The Unstoppable Kimi Grande

^{photo by Carlos Castaño / shot in Timberland Mountain Bike Park}

Kimi Grande has been busy: on the bike, in the classroom, and in the community. This year, the Filipino enduro/downhill racer leveled up with Yeti Cycles Philippines, signed on as local ambassador and racer, doubled down on coaching through Kimi’s Bike Clinic as a PMBIA-certified coach, and kept stacking results while finishing a college degree in Sports Science. Add his ongoing role as a Fox Racing Philippines ambassador, and you get the picture: the program is bigger, sharper, and built to last.

So in 2025, this is the UPDATE Kimi Grande: new colors, same send.

The Yeti Chapter: Why it Fits

The Yeti call-up makes sense for an athlete like Kimi—clean, race-forward geometry meets a brand identity rooted in speed and feel. As a Philippines-based rider toggling between humid heat, slick rock, and deep ruts, having a platform tuned for real terrain matters. The ambassador/racer role also means more than decals; expect Kimi to be hands-on with riders, present at local events, and out front on product feedback that reflects the conditions—not just catalog pages.

Being chosen as an official Yeti Ambassador “felt unreal,” Kimi says. “It’s been a big dream of mine since I started riding. I’ve always looked up to Richie Rude—the way he rides, trains, and acts on race day has always been my goal.” The role is simple in intent and serious in execution: train consistently, perform at local races (for now), and share the work through content on his social platforms.

His race bike is the Yeti SB160, and the first impressions are blunt: “It’s the best bike I’ve ridden since I started racing in 2016. The way it handles a heavy rider like me—technical, high-speed, corners, jump sections—is unreal. The Switch Infinity link makes it feel bottomless. It’s light, incredibly stiff, and it shows.”

Kimi has been on the SB160 for almost five months and runs two clear setups:

• Dry races/rides: Vittoria Mazza (front) + Vittoria Mostro (rear). Tire pressures at ~29 psi rear / 27 psi front. Suspension stiffer and faster for sharper response and better energy transfer.
• Wet races/rides: Vittoria Mazza front and rear. Tire pressures at ~26 psi rear / 24 psi front. Suspension softer to add traction and stability.

“I use Vittoria Air-Liner inserts front and rear because I often break wheels,” he adds. Cockpit-wise, the SB160’s stock stack was too low for his attack position. “I had to hinge forward a lot, so I switched to 40 mm rise bars and added spacers. Descending got way easier, but cornering got slightly harder with the higher stack.” Net result: a setup that matches humid heat, slick rock, deep ruts, and fast grass corners across PH tracks.

Kimi’s Bike Clinic

Kimi hasn’t kept the gains to himself. Through Kimi’s Bike Clinic, he’s coaching beginners to advanced riders with the structure and safety standards that PMBIA methodology brings. That looks like progression-based drills, clear, repeatable cues, and terrain-matched sessions that translate to confidence when the trail gets fast and rough. If you’ve seen him track-stand a teachable moment for an entire group, you know: the clinic is equal parts skill, stoke, and structure.

THINGS TO TAKE SERIOUSLY from the Coach?

Riding position. “A lot of riders don’t start with a proper ready position—inefficient and more prone to injury.” Kimi begins off the bike: where to look, how to hold the bars, how to squat and hinge. Lock the posture first; speed comes later.

Braking. “Many are afraid of the front brake, thinking it’ll send them over the bars. In reality, front braking is crucial for stability and control—with proper body position.” He dismantles the “pitik-pitik lang” habit and runs the PMBIA braking drill to teach real modulation and controlled skids.

Breathing. “Riders hold their breath through jumps, rough terrain—even corners. That makes them stiff and gassed.” Kimi explains it in fitness terms: exhale forcefully on the concentric (effort) phase, inhale on the eccentric (lowering) phase. On trail, that rhythm keeps the body loose and the brain supplied.

One ‘aha!’ cue that changes descending immediately? Get into a true ready position—hips back, torso hinged, eyes up, elbows out—and let the bike move under you. Everything else stacks cleaner from there.

School, the brands, and the way forward

“Studying sports opened my eyes and helped shape the athlete I am today. It also helped me understand how to handle my students efficiently,” Kimi says. As a fourth-year with fewer subjects this term, he’s using the bandwidth to train more and coach more.

Kimi’s message to younger riders is clear: train and compete while you study. “I want them stronger and more disciplined—able to balance academics and sports.” As a coach, progress means erasing bad habits so thoroughly “they don’t even remember what those habits felt like”—and doing it with fewer injuries. That’s the idea.

His 12-month goals: place consistently at national-level competitions and enter at least two international races. Beyond podiums, he wants to grow the local scene through community rides, junior clinics, and trail stewardship—“to remind everyone this sport is more than medals; it’s about belonging to a community, participating in it in a positive way, and loving every moment.”

The loop is deliberate: study → train → teach → race → repeat. And if there’s one thing Kimi is, it’s unstoppable.