With a win in the e-EWS on the weekend and off the back of winning the 2024 AusCycling Pump Track National title we caught up with Factory Yeti/Shimano rider Ryan Gilchrist to check out his awesome custom one of a kind race bike.
[R]: What a stunning looking rig mate! Yeti don’t actually sell those awesome little hardtail bikes that you race, and so with it not being a production model exact details about the frame are quite hard to come by. So let’s dive right with some questions. Firstly, are each of these frames custom made just for you?
Ryan: Each frame is the same except for the rad “Special Projects” sticker on the downtime indicating which number the bike is (Mine is #003). Mick and I run the same frame but we have them set up quite differently with bar height and chain stay length. Bit of a side note but this bike has probably the coolest horizontal dropout setup I’ve ever seen on a bike.
Are they carbon or alloy?
Carbon, full carbon.
What size wheels do you run for pumptrack?
26 for Crankworx. I raced 26 at worlds last year but did some experimenting with 24” mixed wheel sized designs that could make public appearance at some point.
Can you share any of the key frame geometry and reach numbers?
Right now we are still developing this model as a Special Project and refining all the details of the frame. It feels really great as is, but we are not quite ready to share the specifics just yet.
You were running a Marzocchi fork on the bike for Oz Champs, is that because you prefer the feeling of that fork over the Fox or some other reason?
Marzocchi and Fox work together and For 26” forks and other free ride products Marzocchi is the only option in the lineup.
Whilst on the subject of your fork, for pump track do you run so much pressure in them that they’re pretty much locked out or do you like a bit of squish still?
I run it with as much pressure as I can handle. I’ll lower it for dirt tracks but for asphalt tracks I want it as close to rigid as possible.
Do you try and make your pump track bike set-up as light as possible or do you actually prefer a bit of weight to help with the balance of the bike?
I became a bit of a weight weenie in the lead up to pump track worlds. I went hunting for marginal gains in a lot of different places. The build was already super light with the major head start of the frame, so adding carbon wheels, carbon bars, lightweight tyres and tubes, lightweight seat and removing the front brake made the whole machine very light. Weight isn’t the most important factor. I’d say stiffness is much more important so the bike holds up in corners with a lot of G forces and pumping efficiency is optimised with no loss in bike flex. Thankfully carbon is the material of choice that achieves this stiffness while also making the bike lighter.
In terms of your handlebar height do you try to keep your front end as low as possible or do you have a preferred ‘sweet spot’?
I run it very low. I have tried to set the bike up as close to that of a BMX bike where the pumping efficiency is optimised. It’s an incredible platform for setting up a race-specific bike so it made it easy to set it up as the fastest dirt jumper in the world.
Key Set-up Specs
Frame: Yeti Special Projects Dirt Jumper
Wheel size: 26”
Fork: Marzocchi Bomber DJ
Settings: Locked out
Wheelset: Miscellaneous carbon or DT Swiss if I want more compliance on dirt.
Rear Tyre: Kinda Three Sixty
Go-to PSI: 80psi
Front Tyre: Kenda Three Sixty
Go-to PSI: 70
Brake Calipers: Shimano XTR
Levers: Shimano XTR
Rotors: 160mm Shimano
Handlebar: Pro bike Koryak Carbon
Bar width: 740
Headset: Cane Creek
Stem: Pro Bike Koryak
Grips: Pro Bike
Saddle: Pro Bike
Seatpost: Race face
Cranks: Shimano XTR
Crank length: 170
Chain: Shimano XTR
Pedals: Shimano XTR