I've been riding this bike with a stock set up for 3vyears. No problems on steep techy stuff (my fave type of riding) I don't have a huge range of other bikes to compare against but I absolutely love this bike.

The holes in the head tube are baffling to me. Even if their analysis says there’s no stress there, I don’t see the benefit of it. Take your choice but I’d use either a decal, paint, or double sided tape before I’d ever drill two holes there just for a badge. It’s bad enough there’s holes in that area for the internal cabling.

I love my Yeti Arc, and have been riding it with a 140mm fork for 3 years on very rocky, rooty terrain.

My Slacker on a Hightower 1 - 2 years install -NO issues!

The problem with the squeaking noise in the Shiamno Microspline hubs is caused by a lack of grease on the white crown plastic piece. In the first batches of these Shimano hubs, the inside was all dry and the instructions also stated that you could not put grease there. Then they changed that only this piece needs to be greased. I have an SLX hub with 15,000 kilometers on it and no issues. Only once a year I do disassemble the freewheel, clean it and reassemble.

Your comment about the bottle cage being such a long reach made me chuckle. I got a Yeti SB100 two years ago on closeout, my first new mtb in many years, and it feels like my water bottle is now MILES below me. I keep dropping the bottle when I go to put it back because it’s quite a stretch. I’ll get it eventually, or .. maybe not. Decades of muscle memory not doing me any favors. 😂

The holes drilled in head tube on a carbon frame and undersize oval bb is a deal breaker for me. Good luck with your experiments!

I can't help but think that riding the Yeti as they had designed it, right off the bat, may have been the way to go. Regardless, I hope that you find the bike you're looking for in what you currently have in your hands. Moreover, thank you for sharing your work; Great channel.

Ah! The wonderful rabbit hole of mtb geometry. Be aware its a very deep hole! Slack angles push the front axle further away from your centre of mass, which has the effect of making your weight more rearward biased - its why the Yeti felt light on the front and you had to fight with it on the climbs. Corrective action is a longer rear centre or steeper seat tube (not possible without a new frame) or to slide your saddle fowards. Of course, this then affects ones seated position relative to the bars, and off you go again on another corrective action...

17:25 overforking a bike by more than a cm usually ruins the geometry as the bb is also raised and the reach decreased. Both will lead to less stability and plantedness, which is usually the reason people would go for more travel. I’d personally look at the fork settings, more lsc or volume spacers maintain the static geometry (ie at sag) but will keep up the front more dynamically which will make the bike more eager to roll over stuff as opposed to diving into it.

I had a '97 Yeti ARC, the one with the Troy Lee Designs decals, it was a lovely bike. I wouldn't buy a Yeti these days purely because of the press-fit BBs.

Good on you for riding your hardtail in the lakes, I've got a few bikes even hardtails, but I always bring my full sus to the lakes 😜

Totally get where you are coming from with this build and can see what you want to achieve. Might get a nice result by leaving out the Slaker and instead using a smaller rear wheel. Also, less travel in the fork helps keep the trail figure more consistent. X-Track pedals are hugely underrated. If one knows how to set up the shoe to allow a snug fit between the pontoons and the pedal, hot spots are gone forever. Genuine Look cleats also allow some angle adjustments which Shimano do not. Cool.

My Slacker on a Hightower 1 - 2 years install -NO issues! SORRY -for the repeat contact 9point8 -they do stand behind their products

Get the 10mm longer fork spring for the Pike and see how it feels. Not mega bucks to try it.

Keep in mind you might want to size up if doing this. The reach gets shorter.

Whyte 9 (901,905) series will give you all you need.

That slacker headset is the same design as the wheels BB. The bearing loads are meant to go angular 360° around the headtube, those screw together kits put all the load on the top/bottom of the headtube

If you're going to try and out guess the guys who designed the bike with head cups and the like, you've bought the wrong bike. However, give it 1000km before you change it. Experience is everything in MTB

I use angle set to lower my front end since I over forked the bike.

There's nothing I can see that the Slack-R would void the frame warranty ... And you could argue that with the drill damage in the headset for the name plate, the Slack-R is keeping everything together! Did the frame have a QC Passed sticker?

Well the slack r will creak as long as you fit it with carbon paste fit it with normal grease and it will work perfectly.

20:01 I've seen a mechanic share pic of the hub mechanism completely destroyed on a Shimano Microspline hub I think it was XTR or XT. I suspect these hubs are junk. I saw it on Instagram, but forgot who posted it. I might not have saved it, could not find it. but I read others have issues with these bus. I suspect it might be misalignment, I got issues with DT Swiss 350 hub, in the winter the ratchet in the freehub gets stuck so hub does not engage properly, randomly disengages, only happen few times. Maybe something similar happens, but not effecting the engagement? I've never tried Shimano XT hubs. I looked into Industry nine, but apparently they have issues with bearings lasting about 7 months or something. I heard great things about Onyx. Little info about Project 321 they have several engagement options, but I think fastest is 1.1 deg. Heard good things about Halo and Profile Racing, but little info on them, no in depth info.

Drilled ht badge??? I've used Slack-R on Fuel EX Gen 5. It was fantastic.

I’ve found that slacker bikes require a different cornering technique. I’ve been rewarded cornering on long slack bikes (HT or FS) by leaning the bike over, keeping my body weight central (laterally) and shifting backwards (vertically). Kind crouched over my back wheel lol. Stole it from Jeff Kendall weed on KZfaq.

For the hub problem is a shimano service manual how to service it but i experienced it in my own bike and found out that the grease does not spread out well in this hub system and the hub seal is crap

They drilled holes in the carbon head tube to fit a badge 😢. I'm no structural engineer or anything but all of that sounds bad to me. They do make some beautiful bikes though. Them holes are still bothering me 😮

Another great vid. Shame the Yeti was not manufactured perfectly. For me that alone screams stay away. I agree it looks great.

You can make an updated video if you still have the bike

Love the bike, hate the head badge! Sorry

I had a Pipedream Moxie last year, bought the medium as it was suggested in their charts. I should really have bought the small size as the Medium always felt a bit oversize for me. I did run it mullet sometimes and enjoyed that. Have you thought about trying mullet on the Yeti? . I sold the Moxie as I wanted a smaller frame. Picked up a Kona Honzo St which is ok, but I'm tending to ride FS more. A Cotic Jeht and Orbea Rise. Getting older and not so flexible as I was.

I’m curious about going with a longer travel fork. Though I’ve always been told that for hardtails slightly longer travel forks don’t make a huge difference, it might be enough. Anyway, I’m the opposite type of rider than you- I prefer climbing oriented hardtails. Longer travel bikes seem too slow for me and weigh too much. I will reach for a dualie when I’m looking for comfort and not speed.

Those shoes look huge!

I installed 2 headset slackers from workscomponents, 2 degrees,on a 26 inch bike and on a canondale cujo. no problems and they get abused. thes sets are pressfit

@Paul! I just ordered an ARC frame. Easy question... If you were to build up an ARC today like me what pressfit BB would you recommend I go with?

In our workshop we had problems with the original micro spline freehubbody three times. Twice on e bikes and once on a mtb. There was always a very loud cracking to be heard. We exchanged it and the cracking was gone. The bearings in the freehubbody felt very rough. The bikes had only driven 100 km. It seemed to me that the seat of the bearing is undersized. Do you have any experience with it? Greetings from Germany

Hello. I've got a sirius as well. It's not light but there's a magic ride quality in it. Have you given any thoughts to the new ibis dv9 frame geo ? Maybe it would be closer to what you're looking for? Love your videos and channel. Best regards from France.

No slacker maybe 140Mm shock I’m 188 5’11 no adjustments for me.

140mm travel fork?

At the price manufactures are charging for bikes, I would expect perfection in manufacturing tolerances

Props for the cool Yeti ARC flavor. How about going to the fabricator whom welded the first ever Easton aluminum Yeti ? Frank Wadelton aka F.T.W. You seem to be a perfect candidate for a custom frame. Show up at any trailhead on an FTW and everyone else is on a huffy ! It would be compelling to travel with you thu the process and see your choices. Waduthink ? Also check out Works components +/- 2*

Steve over a @hardtailparty also slackened the head tube angle using the Slack-R when he tested the ARC a while back. It's interesting that he did it with a demo bike on loan from Yeti and now they void the warranty if owners do it. He liked the ARC but didn't love it - in stock form or with the Slack-R, but he did like it a lot more with the Slack-R.

Why use shimano hub’s?

Following on from my questions regarding the use of a Shimano Pressfit bearing on a Yeti Arc frame in your video “The Best Bottom Bracket for every Bike - The End.”, I have now measured the bottom bracket diameter of my ARC unit. Now I don't have an internal micrometer, just a slide gauge. The diameter of my frame is between 40.6 and 40.7 on the left and right, horizontally and vertically. That is even narrower than your frame.

Good looking frame. Too bad it's a Yeti :). Thanks.

Yeah, loved my arc aswell but the chainline and chainring clearance socked so hard. Didn’t get the short headtube nor the lack of bottlecage mounts thing. After 2 years of riding it now and then… i sadly moved back to typical overbuilt trail fs. But hands down, Arc is one of the coolest looking hardtail siluettes ever.

Probably the best looking hardtail. Still think Ibis DV9 with 130mm fork has better geo and other frame features than Yeti Arc.

Hey there! I'm really close to buying a new ARC frame and was wondering if you had some tips regarding the BB92 installation method? It would be a standard SRAM DUB BB92 if that makes a difference. Grease? Retaining compound? Dry? Peanut Butter? It's been a while since I've had a PF BB and swore I would never go back to one but the ARC has me on the ropes.... any help/advice is very much appreciated!

did you try to grease the slacker cups instead of paste ?

Hi, Paul! What’s up with those gates in the UK? I see them in other cycling videos and I can’t figure them out. How do people know which gate you can or cannot get into?

How's the Pike going? heard mixed reviews

put the bigger forks on!!

650b with a plus tyre may be a good option for you.

Ahoy! Great video! Are you riding the same route as PeakTorque in one of his videos?

First of all you should have waited until the brought out this frame with threaded bb to avoid any creakyfit bb issues, as they are working through their lineup after realising a lot of customers wont accept pressfits. Secondly, just get a new 150mm air spring for your Pike then run a Chris King headset. Its £50. Probably £30 if you own a bike shop.

No , you aren’t picky. For such a money we are paying for bikes or frames the quality should be better

That’s what you get for not going for the classic/retro turquoise paintjob 😉

I think any time you choose a Yeti, you've chosen the wrong bike. Giant XTC or maybe a Pivot hard tail (though their hardtails are taking the piss)

I felt the same about my Arc in a few ways - HTA is a bit too steep and overall quality of frame didn't match my expectations for Yeti. Unfortunate to hear the BB isn't great either. Do you think you could route the rear brake 'properly' if you used an AXS dropper and derailleur? Sounds like a short travel FS bike would be more up your street - like a Transition Spur.

Can you do a video giving us ur 2 pennies on the to snd and fro between Reginald scott and hambini, value ur opinion

Look pedals are so much better. I use enrage think called so bigger

A pity thar top end frames are poor quality are the company's taking their eye off the ball

For me it's the wrong bike. But agree the Cirus was flawed, should have had better standover. Cons: internal routing. integrated headset crash footage I've seen of Yeti bikes, they won't handle smashing into rocks well, I prefer a robust bike like Nicolai, in aluminium. But I've not seen any one crash into a rock with this frame yet. But saw it with the full suspension bike. I think it was MR Tonka. some years ago. Pros: easy internal routing weight

Treat yourself to a cube hard tail buddy

You need to get better lighting.

100% the headset cups are unnecessary, you can just learn to get used to it. Slakr is snake oil and you wasted your money worrying over minute details that literally don’t matter.

Expensive frame with issues from the factory. It’s a bit shit really 🙁

Go and buy the right sized and designed bike for you! Adjustable headset angles are completely senseless and useless! I'm a bike mechanic, and I always avoided to use those adjustable head sets, for myself or my customers! Because of the noises, and the other mechanical problems. And I made one try, just for fun, to press in the bearing shells, lined up like it's needed. There is no way, to stop your bearing shells from turning, a tiny bit, while pressing. Only one example of nonsense

Press Fit bike, not worth it 🤮

I was going to fit the Slack-r to my steel gravel bike, but couldn't find a uk stockist