For sale: Yeti 575 'retro'? 26" full suspension mountain bike. Damaged forks. £350

• #1

Samuelson

Not sure if this quite counts as retro, but up for sale is my sadly slightly broken yeti 575.

The short story is that this is a classic 26" full suspension mountain bike. The bad news is that the forks aren't working and need repair or replacement. The good news is that everything else on it works fine, or at least well enough.

It is a medium frame and if you could fix or replace the fork would still be a fun bike to ride.

I'd like ~~£375~~£350, picked up from SE4.

Or could probably post at whatever that would cost, but would need to get a box etc.

For the longer story, read on...

• #2

Samuelson

I got this second-hand in around 2013. I'm not sure what year it was made, but possibly around 2006.

I rode it for a few years, but for the past four years or so it's been hanging on the wall, and now I've got a new bike this one has to go.

The fork: Fox Talus RL 90-130mm
I had planned to service the whole bike and sell it as working, but after stripping down, cleaning and relubing the forks I realised they no longer work properly.
Essentially the problem is that they don't return. They come back a bit, but fairly quickly pack down to the bottom of their travel, and don't return unless you pull them up. This is less than optimal for riding the bike. A quick google suggests that this could be something to do with the TALAS unit.
The stanchions are fine, there is a bit of wear on them (have tried to capture this in photos below), but not too much and no scratches.
I put new seals in, though I may have got the wrong (lipless) ones, and should have got some with lips. Will include the old seals for reference anyway.
The forks feel smooth, and the damping seems to work, but seeing as they don't come back from the bottom that's all a bit academic.
And the lockout lever has been missing since I've had them.
They might be fixable, but it's beyond my abilities.

Alternatively you might have some forks that would work, or there still seem to be a few new 26" 1 1/8 forks available such as these or Manitou Markhors.
or even these (plus new front wheel).

Rear shock, pivots and bearings
These are all fine I think. I replaced all the pivot bearings back in 2016, and it hasn't had that much use since then. Certainly the rear suspension feels pretty smooth.
I was going to strip, clean and lube the rear shock, but when I realised there was a problem with the forks I decided I'd leave that. But it holds air fine, and the damping works. I bought a kit from TF tuned to lube and replace the seals. Will include that with the bike.

Wheels: Mavic crossride, run smooth, not bent, no major crashes.
Tires: continental verticals These are hardly worn, but are 10ish years old. So would be best replaced before any serious riding.
Brakes: Hope m4s (I think). The fluid in these had pretty much gone while it wasn’t being used. I've cleaned them up and bled them and they now work, but are not quite 100%. They are still a bit spongey and don't feel as crisp as my more modern brakes. But I'm not sure how much that is down to them needing a bit more fiddling with, and how much down to the fact that they are 20 years old and the technology having improved. Anyway they do work, and they certainly look nice (I think).
Shifters: XT 8x3 speed. Work fine.
Mechs: XTR rear, XT front. Both work fine.
Chain and cassette: chain is at the end of its life, but works fine at the moment.
Chainset / BB: fine.
Seatpost: a bit scuffed, but nothing wrong with it.
Saddle: DMR ... again, fairly scuffed but functionally fine.