The All New Yeti MT - Mid-Travel SixFinity Magic

Words & Photos by Jared Erickson

When Yeti released the LT a couple months ago, it marked a concrete point in Yeti's history where their legendary Switch Infinity technology would no longer be utilized on any of their bikes, and consequentially it also meant we could expect to see more SixFinity equipped bikes in the future. Just how far into the future until we see more of these SIxFinity bikes was the million dollar question. Today, there's no need to wonder about that possibility any longer (except for perhaps a short travel variant??) Introducing the all new Yeti MT.

Details

The MT is a mid-travel mountain bike that has evolved from beloved Yetis like the SB130 and SB140. It shares a good handful of key details with the LT like the accessory mount, downtube storage and others, however a few details have been omitted for the sake of not being necessary in this mid-travel segment.

While the LT came with a frame rich with adjustability that was perfect for tailoring a long travel steed to your preferences, the MT distills the essence of a trail mountain bike into an optimized form with some key adjustability remaining for the tinkerers out there.

It retains the leverage rate adjustability at the shock, although eagle eyed riders will notice the flip chip and swappable chainstay dropouts that were featured on the LT have been omitted from the MT's frame. After taking it out for a couple of rides, I can confidently say I wasn't missing any of those adjustments, and it felt sensational right off the bat - Yeti landed on a sweet spot on their geo with this bike that doesn't require any adjustment by the rider.

As you'd hope and expect, each passing generation of mountain bike from Yeti becomes more and more optimized, feature rich, and leaves less and less to be desired from prospective riders. Even though this bike looks basically nothing like the outgoing SB140, it shares a familiar, quintessential Yeti ride characteristic and geometry numbers that aren't too foreign compared with the outgoing model.

With this new platform, Yeti has put the axe on their lower lever "c series" carbon, and these new frames are only available in their top tier "Turq" series carbon. They are offering four distinct build kits from an X0/90 build to an XT Di2 build, X0 build and an XX build, as well as a frame only option for those who wish to build up their own. Three different colors are offered - classic turquoise, Gunmetal (pictured in this article) and Redrum.

First Rides

If you've ever ridden a mid-travel Yeti you know all too well how incredibly versatile and well rounded they are, and how they seemingly do everything well - I wouldn't blame you for assuming these things to be true of the MT because it really is all that and more. The SixFinity platform is incredibly impressive in that it's able to balance pedaling efficiency with bump devouring suppleness, all in a package that feels like you give up nothing and gain everything. It's the definition of having your cake and eating it too.

I've only got a handful of rides on this bike at this point, but if I had to choose one bike to do it all, I'd be hard pressed to choose anything other than the MT. It has incredible support and efficiency from the suspension platform while pedaling, and when it comes time to point it downhill it's incredibly capable, confidence inspiring, and easy to get along with. In other words, it's eager and willing to be pedaled all day and it's not going to shy away from any descent along the way. All of the details are well sorted, it's an incredibly well engineered bike, and I don't think it's too bold to say it's one of the best all mountain bikes that you can currently get your hands on for a number of reasons.

Final Thoughts

The MT is the ultimate version of the ultimate do it all mountain bike. It's feature rich, it has an incredibly balanced ride, and it's got that Yeti DNA that's deeply embedded in every possible facet. It's been refined and developed for over a decade and you can feel the culmination of all of that hard work when you are out smiling all the way down the trail.