The 2020 Yeti SB165: Ultimate Enduro Bike (165mm Travel Monster Truck) [Video]

Although 29” wheels are all the buzz right now and 27.5” wheels might be an afterthought to some people, there is no denying that a good portion of the market still desires a 27.5” rig. Enter the 2020 Yeti SB165 - ready to smash rocks and roost corners.

Yeti Cycles has had their fair share of EWS wins topped with a plethora of SB6 sales from fanboys wanting to be like Richie Rude and Jared Graves, but in the past 2 years, we have seen a large part of the market jumping on their 29" bikes. As their entire 29” lineup received many updates for 2019, the smaller wheeled bikes remained relatively the same. Little did we know that Yeti had something big in store for us. The secret wasn’t well-kept thanks to social media and impatient Yeti fans but the release is finally here.

The New Yeti SB165 Overview

Long travel enduro bikes might as well be downhill bikes that can climb. The travel offered on these bikes is not too far off from the notorious DH bikes but one thing is for sure, people want a do it all bike. The 2020 Yeti SB165 is another one of those do it all bikes. Long story short, the SB165 is long, slack, and low but still pedals efficiently with a steeper seatube angle. The bike will feature a sleek decal design, showing on only the top tube and chainstay but overall leaving the frame looking bare from all side views. No need to take away from those curves and perfect lines. We will see the Yeti SB165 in their notorious Yeti Turquoise and a semi-gloss Raw Carbon / Black we have seen in previous years on various models. The bike will also be equipped with a coil shock, a little different than the rest of the lineup which can use a coil sprung shock but comes with an air shock.

Much like the other bikes offered from Yeti, the SB165 will also be available in two carbon frame options. The “lower-end” version, for lack of a better term, will feature the same geometry but differ in overall carbon construction. It just weighs 1/2lb more than the T-Series frames, which is constructed of the highest quality carbon available for the perfect combination of stiffness and compliance. The exact weight difference between the two frames is 220g. The C-Series frame will be the chassis for the lower end build kits as the frame-only option and higher end build kits will be offered around the T-Series SB165 frames.

Here is the Geo chart for you bike nerds to compare it with everything else on the market:

Geo Chart:

Build Kits:

Builds kits change quite often so if you are reading this months or years after the initial release (July 2019) then you should check their website to see what the current build options are. For now, Yeti is offering the SB165 in five different builds.

The two “lower-end, cost-effective, entry-level” versions of the complete bikes, the C1 and C2, will be offered with a GX Eagle Drivetrain from SRAM and a Performance Fox 36 Fork and Vanilla Rear Shock. The main difference between these two builds will be the wheels they roll on. A DT Swiss E1900 Wheelset for the C1 build and a DT Swiss Custom EX1700 Wheelset for the C2.

There are 3 higher end builds built around the T-Series frame that includes options for a Shimano XT, SRAM X01 Eagle, SRAM XX1 Eagle Drivetrains that can all be upgraded to a wireless XX1 AXS Eagle Drivetrain for a pretty penny on top.