Yeti Releases SB120 Lunch Ride
Yeti's lineup has long featured a not-so-secret menu item alongside their regular offerings, the Lunch Ride bikes. These are meant to be the builds that the folks at Yeti are riding themselves, typically with more suspension and better brakes. They are usually the builds folks with more serious terrain gravitate towards, as the components push the boundaries of the chassis a bit further than stock.
Adding another bike to that two-tiered list, Yeti is now offering the SB120 as a Lunch Ride bike, featuring a bump up to a 140mm fork, downhill-ready brakes, and a piggyback shock.
Standard SB120 geometry.
Lunch Ride SB120 geometry.
The geometry shifts slightly when going to the longer-forked version, with seat and head angles slacking out by a fraction of a degree, and the reach decreasing by a few millimeters. It's definitely not a radical difference, and I'd say you're far more likely to notice the better brake spec than the minute geometry tweaks.
The Lunch Ride's Code RSC brakes deliver way more power than the SRAM G2s that the regular SB120 comes with, and realistically are what the bike should have come with from the get-go. The RockShox Super Deluxe shock upgrade will add some downhill capability to the 120, with more oil volume to keep things even over long descents, and an effective range of damper adjustment, allowing for lots of on-the-fly control.
The fork spec on the 120 LR is a bit funny to me, though it's clearly in keeping with the SRAM/RockShox kit that they've assembled for that bike. In the 140mm bracket, I'd rather see a Grip2-equipped Fox 34, as the performance of that fork really stands out from the rest of the field. Considering the fact that the rest of the SB120 lineup comes with Fit4 34s, it follows that the Lunch Ride might have the better version of the same thing, but the Pike is no slouch either.
In addition to the classic Yeti teal, there are three other color options. This one's called Dust.
The pale teal is called Loch.
And good ol' black, Raw Carbon.
Lunch Ride builds come in two spec levels, priced at $8,500 and $6,500 USD, respectively.
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Fortunately, they hold their value well and I was able to sell it for about $700 less than I paid for it a year prior. Personally, I am much (MUCH) happier on my Enduro. If you are a dynamic rider who can adjust to the chain growth on the Enduro, the rear suspension performance is king. Much more progressive and dynamic leverage curve.
So as you get deeper into the gravel, the rear wheel moves backwards which extends the chain (right?), but how do we “adjust” to that?
Your lucky Zeus prefers the agility of smaller wheeled bikes, when his opinion changes you’re done for
To contrast, the Yeti IS a single pivot, where the pivot itself moves very slightly (like..on the order of millimeters) during suspension travel. I'm not saying Switch Infinity isn't effective - because it is! But its also not controversial that Yeti Switch Infinity behaves similarly to a low leverage ratio single pivot.
Firstly, both are billed as "enduro race bikes" by their respective companies.
Second, the geometry charts are nearly identical. Comparing size larges in each: reach within 2mm, stack within 4mm, HTA within 0.1 degrees, chainstay within 1mm, BB within 6mm - should I keep going?
Having owned both, I don't find that the Yeti pedaled much better/more efficiently than the Enduro. If you are someone who uses a climb switch (which I am) the difference is not detectible. So to say that the SB150 pedals "10x better than the Enduro" is...well....misinformed. Especially since every reviewer out there basically said the same thing when the Enduro came out: "how does this thing pedal so well while being (as you said) close to a DH bike on the way down?!"
Or even horst link bikes, the degrees of rotation on chainstay pivot on some of them are barley noticeable when cycling them thru travel. Does that make them kinda single pivot?...
Look at the Enduro (which we are also discussing here) as an example of a horst link bike that performs very differently than a single pivot. Because of the extra degrees of freedom introduced by the rear seatstay/chainstay pivot (as well as the axle which rides behind this pivot AND the linkage which drives the shock and controls the axle path), despite being a horst link, it has a very different behavior than a single pivot. In fact, the linkage + horst rear link means the axle can effectively move backwards and then vertically during the first 40% and remaining 60% of travel. Pretty amazing what a dual-link driven suspension + extra pivot can do.
What I asserted is that Yeti took the single pivot design and introduced a small amount of movement to create moving Instant Center (which remains relatively close to the IC created by a purely single pivot layout). I am not saying this is identical - but the final ride characteristics are quite similar to the behavior of a single pivot, with several key performance improvements, namely in chain growth and impacts to anti-squat. Hence, if you are a person who generally likes low/linear leverage single pivots, you're gonna like Yeti because it is closely related to (but improved!) the performance characteristics of a single pivot design.
The bike is not overcomplicated and it's also not necessary to disassemble the Switch Inifinity very often. Maybe once every 7500 - 10000km. The C-Kits also don't have the kashima coated version of the Switch Infinity. So far it's the best suspension system I ever rode on a Trailbike and it's worse the minimum of extra effort.
You know how sometimes in the news, people will take a part of someone's complete sentence or paragraph to purposefully take it out of context? That is exactly what you (and now @BoneDog) have done.
Here is the complete sentence that I said:
"the Yeti IS a single pivot where the pivot itself moves very slightly (like..on the order of millimeters) during suspension travel. I'm not saying Switch Infinity isn't effective - because it is!"
Everything I am saying here is factually correct if one is attempting to meaningfully describe Switch Infinity. Don't stop reading at the words "single pivot"....follow the complete description of the Switch Infinity system.
I have never and do not claim that Switch Infinity is *only* a single pivot. But the best way to describe the system would be to describe it exactly as I have: a single pivot layout where the pivot itself is able to ascend and descend vertically, creating a modified instant center that resides roughly above the chain ring and moves backward and down during suspension travel.
Further, the Switch Infinity system does behave similarly (with improvements - no doubt about it!) to similar single pivot designs. Hence my initial statement: If one is a fan of single pivots, they will likely enjoy Switch Infinity since it is both similar and an improvement. If you don't want to take my word for it, head to Trail POV's engineering walkthrough of the SB150 where he discusses this explicitly and irrevocably.
I didn't.
www.sciencefocus.com/science/striped-toothpaste
If you fall into the "rip better than average" camp they're just saving you the upgrades.
They should give everybody the best stuff by default (that's why people spend the money on a Yeti, isn't it?). Then they can make a crap underforked version for people who want to boast about how much skill their steep head angle requires.
I also never found anyone that could explain to me how 'entree', which is French for 'starter' became a synonym for 'main course' in the US.
www.specialized.com/us/en/stumpjumper-ltd/p/218303?color=352740-218303
Better fork, better brakes, better wheels, better drivetrain, $500 cheaper MSRP.
So many better options and they pick SRAM brakes? Obviously, their purchasing department won that battle.
Yes, Ibis bikes are polarizing when it comes to looks I admit.
edit:// or even a Norco fluid for that matter
Not teal
Why would you?
If a company is doing something you don't like... you chose another company... that's how it works.
I'm sure at some point they'll eliminate it or update it.
I'm honestly lost... why would someone buy something or want to buy something from a brand that's doing something they don't like? Like... man I'd totally buy a Forbidden if they just got rid of the high pivot.... wuh?
Hell man... I'd by a GT3 if they'd just sell it in pink. No I wouldn't. I can't afford that shit.
there are features one likes and other one doesnt. if they are too bad you dont buy. thats it.
to afford or not afford is also a good point to buy or not buy.
i'd buy a wao bike if it wasnt for superboost. awesome bike but sb is a no go for me.
In all honesty though I think one can do the sport for relatively little money, it just requires a larger initial investment than most.
also put a piggyback on a 120 travel bike? Or is it the tired case of someone wanting to pile on Yeti, even though for the last 4-5 years the bike from "their" favorite make is within $500 USD of the comparable Colorado offering...