Sunday, May 3, 2015

Yeti Tree Frog trials bike

This little bike has caused me quite a few headaches over the past 2+ years. What seemed like a relatively straightforward project has ended up being one of the most complicated and involved builds I've ever attempted.

This is how the bike arrived


Relatively little is known about the Tree Frogs. According to some former Yeti employees maybe ten or so were made. Most were made for the team riders like Clint Knapp, but a few were built for paying customers. Although I don't know for sure, I feel that the number of custom modifications and the few parts that came with it indicate that it might have been a team bike, or at least an employee bike. It did come from a former Yeti employee, but I don't think he was the original owner.


Bike/frame details

No serial number
100/115mm hub spacing
Double wishbone reinforcement gusset
26.8mm seat tube
Front U-brake, rear cantilever mounts
Ovalized top tube, smaller than standard FRO
1 1/4" headtube
Round down tube, no braze ons
Rear wheel - Custom hub, unknown rim, 2.5" Pirelli tire on a 19" rim for an effective 20" wheel
Front wheel - Bullseye tandem hub, Monty trials 20" rim, Pirelli MT14 2" tire
Bullseye 135mm cranks with custom made spider
Shimano XT brakes and levers
FTW made stem and riser bars

I happen to have another Tree Frog here which I will show soon, but I just wanted to mention a few differences between the frames.

115 rear spacing on this vs 135 on the other
Double wishbone gussets vs none on the other
Rear cantis on this one vs U-brake on the other
No serial # on this vs T5 on the other (I know of T2 as well)
Rear stays appear to be two piece on this one vs. single on the other (perhaps to accommodate the wider 2.5" tire - I'll confirm)






Double reinforcing gussets. Only other bike like this is Chris Herting's personal FRO.


Reinforced brake bridge, not sure it really adds anything, but it looks cool.





Ovalized top tube like most Yetis, but this one is a bit shorter than the other TF I have, which is more like a FRO or Ultimate.




Custom rear hub appears to be a loose ball bearing hub that was converted to run cartridge bearings using a sleeve style adapter to fit 6001 series bearings into the shell.



This particular TF has taken some hits


Super cool brake setup allowing the use of a U-brake and increasing leverage


The stem is a replica of an actual Yeti trials stem



Super wide Pirelli tires were actually made for motorcyles


I'd like to find a more appropriate seat and maybe get some custom stiffener plates for the brakes, but for now this is pretty good!!!

Here are a few pics of another team bike in action back at the 1990 Worlds:




This is TF 2


This is the original prototype (no idea as to its current whereabouts)


Here is a Tree Frog that Yeti showed at the 89 Interbike



There are a couple more that I know of including two from Aaron Faust bikes and one more "production" bikes. I'm working on getting some pictures of those.

4 comments:

  1. That's one looks amazing at this trials bike.Thanks for good sharing in this site.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your the spin cycles is looking so nice and wonderful. Good blogs.

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  3. I'm a big fan of Yeti Bike, I really do. I own the 2007 - 575 and it's definitely a dream. It climbs wonderful with weight distributed forward when you climb. I highly recommend this bike to anyone.

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  4. "This is the original prototype (no idea as to its current whereabouts)" Hey this is my trails bike treefrog at the photo. It is in Germany. I want to sell it. when you interest. then send me in mail Y_E_T_I@web.de.

    regards Patrick

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