When Yeti released the SB100, followed closely by the SB150 and SB130 I just knew I had to own one of these beauties from Colorado and sooner rather than later! I used to ride in the early 2000s when I was in my teens and ever since I have lusted over 2 brands, both of which were and still are considered unicorns here in Finland: Yeti and Intense. I was THAT close to pulling the trigger on an Intense Carbine when they introduced their new direct-to-consumer business model, which significantly lowered their prices, but looking at the geometry one must ask if the Intense is truly a "new" model. The geometry is far from the modern long-low-and-slack trend with standover and stack about 40-50mm taller than the Yeti. The only things keeping me away from Yeti have previously been: Price, short reach figures and no option to run a bottle in the SB4.5/5.5, for example. the new SB series fixed everything but the price issue.
A friend of mine got the SB100 as soon as it was released. I had to wait a bit longer to gather the funds for this dream build. The moment of truth came about in August 2019 when a Spanish dealer LTM Racing in Madrid, Spain, listed several of the new Yeti models with 2018 colors on eBay, probably pending the release of the 2019 colors. I contacted Felix at LTM immediately and pulled the trigger on an SB150 Turq frame in size Large, and in turquoise color, of course, and a Fox 36 170mm GRIP2 Factory fork to math. My initial plan was to go for an SB130, but as I already own a 110mm XC/Trail bike, the Norco Optic, I decided something a bit more "Enduro" was in order. I would have loved to have an orange fork, but as LTM gave me a great deal on a black one I'll need to change my initial plan for the color scheme a bit by going from orange details to yellow.
This is the initial build where I have used several parts, like the GX Eagle groupset, Sram Code-R brakes, Raceface Six-C handlebar and Tranz-X dropper from my old Norco Range A9.1. The final build will happen in the next 2 months as I, again, gather more funds for more parts. More on that later when I finally finish this project!
Full spec:
- Yeti SB150 Turq frame, Large + Fox X2 factory shock
- Fox 36 170mm GRIP2 Factory 44mm offset + Syncros fender
- Sram GX Eagle groupset + KMC TI gold chain (will be upgraded to XX1 eagle + X01 cranks soon!)
- Trail wheels: Mavic XA Elite + Schwalbe rubber
- Enduro / Park wheels: Newmen SL A30 laced to Sram 900 hubs with Sapim CX-Ray + Maxxis rubber
- Sram Code R brakes, 200mm/180mm rotors (Still need a longer brake hose for the rear brake)
- Raceface SixC 35x800m carbon bar, cut down to 780mm (will be replaced by a OneUp bar soon!)
- Raceface Aeffect-R 40mm stem (will be replaced by an Industry nine stem soon!)
- Ergon SME3 saddle
- Ergon GA2 grips (will be replaced by different grips in yellow soon)
- Tranz-X 150mm dropper post (will be replaced with a OneUp 180mm dropper soon!)
- Shimano XT trail pedals
- Cane Creek 40 IS41/IS52 headset
- Sram PF bottom bracket
- OneUp EDC tool and topcap
- Elite Cannibal XC bottle cage
Current build weighs in at 14,13kg, including pedals, so the final build will likely be somewhere around 13,8kg.
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| Frame on the stand, ready for assembly |
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| Frame protection is a must on such a beautiful piece of carbon art! |
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| Not bad for a 150mm 29er frame, including rear shock |
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