Without trying to hurry the process too much, Yeti quietly has been developing an all-new suspension design for the 160E to be the first e-bike really built specifically to race the e-EWS. Five years in development, the new 160E e-bike’s Sixfinity suspension platform gives Yeti engineers more control to dial-in race-ready performance within the unique speed, weight, geometry & balance constraints of an e-mountainbike.
Yeti 160E e-bike with wild, all-new 6-bar suspension
Calling it the result of “half a decade” of suspension development, Yeti’s new 160E e-bike was developed to go fast. Focusing on building an eMTB worthy of their mountain bike racing heritage, Yeti says it’s the “world’s first race-specific e-MTB.”
Since mountain bikers can quickly get past the 25km/hr limit of eMTB racing, the 160E needed to keep getting faster, even after the pedal-assist cuts off.
Sixfinity 6-bar Suspension
Sixfinity is Yeti’s solution, a unique 6-bar suspension design (or two different 5-bars in 1 that switch back-and-forth?) layout that takes some head-scratching to get our minds around. Essentially, it boils down to the fact that it seems to move similarly to other short-link 4-bar virtual pivot designs, but with the ability to change how the links move in the middle of travel.
The addition of the new extra “Timing Link” that connects the upper & lower short links is able to change the rotation direction of the lower “Switch Link”, effectively allowing the design team to separately optimize anti-squat & anti-rise – two core suspension performance characteristics that are usually inextricably linked.
Head over to Yeti’s explanation if you want to geek out over Sixfinity curves…
The purported specific benefits here are plush suspension throughout the e-bike’s travel, limited or even no impact on suspension performance when the motor is assisting or beyond its pedal-assist limit or from braking, and a nice rear-ward axle path for the rear wheel for early travel.
To add even more tunability, the lower shock mount of the 160E sits in a slot that allows the rider to use a 3-position flip chip to tune the overall suspension leverage ratio to suit individual race courses – from “25-35% Progressivity”.
Tech Details
Beyond the all-new suspension, the 29er Yeti 160E is packing the latest Shimano EP8 electric motor with a big 630Wh internal battery tucked inside the massive downtube of the carbon frame.
The 160E features modular internal cable routing with locking guides at the suspension pivots and the built-in mini chain guide.
The e-bike also has a continuous straight seattube so you can fit as long a 31.6mm dropper post as you want, plus integrated chainstay & downtube protection for a quiet ride.
Yeti 160E e-bike – Pricing & options
The new Yeti 160E e-bike comes in just two eMTB builds that share the same lifetime-warranted TURQ carbon frameset – available in four stock sizes (S-XL) and two colors – gray or turquoise – but no team paint job like Jared Graves’ for the time being, at least.
The C1 is the cheaper option at an eye-watering $10,100 with Fox Performance suspension, a Shimano SLX groupset, SRAM Code brakes, and alloy DT Swiss wheels. The T1 build starts at $12,700 with Fox Factory suspension & XT. Either can be upgraded to carbon DT EXC wheels for another $900.
