Well it’s not quite the Ultimate Ultimate, but I guess it has a fair shout of being the ‘original’ Ultimate.
Contrary to popular belief, FTW’s personal Yeti Ultimate bike that recently sold in a charity auction on eBay, didn’t end up in Germany – it now resides in Cornwall England
IMHO, this is 'probably' one of the finest mountain bikes in the world, up there certainly with owning a Tomac race bike. FTW is a living legend and the Yeti Ultimate is an iconic bike. To own such a bike is truly humbling.
But that wasn't really the point. Anyone who saw the auction, and the sad story surrounding it, couldn't help but be moved. Yes it's an iconic bike, but the thing that struck me most was what a generous and kind act this was by Frank. It certainly inspired me to help in the small way that I could. I hope that this can make a positive difference to Frank's friends. It was a small gesture on my part but a truly generous thing that Frank did.
The plan is to keep it 95% original. I wasn't even planning on cleaning it.
But I do feel the bike deserves a pair of white Porcs, that's the only tweak I have planned. Frank rode white Porc's back in the day so it's a reasonable spec change. But other than that, I was going to leave everything as is - multitude of decals, scratched Onza bar ends, buggered bullseye bb bearings, tatty turbo saddle, mis-matched rims
It's a rider for sure, but in all honesty it won't get used a lot and not really in anger. I have a SB66 for that