2023 Yeti

SB120 C1

A 140mm fork and more powerful brakes get the SB120 onto the Lunch Ride menu.

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In a field of great trail bikes, the new SB120 arrives as one of the best.

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The top-line Yeti SB120 T-Series T1 is now longer, slacker and has more travel – as the name suggests. Best mountain bikes: the ultimatet rail, enduro and XC machines Need to know: Wide size range: XS, S, M, L, XL, XL Size-specific carbon layup and proportional geometry T1 uses flagship Turq carbon. Cheaper C2 versions also available. Switch Infinity suspension provides 120mm rear travel, with 130mm fork travel. Yeti’s SB115 platform always felt like a compromise. The suspension was great, but it was too heavy for a bike with a short reach (450mm on a large) and XC angles. It was something of a head scratcher then, given that the SB150 is such a progressive Enduro crushing favourite. The immediate good news then is that the new SB120 is 25mm longer in reach, over a degree slacker in head angle and 2.5º steeper at the seat tube. All positive shifts in the geometry and sizing then. Oh, and as you’ll guess from the name, travel is up 5mm too. More critical than the increase in travel is that the suspension layout has literally been re-aligned with the longer travel SB bikes. The twin Fox Kashima shafts of Yeti’s unique Switch Infinity suspension system are now inline rather than transverse, relative to the front triangle. This puts them in an open window above the BB, rather than being hidden away behind a door – so what you lose in neatness you gain in easy access. And that’s not the only update. The latest V2 version of Switch Infinity uses new hardware, seals, grease injected bushings and collet axle pivots, combined with lifetime warranty Enduro Max bearings pressed into the short forged linkages. Taken together, this should increase durability in what was arguably the Achilles’ heel of the design. Other practical facets include a SRAM Universal Derailleur Hanger, tubed in tube internal routing, and a removable dual density skid plate under the down tube to help cable access. The lower portion of the downtube, just in front of the BB, has also been elevated, compared to previous bikes which had a jarring habit of ‘sumping out’ on rocks and logs. The alloy shell for the threaded bottom bracket includes chain guide mounts and is co-moulded into the carbon frame during construction, rather than bonded in afterwards. Like the Tallboy that helps put frame and shock weight at over 3kg, and like Santa Cruz, Yeti backs it up with a lifetime warranty. If weight saving is your ultimate goal, there’s a raw carbon option that forgoes paint to save a few 100g. Suspension In a nutshell, Switch Infinity is a floating single pivot design, where the main pivot migrates upwards as the suspension compresses until it reaches an inflection point at around 40% travel. It then moves down to kill off the anti-squat and reduce pedal kick deeper in the travel. The packaging of the design is super neat and paired with the Fox Float DPS Factory shock the suspension on the SB120 …Continue reading »

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Yeti's short-travel trail bike has tough intentions

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Yeti’s new SB120 is the bike we’ve been waiting for from Colorado for years. Seriously sublime ride dynamics come at a wallet and weight expense though

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