Yeti's World Cup XC bike, included here because the geometry says we can.
Let's name this up front. Yeti calls the ASR a World Cup XC race bike, and they're right. It's got the geometry, the weight, the flex-stay suspension, and the marketing budget pointed at World Cup podiums. By our hard criteria the numbers technically check out (115mm rear, 120mm fork, 66.5° head angle, all within our downcountry bounds), but the bike is designed for something else. We're including it anyway, because this is our site and we like the bike. If you're a downcountry purist who thinks an ASR doesn't belong in the conversation, sure, fair. Write us an angry email. We'll read it. Our therapist says we're making great progress at accepting constructive criticism.
Yeti is a Golden, Colorado premium brand with a long racing lineage and a cult following. Back in the day, "Yeti" and "dentist bike" were effectively synonyms for expensive trail bikes owned by people with very solid 401ks. The rest of the industry has mostly caught up on pricing in the years since, but nobody's idea of Yeti is a value brand. They've made trail, enduro, and downhill bikes for years, with their SB line (SB120, SB140, SB160) being the workhorse lineup. The ASR is a return, not a new model. Yeti stepped away from the XC world around 2014 and came back in March 2024 with this bike. The ASR name itself has existed, on and off, in Yeti's lineup since the early 2000s.
The current ASR is new from the ground up. Flex-stay rear suspension (new for Yeti, replacing the Switch Infinity platform used on the SB series), Turq carbon frame at 1,552 grams for a medium, size-specific stiffness tuning. 115mm of rear travel, 120mm fork, 66.5° head angle, 75.5° seat tube, 465mm reach on a large, 439mm chainstays. Pinkbike weighed a complete T3 build at 23.6 pounds. That's light, even by modern XC standards.
Five publications covered the new ASR in any serious way, and they mostly agree. Pinkbike's Mike Kazimer, in a March 2024 review, summarized it: "It's been nearly a decade since Yeti stepped away from the XC race world... the 2024 Yeti ASR changes that." Blister wrote that "Yeti created something special... an exceptionally efficient XC rig worthy of athletic uphill sprints while retaining Yeti's DNA in gravity-fed disciplines." NSMB called it "THE formula for full suspension XC race bikes now... as little carbon fiber and as few pivots as possible." BikeRadar, with a T3 build on review at $8,600, found it "super-fast and fun," calling out that "the bike's 66.5-degree head angle and 465mm reach combine to ensure it's nimble as you duck and dive." Freehub's tester wrote that they "immediately found myself pedaling as fast as I could on my normal climbs... there was no reason to climb slowly."
Prices start at $5,600 for the C2 build and climb to $13,900 for the T5 Ultimate XX. It's on the expensive end of the category. It's also one of the lightest short-travel full-suspension bikes in production.
This bike goes up like an XC bike, because it is one. What reviewers keep noting is that it also comes back down better than other World Cup-spec bikes, because Yeti brought enough of their trail-bike DNA into the project that the descending isn't an afterthought. It's not a Tallboy, and it's not a Spur. It's not supposed to be. What it is, is the XC race bike that most downcountry riders would still want to own.
It's been nearly a decade since Yeti stepped away from the XC race world and shifted their focus to the trail / enduro side of things. The 2024 Yeti ASR changes that, a revision of a classic model that's designed to join in on the XC resurgence.
Read full review at Pinkbike →Yeti created something special in their latest World Cup XC bike by creating an exceptionally efficient XC rig worthy of athletic uphill sprints while retaining Yeti's DNA in gravity-fed disciplines, resulting in a very versatile XC offering.
Read full review at Blister →This is THE formula for full suspension XC race bikes now. The ASR achieves that desire for both speed and functional full suspension with as little carbon fiber and as few pivots as possible.
Read full review at NSMB →The ASR is a super-fast and fun bike to ride, with quick handling and some sorted parts bolted to the eye-catching frame. In tight, twisty terrain, the bike's 66.5-degree head angle and 465mm reach combine to ensure it's nimble as you duck and dive.
Read full review at BikeRadar →After taking a decade off from the ASR model, Yeti brought it back. With fast dirt and even faster rolling tires, my legs are still sore from chasing uphill PRs. With the Maxxis Recon Race rear tire and snappy power delivery through the ASR's frame, there was no reason to climb slowly.
Read full review at Freehub →
