Sunday, June 29, 2014

1987-88 Yeti FRO in turquoise and black harlequin

It seems that lately my most challenging projects have all been Yetis. The ARC-AS kind of kicked off the trend and this FRO certainly fits the bill. For those of you that haven't been following along this is how it started nearly two years ago!!!


This is one of the original Augora Hills Yetis and it seems that it spent its life in LA... no RUST!! It appears to have been a two owner bike and the gentleman who I bought it from had owned it for some 17 odd years. Apparently the bike had been a victim of a couple theft attempts and so he had painted it over to look a little bit... umm... less like a Yeti??? Anyways, this is how I got it. I had originally thought about using it as a donor frame for my C-26 project, but being that it was in good mechanical shape and that it's one of the rare-er round top tube FROs I decided to try and make something of it. There were a few ideas along the way, but nothing seemed to pan out. Finally a project opportunity came up and along with it a design concept. I hope you'll all like it!








Cook Brothers hubs, stem and bars were chosen for this build as CBR was a major sponsor of the Yeti team back in the 80s. The axle end caps and bolts are all freshly Nickle plated, no piece too small!!


Drivetrain courtesy of Shimano. The M730 XT grouppo was the hottest things on the market at the time and this being a team inspired bike it seemed like the only way to go.


Sharkfin placement might need a little adjusting :)


There was a lot of discussion around whether the brakes and cranks should match each side of the bike or be opposite. In the end I settled on opposing, for better or worse. The brakes can always be switched, but the cranks are a bit more committed.


Cook Bros stem and bars finished off with NOS (of course) XT levers and shifters and some Grab-On grips.


Final photo shoot pics coming up tomorrow...






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