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Bike Check: Nate Hills’ Yeti SB5 with custom shock

Only very few people would recognise the face of Nate Hills, but almost every biker has seen his handlebars (and we don’t mean his moustache). Nate is the creator of FollowCamFriday and has over 107,000 subscribers on YouTube. We took a closer look at his Yeti SB5 in New Zealand – and discovered some intriguing details.

Nate and his workhorse: a Yeti SB5 with a custom shock.

Nate lives the life many bikers can only dream of: He travels the world, explores new trails, takes part in races and produces entertaining videos about all of it. For his trip to New Zealand earlier this year, he took along his Yeti SB5. Measuring in at 175 cm he rides a size medium. Thanks to the small wheels, the bike is very agile in its handling and is ready to take on demanding trails due to the increased travel, Nate revealed in an interview.

Nate’s Yeti SB5 has already travelled to several places around the world, and you can see it has had a hard life.

For Nate to be perfectly equipped for the rough trails of the NZ Enduro race, he used a Super Deluxe shock with a little more stroke instead of the classic RockShox Monarch Plus, and so gets 140 mm instead of 127 mm travel out of the rear end. At the front, he’s got a brand new RockShox Lyrik fork.

The RockShox Lyrik offers 160 mm travel.
Nate has the fork set up with 85 psi, two tokens, one click high-speed and four clicks low-speed compression (clicks from open to closed).
A mudguard keeps his face and stanchions clean.
At the rear is a RockShox SuperDeluxe which gives the bike 140 mm of travel instead of 127 mm.
A SRAM X01 Eagle drivetrain provides the necessary range…
….with the large 36 tooth chainring, you will still need strong legs for the climbs.
Because the boost frame is too wide for the Stages power meter, Nate only uses the display to record his rides and display his heart rate and the time, etc.
Thanks to the BackCountry strap Nate always has tire-repair spray and a tube with him.
Nate’s handlebar is 750 mm wide…
… combined with a 50 mm stem.
The new RockShox remote lever provides smooth control.>

Nate uses MAXXIS Minion DHF (23 PSI) and a Highroller II (25 PSI) tyres mounted on Roval SL carbon wheels. Both tyres have a reinforced Double Down casing. At home in Colorado, Nate rides with a little more tire pressure. To have more grip on the wet roots of New Zealand however, he decided to run lower pressures.

Light, durable and not too stiff, we were convinced of the Roval Traverse SL wheels in our long-term review of them.
A well-known Maxxis combo: Minion DHF in front…
… and a Highroller II at the rear. Both with robust Double Down casings.
Like all Yeti’s, the SB5 features the well-known Switch Infinity Link with a virtual pivot point.
The damage to the paintwork suggests that the bike has already been through a lot.

To end, Nate will take you to the legendary Waiora Gorge Bike Park in Nelson.

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