Hi all

Okay so I appreciate that sounds like a daft question – mountain biking. However, I am keen to find out how far ASR5 owners push theirs and what they think the bike is capable of. Obviously for general trail riding its going to be spot-on, but I like to tackle some of the less horrendous dh tracks once in a while, and maybe get a little airborne too. Whats the verdict from existing owners?

Any general ownership experiences that anyone would like to share would be very well received too as its a pricey frame and I’m doing my homework!

Thanks in advance

I use mine for everything. Its been to all the UK trail centres except the Scottish ones, due a visit to the peaks soon.

Mines using a 120mm fork, I’ve ridden it pretty hard and raced it, although I don’t do big jumps (small gonads rather than bike limitation). Its handled everything I can without question including small (1-2ft pop offs).

If you’ve googled you’ll know there was issues with the rear triangle. Well, those were an ’10 batch and that issue AFAIK is gone – fyi the swingarm isn’t 100% carbon, it has aluminum inserts around the bearing points for strength in those areas.

My view of mountain bikes these days, is that you use them for what they are designed for, just think about buying the right one for your intended use – warranties take care of the rest. Don’t buy an ASR5 for 12ft gap jumps or entering the Red Bull for example…….

I won’t be jumping off bus shelters on mine, but it does get ridden everywhere else in the UK. 140mm fork; very capable of all kinds of mischief.

I wouldn’t take it to the Alps, but don’t have any bother chucking it down any track in the UK. It managed the downhill track at Cwmcarn last week without much bother. I got some funny looks from the locals; but I also go that in the Hotel.

Thanks for the info guys. I’m not talking big road gaps or railway shed to flat style landings either. But I’d certainly like to be able to ride Cwmcarn dh, FOD dhs etc. I might only do that 2 or 3 times a year though so its not like the bike’s going to be relentlessly hammered week in week out. Seems daft to have a bigger bike in the garage when I only do that sort of riding very occasionally.

Plus I reeeaalllllly fancy an ASR5 and the only way I will be able to afford it is to consolidate my 2 existing bikes into one manageable monthly bike 😀

ASR5 is more than capable enough for what you’re asking of it.

deanfbm – Member
ASR5 is more than capable enough for what you’re asking of it.

Indeed: http://singletrackworld.com/reviews/long-termer-review-yeti-asr5/

ScottChegg – why not take it to the Alps?

S’pose it depends what you are doing – full on DH stuff maybe not, but for big mountain technical riding I think think they’re perfect

I have had mine for nearly 2 years. regular round llandegla and the marin. its been thrown round gisburn/lee quarry. super rutty xc in bulgaria, and due to the size of my plums, the red graded stuff in les arcs although when i go back i want to change the forks from 120 to 140.

My other bike is a hardtail built up from everyones offcasts on here, the yeti is a wake up call for the theiving bike scum round a city centre.

It’s probably more capable than most ASR5 riders will ever be! I love mine.

^^^ what bigjim said.

Great bike and loving mine. I don’t see how it has any limtations for the majority of UK trail riding. Although I’m not one for sending big jumps and riding DH courses. I’ll be taking mine to the Alps next year too. Fingers crossed.

why not take it to the Alps?

All the big boys with full face helmets will laugh at me.

I use mine for smashing around the peaks and general everyday riding. It’s fantastic, I can’t think of a better bike for that. Having said that, part of the reason I went for the ASR-5 is that it had less travel than my previous bike and it doesn’t smooth the trail out too much. I wanted a bike that was harder to ride fast, and I think the Yeti achieves this – you have to be ‘on it’ to ride rocky stuff well. Having said that, it’s slack and low so it really encourages you to hoon it. It’s also a consumate all-rounder – it climbs brilliantly so the uphills fly by and you’re on the next downhill before you know it. It just encourages you to stay out for longer.

I took my ASR-5 to the Alps this year (Meribel). It was great on the trails around there and we did a couple of runs which involved a decent amount of climbing so I was grateful to be on a relatively light bike. Some other places in the Alps are a bit more bike park / DH-oriented and I suspect if we’d gone there I would be wishing I’d brought my DH bike.

I think something around the 150mm mark would be a bit more capable on rough, steep downs and for the odd DH days / Alps trip so I guess it depends how much you’re likely to do those.

Thanks again folks. I think at 140mm and with 67 deg HA its going to to rip up just about anything I can throw at it with a fair bit in reserve. I don’t cane it when I run dh tracks, more bimble down, try the smaller jumps and feel quietly smug when I get to the bottom in one piece!

It’s only 127mm travel at the back. In case you didn’t know.

I have mine at 150mm up front and not noticed anything dodgy in the handling

Had mine for 6 months now. Best bike I’ve owned, and I use it for everything.

It used to have 120mm forks, but now I have 130mm forks on it. Works perfectly.

I’d recommend the screw through rear axle / chip kit and a dropper post if you can stretch to that.

Awesome bike, I don’t think I’d change it for anything – except perhaps a full carbon ASR5 🙂

Stop giving me ideas for upgrading my yeti.

Yes the carbon version was mind blowing but couldnt justify the extra cash. But looking at a layback seatpost and a shorter stem to get my arse bit further over the back end of the steep stuff.

Much the same thing here. I run it with a 140mm lefty on the front, and it’s an absolute hooligan/flying machine!
http://gp1.pinkbike.org/p4pb8776713/p4pb8776713.jpg

I was worried about it being a bit too short travel and twitchy, however 5″ is still quite a lot of travel really. I use mine predominantly for XC, but I do take it down some pretty hairy stuff and it eats it all up. It’s a bit twitchier than some bikes, but I really like it (kinda makes you pay attention when you’re descending)
The description Yeti give is that it’s a souped up XC bike, capable of all day epics. It’s pretty much bang on, and I don’t reckon there’s much it’s not capable of.

Good looking stealth build pinetree. The jury’s always been out before for me with lefty’s but that looks sweet

Black would have been my choice until I saw the turquoise in Leisure Lakes yesterday.

I have ridden mine, with 140mm forks, at FOD on all tracks, chasing friends on more DH type bikes.
To be fair FOD is quite tame by DH standards (IMHO) and better suits a trail bike than full on DH bikes.
Cwmcarn has also been done and stretches the bike a little more.
Not sure it would be much use at UK Bike Part.

A fox volume air spacer reducer works well on DH days, allowing you to soften the shock set up with more ramp up towards the bottom end for big hits. I tend to swap the spacer in and out depending where I ride and what type of riding I am doing (is an easy job).
So far having done some fairly big airs (10ft +), nothing is a problem, but I am only 72kg in riding kit so doubt I am putting that much stress through it.

I have sessioned a hip jump in the Surrey Hills which is fun to land sideways which you can tell flexes everything, frame, wheels, cranks, it all bends, bike has taken this mis-treatment fine and is none the worse for wear. Its like a failed whip, with the cool shape in the air achieved just not the getting back to straight landing!

I keep getting tempted to chop mine in for the Santa Cruz blur TRC wondering if the VVP link would make the bike subject to less pedal induced bob, which the Yeti does suffer a little bit with, also the SC is lighter, but getting the ASR5C solves that dilema.
Hope this helps.
Is my fav. bike I’ve owned so far in life and have ridden a lot of brands and owned a fair few.

pinetree – looks good with the lefty!

I had the 1st incarnation of the lefty in about 2000 on a Canondale Super V carbon 100mm Xc bike – really was a cracking fork even back then. The Yeti looks like it suits a Lefty. Very cool choice.

That’s the only time a Lefty has ever looked good on a bike. It shouldn’t work, but it does.

pedal induced bob, which the Yeti does suffer a little bit with

this it the only thing I can criticise on the ASR5, and it does squat quite a bit when you throw your weight back to bunnyhop or manual. It is such a good ride the rest of the time I really don’t mind though.

Mine is build up with lighter XC stuff and it feels solid. I’m not one for phat air, but i do get the wheels off the deck and i don’t have any concerns. Bloody brilliant bike, really, really happy with it.

Yeti Asr5 in the alps?? – Heres Yetis official take on it

Okay so pedal-induced-bob. I should hopefully be test riding one soon, but how badly does this affect its climbing ability? I’ve read that its one of the best 5″ climbing bikes, whats the real story?

Pedal bob is minimal IME – but you do have to run the correct amount of sag. Too much and it wallows low down in the travel and bobs a lot. This also raises the front wheel (relatively) and slackens the head angle, all of which is bad for climbing. As little as +/- 5% in air pressure can make all the difference – I’ve not noticed other bikes being this sensitive to shock pressures.

For off road climbing I rarely use the pro-pedal at all (I prefer the extra grip at the theoretical expense of efficiency), but on roads the pro-pedal does seem to do a pretty decent job of reducing bob.

It’s the best-climbing 5″ bike I’ve ridden. It definitely encourages you to stand up and crank the pedals in a way that other 5″ bikes don’t, most just want you to sit down and spin.

It doesn’t. Not that I’ve noticed.

Lets make this simple. you are going to end up riding on your own or at least waiting around a lot at the top of climbs and bottom of descents 🙂

Coming from a Giant Trance with the Maestro suspension at the back, which is just incredible in terms of removing pedal input from the suspension, and 15 years of hardtails before that, I really notice the bob in comparison. I’m pretty used to it now but use the pro pedal on everything but the downs.

It does climb well, as it is super light at the back and super stiff, though I find the frond end very light and hard to keep down on the steep climbs, with a 130mm fork, considering going to 140mm too so that might be a bit interesting.

😆 thats good news KOB, as I need all the help I can get on the way up!

Thanks for everyones help again, there will probably be a complete Titus EG in the classifieds soon, along with various other bits to help finance my Yeti christmas project! 😀

All this talk of Bob – I find with sag at 30%, there’s some Bob but the trade off is DH awesomeness. At 25% much more efficient and virtually no bob.

My compromise is to set sag at 30% (with no propedal) and ride with propedal on, at setting 1, which also adds low speed compression damping holding the wheel up a tad in hollows, stopping any baulking – not that I’ve noticed any.

I’m with Kryton57 on set up.
I run around 30% sag which equates to maximum DH fun.
Latest generation of RP23 shocks allow low speed compression damping before flicking pro pedal on, so I use the 1st setting of low speed damping to eliminate majority of pedal bob.
On road climbs only do I use pro-pedal – but its not often I have to hit tarmac while riding in Surrey Hills.

I test rode one yesterday and was really disappointed with the amount of bob, it just felt like a slog compared with the two dw link bikes I also rode. I’m guessing, and hope, it was poor set up, as I really wanted to like it as I’ve lusted after one for a long time. Didn’t get chance to test on any sort of down as the demo day was at Rutland water which is just fire roads unfortunately.

Fathometer, don’t base am asr5 on that. Bobbing on fire road is poor setup indeed…. Plus you haven’t even started on the bikes capability….

I suspect very much that you were running too much sag. It sort of gets bogged down in the travel if you do this and feels rather dead. It’s really easy to get it wrong. With less sag it feels zippy and sporty.

Someone somewhere once wrote (and I agree entirely) that at 20-25% sag it feels like a sporty BMW (M-Sport) with stiffened suspension. Fast and racy, egging you on to go faster and pedal harder. Whereas at 30% + sag, it rides like a luxury big merc or similar, comfy and a bit slow. I’ve always liked bikes with a bit more sag than recommended but with the Yeti it’s somehow different. It rides so well with less sag I prefer it.

I suspect there are a number of ways to run it efficiently, run more sag + more pro pedal vs less sag + no pro pedal. I go with the latter.

I’m hoping that’s the case, I’ll demo one properly before I make any decision! I did really quite like the Mojo I rode though!

I did really quite like the Mojo I rode though!

I’m confused. You’ve tested a poorly setup ASR5 and a Mojo, both on fireroad. With the greatest respect, I’m not sure how your testing strategy is helping you TBH.

Can you find and LBS or two that’ll let you take the bikes on your local rides? Thats what I did, testing back to back on known trails was very revealing, and made it easier for me to spot the “feel” of the bikes as to terrain/loop was common to all.

To be fair your dead right, I’m only basing my opinion on what I’ve rode, which was a crap fire road with some up and downs. I will get proper test rides on both and a couple of others before spending any money!