Saturday I hauled the new Yeti Big Top 29er to the Doudy Draw trailhead for my first off-road ride.
After a couple of years watching the 29 inch mountain bike gain in popularity. I have to admit I was curious if the bigger hoops really made a difference in how the bike cornered and ironed out rough trails. I found switchbacks were easier and the babyheads floated beneath the Fox fork. Still need to test downhill handling and butt-beat factor on a 4 hour + ride.
The fit set up was copied from the 575 so the feel was very familiar. Cockpit lengths and saddle to pedal height had nothing to do with the fact that the skewers sit 1 1/2" higher than my other bikes. Stand over height was no problem for this 5'9" racer. Even if a small sized Big Top was offered, I probably would have chosen the medium frameset . I opted for the SRAM build kit from Yeti as a matter of value. You simply can not buy all the components individually cheaper than the Yeti build kit.
For the Big Top, only one component level was offered. I found out with the 575 Race level components that you don't have to be at the XTR Pro level to build a solid training/trail bike. What you do see is more weight. The Topeak Prepstand Pro scale tells the story. Who cares? You're training right? The small XTR'ed ASRc will feel like a feather on the Mountain States Cup ski slope climbs in June.
Only custom parts are grey shifter cables, white Yeti SDG saddle and to preserve the clown bike factor, The Big Top sports cheesy "8 Ball" valve stem caps.And did I mention we're celebrating COMotion Sport's 8th MSC championship? Gonna be a fun year.
