F.R.O.
F.R.O.
1985
The first Yeti frame was known as the F.R.O. (For Racing Only). Our commitment to racing started in the early days when Yeti’s founder, John Parker, sat down with racers and friends to create the ultimate race bike. Constructed of 4130 Cro-Mo aircraft certified, seamless tubing, and heli-arc welded throughout, the F.R.O was built to go fast.
The rear section was a single piece of tubing constructed by a computerized tube bender, with cantilever brakes mounted on the seat stays to compliment the unique cyclocross cable routing system. This allowed for no chain suck, low mud collection, and quick release wheel changes. The forks were bomb-proof .035 wall straight blade forks, featuring Campagnolo track drop-outs and cantilever brakes.
Also available on this bike was the Yak package (pictured). The Yak package was a modified F.R.O. with rack mounts and a portage pad. The perfect bike for going long in the mountains.
The first frames had BMX 1” headsets. This later changed to 1” mountain headsets.
The Yeti Factory team riders of this era included Russell Worley, Greg Dres, Rob Nilsen, Johnny O’Mara, Sue Fish, Mark Langton and Paul Thorsen.
C-26
C-26
1990
Yeti was an early adopter of carbon fiber, and through our strong working relationship with Easton, we were able to create a bike way ahead of its time. The C-26 was available in very limited production (estimated at 20 frames) and was ridden by Juli Furtado and John Tomac in the first World Championships in Durango, Colorado (or Colo. AP Style abbreviation).
The Easton C-9 tubing was a combination of an aluminum core tube, covered with unidirectional high-modulus carbon wrap. The alloy core added hoop strength and torsional stiffness to the frame while the carbon wrap increased bending stiffness, resulting in a tubeset that was half the weight and twice the strength of 4130 chromoly (at least that was the claim back then). These technologically-advanced tubes were bonded to custom built scalloped lugs on the front triangle. The rear end was a traditional F.R.O. Cro-Mo loop tail.
A little inside scoop: there are a couple versions of how the C-26 name came to be. The most prevalent was that it was named after Chris Herting (one of Yeti’s founders and internal champion of the project) who was 26 at the time the frame was made (C, his first initial, and 26 his age). Others close to the company have refuted this and suggest the C stands for Carbon and the 26 represents the standard mountain bike wheel size. We don’t know for sure which is true. What we do know is that nearly every frame has fallen apart because the bonding was problematic and never got sorted out. We can attest to that... we have two C-26 frames in our showroom with suspect bonds.
PRO F.R.O.
PRO F.R.O.
1990
The Yeti Pro F.R.O. was the next in a series of progressively innovative Yeti racing frame sets and featured Yeti-designed Tange seamless, double-butted chromoly tubing which allowed us to shave a full half pound from the frame. The Pro F.R.O. has traditional Yeti features including race-specific geometry, which at the time was a super-slack 70 degree seat angle and 70 degree head angle. This frame also featured Yeti cross cable routing and one piece computer bent tail section for ample tire clearance.
This frame incorporated the evolutionary 1-1/4”headset.
RACE BRED
RACE BRED
1991
Originally built as a project bike for Mountain Bike Action Magazine, this bike became one the most widely copied designs in the industry. Although the imitations were flattering, the project bike was not perfect and a number of refinements needed to be completed before it went to production.
It featured a computer-bent tail section and down tube to add strength and rigidity where it was needed. Standard Yeti cross cable routing and generous tire clearance rounded out the entire package.
There were a number of difficult parts to make on this frame in the production phase. The short tube between the down tube, chainstays and seat tube was particularly difficult, so the welders called it the “love story”.
“The Yeti Ultimate is for the rider who wants to go fast and last long,” MBA, August ’90.
RACE BRED
A.R.C
A.R.C.
1992
The A.R.C. was a significant bike for Yeti and the industry. A collaborative effort between Yeti and Easton, it featured tapered and butted tubes which was nearly a full pound lighter than the steel frames of the day. The A.R.C. became the platform for later suspension developments and is one of the most recognizable frames of all time.As the material changed, so did the geometry. The A.R.C. featured a more modern geometry (71 degree head angle and 73 degree seat angle), but like all Yeti frames, it was built to go fast.
The riders who rode the A.R.C. include race car driver Paul Tracy, Juli Furtado and John Tomac in the early days. Juli Furtado immediately dominated the racing world by winning more NORBA National, Grudig Cup and World Cup events than all of the competition combined.
RACE BRED
A.R.C. - A.S.
RACE BRED
1992
For those who think the shorter travel of the A.S. is designed just for cross-country, think again! Jammin’ Jimmy Deaton won the Mammoth Mountain Kamikaze Downhill four times - twice on his A.R.C.-A.S. He also set a new speed record at the time of 59.5 mph (those old enough, will remember the 66-tooth custom chainring on his bike). The A.S. was the most successful downhill bike of ’92/’93, winning and/or placing in the top three in more major downhills than any other bike.The frame first featured an elastomer rear shock that was created in collaboration with IRC. However, the elastomer was adversely affected by temperature - it got rock hard in the cold and gooey when it was hot. This was later changed to an air/oil Risse shock. The early models (like the one pictured here) had pinch bolts so you could run either shock. This later changed to an integrated design that used the Risse shock exclusively.
Despite its ability to go crazy fast, this frame with a whopping 1.5” of travel weighed under 4 pounds.
A.R.C. - A.S. LONG TRAVEL
THE LEGEND GROWS
1994
With the punishing courses of downhill racing pushing product development, the need for a longer travel bike emerged. The A.R.C. A.S. L.T. was born, doubling the rear wheel travel from the previous A.R.C. A.S. from 1.5 inches to just over 3 inches.While that seems like a pretty short-travel DH bike these days, it was one of the most famous Yeti rigs of all time and was ridden by Myles Rockwell, Jimmy Deaton, Missy Giove and Jeff Stanton.
This was the era when the Yeti / HED disc wheels appeared on the bikes for the first time giving a big advantage on certain courses. Truth be told... they looked really cool and were fast in some conditions, but they were really loud and a bit sketchy on windy courses. That said, we are looking for a pair for our showroom. So if you come across a set, give us a ring.
THE LEGEND GROWS
A.R.C. - A.S. L.T. PAUL TRACY
THE LEGEND GROWS
1994
As Parker’s relationship with famous athletes continued, he got race car driver Paul Tracy on a Yeti to supplement his training. Tracy was later featured in an advertisement for Yeti and Ringle, and agreed to run a small Yeti logo on his car.During this time, Parker was working with Kaiser Aerospace on a carbon thermoplastic frame. Way ahead of its time, the carbon thermoplastic technology was never fully worked out, although a frame was made for Paul Tracy. It was photographed and built up, but wasn’t rideable— wish we had that bike in the collection.
Tracy was one of many athletes that Parker enticed to ride a Yeti. Shortly after Tommy Moe won the Olympics in downhill skiing, Parker sent him a white and black spotted A.R.C. bike. In return, he rode the heck out of it and sent us a cool signed poster, which is on the wall of our conference room.
Other luminaries to ride our bikes included Jeff Stanton, Johnny Omara.
THE LEGEND GROWS
ROAD PROJECT
THE LEGEND GROWS
1995
The Road Project was originally made as a training bike for our team members, but soon customers were clamoring for it. So we put it into production. It featured Easton 7005 series ProGram Taperwall tubing, with extra beefy chainstays for increased stiffness when sprinting. Built with classic road geometry and coupled with Easton tubing, this bike was stiff, but still relatively forgiving— a nice departure from the super-stiff aluminum bikes of the time.Kurt Stockton, a pro road racer at the time, helped with design and development of the Road Project.
THE LEGEND GROWS
LAWILL DH
THE LEGEND GROWS
1996
Just in time for Yeti’s 10th anniversary, Yeti hooked up with motorcycle legend Mert Lawwill to create a purpose-built downhill machine. Utilizing Mert’s patented Full Energy Transfer System (F.E.T.S.) and Yeti’s frame building know-how, the downhill bike moved from three inches to four, and marked the movement into making specific bikes for downhill racing.
ZEPHYR
THE LEGEND GROWS
1996
A classically styled cruiser to celebrate Yeti’s 10th anniversary. It was a great idea that was never actualized into any significant production— an estimated 75 total frames were made and only two to three with custom carbon fenders.This bike is a collector’s dream. A few of our current and past employees have tracked down originals and bring them out to Tribe Gathering each year. One even has John Parker’s signature and peace sign emblazoned on it.
THE LEGEND GROWS
1997
The Lawwill design increased in travel and was offered in a 4- and 6-inch version. Ahead of its time in a lot of ways, it had custom-made Ringle disc specific hubs and Hope disc brakes. The rear disc brake was on a floating mount so it didn’t affect the suspension. It also featured a custom, Yeti-specific chain retention system. It was one of the first suspension bikes to use a pull shock. This idea came from Mert’s friends at Penske Racing.The R&D lab was working overtime to crank out new designs. Mert moved to Durango to work on the project full-time and became a key part of the product development team. In 1995, Yeti was purchased by Schwinn and shortly thereafter, Schwinn adopted the Lawwill design and featured it on the Schwinn Straight Six, Straight Eight, and later the all-mountain Four Banger.
LAWILL DH 8
independent state
1999
The Lawwill downhill frame continued to evolve and was bumped up to 8 inches of travel. In 2000, the frame was outfitted with a Rock Shox Super Deluxe with a piggy back. This allowed the shock to handle the heat build-up of downhill racing better, and is now standard on downhill shocks. Some models were fitted with a DKG linkage system that made the system more progressive. However, this reduced the travel, so we started to design the DH-9.INDEPENDENT STATE
