Christening the Yeti

This is just a record of set-up and impressions as I get the Yeti dialed for riding position, and suspension settings. Bike Addiction spent a lot of time (and with the way I chat that is a big lot) getting the bike set up, and teaching me what to look for and how the different adjustment relate to body mechanics. If you've never been pro fitted to a bike, I'd recommend paying for a session just to see what improvement can be made.

After a night, sleepless with exitement I rose to a slightly overcast morning, but no overnight rain. Perfect for an exploratory 20 km ride on the new beast.

Started the local ride with a 3-4 km road section, running the fork locked out and what I thought was Pro-pedal 1 on the rear. Turns out I'd fiddled and set the adjuster to 3 at some stage. Amazing difference on the road, especially as the PP keeps the suspension extended, not like the compression lockout on the old bike, which packed down against the spring so the front end slackened when locked out, not what you want.

The Elixir CRs have 160 rotors both ends which is a big change from my Shimanos with a 203 F 160 R. As expected there was NO bite when I started out today, but after a few hot stops the rear brake really started to work well. With the Crossmark 2.25 both ends I could modulate the rear to just keep the tyre crackling on tarmac. The front just wanted to keep rolling, even to the extent it wouldn't cause the fully open fork to dive under brakes.

Once the brakes got dirty and wet the front started to break in a little. With a mix of dirt and road over 20+ km the front brake is pretty well bedded in, to the extent that it now feels a little more powerful than the rear, but still nowhere near as immediate as the 203 Shimano (as you'd expect). I'll hold judgement on the 160 Front CR for a few weeks yet, as there was so much more to keep an eye out on today.

Brad made a number of major adjustments to my ride position so the road section was a good time to get the feel of the new settings. Things we changed were:
Cleat position, brought back about 10 mm, almost to the back of the slot. The theory is to reduce the amount of calf required to get power to the pedal. This in turn reduces the amount of Quad required to stabilise the knee.
Both bikes have the same BB height at full extension 34.5 cm, and 175 mm cranks.
Saddle height from bb went from 75.0 to 73.5 cm (I ran the test bike at 75 cm too)
Saddle nose to H/Bar center went from 56 to 54.5 cm with very similar saddle shapes.

The start position for the new set-up has me sitting lower in the saddle, with less leg stretch and less sweep of the foot. With the changes to stem position and length I have almost the same lower back angle, but my hands are swung down and back from where they were before. I felt more comfortable getting up out of the saddle on pinch climbs, and the legs didn't tire nearly as much pushing a too high gear on the climbs. Seated I had a lot more control of the front end, and could loft the wheel to clear an obstacle or step up without too much effort. On the road I felt like I wanted to push back a little on the saddle, whether that is saddle angle or position I'll wait a week with varied riding then experiment to find out.

Off road, descending felt more controlled, as I could get my weight back much easier with the lower saddle position and closer bars.

On fast downhill damp curves, and damp rock shelves the Crossmark on the front felt almost as grippy as the Nevegal I usually run, and definitely had a smoother transition with grip right around the face. The Nev always feels like it is going to spit off sideways halfway into the lean, and then grips like an epileptic hooker

On a steep hardpack climb, the front feels really planted, and even a bit of loose stuff doesn't cause any great reduction in forward progress. The thing I really wanted to nail on climbs was cresting steep waterbars when seated. The old bike would push me over the back wheel on that final crank. Happily the long wheelbase and lower seated position really kept the nose down, even without dropping front travel. I don't think I'll use the travel adjust around here too much, but maybe for long tedious climbs like the oaks and similar it will come into its own.

Body wise, the legs are feeling fine, so obviously no major issues with the saddle/cleat positions, but I'm feeling tight across the shoulders which is a new thing. Possibly from riding in heavy conditions, and keeping the bike up at the front, though more likely I need to adjust the bars a bit.

Something strange as I run the exact same model crankset on the old bike, I did notice a bit of rubbing on the cranks, so I'll move the cleats sideways a little to gain some clearance. Possibly will need to change to Crank Bros Premium cleats with lateral adjustment. It could be down to lateral twist with the lower saddle position, or just because the heel overlaps the crank more with the new cleat position.

So far the shock and fork settings seem pretty well spot on as a start point. I'll concentrate more on fine tuning/adjusting as I get the cockpit how I need it.