Bobcats @ Loftus.
What a rad day out on the SB66! I’ve had a LOT on lately. Car meets, World Time Attack Challenge and my cousin’s wedding. It’s all caught up to me and I’ve been down with a flu the past few days. Really wanted to get out on the trails yesterday but nose was running and I was still having the occasional coughing fit, but old mate Eugene insisted a ride would make me feel better, and right he was!
The Yeti felt WAY too soft in the carpark. Forgot to bring the shock pump, but once we were out on the trails the suspension felt unreal! Super plush but also super efficient. The front tyre at 17psi felt so good. Using up all the travel in the shock but not using all of it on the fork, that said it’s got way more small bump sensitivity than the Fox 36 on my Amflow (maybe because the Amflow for is e-MTB tuned? Or has too much grease in it? No idea).
Honestly the bike doesn’t ride like a 26″. It just rides like a modern trail bike. The faster I went down the chunder the better (unlike the Chisel which feels WAY sketchier down the chunky stuff). The extra travel over the Chisel is super confidence inspiring! It climbs up tech great too. Having much grippier tyres makes out of saddle pushes up tech a breeze (in comparison to riding the Chisel with XC tyres for the past few months). I’m wondering WTF am I going to do with the Chisel now as this bike is just so much more fun in every way.
Eugene and I swapped bikes towards the end of the ride. His Trance felt like a rigid MTB, and way too short too (super cramped). He loved the Yeti though! In his words he thought the steering felt sharp and the bike felt so modern, fast and light.
Bit annoyed I have to wear a hydration pack again, but apart from that it’s rad AF. Might let some air out of the forks so I can use up a bit more travel (which might explain why I was feeling the dampening from the front tyre so much). Saddle can come up a little bit more. The ZTTO cassette was OK, but thinking I might get a microspline freehub and run an XT cassette to make the most out of the groupset. Speaking of groupset; Di2 and the wireless dropper is overkill and totally unnecessary but overall I’m Super happy with the bike as is!