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Yeti SB5 C.... This might be good.

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KRob

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Discussion starter · #1 · (Edited)
Yeti SB 5 Carbon

This looks like what the SB75 should have been to begin with. Very promising. I do wonder about the complexity of the "Switch Infinity"

Numbers looks good: 5.1 lb frame, 67 deg HA, 13.4 BB, 73.8 deg SA. The XO build kit looks better than Santa Cruz's XO1 kit for the same money (minus the dropper post).

Definitely on my Interbike dance card.
 

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#2 ·
KRob said:
This looks like what the SB75 should have been to begin with. Very promising. I do wonder about the complexity of the "Switch Infinity"
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It's two bushings and two rods, hardly Rube Goldbergian.

It will be interesting to see how those two bushings wear (or don't) as time passes and how they're supposed to stay clean and lubricated. Could need a lot of visits from the grease fairy to stop it looking like a worn Fox Fork after six months.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Yeah, not that complex, I suppose. More complex than a simple bearing or bushing.

I guess more worry about extra, potentially stiction-causing moving parts that could get mucked up. I thought when I first saw the picture that the frame was cut out to show the mechanism and that it normally resided safely inside the carbon tubing ala Ripley, but I see now that's not the case.

Hmm.
 
#4 ·
Fix the Spade said:
It's two bushings and two rods, hardly Rube Goldbergian.

It will be interesting to see how those two bushings wear (or don't) as time passes and how they're supposed to stay clean and lubricated. Could need a lot of visits from the grease fairy to stop it looking like a worn Fox Fork after six months.
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Hate of Fox aside, I posted a similar comment on the first look. Can't imagine how that will hold up in muddy east coast riding, looks like a dirt/mud rock magnet.
 
#5 ·
Technically it's two suspension systems in one...it's a floating pivot when it's clean and when it get's mucked up with dirt and mudd it's a single pivot. Brilliant design.
 
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#6 ·
According to the articles I've read, the Yeti guys have had a prototype running for 3 years with no issues. And apparently the testing at Fox involves somewhere around a million cycles in a mud/sand/liquid smoothie, which it passed with flying colors. Service interval is 40 riding hours, but it's got grease fittings, so it's just a matter of injecting some fresh grease a few times a year. 5 year warranty (vs. 2 for the old Switch system), too.

Of course, none of this says much about the real-world reliability of the production system, but it does sound promising at least.
 
#7 ·
Yeti's marketing guy responded to the muck concern over at the Yeti forum, rather convincingly IMO. Time will tell.

I think it's an exciting bike, but sub-130mm travel isn't what I'm in the market for, myself.
 
#10 ·
bikeneil said:
Of course he's going to say it's great. Not much of a marketing guy otherwise.
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Provided he didn't outright lie about what they've done to test it, the durability outlook/muck issue doesn't seem like it'll be a big deal. I won't be sold until I hear some real-world experiences, but it does seem promising.

Fix the Spade said:
Ouch, that would be every three and a half weeks for me!
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Keep in mind that the "service" they specify is just squirting some grease in through the grease fitting. Not exactly rocket science.
 
#13 ·
I have heard yeti say lots of things. Like they would never make a 29 wheel bike and then two years later they don't make a 26 inch bike.
I hate to say it but this is the first yeti I have seen that gets my attention
 
#15 ·
cbrock450 said:
I have heard yeti say lots of things. Like they would never make a 29 wheel bike and then two years later they don't make a 26 inch bike.
I hate to say it but this is the first yeti I have seen that gets my attention
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As a Yeti sb66 owner I can tell you that this bikes are bigg stuff, but you must be comitted to maintenance, the funest bike I ever own, but still the one with more maintenance, but still love it :)
 
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#16 · (Edited)
OldManBike said:
Yeti's marketing guy responded to the muck concern over at the Yeti forum, rather convincingly IMO. Time will tell.

I think it's an exciting bike, but sub-130mm travel isn't what I'm in the market for, myself.
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I personally don't buy his explanation comparing it to a fork. A fork has a very minuscule chance of a rock getting stuck between the arch and stanchion, yet I've seen posts of that very thing happening.

I also see the crap I clean of of my lower pivot area after rides. I find it very hard to believe I wouldn't end up with a rock in there eventually and can imagine the damage that could do to the frame.

I'm not an engineer, but I just don't get why a cover would have been that hard to come up with. I know he addressed it, but again I don't buy it.
 
#18 ·
I don't understand why Yeti doesn't have a long travel 650b. Although an improvement in technology and weight from the SB75, the SB5 still fits the same space. I doubt their Enduro team will abandon their SB66's.
 
#20 ·
Speaking of discounts, I'm thinking the remaining SB75 frames will be deeply discounted now. Might be my ticket to get into the 27.5 w/5" travel category relatively cheaply. This IS good news.
 
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