There has been some discussion lately about these frames, and while its not a Potts, Ritchey, Goat, or Ham, I think the Schwinn / Yeti relationship makes for a very interesting story. Ever since I first posted .. [about a Homegrown] .. I've been asking as many people as possible about the Durango Homegrown connection. It seems like everyone with a Homegrown has tried to sell it on ebay with the tag "Yeti built," when it likely wasn't. The story I kept hearing was Homegrowns were built elsewhere in the US and shipping to Durango for assembly or decals. I talked to alot of former employees who rolled their eyes when I asked and talked with disdain about Schwinn's treatment of Yeti in the last years in Durango.
Ultimately, I talked to Brett Hahn, Yeti general manager from 95-99, and he was kind enough to entertain me for awhile discussing the Schwinn / Yeti relationship and the Homegrown connection. So Brett, if you ever come across this thread, thanks This is what he had to say:
Much of what has already been said on either Yetifan or elsewhere is true. Companies like Schwinn, GT, Trek, etc, were getting murdered in the early 90s by smaller niche companies with loyal followings. Schwinn was late to jump on the MTB bandwagon, and decided around late 93 it needed on. The sponsorship of the Evian team and the Project Underground frames ran almost parallel. FTW and Herting build most of the frames to Schwinn's specs, and once Schwinn became pleased with the result, they contracted Anodize, Inc., in Portland to make a inital run of 'Schwinn Homegrown' frames. The name was an obvious choice to gather attention to Schwinn's concern for US production. By late 94, early 95, the Homegrown brand was a hit, but Portland could not longer keep up with the demand.
in 95, Yeti was faced with the choice many similar-sized companies had to make. Hahn describes this as nearly the same situation as FAT and Serotta. Scott Sports purchased Yeti, and the plan was to market the Yeti line as the Cadillac of its brands. The high end Schwinn bikes were to be the Chevys, and the low end Schwinn bikes were to be the GMs. Schwinn expanded the Homegrown line to include more than just one aluminum frame. This was known as "Homegrown Factory" and "Homegrown USA."
By 96, Schwinn offered five Homegrown hardtail models, two of which were built in Durango. Hahn describes the identification is pretty simple: If it was stickered "Homegrown Factory," then it was built in Durango. If it was simply "Homegrown," it was built at either Anodize, Inc., or Control Tech in Seattle. Un-decaled bikes would be hard to distiguish as there were no established differences he was aware of. No Ys in the serial numbers or difference chainstay bridge. The one tell is is Yeti dealt with strictly 7005 aluminum, as it did not have the capacity to age the 6061 T6 tubes. This Factory Homegrowns were 7005, the lower-end models were 6061. 6061 is easier to weld so its no surprise the lower ended frames were made in the Northwest with this material.
This process continued in 97 and 98. The Homegrown Factory XTR was the only one built in Durango. The rest of the frames came into Durango from the Northwest factories, were assembled in the case of the FS bikes, decaled, and left the factory in Yeti boxes. The relationship seemed to be twisted at this point. The Homegrowns were popular enough to compete with the Yetis, and Schwinn ran with it, effectively strangling Yeti. Yeti set up an entire separate production facility to deal with the handling of Homegrown frames coming in and leaving. This caused a strain on a lot of people. In 99, Scott Sports no longer saw Yeti as a viable brand and sold it to Volant. This is where my history lesson ended. Chris Conroy ended up with the brand at some point and seems to be doing great things with it these days. Schwinn's Homegrown line was established and continued on for another few years, with most of the frames being welded overseas. Still very nice bikes.
