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.
4 comments:
Awesome Sarge! Nice work as all ways! Can't wait to get mine. The wheels are here waiting for installation on the BT.
Nice work Dave. Good to see you have seen the light with some good-honest SRAM gear. Rock Shox up front next ...
I now have all the bits to get the ASR5 back on the road but may use the ARC for the next 'race' !
love to Theresa
I have 3 Rock Shox forks in the floor of the basement along with your 2 decoy junkers. Perhaps I'll put them on a boat for you. When is your birthday?
The Big Top rides great. Since being "Retul'd" I've been getting a lot of time on it. Ended up trading the riser bars for a flat bar. Todd even suggested I go with a layback seat post. Wow, never thought I'd need one of those. Thank you again for your help on getting it assembled. A big stress relief!
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