Yeti SB165

I’m proud of my Wyoming provenance. From belt buckles to my custom titanium Landyachtz gravel bike, the Bucking Horse and Rider adorns many of my things. Sure, us Wyomingites are 190 feet short of being able to climb any fourteeners – a favorite Colorado pastime I’m told – but we make up for it with better skiing, Yellowstone, Devil’s Tower, fewer people, and of course my home of Jackson Hole. And while everyone thinks of Colorado and its mountains, what is eastern Colorado if not just an extension of the great plains of Nebraska? We’ll overlook Wyoming’s status as the reddest of states, and pretend our moniker of “The Equality State” rings true.

I am pre-disposed by birthright to be biased against anything with a Colorado flag – I was forced to attempt to set this aside for the sake of objectivity when the new Yeti SB165 arrived at my doorstep. Despite its heritage from the second-best rectangular state, could the big new freeride bruiser win me over?

I covered the basics and updates on Yeti’s first factory mullet here in a first look back in April, but some basic refreshers are in order. My tester is a size large, T3 X0 Transmission, spruce colored machine that retails for 9,200 USD; there’s builds from 6,300 USD to 12,400 USD. All of them are 170mm/165mm front/rear travel, with a wagon wheel up front, and 27.5 tweener out back. This bike isn’t a race weapon – Yeti has the SB160 for that – it’s geared towards aggressive riding off the clock. On paper, if you’re looking for a bike suited for park laps, the local gnarly stuff, or Red Bull Rampage – the SB165 is ready for it. Forget paper though, how about on trail? And what about compared to its peers?

In the First Look, I said it was “approachable,” and “I rapidly found myself very comfortable” aboard the SB165; this continued throughout the review period, but I made a few changes to improve the ride for me. Firstly, dropping down from a 450lb to 400lb spring put me in a better position for the Switch Infinity to really work its magic, and removing some spacers to drop the handlebars 12.5mm got me more weight on the front end for descending and cornering.

Climbing

Humans are pretty good at relative comparisons but we’re not great at judging things in isolation. This applies to everything from guessing the weight of objects to the saltiness of food, and it definitely applies to how we perceive bikes. This matters because my daily driver is a We Are One Arrival equipped with Flight Attendant; a famously good-pedaling bike topped with the latest battery and AI powered wizardry to make it pedal even better. Hopping aboard the Yeti feels slow up the hill with power sucking pedal bob, even with the climb switch activated.

But is that sluggishness grounded reality? Not really. Especially on winch-and-plummet style rides that a bike like this is going to frequent, it’s not meaningfully slower to the top; its just my comparison point is hard to beat. For a coil-sprung 165mm travel bike, the SB165 pedals at least as well as most bikes in it's class.

The relaxed, slack geometry means its never going to excel on steep technical climbs but there’s enough anti-squat to keep you moving, and the advantage to the very active suspension is you’re never left wanting for traction. Swapping in the softer spring may have put me in a more ideal sag zone for the Switch Infinity platform, however this came at the expense of some bottom bracket height, and even with the 165mm cranks, avoiding pedal strikes took care and precision. Keep your butt in the seat and keep spinning and the stump-pulling 30-52t combo will keep you traveling up, albeit not at an alarming pace.

Descending

But what happens at the top of the hill is likely of more importance to most potential SB165 customers. Once you’ve winched yourself to the top, was it all worth it on the plummet?

I’d say so. The Yeti is easy to get comfortable aboard; the combination of slightly-relaxed geometry and smaller rear wheel give the SB165 playful character that lacks razor sharp edges you might find on a race bike. Its happiest going fast, but also does well slowly kachunking around through jank, or on days you don’t feel like pushing at ten tenths. The low bottom bracket t to bonk things – the bash-guard shows its been well used – but this compromise means the Yeti corners well and is very stable at speed.

Overall it's a bike that is forgiving, taking both mistakes and lapses in judgement in stride. It encourages you to pull for natural features and jumps, but doesn't punish you if you're not feeling it that day. The same solid mid-stroke platform for these jumps works on mellower terrain, but it's not a trail bike and undulating terrain always felt like a lot of work. Realistically, that shouldn't be a surprise on a bike of this nature, and flipping the climb switch can significantly help in these situations. Once I got the front end down, I have few notes or concerns on how this bike goes downhill.

Conclusions

The SB165 fills an interesting niche – it’s not a full fledged freeride machine akin to the Rocky Mountain Slayer, nor is it a plow like the Gen 6 Trek Slash I reviewed last year. It’s also clearly not an enduro race bike; everything from kinematics to geometry is a little more relaxed and usable across a wider range of effort and skillsets. I’d wager no one reading this is competing at Rampage (and if you have, or are going to, chime in below), but in creating a bike that top level freeriders could ride at freeride’s pinnacle, Yeti has created a bike that’s likely better for many folks than the SB160. It climbs well enough for long days and can take pretty much any terrain you’re willing to throw at it (like, well, Rampage). It’s a supportive platform that’ll pop when you want, stay stuck to the ground if you feel like it, and crucially is happy to just go out for a cruise if you don’t want to push yourself.

Sometimes I struggle to figure out who a bike might be best suited for, but in this case it’s a little easier. I can see myself as an SB165 customer. I’d be swapping out a few parts (Mavens, We Are One Triads, MaxxGrip), porting over my Flight Attendant, and I’d like to try it in full 29’er trim, but the Yeti ticks a lot of my boxes. If I’m buying with my wallet instead of my heart, the C3 GX Transmission build with Fox Factory suspension upgrade seems to be the best mix of components and value for me.