Monday, August 10, 2015

1991 Johnny O'Mara Yeti ARC - full photo shoot

I've shown the bike here already, but wanted to take the opportunity to take some nicer photos and do the bike and build justice.


The bike just screams early 90s racing; long stem, latest suspension tech, some anodized bling foreshadowing the days yet to come.


Matching gray Answer A-Tac was a lucky find in my parts bin and Frank the Welder took it the final step by adding the tea cut feature


Cook Bros cranks were all the rage with Yeti prior to the arrival of John Grafton and all his fancy wares.


Unlike some of the later team bikes that came out of Yeti which were bedazzled with 3DV or Turquoise components this bike has some very subtle highlights. I for one really like this look.


Early Yeti cable stops, the first 50 were made by hand and are a little more blocky than the later production version.


Doug Bradbury Manitou fork was the weapon of choice of the Pros back in those days.


A more true statement could not have been said!



This bike just looks fast from every angle


Something about the all gray headtube makes the Yetiman decal seem a little more special.

1992 Fat Chance Yo Eddy

I often get asked whether it's hard to let go of these bikes after I finish them. For a variety of reasons, more often than not that answer is "No". Whether it's because I have one like it, or it's the second or third time I've done often times I don't have any problem send them out to their new owners. This is one of the few bikes that will be hard to let go. This is the 5th Yo Eddy I've built and it quickly climbed up to the top. Maybe I can finally build the 6th one for myself.

The photos are not my best work, it was a really sunny day and I had a hard time finding a nice shady location.


The color is a variation on the Team Violet color that was originally offered by the factory BITD. The rear is straight Team Violet with the front a very cool black metallic with a semi Harlequin type of a transition. I was lucky enough to have an original bike to use as a sample/template so all details of this very unusual finish have been meticulously reproduced. The bike was originally painted in Kandy Wild Cherry with with a mismatched fork.


A bit of a closeout of the front end, one of the cooler combinations in my humble opinion.


Custom red/pink decals just as originally used by Fat Chance when they originally painted bikes like this.


For this build we decided to go with a full set of Syncros hardware including the highly sought after Revolutions tubular cranks and a Titanium seat post. The cranks worked perfectly as the drive-train is Suntour Microdrive and the cranks have the same 94 BCD spider.


Silver Chris King headset completed the front end and really sets off against the darker tones of the frame.



NOS Suntour drivetrain (sticker removed TD!!)


Famous bullet ends look especially sharp in my opinion!


Little bit of detail on the transition on the top tube.



Syncros Titanium bottom bracket ended up being a little challenging to set up and dial in the correct chainline, but in the end it all came together.


The non drive side is the business side when it comes to Yo Eddy graphics.


Wrap-up shot!! This was a really cool build, for the most part everything worked right off the bat and there were only a few challenges presented by the component selection. I wish I could take this Yo out on the trails, but given my history with Fats I'd run it off a cliff and have a very angry person to explain myself to.

So, I think it's time I get my 90 Yo Eddy built up and see first hand what all the fuss is about.