As the reigning Enduro
World Series Champion, Graves is currently the man to beat—and that doesn’t
happen very often. Despite the sharp competition at Mt Buller, Graves won five
of the six timed stages (he punctured in the sixth stage) and took a comfortable
overall win.
When it comes to
defending his World Series title for 2015, Graves expects to be riding the
152mm travel Yeti SB6C at most events, but for Buller he was on a SB5C. This is
his off-season bike; Graves feels the 127mm platform better suits his home trails
in Toowoomba, and he also felt it was the most appropriate choice for Mt
Buller. With less travel than the SB6C, it’s more agile and fun on tight and
twisty trails.
While it’s short on
travel at the back, Jared chooses to run a 160mm travel Fox 36 fork up front.
He started out with the stock 140mm fork but wanted a slacker head angle with a
taller front end. Now with the 36 fitted, he’s got a 65.8-degree head angle
along with the greater steering precision from the bigger fork. Jared also says
that he generally prefers a bit of extra travel up front and notes that it
lengthens the wheelbase and lifts the bottom bracket a touch; “It gives me all the
awesome little things that suit my style better than the stock setup.”
As for running such a
big fork on a lightweight trail bike (the frame itself is XC weight at just
2,310g), well the axle to crown height of the 160mm Fox 36 is actually less
than a 150mm travel Fox 34, so this combination is deemed acceptable by Yeti.
Apparently Jared tried this setup first on the SB5 and now all the bosses at Yeti
are sporting similar setups. Overall he says it makes the bike more capable on
the big stuff without really affecting its efficiency.
Jared likes to shed a
few grams wherever possible, and at 12.5kg as pictured his SB is impressively
light. However come race season, his mechanic Shaun Hughes has a big say. Shaun
acts as his ‘voice of reason’ and turns him away from any potentially risky
component choices. Between them they are a well-oiled team and 2015 looks set
to be another big year for the talented Aussie all-rounder.
Jared should be on a
medium SB5 if you go by Yeti’s sizing recommendations but he prefers the large
frame for its added reach—it provides plenty of room to move, even with a short
50mm stem.
RIDER BIO
Age 32
Born Toowoomba, Australia
Height 178cm
Weight 79kg
Main Sponsors Yeti, Fox, Monster Energy, Oakley
Career Highlights
- 2014 Enduro World
Series Winner
- 2009 4X World
Champion
- 3rd 2013 DH World
Championships
- 2nd 2006 BMX World
Series
This bike has the
standard Thomson dropper post lever but come race season he’ll use a modified
XTR shift lever to do the job. Due to the internal routing, mechanic Shaun
Hughes has pre-cut the wire to length and solder a new fitting on at the gear
lever end. The carbon Renthal Fatbar is 740mm wide and he’s running the lighter
‘Race’ version of the XTR brakes.
Reverse mullet style;
short travel at the rear and party time up front with a 160mm Fox 36 fork. The
DT Swiss EX 471 rims are tubeless ready with a 25mm inner width. They are built
with 28 DT Aerolite spokes for a lightweight but suitably sturdy wheel setup.
Graves is a
self-coached cyclist and he takes a very serious and analytical approach to his
riding with Stages power metres fitted to most of his bikes.
