Yeti Cycles

SB5 Beti Mountain Bike Frame - 2016

Whether you’ve reached the logical conclusion of what your single-pivot bike can handle or stubbornly refuse to let your old trail frame retire, look to the Yeti SB5 Beti Carbon Mountain Bike Frame to answer your long list of demands for a new trail companion. Four years of tinkering, tweaking, and small changes have added up, resulting in a seriously impressive enduro-minded trail frame. With Switch Infinity suspension’s efficiency on your side, take the Beti SB5 onto classic desert slickrock, cleaning burly drops and big hits with prowess, then return home and dance along your favorite tacky singletrack with speed and precision. Then do it all again the next day.

The only differences you’ll see between the Beti and its male counterpart are lower standover height and a different colorway; Yeti knows better than to shrink-and-pink its hard-charging SB5 line, and instead strategically adapts it to smaller riders without compromising trail functionality. Lighter than most trail frames, the five pound, high-modulus carbon fiber SB5 Beti comes with an eager attitude and nearly limitless potential to accelerate up climbs. With thoughtful tube forming, a tapered head tube, and a 142mm rear thru-axle, claiming that it tracks true through rough terrain would be something of an understatement. Bikes like the SB6 may get more attention from the glossies, but for those of us who get our news straight from the trail itself, the SB5 is a proven all-mountain competitor that doesn't compromise on any terrain or gradient.

In terms of suspension, Switch Infinity’s linear travel hits the sweet spot of anti-squat to keep pedaling sharp across rocky climbs and relentless small bumps. Deep in the stroke, the Switch Infinity slider works in conjunction with the upper pivot to produce a vertical wheel path that effortlessly flattens big, square-edged impacts. It also erases the momentary harshness that its predecessor, the Switch Link design, would display when pushed to the absolute limit.

Of course, most riders will never experience that dead spot on the Switch Link, but the SB5 isn't for most riders. It's for the all-mountain racer who demands that her machine devours terrain other riders would walk through with the same tenacity that it cleans long climbs — a rare breed in the enduro scene as a whole, but common enough in Yeti's Tribe. It's also easier to maintain than its predecessor, which is kinder to riders working at mastering at-home maintenance, one project at a time.