http://i.huffpost.com/gen/331720/PER...LISH-MAJOR.jpg

:p

You'll find a lot of interest in this bike over at retrobike.co.uk Those guys love an elevated chainstay. I was briefly obsessed with owning one and spent a lot of time on that site learning all about them.

Frank,
I have followed your various posts and threads here and have admired your skills, willingness to offer help to anyone asking and the history you area part of in bicycling. I am a road bike guy but this bike is so important to MTB history and your friends needs so great I wish you all the best in the auction. I would think Zap and the other guys would be glad to help from reading their stuff all these years. they seem like super people to me.

I am not well off but if there is a way to donate to the helping of your friend please let us know how we could do so. I would gladly make a donation for them. Bicyclist are neat people and your efforts just reinforce this to me and I am sure others here.

Bill

Frank, among your good traits is humility. Many of us consider you to be quite skilled at words. Don't worry about bad writing. Write what's in your heart and mind, and it will come out fine.

Hahaha! I want that life style SO bad... time to get an English degree.

Thanks a bunch, as soon as I get the photos and auction together I will spread them around a bit to different forums. It should be a fun auction! I am looking forward to digging around in my artifacts to find more cool stuff to toss in.

I agree with Tom. You need to write your own add, the sincerity you have for this bike and the reason you are selling it will come through. An ad written by a someone else will just seem too corporate.

Frank, email me when you start the auction - I write for bikingindallas.com and will put up an article to point people in the direction of your auction. We get thousands of hits a day. If you PM me your email I'd like to ask you some questions to get started on the article.

As any English Major should know: that's "Perqs of Being an English Major" since the word's a contraction of perquisite...but that's both obvious and beside the point.;)
All praises to Frank for formulating the idea of this auction and to all the good people who will help make it succeed...it will succeed!

OK, we are back with more photos. I was surprised to see the Campagnolo rims, I had forgotten about those. This bike is very clean and seems to have little wear. It was cool to see the Onza bar ends and middle ring.

If you think we need more or better shots, please post and example we can look at. My friends, Cindy and Steve are looking wondering why we are so nuts about old bikes.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6165/...a637dee348.jpg
Left side by frankthewelder, on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6093/...6d6b3a5787.jpg
right side by frankthewelder, on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6104/...486d172b4e.jpg
underside by frankthewelder, on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6155/...a46b28ca3f.jpg
campy rims by frankthewelder, on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6230/...98548614a5.jpg
purple nipple by frankthewelder, on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6048/...37d772bac4.jpg
cranks by frankthewelder, on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6178/...17de12c176.jpg
rear derailleur by frankthewelder, on Flickr

Ebay Ad Draft:

Yeti Mountain Bike: One of a Kind Prototype

Sometimes a really unique bike becomes available which causes collectors' hearts to race, skip a beat, and even bring out the defibrillator--- just in case. This is one of those bikes!

What you see is an original Yeti prototype MTB, as it was originally built in Burbank, California in 19___. This original Yeti was crafted by John Parker, Chris Herting, and Frank the Welder, all legends in the early history of MTB.

In actually it is the second Yeti prototype. The first was a mock up for a MBA magazine article and recently sold as a frame for $3600. The second, this one, was used to test and prove the tooling needed in order to take this model into production, and was exclusively built by Frank the Welder.

After production was ramped up, Frank the Welder kept this particular bike at a friend's house in the California desert. This Yeti was only occasionally ridden when Frank would visit. Otherwise it was carefully stored.

Some of the details:

* Prototype Shimano Deore derailleurs and shifters
* Frank the Welder constructed Bullseye cranks
* Frank the Welder designed Answer ATAC stem
* Yeti grips Frank the Welder helped design.
* Wheels built by Jed St. Henri with the trademark single purple nipple and Campagnolo rims
* Onza bar ends and middle chain ring.

This sale, by Frank the Welder, will benefit his long time friend who is currently in serious financial trouble.

why is this a sticky?

There is a charity auction that will take place to benefit the couple mentioned and it was decided that it would be stickied. There were some delays.

OK, I finally got this stuff worked out and listed it. 150702802002 is the ebay listing number

Notice is popping up on other sites, too.

The C&V thread of mtbr.com has it.

Such a beautiful story to a great bike.

Good luck!

Frank,

Best of luck with the sale. So far so good!

Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Good luck on the auction, Frank.

I enjoyed reading the story behind this bike. Great piece of MTB history.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI...m=150702802002

Awesome.

It's going great so far Frank, good luck!

Wow, thanks! We are all very excited!

Hey have you seen this? (Pardon if I'm not allowed to link ebay auctions here) Yeti TT Track bike

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yeti-Time-Tr...item43ab346503

Some info:

Same as that ridden by World Record Holder, Olympian, and Pan Am Champ Rory O'Reilly in the 80's. Only 6 of these bikes were ever built - 4 of them went to a team time trial group in Southern California, one to Rory, and this is the other - which was kept in unridden condition by company founder John Parker at the Yeti factory since it was new.

2 bike were made by Yeti -John Parker and Frank The Welder (FTW) in Agoura for Rory O'Reilly 1984 Olympian-(amazing guy) and 4 more for a 1989 team pursuit team that got top 8 at Nationals in Seattle. We all eventually sold our bikes this looks like one because of the bars..Rory O'Reilly's bars had smaller diameter..they are upside down in this picture. Rory O'Reilly rode his a couple more times at kilo nats and posted amazing times for his age. I also rode mine in the points race with a bar in front to close off the cow horns, the USCF officials had to let me start, it was not easy to ride in such a race...you can read the web about other issues Rory O'Reilly had with measurements and USCF officials..do a search. This bike was not used in any hour records, it was designed for Kilo and was an amazing bike for that..originally is was specd was with Hed discs and Bullseye white cranks. I have pictures of mine in action I will scan someday.

Yes, I remember those bikes. In fact, in the group of photos offered with the auction are a couple pics of Rory riding his kilo bike behind the shop.

I remember due to changing a wheel or something the bike was 2mm too short to be legal, Rory flipped the fork and bounced the wheel against a wall a couple of times and said "measure it again". He then set a very good time that was then beaten by someone else.

'That's racing" (or at least the story I had heard) !

WOOOHOOO ! $4200!! Thanks!

Great win-win all around! Ya' did well Frank!

Mod, you can set sail to this one.. Thanks a ton, I love you guys.

Glad the sale went well Frank. I don't know if that's what you were hoping to get out of it, but in times of need, every bit helps. You're a kind man for arranging all of this for your friends.

Frank The Welder for the win!

Ditto. Congrats, Frank on selling the bike and helping out your friends.

I think what you did is admirable.