Living with YETI Switch infinity in the UK mud and more

Hi all,

I wanted to pick some real life experience of switch infinity from you if I may.

I’m oddly drawn towards a YETI SB100 OR SB115 but slightly worried about the amount of maintenance it will take to keep it all running sweetly.

I ride all your come snow, rain or shine so it will get caked regularly and having done a little reading it has a 40 hour service interval which for me will be around once a month (bit scary) and hence your real life view and experience would be helpful in the decision.

Thanks in advance.

James

I’ve heard it’s best to just leave them alone and that taking them apart only makes things worse. I really like Yeti as a brand, but I’d never own one, just way to high maintenance and it’s something that’s often overlooked in a lot of reviews. Same with the new Revel Ranger, gorgeous bike, but it has like 18 bearings or something crazy!

It was one of the key reasons I’d settled on either an Ibis Ripley or Transition Spur. Aside from the fact they fit the bill ride wise, the Ripley is easy to work on and you can buy the complete upper link for around £50 with bearings pressed in (I did this twice on my old Mojo HD) and the Transition has 6 bearings in the back end, 4 of which are the same size and a full set of quality Enduro bearings is less than £40. I went with the Transition in the end, insanely pleased with it, but there’s some really good bikes around that travel/price. You have the Spur, Ripley, Kona HeiHei to name a few. Tallboy is nice, but probably a bit too DH orientated for your needs. Feels weird saying a 130/120mm bike as too DH orientated but there you go!

I am with you @lawman91 and have a long list of could do the job bikes (yes including Spur, Ripley, Following, HeiHei and Yeti) but oddly like the YETI (not having ridden if yet of course) and hence the maintenance check.

The regular maintenance is something I am acutely aware of and on top of hence checking up front :/ I don’t want to buy into a nightmare or a bike I cannot ride as much as I want.

I know what you mean about the character of bikes and it’s been interesting to read and watch all the reviews as they say things like “it’s a DH’ers XC bike) and I go nope not for me 🙂

Thanks 🙂

James

I’ve had Yetis. Old importers, Evolution, were great. New ones, Silverfish, are utterly woeful. I will never have one again. At least not until they start using someone with better warranty support, they are fast when they do work…

In America no one rides with even the lightest of rain / mud.

It’s not designed to be a mud / snow monster but if you have soft mini brush cleaning OCD after every ride / don’t jet wash you will be ok.

I will often leave unwashed between rides so not for me. If I lived in Moab I’d 100% have a SB150 though.

I’ve a friend who rises in all conditions isn’t the most scrupulous about cleaning who’s happy with his infinity switch. Lasted about 2 years so far with nothing but the recommended grease.

Both of mine showed signs of wear in relatively short periods of time. If you removed the mini stanchions & looked into where the bushing sat you could feel and see where it wasn’t perfectly round. Co-incidentally that is were the wearpoint was on the stanchion.

Attempted to warranty them, got told it was not significant enough wear, even though it was getting worse. They sent me a picture of what they considered ‘warranty’ and it looked like it had been attacked by an angle grinder. To the extent it was wrecked & no doubt seized solid.

My problem was easily solved. Being a Yeti, both the frames cracked not long after, which were warranty. Replaced & sold.

My riding buddy owns an SB165 and only rides it in summer/dry weather due to the high maintenance involved with servicing the linkage. He loves the bike (he is a Yeti fanboi with too much money) but does whinge about the service intervals compared to his older AS-R 7 and 575.

Would not touch one with a barge pole – know someone who lives somewhere hot and dry and they’ve already had to have a new switch infinity and I believe a new swing arm when it cracked. Their country warranty support seems better than the UK.

I don’t really understand why people buy Yeti when (a) they’re ludicrously expensive (b) they have that inbuilt extra maintenance requirement (c) at the moment they seem to have a rep for cracking and poor warranty support.

There are so many other bikes out there that have a similar travel / geometry that I don’t really see the USP.

I’ve got an older SB5c. I really like it, but the frame and linkage bearings are exposed and don’t last long in wet and muddy conditions. £50 for a replacement set if you do it yourself. The infinity link has lasted well, though if you strip it to clean it, which is straight forward, you have to be a bit careful when reassembling it. One time, one of the mounting ‘collets’ slipped out of position into one of the sliders when I was putting it together. The slight misalignment left some marks on one of the sliders.

Thanks all for the kind views, really helpful and kind of what I expected in terms of US bike design versus UK weather.

For me it is one of those bikes that I shouldn’t like but I do but in my heart the maintenance alarm was ringing loud and it would appear true :/

2016 SB6, in Scotland, still on original SI unit. Maintenance for me is taking my trusty Dualco and squirting moly in the two grease ports provided – I do this monthly, takes same time as cleaning a chain which I can see might be hassle for some, its not for me.

I only get a year out the bearings – its usually the main pivot pair (in the SI) that go but they are available separately (£19 pair).

Genuine question:

The talk / reputation for the cracking frames: is this still happening on the latter models? (I’m talking since Yeti moved to lifetime warranty etc, so 2019 iirc)

Yes. I broke a 2019 SB130 & a 2020 one (both Turq frames).

I went through a couple of switch infinity units on an sb6. I was greasing with the right molybdenum grease but stanchions got worn and bearings seized. But then I also broke a couple of frames and after that I gave up.

I’d echo the comments above. Wouldn’t buy another Yeti as a result of the warranty faff.

I’ve had an SB150 for almost two years now. In that time I’ve removed and regreased the SI twice. There has been no wear. I’ve had two Yetis in the past, a 575 and ASR5 that have cracked at the chain stays. This newer one seems an altogether more substantial construction. I had read the issues that some people have had so realised there was a risk. But I reckoned at 75kg and not an especially hard rider I would be alright and that has proved to be the case,

I had an SB5c for 3 and half years, covered 5800km, through rain, shine and Surrey’s sandy grinding paste soil. Switch Infinity link still in perfect condition. Only maintenance on it was to pump fresh grease in through the ports every 1000km

As others have said though, the exposed frame bearings did not last well.