Poor Man's Yeti Ultimate Knock Off... Tribute to J.P. & J.T.
 

I bought my first Yeti in 1989 as a high school graduation present to myself, it was a black "F.R.O." (For Racing Only) that I picked up directly from John Parker in Agoura Hills, CA, and my love for Yeti began. A few years later I bought my A.R.C., it had the turquoise and yellow color scheme with the black arrowhead accents. The year after I bought my FRO saw my long time BMX hero John Tomac sign to Team Yeti and I was stoked, I raced BMX on a Mongoose and Johnny T. raced BMX for Mongoose. I loved my FRO and to have my hero racing for the brand I loved was awesome! When Tomac won the 1990 World Championships on his dirt drop Yeti, my racing buddies and I were blown away, we had all been road racing juniors and no one raced a drop bar in the dirt. The seed was planted then and today dirt drop bikes are pretty much all I ride. In college I was road racing on the school's cycling team, our coach was on the '92 olympic team and an avid mountain biker. To break up our training we did a weekly dirt ride on fire roads every Wednesday, the fact that I rode a drop bar in the dirt blew everyone away. More than twenty years have gone by and I still love riding drop bar bikes in the dirt! Many thanks to John Parker for creating an amazing bike and John Tomac for the years of inspiration!!!

The other day I was checking out the Vital MTB site and seeing the early Yeti pictures with John Parker, Frank The Welder, John Tomac, and others got me thinking about how cool the Yeti Ultimate bike was and how much I'd love to have one! Here is a link with plenty of great images:

http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/membe...ti-Cycles,2748

Buying a Yeti Ultimate is not going to happen any time soon, I just wrapped up the school year and I've decided not to teach summer school, instead I'm taking the summer off to spend with my family. One project that my little angel wants to work on is painting and building a bike. She has watched me build bikes her whole life and this summer as a big 8 year old she wants to be involved. After seeing those early Yeti photos, it got me thinking about the 1990 Nishiki Ariel frame hanging in the garage, time to do a turquoise and yellow tribute bike! My favorite turquoise and yellow frame was John Parker's Yeti Road Project (see photo), the 2/3rds turquoise with 1/3rd yellow is ideal in my eye. A big issue on this build will be recycling parts, my daughter is really into reusing and recycling, that was a big motivator for her on this project. I've already got the paint and the frame is partially sanded, another couple hours and it'll be ready for paint. I'm having a local frame builder weld on new brake bosses for a 26" wheel. I cut off the posts on the existing 700c brake bosses, I'm planning on mounting a brake booster. Things are moving along and my daughter is having a blast!!!

Here is what we've put together thus far:

1990 Nishiki "Richard Cunningham Design" Ariel, 4130 double butted frame
SOMA Cross CX fork, Tange Infinity lugged, warranty fork with bent brake boss
Magura brake booster
Salsa Shaft seatpost, black anodizing was ruined, removed the anodizing
Bontrager Ti saddle
Chris King headset
Azonic Shorty stem
Shimano Ultegra 3x8 bar end shifters
On One Midge handlebar ***the only new part***

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GREAT post! Love the pics of Yeti's start-up era. The Aerial sounds like a super project for you and your daughter, definitely quality family time, please post pics of the completed bike. Why the Soma fork, did the Yeti e-stay have a lugged fork crown, not a straight blade uni-crown like the Aerial?

thanks, Brian

Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out, that's a great paint scheme!

Just curious, what are the widest 26" tires that fork will fit?

Hey calstar, thank you for the reply! I agree with you about the family time, she is growing up too quickly! The last time I stayed home and didn't work summer was when she was just a baby, now she is going into 3rd grade and I'm baffled how she grew up so fast! As far as the SOMA fork, it's not the "proper" fork for the period but none of the rest of the build will be either. I ran that because I had it handy and didn't want to pop for an Accutrax but also because I wanted to try and achieve the dirt drop set up without using a tall quill stem like I have on my other builds. With the amount of steer tube and the Azonic Shorty stem I've got the same height and stem length but have done so with a more modern threadless set up.

Right on mainstreetexile, thanks for the reply! I agree with you about the paint scheme, it's without a doubt Yeti's signature and it's a bit of a shame that they're gotten away from it somewhat in keeping up with modern trends but I suppose turquoise/black/white is still keeping with their roots. That was a good question about the tire width, I hadn't considered how wide I could go with the CX fork, but I rarely buy anything over 2.0 anyway. I popped the Michelin Wildgripper Sprint off my MB-1, it's a 2.1, and I had a little room to spare.

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(Sorry for the off center photo, I wasn't paying attention so it looks jacked up in the photo but it was only operator error. I am glad you asked, as you can see in the photo, the shallow Magura brake booster is not going to work, no big deal as I have a couple other spares.)

Thanks again guys... Happy Father's Day to each of you (if you have kids and every other dad on this forum), sharing a love of bikes and the outdoors with our little ones is paramount in an age where kids have limited P.E. in school and their faces glued to some silly electronic device!!! I'll spare you the soap box routine but I'm raising mine the same way I grew up... if the sun was out, I was out, and I came home when the street lights came on!

Some good news on this build, I finally found and picked up the Yeti turquoise and yellow paint for the frame and fork. Also, I went by the frame builder's shop over the weekend to check the status of the welded brake bosses, there is a chance that he may have the fork finished tomorrow. I'm nearly done sanding the frame, I'll need to finish sanding the fork when I get it back, and things will be ready for paint. My little one is just as excited as I am, she can't wait to start painting! I'm going to let her handle all of the painting. I'm not concerned about the finish since she is solid with a paint can, I'll be color sanding everything, I just want her to have a blast with this project. Besides, it's going to get prepped before it goes to my buddy's auto body shop for a few coats of BMW clear. More updates to follow...

looking forward to seeing the progress :D

A perfect fathers day project! Keep us posted.

Thanks frantik and FTW, I appreciate the support! This has been a fun build thus far, building bikes and lasting memories of the lil'angel, hard to beat!

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Always a pleasure when a Hall of Fame inductee takes an interest, thanks!!!

Great project and I like the color choice! I just saw an Ultimate frame on ebay. I'll bet your entire project comes in less than the final selling price. Can't wait to see your bike finished.

Update time...

My little angel is quite the little paint pro! She did a fantastic job with the rattle can yellow and turquoise, she painted multiple thin coats on both ends of the bike within the 20 minute recoat time (otherwise we'd have to wait 48 hours), and she had a blast doing it. We gave it a couple days to set up and then she added the black spider web paint, Krylon Webbing paint (thanks for the idea frantik), she practiced on some plywood first so she had a nice even technique when the time came to accent the frame and fork.

I should mention that the fork changed directions once the frame builder mocked up the new brake mounts with 26x1.50 wheel in place, it made for a tight fit, so he reversed them to add extra clearance. He also felt the old brake posts were not needed and would likely be in the way once the canti brakes were installed, he removed the old brake bosses, you would never know they were ever there. So, in the end I was able to make use of a ruined 700c cyclocross fork and end up with a lugged crown fork for my 26" dirt drop conversion... pretty cool to recycle!!!

A few shots with some parts that she picked out and helped install. I'm digging the modern interpretation of the classic dirt drop look!

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More updates as the build progresses... quality time with my future custom frame builder... her words, not mine.

looks hot! http://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/thumb.gif
What paint were you using? all of mine said they had a 1 hour/24 recoat time. For the tandem frame I did each the layers 24 hours apart (primer, color, splatter, clearcoat) but for the fork I did them all within an hour of each other (i wasn't going to go paint at the crack of dawn for another 3 days to avoid the wind :lol:). If i were to paint a normal size bike frame i'd consider trying to do it all at once.

Thanks man!

Rustoleum Double Coverage was the only one she found that had the turquoise she wanted.

She really liked the teaser shots you posted of your tandem, she is looking forward to seeing the double bike all "webbed up" as she started calling it. Her two big colors are blue and pink... she felt your choice to repaint the pink was the right move, she was not liking the red-orange color, but loved the hot pink on the fork. A couple big 8 year old thumbs up from pee-wee on your bike!

awesome :D glad to get approval from another paint master ;) i should hopefully have some pictures of it next weekend

That part I mentioned previously that pink and blue are her two favorite colors and how she loved the hot pink on your tandem... it occurred to me that she could join and possibly be the youngest member of your Chainstay Brake Mafia. In keeping with the blue and pink, her is her first 26" wheel bike last month for her 8th birthday. It was too cool of a find to pass up, I justified the buy to my wife and got some rolling eyes. The bike a 1988 Easton Reflex ALX99, basically unused condition, and real gem of a scored from a very small window when Easton made bikes. The blue anodized E9 tubing and the pink gold flake on the lugged Ishiwata EX fork and stays are in beautiful condition. Since the bike sat unridden in a garage for 25 years, it's kept the Shimano XT looking new, check out the "Shark Fin" and "Shark Tooth" on the XT u-brake. So, whatta' ya think frantik, can she get in the Chainstay Brake Mob?

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*drools* She's definitely in!

Wow, that Easton is a time capsule of awesome!

I made some progress yesterday... I'm still trying to track down some brake levers... getting close!

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Wow, the paint job turned out great! :thumb:

Sweet!!!

Thanks WNG & inkandsilver! My daughter did a great job on the paint, she and I are both diggin' it a lot! She is asking for the next project already but I'm trying to buy some time as I find which brake levers I want to go with but she is already planning out what colors for the next build plus she has started a box for the next bike's parts. I'm looking forward to riding around with her creativity there as a reminder, pretty cool for sure!

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...9&d=1372521111

So far, so good! The paint looks looks great, any details on the painting process?

sweetness :thumb: lets see some close ups of the paint?

Thank you mainstreetexile and frantik for the kindness... I'll try to give a clear explanation on the paint and include a few photos to hopefully clarify what my daughter did when she painted the frame.

The challenge was to find the right turquoise, Rustoleum Double Coat was the only brand we found that seem fairly close to the old photos I had of my Yeti A.R.C. hardtail. I wanted to stick with the same paint line if possible, thankfully there was a yellow that was also close to the Yeti yellow. As far as the application process, I had her paint the fork and entire front half of the frame with the yellow. She did multiple thin coats a few minutes apart. When she had built up a solid coat of yellow and while the yellow was still wet and tacky, I had her paint the turquoise by starting at the rear and working forward. When she reached the center portion of the frame, I told her to not go as heavy with the turquoise as she ha on the tail of the frame. These thinner coats of turquoise mixed with the yellow during the next curing process of the next 48 hours. After that had a chance to fully cure, she sprayed the fork and frame with Krylon Webbing paint. The final stage was to seal everything with a can of Rustoleum Lacquer.

Here are a few close up shots:
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That's turning into a pretty righteous build. The paint looks great, and goes really well with the elevated stays. Bet it'll ride like a house afire.

Thanks k_randomfactor, I appreciate your comments and I feel like the build is turning out well, especially for a recycled parts build!

Thus far the build specs are as followed:

1990 Nishiki Ariel, double butted 4130 frame
SOMA Cross Fork, lugged crown Tange Infinity CrMo, modified with new brake bosses for 26" wheel, 700c bosses removed
Azonic Shorty CNC stem
On One Midge handlebar (only new component, I love 'em!)
brake levers (undecided at this point)
Chris King headset
XTR 9 speed rear derailleur
105 triple front derailleur
105 53/39 double crank
Ultegra Octalink bottom bracket
Ultegra 8 speed bar end shifters, set up in "friction" mode to move all 9 gears in the back (not pictured)
Ultegra 9 speed cassette 12-27 (I think)
Suntour XC II pedals
Dia Compe "XTR gray" cantilever brakes
Salsa Shaft seat post
Bontrager Ti Lite leather saddle