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New Yeti trail bike dubbed the "SB-66"

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
2,998
702
SLO
Pretty slick looking. Wonder if you will have to run a custom tuned FOX on it sounds like you will.
 

MrPlow

Monkey
Sep 9, 2004
628
0
Toowoomba Queensland
Interesting concept. Would love to do a blindfold test with the only difference being the eccentric being replaced by a std pivot. Seems like the difference would be very subtle.
 

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,001
1,693
Northern California
Sounds like air shock only...boooooo.

*edit* nevermind, PB article states coil friendly...yay.

*edit again* actually, article also says it's falling rate at the end...not so bueno for coil. No want.
 
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no skid marks

Monkey
Jan 15, 2006
2,511
29
ACT Australia
So it's just a VPP(dual links/floating rear)/4 bar, made different to dodge someones patent? Who's links run that way? EDIT:- Nobody has a lower link running forward do they?
A link(consentric)so small does seem negligable Seems the added stiffness from the upper link would be the best bennefit in this format. And brake squat reduced a tad.
What was the home grown frame the consentric idea was used on not long ago?
Good idea, wish they'd done it a bit more dramatic.
Also wish my Pitch was on all those graphs.
 
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buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,777
4,699
Champery, Switzerland
Despite the similarity in looks eccentric and concentric are not the same thing..
Decathalon, the company in the photo above, makes another one with a similar pivot on the bottom and a swing link at the top like the Yeti. I am sure Yeti put in a lot more effort into tuning the ride.
 
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tacubaya

Monkey
Dec 19, 2009
720
89
Mexico City
Decathalon, the company in the photo above, makes another one with the same pivot on the bottom and a swing link at the top like the Yeti. I am sure Yeti put in a lot more effort into tuning the ride but it is not "suspension like you have never seen before."
Yup.

 

descente

Monkey
Jul 30, 2010
430
0
Sandy Eggo
yea, i thought that was a cool idea too.

the rest of it i'm kinda meh about. seems like complexity for the sake of being different.
 

Vrock

Linkage Design Blog
Aug 13, 2005
276
59
Spain
Yep, the funny thing is that in Spain Decathlon bikes are considered crap, but now Yeti uses the same design and everyone is loving it...
 

captainspauldin

intrigued by a pole
May 14, 2007
1,263
177
Jersey Shore
Yep, the funny thing is that in Spain Decathlon bikes are considered crap, but now Yeti uses the same design and everyone is loving it...
You have to admit, the yeti does look much nicer. I would also be willing to bet they put more time into designing/tuning/optimizing it..
 

John P.

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2001
1,170
0
Golden, CO
Man, y'all are a jaded and self-assured crew. :)

First off, TONS more info here:
http://yeticycles.com/#/bikes/SB66/1/

To answer a few of your questions:
-The shock does have a custom tune (like almost every other bike on the market now), but it has incredibly light compression damping - the mechanics of the system give you all the platform you need. On the subject of the shock, a coil works great on the system; I've ridden one a ton.
-Regarding the 'falling rate' at the end of the travel, fear not. On almost every system (other than a very high actual or virtual pivot), the wheel is moving forward at the end of the travel - opposite to the direction that the bump is impacting the wheel. You may notice that systems that ramp up sharply at the end of the travel tend not to achieve full travel because of this.
-As any suspension engineer will tell you, a few thousandths of an inch difference on pivot placement will make a HUGE difference on a linkage bike. For what it's worth, this bike rides quite unlike anything I personally have thrown a leg over. But don't take my word for it - we'll have a ton of demo bikes touring the country very soon, and you can ride it for yourself.

Finally, Availability? Beginning of July. 2011.

--JP
 

Honus

Monkey
Jun 6, 2006
177
0
Boulder, CO
I'm amazed they were able to keep it under wraps for so long. Must have been something like "The first rule of SB66 is that you do not talk about SB66..."

While I don't normally care for curvy tubed bikes it certainly does look nice- it's an elegant compact design that appears to be well developed. It looks like it's a bit long for me but I'd certainly like to check one out.
 
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djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,001
1,693
Northern California
-Regarding the 'falling rate' at the end of the travel, fear not. On almost every system (other than a very high actual or virtual pivot), the wheel is moving forward at the end of the travel - opposite to the direction that the bump is impacting the wheel. You may notice that systems that ramp up sharply at the end of the travel tend not to achieve full travel because of this.
--JP
My comment regarding the falling rate is strictly in regards to running a coil shock (the Pinkbike article mentions it being coil compatible). My personal experience with other bikes that have a falling rate at the end of travel has been the suspension is easier to bottom out.

Overall the frame looks gorgeous.
 

fluider

Monkey
Jun 25, 2008
440
9
Bratislava, Slovakia
I think it's been designed for air shock to use the natural progressivity of air being compressed. I love the eccentric pivot idea, very neat patent avoider :), and real sloping of a TT as well (in opposition to 575 frame).
 

leprechaun

Turbo Monkey
Apr 17, 2004
1,009
0
SLC,Ut
Well, i think it looks pretty good. The overall pivot location is still a little on the low side, it won't do anything weird, and it should make Yeti people happy. The progression rate is also kind of plain, once a gain, won't do anything weird, but may feel kind of vanilla, not that that's a bad thing. I like a steady rising rate, but for a trail bike it should pedal extremely well.

It looks just awesome! I love how on the left side, before the suspension moves, it's all hidden, and once it gets into it's travel it shows off all kinds of beautifulness!

It looks ultra stiff and very strong. Big guys and heavy hitters should have a solid experience aboard it.

Zeigmann... have you guys see the new SB66 vids on their site???? He shreds that thing!!!!!!
 

John P.

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2001
1,170
0
Golden, CO
Yep, the funny thing is that in Spain Decathlon bikes are considered crap, but now Yeti uses the same design and everyone is loving it...
The devil's in the details. There isn't another bike in the world, including the Decathlon, where the lower link switches its rotational direction (except for maybe some other prototypes that we're working on).

Johp P will there be a 29er sometime down the road?
No comment! :)

Ditto. SB-95 will be the actual superbike.
Great idea. :)
 

John P.

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2001
1,170
0
Golden, CO
Zeigmann... have you guys see the new SB66 vids on their site???? He shreds that thing!!!!!!
DZ wishes he could ride like that. :) The videos on the site feature Shaun O'Connor, our factory-level World Cup racer, videography/photography by John Reynolds and Craig Grant, and a super slo-mo camera that costs more than my house.
 

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,208
581
Durham, NC
DZ wishes he could ride like that. :) The videos on the site feature Shaun O'Connor, our factory-level World Cup racer, videography/photography by John Reynolds and Craig Grant, and a super slo-mo camera that costs more than my house.
The riding in those videos is so RAD!
 

leprechaun

Turbo Monkey
Apr 17, 2004
1,009
0
SLC,Ut
DZ wishes he could ride like that. :) The videos on the site feature Shaun O'Connor, our factory-level World Cup racer, videography/photography by John Reynolds and Craig Grant, and a super slo-mo camera that costs more than my house.
Doh- it kind of looked like him. I didn't know if he was that pro..ya know, sliding the bike in the opposite direction of the corner then snapping it in to the turn..hehe
 

sikocycles

Turbo Monkey
Feb 14, 2002
1,530
772
CT
The devil's in the details. There isn't another bike in the world, including the Decathlon, where the lower link switches its rotational direction (except for maybe some other prototypes that we're working on).



No comment! :)



Great idea. :)
I am liking this more and more. If it was USA made it would be over the top in excitment
 

leprechaun

Turbo Monkey
Apr 17, 2004
1,009
0
SLC,Ut
So the bike looks great, and unfortunately there's allready axle path, progression rate, pics of it apart, etc...the question is, which DW link bike did they compare it to? Mojo? The DW purple bar in the graph above shows the wheelpath coming foreward a little at the end but nowhere near zero..is that correct?
 

Vrock

Linkage Design Blog
Aug 13, 2005
276
59
Spain
The devil's in the details. There isn't another bike in the world, including the Decathlon, where the lower link switches its rotational direction (except for maybe some other prototypes that we're working on).

XDDD, Here we go.... Lapierre X-160, X130, Pivot Firebird, DHR, etc... There are a few minilink bikes where the lower link switch direction.

Anyway, I've checked the SB66 a little bit more and I really like it, the Anti-Squat curve is very nice and it's going to pedal really well. Much much better than the 575.

The LR on the other hand is not great. I guess it's OK for a Trailbike but 6 inches of travel is almost AM territory and you have to be carefull, explain to your customers that going to a 160mm fork and a heavy build is probably not a good idea, If there is something bigger comming next year tell them to wait a little bit more...

The Yeti website has a lot of info on this bike but it's still very complicated to explain how the bike works and how it's not a Decathlon Copy, that's going to be hard. I would't go overboard with the hype because it's not "Suspension like you've never seen before" and I would try to explain the difference with the Decathlon.
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
I'd actually like the bike more if they'd ditch the hideous Yeti light blue... As Vrock says, I wouldn't throw away everything else for the hype on this new suspension system. I have to admit that minimalistic changes in pivot locations make a ton of difference, but this looks like another mini-lower-link VPP design.