Last weekend I had the opportunity to demo the new Yeti 303/R DH bike courtesy of City bike Depot in Kent Street Sydney. I was able to take the bike home to my local track where I have spent a lot of time riding, a track that I built myself about 5 years ago, the perfect place to compare the 303-R to my previous bikes.
The medium size bike came with a set of Fox 40 forks, DHX 5.0 rear shock, Mavic Deetrax wheels and Avid Elixir brakes. The frame itself is very solid and there is no flex to be seen. It also features adjustable geometry via an eccentric shock mount.
My current bike is a Giant Glory (just sold) and my previous bike was an Orange 223 so I will make my comparisons to these.
The first thing I noticed whilst riding the bike down the road was how good it pedaled, whether I sat down or stood up the bike accelerated very fast without bobbing up and down and this became even more noticeable later on the trail when sprinting out of corners or on the straights. Getting my glory to pedal like this was hard work in comparison.
The test trail starts of pretty flat with some small but fast rock gardens, my glory would loose speed through these but the yeti just seemed to accelerate and there was no noise from chain rattle due to the high chainstay position and built in protector.
I did have some trouble cornering but I will put this down to the way the front end was setup. I usually run everything as low as possible up front and the 303/R demo bike was quiet the opposite with a large non-direct mount stem and large riser bar. I found it hard to get my weight over the front and the front wheel washed out a few times as a consequence but I really just want to review the frame at this point.
This bike really reminded me how much fun I had riding a single pivot but it did not seem to exhibit any if the drawbacks. I could not feel suspension lockout under braking and it did not suffer from repetitive high speed hits, I could pop off jumps and really throw the bike around very easy, the bike really is loads of fun to ride!
The medium size frame felt a little too long for me at 57 so I have ordered a small frame, I will be running boxers instead of the Fox 40s and hopefully upgrading the rear shock to the new RC4, I will give an update of the bike once I have my own built up.
Special thanks to City bike Depot
Check out the bike at Yeti Cycles
..
The medium size bike came with a set of Fox 40 forks, DHX 5.0 rear shock, Mavic Deetrax wheels and Avid Elixir brakes. The frame itself is very solid and there is no flex to be seen. It also features adjustable geometry via an eccentric shock mount.
My current bike is a Giant Glory (just sold) and my previous bike was an Orange 223 so I will make my comparisons to these.
The first thing I noticed whilst riding the bike down the road was how good it pedaled, whether I sat down or stood up the bike accelerated very fast without bobbing up and down and this became even more noticeable later on the trail when sprinting out of corners or on the straights. Getting my glory to pedal like this was hard work in comparison.
The test trail starts of pretty flat with some small but fast rock gardens, my glory would loose speed through these but the yeti just seemed to accelerate and there was no noise from chain rattle due to the high chainstay position and built in protector.
I did have some trouble cornering but I will put this down to the way the front end was setup. I usually run everything as low as possible up front and the 303/R demo bike was quiet the opposite with a large non-direct mount stem and large riser bar. I found it hard to get my weight over the front and the front wheel washed out a few times as a consequence but I really just want to review the frame at this point.
This bike really reminded me how much fun I had riding a single pivot but it did not seem to exhibit any if the drawbacks. I could not feel suspension lockout under braking and it did not suffer from repetitive high speed hits, I could pop off jumps and really throw the bike around very easy, the bike really is loads of fun to ride!
The medium size frame felt a little too long for me at 57 so I have ordered a small frame, I will be running boxers instead of the Fox 40s and hopefully upgrading the rear shock to the new RC4, I will give an update of the bike once I have my own built up.
Special thanks to City bike Depot
Check out the bike at Yeti Cycles
..
