Yeti Cycles

ASR7

After the 575 took off for Yeti, they realized that there may be a day that 146mm of rear wheel travel wouldn't be enough. Faster rides and faster riders meant more punishment on the long downhills in the mountains near Yeti's Golden, CO headquarters. They began development of the 178mm (7") travel ASR7 to produce a long travel bike that absolutely rips on the descents, but can still be pedaled uphill with great efficiency. Their prototyping took longer than expected, but the bike had to meet or exceed the benchmark that the 575 had set before it. It was well worth the wait. The ASR7 brings to the table a remarkable balance of traits once thought to be mutually exclusive.

The Yeti ASR7 is all 7005 aluminum. The hydroformed tubeset exhibits a graceful, yet muscular appearance with its shape being dictated mostly for function -- the dropped top tube accommodates the rear shock upper mount and a curved seat tube makes way for tires as big as 2.5" at the bottom of the full seven inches of suspension travel. The tapered headtube allows the use of 160-180mm single-crown forks and provides the stability of a 1.5" lower bearing and easy stem choices. Carbon fiber is used on the "dogbone" swing link -- Yeti engineers optimized it for stiffness to add to the lateral stability of the rear suspension and to reduce wear and tear on the Fox Float RP23 rear shock (View our set-up video). Bearings are used in the pivots at the tail end of the seatstays where they join the rear dropouts. The travel requirements dictated a move away from the flexible stay configuration of the 575 and shorter travel ASR bikes. As usual, huge cartridge bearings are employed at the main pivot to provide a stiff and stable suspension platform.

The ASR7 shows its intent with the inclusion of a cable stop for a seat post remote and the standard equipment 12mm thru axle dropouts. It also features an integral ISCG '05 chainguide mount. Since the bike is designed to be ridden both up and down, a front derailleur and multiple chainrings were always parts of the design equation. To that end, the ASR7 uses a Shimano E-type front derailleur and it mounts without the plate, directly onto the swingarm. This crafty type of attachment provides secure and precise shifting, a thing not easy for a bike with such suspension travel. It has 16.9" chainstays and a 13.8" bottom bracket height. These numbers are more in line with the 575 than with their DH bikes. However, these two geometric traits, combined with the not-too-slack 67 degree head angle make it what it is -- a bike that pedals incredibly well, yet is capable of ripping downhill alongside full-on DH bikes.

The Yeti ASR7 is available in four sizes from Small to X-Large and comes in three colors -- Black/white and Turquoise/yellow. It requires a Shimano E-type front derailleur and a 30.9mm seatpost. The bottom bracket shell is 73mm and has ISCG '05 tabs. It features a tapered headtube which will use a tapered 1-1/8" to 1.5" traditional press-in headset. It comes with a Fox RP23 rear air shock as standard equipment. 7.5 lbs (3409 grams)

For more information about Yeti's 5 year frame warranty on the ASR7 click here.

US Yeti dealers are prohibited from shipping Yeti bicycles outside of the US, Canada, or Mexico.