Yeti Cycles

303 WC Mountain Bike Frame

The 303 RDH introduced Yeti's rail technology to the world and proved its performance and reliability on the mountain. While it's roots lie within the RDH, the 303 WC Mountain Bike Frame is a completely new design that took two years to develop. In that time, Yeti’s engineers and team riders relentlessly tweaked and dialed the WC to reduce mass for a more toss-able and forgiving chassis with better ride characteristics.

While the much esteemed 303 RDH used a horizontal rail, the WC now makes use of a vertical rail for 8.25" of travel. Yeti changed the rail position for two reasons. One, it provides a vertical wheel path to keep the wheelbase short and tucked under the rider -- making manuals and bunny hops second nature. Two, it allows fine tuning of the suspension rate via the shock linkage that is independent of the wheel path. Yeti tuned it for a linear initial stroke to dampen trail chatter, which turns progressive towards the end of its travel for a bottomless, big-hit absorbing plushness.

If you're new to Yeti's rail technology, it's been gracing its long-travel bikes in many forms just over a half decade now. The rail optimizes lateral frame stiffness while allowing similar characteristics of multi-link suspension designs. Where multi-link suspension designs suffer from bearing tolerances being amplified, the rail keeps things nice and tight.

If you spend any time lurking bike forums you're bound to find some naysayer hiding behind a computer screen clamming the rail will pack with mud and fail an untimely death, requiring costly repairs. Yeti, however, makes the rail stupidly simple to maintain -- just add grease through the easy-to-access nipple to purge the linear bearing of any contaminates and fill it with new lubricant. If you lube your chain, you can keep the rail running smoothly for years to come. In our opinion the benefits of rail technology outweighs ten seconds of maintenance (what we like to call bicycle bonding).

The 303 WC's main pivot features four oversized bearings that actually ride along the rail. This allows it to both rotate on the pivot while traveling up and down vertically on the rail. The large bearings hide behind a sleek cover that not only looks smooth it protects them from the elements.

Tipping the scales at 9.9lbs, vs. the RDH's 11.5lbs, the 303 WC will be less fatiguing while more lively both in the air and planted. Yeti achieved this large drop in heft by incorporating a new tubeset that eliminates any excessive material without hindering strength. The WC also feature integrated fork bump stops, and an integrated tapered headset to get the bars as low as possible.

The Yeti 303 WC Mountain Bike Frame is available in the color Black and in the sizes Small, Medium, and Large. It requires a 30.9mm seat post, has ISCG-05 tabs, and has clearance for tires up to 2.5". The 303 WC comes equipped with a FOX RC4 that offers both high- and low-speed rebound and compression damping to tailor the ride for any DH course. It uses an 83mm bottom bracket shell to create an optimal chain line for the 12x150mm rear axle. The frame has a two year warranty against manufacturing defects.