Click to email a link to a friend It’s a busy time in the mountain bike world with new bikes launching seemingly every few days. Sea Otter is coming up in about a week, and brands are rushing to expose their latest and greatest products to the world before the typical onslaught of new components, apparel, and accessories that we’re sure to be seeing. .
Yeti also straightened the seat tubes to maximize dropper post insertion and the bottom bracket has been lowered slightly to enhance stability. At the front of the bike, stack numbers have increased slightly and they spec’d 30mm rise bars to optimize the rider’s position for the steep, aggressive terrain they expect riders to be tackling on the SB165.
Both of the T-Series builds come kitted out with Fox Factory 38 Grip 2 forks, custom DT Swiss EX1700 wheels , SRAM Code RSC brakes, Yeti Carbon handlebars, and Fox Transfer Performance dropper posts. Riders also have the option to upgrade to DT Swiss EXC 1501 Carbon wheels for a $1,000 upcharge. The T3 XO Transmission build comes with its namesake SRAM XO Eagle AXS Transmission drivetrain, while the T2 comes with a SRAM XO1 mechanical setup.
With a steep seat angle and relatively tall front end, the seated pedaling position is pretty upright, super comfortable, and well-suited to fire road grinds to get you up to your favorite descents. On twisty singletrack, the SB165 can still handle just about anything your legs can, but with the tall and slack front end coupled with the relatively short rear center length, I found myself needing to lean my upper body way forward to navigate steeper uphill switchbacks.
Of course, the 165/170mm of travel is significant, and I was impressed with its performance. Obviously, it’s always nice to ride fresh suspension, but Yeti’s Switch Infinity design works super well too. I don’t ride coil shocks all that often, but I really enjoyed the buttery feel of the first half of the travel. When loading it up in a compression or slamming through a rock garden, I also appreciated the support in the mid-stroke, and I definitely never felt close to bottoming it out.