MSRP : $3200.00
Weight : 26 lbs 11.2 oz
Yeti's SB95c is a long-travel 29er that you can ride every day
Until I rode this bike’s predecessor, the SB95, I didn’t enjoy 29ers with more than 4 inches of travel. Other 29ers made me feel like a passenger, but that one turned me into the pilot—just like my favorite 26-inch bikes. I could put that Yeti where I wanted, choosing my line and dancing through challenging terrain. The bike also provided enough comfort to let me hammer the hardest trails. It felt agile, reacting to changes in the trail and moving in sync with my inputs.
But at 7.5 pounds, the aluminum SB95’s frame is relatively heavy. To keep the 95’s best attributes and reduce its weight, Yeti turned to carbon, which shed 1.75 pounds. The material also increased the bike’s stiffness by 15 percent, Yeti says, and I never noticed any twisting between my knees. The SB95c also responded more easily to my prompts, feeling sharper and quicker than the aluminum bike. The material also does a better job than aluminum of damping vibrations, further smoothing the ride.
While improving on some of the 95’s better features, the bike also maintains some others: The Switch suspension system, found on all of Yeti’s SB-series bikes, is one of the best available. It isolates the rider from bumps, keeps the wheels on the ground, unifies the chassis, and doesn’t bob when you pedal. Like many of Yeti’s suspension models, it handles steep trails with stability and feels composed at high speeds. It’s not as agile at slower speeds as some other bikes, but its playfulness on the trail is more important to me anyway; I had a blast tossing the 95c into berms and blasting out the other side, boosting off small lips and launching over obstacles. I also found it suitable for enduro racing: It easily got me up the climbs then helped me cruise back down.
The SB95 is already expensive, and building it in carbon adds $1,000 to the price. But the new bike is even more fun to ride, and for me, that justifies the cost. It’s not for value hunters, but it is a bike I might pick if I had to choose just one to ride every day. That’s not something I’ve ever been able to say about a 29er.
Until I rode this bike’s predecessor, the SB95, I didn’t enjoy 29ers with more than 4 inches of travel. Other 29ers made me feel like a passenger, but that one turned me into the pilot—just like my favorite 26-inch bikes. I could put that Yeti where I wanted, choosing my line and dancing through challenging terrain. The bike also provided enough comfort to let me hammer the hardest trails. It felt agile, reacting to changes in the trail and moving in sync with my inputs.
But at 7.5 pounds, the aluminum SB95’s frame is relatively heavy. To keep the 95’s best attributes and reduce its weight, Yeti turned to carbon, which shed 1.75 pounds. The material also increased the bike’s stiffness by 15 percent, Yeti says, and I never noticed any twisting between my knees. The SB95c also responded more easily to my prompts, feeling sharper and quicker than the aluminum bike. The material also does a better job than aluminum of damping vibrations, further smoothing the ride.
While improving on some of the 95’s better features, the bike also maintains some others: The Switch suspension system, found on all of Yeti’s SB-series bikes, is one of the best available. It isolates the rider from bumps, keeps the wheels on the ground, unifies the chassis, and doesn’t bob when you pedal. Like many of Yeti’s suspension models, it handles steep trails with stability and feels composed at high speeds. It’s not as agile at slower speeds as some other bikes, but its playfulness on the trail is more important to me anyway; I had a blast tossing the 95c into berms and blasting out the other side, boosting off small lips and launching over obstacles. I also found it suitable for enduro racing: It easily got me up the climbs then helped me cruise back down.
The SB95 is already expensive, and building it in carbon adds $1,000 to the price. But the new bike is even more fun to ride, and for me, that justifies the cost. It’s not for value hunters, but it is a bike I might pick if I had to choose just one to ride every day. That’s not something I’ve ever been able to say about a 29er.
No comments:
Post a Comment