1989 (?) Yeti FRO

[Rahbari]

Re:

Interesting: the 1989 manual displays the FRO with Simplex dropouts, no front mech cable holder and with a Salsa Moto stem. The shaft of the stem is considerable narrower than the top tube (i.e. BMX headtube and 1" stem)

The 1990 manual shows the FRO with other dropouts, front mech cable holder and with FTW stem. The shaft of the stem is much wider (i.e. 1 1/4 headset)
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/d/1 ... sketch.pdf

 

[Rahbari]

Re:

Update; I bought some nice stuff, should be pretty much period correct:

Bullseye hubs, 130mm rear spacing:

BR-M732:

FD-M732 NOS:

RD-M732:

True Temper handlebar:

As for rims, I have bought Araya RM-17 Grey and Matrix Mt. Titan darkgrey and I have been offered some Ritchey Vantage Comp in darkgrey. No (preferred) black rims in 36h so far...

 

[Rahbari]

The frameset finally arrived! I am so happy!

The serial no is really tough to read. It is either XR0335 or XR0835.

The stem seems to be steel! I thought, FTW stems were always aluminium.

The frame has screws for attaching a carrying strap.

Dropouts of forks are Campagnolo, so this is an original Yeti/FTW fork.

 

[Retro Spud]

Re:

Jesus H Christ thats looks awesome... and you haven't got a rolling chassis yet

looking forward to this build even more now...

 

[mkozaczek]

I strongly encourage you figure out if that's an 8 or a 3...

 

[Rahbari]

It looks a tiny bit more like 8 than 3.

No. 335 (i.e. making it 1986) is not likely as this frameset has the 2nd gen. Yeti man, a 22.2mm stem (so not BMX) and a FTW stem (no Cook Bros).

Any other clues to look out for?

 

[mkozaczek]

So the fact that it's a 4 digit number makes me think it's 835. All of the early FROs I have in the database have 3 digit numbers.

All of the low 3xx FROs had round top tubes, although XR341 has an oval top tube so if it was 335 is could be one of the first with oval top tube. But I agree with Mike the FTW stem might mean it came later, though it could have gotten it later on...

XR341 also has the 2nd Gen Yetiman

 

[Rahbari]

I will have another look during daylight. The problem is, that the left half of the 2nd digit is not imprinted as deep as the right half.

What stem size did 3XX FROs have? BMX (21.15mm) or 1" MTB (22.2mm)?

In which years did Yeti use the pickaxe decal? Rather early, right?

 

[mkozaczek]

Most of the early FROs in my database XR309 and XR314 and XR315 all had round top tubes and 1st gen yetiman badges.

 

[mkozaczek]

Also, I have FROs well into the 700s still built the same way as yours. I own 768 which is very similar to yours, only without the mount for the portage strap.