy situations, so you maintain grip. maybe someone who has been riding for longer than me (5 years) is just used to shorter reach and it feels "wrong" to be putting more weight on the bars?
If your bike is so rear biased and you aren't in exactly the right over the bars position when you hit jump it'll kill you because you have to run far more rear spring rate. Regardless of how it feels our weight goes through the BB. It's easy to verify with a set of bathroom scales.
www.pinkbike.com/u/zeptechniques/blog/zeps-how-to-mythbusters-position-amp-balance-for-steeps-amp-heavy-braking.html
TL;DR: if you are getting way back to keep your weight centered, you are losing your flexibility in dealing with drops and unexpected changes in the trail. you should be getting low over the bars, not back
it sounds like you've never ridden any of these bikes. it's far more natural than you're imagining. as i said, there's a reason that bikes in the last few years are trending toward short chainstays and long reaches. it works really really well. i highly recommend trying one of these bikes.
remember, all mountain bike geo is a slow, multi-decade long pull away from road bike geometry. just because it seemed right 10 years ago doesn't mean it was the most effective way to design a bike
Besides, short time bike geo changes are going towards whatever the latest rave is. Maybe in the long run we get better overall but the year-to-year changes are about maximizing profit by selling what the consumer thinks he wants.
Have a look at the rear centre length on true cutting edge bikes like the Pole Machine or Geometron.
I wish @yeticycles gets this fixed with 2020-21 product update, instead of just some meager change to graphics design and/or components specs, because, save for the head tube length in XL, I really like this bike. Bikes should be optimized for frame size, especially at this price point.
either way, i'm not saying that you can't make a good bike in other ways, only that it'd ridiculous to say that short CS, long reach bikes aren't good bikes. i'm here telling you that i'm a huge fan of them, they work really, really well and have insane front grip. i'm not telling you that they are the only way to make a bike, but it sounds like you're trying taking the opposite extreme position
Long story short - go ride what you have and have fun, but these new geo ideas are pretty awesome too.
Not going to lose any sleep over it until it's time to replace the fork though.
And I too find that my 152mm pedals techy steeps better then my 1985 Rocky M Sherpa.
"NO FINE PRINT. NO BS."
Also "We will repair or replace, at our discretion, any frame we deem defective."
Lifetime warranty but not really.
And yes, they finally give us a bottle mount and I'm still finding something to complain about.
They patented a shock yoke!?
@birnie look into loctite 641. it's made to prevent creaking.
Fwiw, I'm not saying a new bike should creak (that's a quality issue), but someone is "Fed up", thus indicating exasperation over time...its a really simple fix that is common knowledge.
I am also excited not to see Super Boost. Maybe that isn’t a thing?
But holy crap, this thing is a terrible value. For 6100$ Santa Cruz at least gives you the good carbon! And I have some confidence that a Santa Cruz won’t break. The “low end” Yeti carbon means “lower quality”. Yeti is cutting corners some place in their builds because they break... a lot. Like a lot of Kona’s broke back in the day and the stink still lingers around Kona. How Yeti has avoided that stigma is beyond me. The $$$ customer base doesn’t care to blow them up online like 17 year old Kona owners in 2007 I guess.
Never, ever buy a used Yeti....
*sigh*
Wake up and smell the LT in the air. NO one cares about your 130mm "new" 29er. You teased us that a LT 29er was coming and yet you delivered the same recycled junk from 5 yrs ago. You are now behind the 8 ball and all the consumer money is going to anyone that can make a decent LT 29. Well played Yeti. Nice bike.
(Such is Yeti's credibility that looks really are a more pressing question than performance!)
I'm not a fan of the price as for the frameset price you can get complete Capra or something similar, but then again some brands charge more for road bikes that don't have suspension, so...
let me tell You a story about my experience with YT-Industries and why now I tell all my friends to never, ever buy a bike from them....
1. It all started on 18.04.2018 when I ordered a bike online. It said they would get in touch with me in 2 days. Which they didn't.
2. They sent the bike to a different address than they said they would... (quite annoying when you're waiting for a bike at one place for a whole day just to find out it was sent elsewhere.)
3. After getting my new bike I found out the rebound adjustment on the shock didn't work. Contacted YT. Got an information I should send my shock without any mounting hardware. But there were two black tubes I couldn't remove from the shock. Sent an email asking if it was OK to send the shock with them. ....and I had to wait A WHOLE WEEK to get a reply to such a simple question...
4. After receiving my shock they sent me an email saying that they are going to contact me when the package is ready to be sent back to Poland. Which they didn't and sent it right away. I was on vacation at that time and had trouble rerouteing the package to my workplace so it wouldn't go back to Germany. Really annoying...
5. After coming back from my vacation I got to work to open the package from YT just to find out they sent me different shock... Which I had to send back
6. Then they sent my shock making a mistake in my address so I had to drive across the city to pick it up myself from DHL.
7. When I opened the package I found out they sent the shock without the black tubes mentioned in point 3 so I can't install it in my bike.
8. After waiting for another few weeks I finally got my mounting hardware. Installed the shock in my bike just to find out the shock rebound adjustment IS STILL BROKEN!!! IT WORKS THE WAY IT DID BEFORE I SENT IT TO YT-INDUSTRIES!!!!
That is it! (for now)
The bottom line is I ordered a bike in April. Now it is August and I still can't ride my new bike. YT-Industries ruined my biking season!
For a made in Taiwan plastic frame.
(thanks, whoever that was)
Oh and good to see that normal bikes look like eBikes now so nobody can blame eBikes as being ugly
Show me a review of a high end bike at pinkbike where you found out totally different stuff in the longterm review, when the three days show you that its good.