YETI SB120 T1
£8,199 A short-travel trail bike designed for toughness
As the name suggests, Yeti’s new SB120 has 120mm of rear-wheel travel, but don’t mention ‘downcountry’ – with a 130mm fork and a relatively burly build, it’s very much a short-travel trail bike. The T1 model we tested is the most affordable (a term we hesitate to use, given its £8k+ asking price) build with the TURQ-series frame, which is made from higher-grade, lighter-weight carbon fibre than the (slightly) more pocket-friendly C-series bikes.
THE FRAME
The SB120 ticks a lot of frame-feature boxes. There’s room for a decent-sized water bottle within the front triangle, plus a broad down tube protector, which can be replaced, if needed. This gives access to the internally-routed cables, which are guided close to the main pivot, reducing the suspension’s ability to tug on them, and have clamped entry and exit points that kept our test bike rattle-free. Ample rubberised protection on the rear triangle reduces chain slap and contributes to a quiet ride.
At the heart of the frame is Yeti’s Switch Infinity linkage – a unique design where the main pivot sits on a shuttle that moves up and down as the suspension compresses, sliding on a pair of Fox-built, Kashima-coated stanchions. This, Yeti say, gives them better control over the suspension’s interactions with both pedalling and braking forces.
They’ve given the SB120 relatively contemporary geometry, including a long front end (reach figures vary from 395mm to 515mm across
