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The Yeti 5
This is arguably one of the most exciting bikes to come out ever. Well we think it's exciting anyway.
Why would you buy one of these?
Well, the 5 is perhaps the perfect UK riding bike. By this we mean that for the majority of the rides people do in this fair island then 120mm suspension may be the sweet spot.
The trend recently has been for trail bikes with 140mm but for the majority of riders this may be a tad too much. If you ride hard and do the drops and launches and steep rocky chutes then you need the 140mm to keep your speed up and take the hits.
If you like going up, along and then down and then up again and shy away from the bigger stuff then this might be the right bike. The head angle (thats the angle of the forks in relation to the trail) is set slacker than most XC bikes. This equates to a more stable feeling bike when you are going fast and will also give you a confident feeling when you take on the steep downs.
It's not as slack as to stop you climbing efficiently though. You will be able to move your weight around the bike and get traction where you need it.
In terms of suspension feel and performance well there is not much to worry about there. Fox has been chosen (as always) to supply the rear shock. It features the new boost valve technology to give a more 'plush' feel at all parts of the suspension range. However, this bike has been tuned to offer a more firm feel than say the 575. This is because the emphasis is on speed - Yeti make the analogy of a race tuned car... this makes sense. You feel everyting but you still have some isolation from it. So you get traction, feel and control basically. All the things you want.
Other stand out features that set this bike apart from the rest are the tapered head tube and the bolt through carbon rear end.
To our knowledge these have not been done before on a 120mm bike. if we are wrong then let us know.
The tapered head tube is interesting from an engineering point of view and is a good and valid fearure. It allows a stiffer headtube area and therefore a larger weld contact area for the down tube. These are good things - as you drive the bike forward you rely on stiffness and tracking to make sure you can feel what the fork and wheel is doing, this helps that happen. It looks cool to which you have to admit counts for a lot as well!
The bolt through rear end allows for a stiff and responsive rear triangle also. To get the most output for your input you need to make sure the power is getting on the ground. Not only this but the stiffness will be noticeable when cornering. You will be able to push this bike harder than perhaps you are comfortable with.
It can be built up a number of ways - you are the boss so get thinking about how you want yours to look!
Any questions? Fire away.
Yeti say:
The AS-R 5 was a natural evolution of the
AS-R platform. We took the tight handling
characteristics of our shorter travel
AS-R and bumped up the travel to 5”.
This transformed the bike into an amazingly
versatile all-rounder. Long, gnarly
back-country rides? No problem. You
wanna race a little cross-country? This
bike is light enough to help you stomp
your lycra-clad friends uphill and then put
more time into them on the downhill.
Part of the secret of this bike is the balance.
The front and rear suspension are
perfectly tuned. We have engineered it
to ride a bit stiffer in the mid-stroke of the
travel. This gives it a similar feel as sporttuned
suspension on a performance
car. You can feel the trail so the bike has
a lively, aggressive feel on the trial. The
low bottom bracket and neutral steering
geometry keep the bike controlled and
predictable when you bring it up to speed
and it carves turns extremely well - due
in part to the amazing stiffness of the the
frame.
If you have been holding on to your
hardtail or short travel bike because you
worry about compromising efficiency or
weight, you gotta throw a leg over this
bike and give it a spin. It will change your
world.
Weight: 5.5 lbs / 2.49 kg
Category : XC / All-mountain
Sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL
COLORS: Lime, Cayenne, Black Ano, Black/Turquoise,
White/Turquoise
Frame Attributes
• Blended high modulus, hand laid-up carbon rear triangle
• Tapered head tube (1-1/8” – 1-1/2”)
• Internal cable routing on swing arm
• Gravity dropper guide
• Interchangeable dropouts
• QR standard, but can easily convert to 12mm x 142mm
• Titanium hardware
The Ride
• Very efficient when climbing and descending
• Active when descending
• Stiffer in mid-stroke of the shock, so you “feel” the trail more
Key Geometry:
• 68 degree headtube with 120 mm fork
• 13’’ / 330 mm bottom bracket height
• 16.9’’ / 429 mm chain stays |
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Customer Reviews
Average rating:  | Sneak preview, 15th Dec 2009 | Reviewer: Mark Downie | Right then - firstly, pics are here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129263&id=579452522&l=eb773037e2
Stuart from Evolution kindly saw fit to take me out on a new 5 today.
Albeit the 2nd attempt as he got some weird disease last time and i have the lurgy this week too, we still got out and did it.
The weather was frankly pants/as you would expect from the Borders in Scotland in December. It was wet, cold and generally a tad unpleasant.
Not to worry though - it's always sunny when it's bike riding time.
So... the idea was we would go for a gentle spin to see what the bike was like. We picked Glentress as the venue for a couple of obvious reasons.
1. It has the best cafe in the area.
2. We know the trails very well seeing as we ride there - lots.
We set off up the normal climb route and the route was decided as we went. Up the red climb to the black boundary trail, round the road to the blue bit and then back down to the car park.
Climbing:
It climbs. Not much more to say than that. It grips well, corners uphill corners very well. The riding position is very well judged allowing you to get your weight over the front and move to the back when required.
I was climbing in much more 'xc' gears than normal - not using the granny ring was a nice touch. The rear end is nice and responsive but firm - we both commented at one point in the day that it kinda feels like a hardtail when you want it too and then a bigger full suss bike when it requires that too.
Any effort on the pedals is rewarded with an immediate acceleration feel - you can find yourself attacking little lumps and rises more than you might normally.
All in all, you just kind of had to pedal. The bike just moved where you pointed it.
My comment to Stu was that it felt 'like a bike'. On the face of it this comment may sound negative but it's actually a compliment. It just goes and does what you ask it to. No fuss no drama etc.
Going down the way:
What a laugh! Even wi | | Just ace, 22nd Dec 2010 | Reviewer: James Hatfield | OK so I've been meaning to write a review of my ASR-5 since I got it 6 months ago but every time I start I get lost with words. Then I read the review on Singletrackworld and agree with what the guy says, so a link is below...
The comments about the suspension being 'invisible' are key to this bike. At first it seems unremarkable, like its not doing anything. And then it slowly dawns on you thats its working away to make your ride all the more fun. With the RP23 shock on propedal it climbs with amazing sharpness for a suspension bike with this much travel. Switch the propedal off and maybe wind the forks out an extra 20mm and the descents are just so much fun. It doesn't have the travel to make trails bland and featureless, but its not supposed to at 5 inches. It just smooths the way and handles steep techy sections as steep and techy as you'd probably dare (as much as I dare anyway).
In short, this bike is ace. Give it time to show off its ability; I was tempted to sell mine in the 'unremarkable phase' but so glad I didn't. I've got to the bottom of more trails in the past few months grinning stupidly than I have in a long time, and this bike follows on from my all-time favourite Dialled Bikes Alpine.
http://www.singletrackworld.com/reviews/long-termers-yeti-asr5/ |
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