As a perpetual seeker of THE bike that can do it all, I was very interested to jump aboard the new Yeti SB5. It has about the right amount of travel at 127 rear and 140 in the front is very light and has a suspension design that I hear great rave about. It DID NOT disappoint!
The switch infinity suspension design (I’ll spare you the details, but they can be found here: Switch Infinity Demo ) made the bike feel as though it had much more travel than 5” in the rough terrain yet pedaled amazingly well while standing or seated with the shock fully open. No other bike I have ridden has matched this combination of small and large bump eating performance to efficiency better than the SB5.
Key Specs – 127mm rear travel/140mm front travel, Switch Infinity suspension, 27.5″ wheel size.$8999 MSRP W/XO1 ENVE wheels build kit.
Who will enjoy this bike?
Big smile seekers who want the maximum enjoyment of a plush yet efficient bike. This is perfect for our Sedona terrain which includes short and punchy climbs as well as steep uranus puckering rocky descents. I could easily see this bike double as a gnar shredder and XC steed for the rougher courses with a simple tire change.
The slack 67 degree HT angle and relatively low BB at 13.4” inspired total confidence when the terrain gets twisty and points down. The frame only weighs 5.1lbs. This is nearly as light as some XC race bikes!
What I don’t like:
Its VERY hard to find something to nit pick about with this bike. There are only 2: First, the lack of a traditional bottle cage mount within the main triangle and that’s not really a big deal with this type of bike. Secondly, the rebound knob on the shock was only adjustable by using your choice of a mini tool or small stick to turn it due to the tight fit in the frame. I felt that this wan’t a big deal for me either since I usually adjust this initially and rarely ever touch it.
Overall Rating: 9.5 out of 10
This is my favorite trail bike to date due to its innovative suspension design that I TRULY didn’t feel the need to use a pedal platform with, small and large bump eating performance, confidence inspiring geometry AND svelte weight.
