Yeti Cycles

SB100 Turq XX1 Eagle AXS Trust Complete Bike

Constructing the perfect dream bike isn't a task we take lightly. We think its an act that's very personal — it takes our own personality into account, both on and off the trail, and leaves us a little vulnerable to critique. When dreaming up your be-all-end-all ride, do you covet the loud colorways with crazy contrasting components? Or perhaps you crave a steed that's stealthy and understated, where weight savings is the true priority. Regardless of the hues that pique your interest, we think that keeping things progressive is critical when we're putting together a ride that's fit for dreamland, which is why we put it all on the line with the SB100 Turq XX1 Eagle AXS Trust Complete Bike. As if the Yeti SB100 wasn't enough to get us going, with its sleek lines, lively Switch Infinity suspension, and progressive cross-country geometry that teases the line between XC and trail, we've opted to go all-out, pairing this particular build up with Trust's Message Fork for a ride quality that's like none other before it, SRAM's XX1 AXS Eagle groupset to shed cables left and right for a snappy, wireless feel, and if that's not enough, it all rolls on top of Industry Nine's telepathically quick Hydra hubs, with 0.52-degree engagement that propels you forward instantaneously.

There's usually a reason why mountain bikes are so specialized and pigeonholed into categories these days. Build up an anorexic race whippet and it'll rocket up the climbs and pedal through the flats with near-hardtail efficiency. But, point it downhill and it's nervous handling and efficiency-centric demeanor requires excessive body English and you'll be wincing through the hairy bits wishing you had a little extra something to keep you off the brakes. Juxtaposed to a trail bike, you'll appreciate the point-and-shoot ability on the steep and rough sections, but take it up a climb at race pace and the gobs of travel and plushness will have you feeling as though you're pedaling through molasses. This is where the SB100 shines. Yeti draws on its XC roots and history and melds it with its current trail and enduro technology to create the proverbial quiver-killer. It shares similarities with the outgoing XC race bike, the ASR, and its current trail assassin, the SB4.5, and EWS winning SB5.5.

Beefy pivots join the front and rear triangles improving the lateral stiffness and creating confidence inspiring tracking as you navigate tricky rock gardens, rooty descents, and blown out switchbacks. Switch Infinity, now utilized on every Yeti, gets the call up for suspension duties, the first time we've seen it in this travel format and is optimized for the bike. It’s light and tucks behind the seat tube in its own compartment keeping it safe from the elements and allows the frame to accommodate a water bottle in the front triangle. The sliding shuttles allow for a varying leverage ratio for a very linear and smooth off the top feel before transitioning to some mid-stroke support for efficient pedaling, before finally transitioning to some progressive ramping that prevents blasting through the last bit of stroke, giving the frame and FOX Float Factory DPS shock a bottomless feel as you peg the fun meter. You'll be amazed at the way you can attack the trails with only 100mm of travel.

Yeti's brief hiatus from the XC scene really afforded it the chance to dial in the geometry that is more appropriate for modern XC racing and trail moonlighting. A slacker head tube angle allows for better downhill prowess and on paper, 67.8-degrees might seem a touch slack for XC use, however, the 74 to 74.3-degree seat tube puts some of that weight further forward to keep the front wheel from wandering on steep climbs. The other thing worth mentioning is that Yeti designed the frame around and recommends the use of a 44mm offset fork. The reduced rake brings the front wheel back so more traction is on tap and it brings back the agility that is often lost with slacker head tube angles. Chainstay length sits at 17.2-inches across all sizes, and like the head tube angle, it balances confidence through rough terrain at high speed with the nimbleness needed to make quick moves on tight singletrack. Compared to the ASR, the rear end is updated with Boost spacing allowing the use of hubs with wider flanges that increase the bracing angle, improving wheel strength and stiffness for a more responsive ride.

While the frame certainly earns its call-outs, we'd be lying if we said we thought it was the only part of this build worth talking about. We've cherry picked the ripest components on the market for this bike, starting with the most obvious and eye catching Trust Message Fork. The Message Boost Fork from Trust Performance doesn't look like any other suspension fork you've seen before. That's because it's designed to ride like no other fork you've ridden before. It's not just different for difference's sake though, it's truly designed to improve your ride. Truth be told, telescoping technology has reached its zenith and if suspension gains were to be made to the front end of the bike, a linkage fork design is necessary. Sure, linkage forks are nothing new, we've seen them on the front of motorcycles before and even some mountain bike designs have dabbled with some linkage forks over the decades. Those of us who have been in the sport for a while might have memories of forks harkening back to those of AMP Research and Pro-Flex. Those mountain bike designs never carried on for more than a few seasons, but the Message has already had an indelible impact on the future of suspension forks that we think will shape the industry going forward.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with a telescoping fork, Trust knew it could build a better one. Increased bushing overlap and better seals on modern forks are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they improve stiffness and prolong service life but it comes at the expense of increased friction. Even with lower drag seals and special stanchion coatings that can make a telescoping fork feel smooth, it can't hold a candle to the reduced breakaway force achieved by a linkage design that pivots on bearings. Trust tested a handful of premium forks on the market and the average force needed to move the stanchions, sans a spring, was around 50 pounds. The best it found was a broken-in and factory tuned version that required 21 pounds of force to initiate movement. The Message takes all of 2 pounds. Its small bump compliance is something you appreciate right away and you'll really notice it when hopping back on more traditional designs. Take the rear shock off of your bike and cycle the suspension. You know that smoothness that comes from a linkage design that pivots on bearings? That’s exactly what you get with the Message's stroke.

Spec’d for race day, and hungry for blasting through cross-country laps, this built carries on with SRAM’s new XX1 Eagle AXS Boost DUB Groupset hits the market ready to charge to the podium. If you follow the XC race circuits, chances are you’ve already spotted this beautiful piece of machinery on Schurter’s steed, though the tech remained quiet until now, with SRAM’s release to the public. The XX1 AXS Eagle groupset offers the lightest weight materials, long-wearing durability, and Eagle’s signature 500-percent gear range to land you with the pinnacle of performance, ready to turn your steed into the next generation of superbike.

Since SRAM had its electronic expertise dialed with Etap, the first thing we wanted to know was just how much it had in common with its roadie counterpart. Just like on Etap, you’ll have a fully wire-free setup, with no need to search for a spot to store your battery — simply bolt on your shifters, rear derailleur, and pair things together. That’s largely where the similarities end. Naturally, the shifters are all new, and because the demands on mountain bikes can be a bit more strenuous, harsh, and jarring, SRAM took a bit of what its designers already have learned about electronic shifting, and made some serious updates to handle the rough and rowdy conditions on the dirt. This includes a two-clutch system, and a whole lot more torque. Etap spins at 50,000 RPM, but to get things dialed for the trail SRAM builds the AXS rear derailleur with enough torque to spin 80,000 RPM for booking it down steep and quick descents.

We’ve long known SRAM’s XX1 designation to allude to components that are the pinnacle of performance and finesse, and we see that come through in all of the details for this particular group. SRAM employs the XX1 derailleur that’s built for instantaneous shifts from a single touch, even while under massive chain loads, paired up with the XX1 Eagle Chain. We know, chains usually aren’t the most exciting piece of a new groupset, but we’d argue that SRAM’s Eagle chain is the biggest contributor to the ultra-smooth, quiet, and durable performance that we can find, and when paired up with the XG-1299 rainbow cassette, you’ll find a 500-percent gear range, and longer-wearing durability from X-Sync 2. In the front, the crankset may look familiar, and that’s because it is. SRAM’s XX1 Eagle DUB SL crankset holds down the fort with its ultra-light, ultra-stiff demeanor, utilizing SRAM’s DUB axle technology that simplifies the spindle-to-bottom bracket relationship.

And because it would be taboo to have such class-leading components rolling atop any old wheel, we complete the built with Industry Nine's latest and greatest wheels, the Hydra Trail 270. If you're one for following trends in the industry, chances are you've already gotten some of the low-down on Industry Nine's new Hydra hubs, but chances are you haven't yet had the opportunity to saddle yourself up with a pair. Fortunately for you, the wait is over, and we're stoked to spread the hype with Industry Nine's new Hydra Trail 270 29in Boost Wheelset. These steamrolling hoops combine the classic Trail rim we know and love with I9's new Hydra freehub that offers some intensely quick actuation. We could say they telepathically communicate with you to transfer power to the trail before you even know that you put it out, but that would be taking away credit from the meticulous engineers in Asheville, NC, who spent two-and-a-half years tinkering with this hub to dial in near-instantaneous 0.52-degree engagement, for the snappiest wheelset we've ever laid our hands on.

The Hydra hubs build on Industry Nine's previous drive system, which is pretty easy to spot if you take a peek at the internals. You'll spot a similar pawl layout that we've seen before in the Torch, and the same pristine CNC machining coming straight from Asheville, North Carolina. Like the old Torch hub, the Hydra features a 6 pawl design, but the drive ring amps things up to a 115-tooth drive ring, as opposed to the 60-tooth used in the Torch, crating a whopping 690 points of engagement, blowing the 120 points of engagement of the Torch out of the water. These 690 points of contact translate directly to the snappiest hubs we've ever seen, with only 0.52-degrees of engagement, propelling you forward just about the instant you put any power down. Furthermore, the engineers opted to keep things simple for those of us who tinker on our bikes at home, making the hub fully serviceable without any proprietary tools.