Riding this bike was a bit of a departure for us. We admit it, we are hardtail fanatics, and our experience on full suspension bikes is very limited, but we found that if there is one place where a tool like the Yeti AS-X could be used to its potential, it was Blue Mountain. The AS-X is Yetis offering to the freeride market. Ours came specced with a Sherman Slider 7 dual crown fork, 5th Element rear shock, Hayes HFX 9 disc brakes and a well rounded assortment of proven freeride worthy parts. The rear travel on the AS-X was adjustable between 6 and 7. We kept it in the 7 setting for the duration of our time with it.
The AS-X frame used a similar tube set as the DirtJumper, but oversized to accommodate its 1.5 headtube. Also similar to the DirtJumper, fine craftsmanship and attention to detail were apparent everywhere on the frame.
The good old parking lot squish test was somewhat deceiving when it came to the AS-X. Our bike seemed to be seriously under-sprung when sitting on the bike and exhibited a tremendous amount of sag. There is an extremely helpful 5th Element tuning guide on the Trident Sports webpage and we followed the steps, but the bike seemed to differ little. The next day it became apparent that the shock was set up correctly as it soaked up everything thrown at it and never bucked any of the testers, nor did it ever seem to bottom out.
The Yeti AS-X seemed to have pretty slack angles and this was made more apparent by the large amount of sag in the back end. This added up to a controlled feeling while descending the steep technical parts of Blue Mountain and direction changes were easily achieved both by steering and swinging the back end. This bike cornered well. It could be pumped into the berms and the low bottom bracket height added to its stability while leaned over, however it did come into contact with several low obstacles during our time with it. Some of the more technical parts of the trails gave one of the testers problems due to the wide turning radius allowed by the Sherman Slider fork. The fork connecting with the 1.5 headtube and equally wide top tube were the cause of this.
One thing that stood out was the lateral stiffness of the frame. Even though it was a single pivot bike, and came to us well used, the rear end of the bike had no side to side play and side to side flex was not noticeable during riding. We did notice some pedal feedback at very slow speeds when the suspension activated, but this was a non-issue when at speed.
The most significant thing our testers noticed about the Yeti AS-X was how much faster they could ride due to the rear suspension soaking up the trail, but it wasnt the fact that the bike had rear suspension alone, it was the fact that the suspension seemed unnoticeable during riding. It was just there, quietly doing its job.
Due to our limited experience with this type of bike, we cant recommend or not recommend it to anyone as we dont really have a basis for comparison. That being said if you are after a 37lb bike that feels secure in the steeps and you can use to blow by your friends on hardtails, this is it.
In punkto Exklutivität muss ich zugeben, dass sich beim Eisdielenposen so ein schönes Yeti natürlich schon gut macht. 
War dieses Jahr in Bischofsmais, Winterberg und hab gerade mal 3 andere Bullits gesehen. Also, Bullit rules!!!!
mble
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