Yeti ARC restoration - My #1 'want' bike since 1991

yeah maybe get it moved to readers rides or whatever its called...

pretty epic resto! I'm impressed, knew people got tubes replaced on steel frames like Yo's etc but ot sure if Iv'e seen someone go to that extent on aluminium, when I saw the seat cluster I thought it was dead.
Super cool.
 
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Since I gave you a pic of the bearings in the previous post...
Here is what it/they go to...the cranks....

I've had these in the past on my original race bike back in the early 90's. They were bad ass. I kept them for years and didn't have any issues with the bearings, riding in the dry New Mexico climate. I only got rid of them once I started riding trails with lots of water crossings. The bearings did do so well. So I sold them once I saw how beautiful the new XTR M900 cranks were!

About 10yrs ago I bought a pair of Bullseyes, re-furbished them, and was going to use them for a project bike, but I needed some money for something else..so I sold them. This is my second pair that I have bought on eBay and have refurbished. These were bought 3yrs ago with the intent of one day owning an old school Yeti. I was lucky enough for the auction to include the original bearings & win the auction. I had these re-painted/powder coated at Spectrum back then when they were still a legit business. The bearings weren't shot. They were in an 'ok' to 'so-so' condition. I flushed them with degreaser, flushed the degreaser out with WD40, then repacked with Philwood grease. For the inner seal/membrane thing that goes right over the bearings, I found what others have used. I can't remember the name, but if you Google it, it can be found. If ya can't find it for your project bearings, pm me and I'll dig up the info. The only thing I remember is it was at a general automotive place online called McAllisters, McMasters, or something like that.

Condition now refurbished.....
Cranks are awesome, but a bit heavy. Original bearings are in alright shape. Still not smooth. But for some old ass 20+ year bearings, I'm ok with that.

Since the cranks aren't neon yellow, this will give ya another clue of how the build color will go.

BTW, these cranks are the 1st gen type with a closed/seal axle tube, no hole in the axle for the safety thing. My very first original ones were second gen ones with no sealed end cap for axle w/ a hole drilled for the safety thingy w/ the safety thingy.
...or that's what I think the differences were IRT the different types of Bullseye cranks.
 

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The cockpit.
Here's a mock up of the controls. Nothing special. The stuff mostly everyone has used for a resto from the period. Oh and those that watch 'Archer', you can end some of the sentences in this post with "phrasing". :cool:

A-tac stem.
It's a NOS shorty, like 135mm by 0 degrees. I wanted a 'team' version and one in black, but a short black team one is hard to come by. Also, the quill bolt is heavy. :(

Taperlites.
Bars are used by in excellent condition & uncut w/ original length. I wanted Hyperlites, but couldn't find any uncut, original length, and not faded out.

XT II 'thumbies'
The standard for the time. I wanted to go with XTR M900s cause they're so smooth, but felt that the thumbies were 'more right' if that makes any sense.

XT II 2-finger brakes.
I liked the 2-finger ones opposed to the 4-finger ones. I've used these before back in the day and they were legit...until M900 come out. Now that I have them again, I think...'Man! They're HEAVY!" :(

Once all mocked up, my first initial thought was, "Geez, this is heavy!" Well, time to buy some Ti bolts. I know it's not that much of difference due to the brake levers, but it's still cool to have Ti bolts! :LOL:
 

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T'boo Ted":56xhlkx7 said:
yeah maybe get it moved to readers rides or whatever its called...

pretty epic resto! I'm impressed, knew people got tubes replaced on steel frames like Yo's etc but ot sure if Iv'e seen someone go to that extent on aluminium, when I saw the seat cluster I thought it was dead.
Super cool.


The pic I posted where the frame is cut up & the tubes are just laying about...that made my stomach turn. I wasn't expecting it. My only comforting solace was that it was with the man & legend that made the bikes originally...FTW.
 
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Why cuz it says Yeti??? Fanboy! :roll:

Well...no.
Back in the day when I was the Kamikaze and saw Jimmy Deaton run these tires and podium...well that was good enough for me to start buying & riding them. These were my 'go-to' tire that I ran for a back tire. I'd run them for 2-3 months then buy new one. These things hooked up on hardpack and the NM terrain! I used them until they stop making them. Had I known they would stop making them, I would have bought a whole truck load..or however much a broke college kid racing bikes could buy back then.

*for a front tire, for me they were only OK. I my 'go-to' front was always the Specialized Umma Gumma Shockmaster. But for this build I'm going front & back.

...and yes, cuz it says Yeti and I'm a fanboy of the old Yeti stuff. :LOL:
 

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The wheels.

Classic spoke wheels, nothing fancy, 32 hole.
Front = 2x.
Rear = 3x drive side, 2x non-drive side.
Why? Why not 3x all the way around?
Well this is what I used back in the day with no issues and back then. The shorter the spokes, the less weight added to rolling weight right? :LOL:
I was only 135lbs race weight back then, and I didn't have any issues with this cross pattern. I'm now 40 lbs heavier, but I'm not that fast and hard on equipment like I was back then. So my logic is the wheels should be fine. We'll see how that goes. :shock:
Awww, it'll be alright. It's not old or used equipment. ;)

- NOS Ringle Super Bubba front & NOS Super Duper 8 for the rear. (Super 8 or Super Duper 8?) I bought these way before I had the frame. They were sitting in a box for a long while.
- NOS Mavic 117 SUP Ceramics. I had bought these even before I bought the hubs. These were also sitting around for a long time awaiting a cool bike. I'm not sure if these are team/Yeti correct, but I know they're period correct...cuz I ran them back in the day. I didn't want to go full high end and get the high cross section carbon fiber HED rims. That would have been too costly and would fit right..at least in my mind. They would fit if I was going to go full on 100% team race bike, but I'm not. I've used these back in they day and they're great, they're Mavic, anodized, and CERAMIC! What's not to love? :D :cool:
- Yeti Claw comp lite tires. Not NOS, but in excellent condition and supple. Well GD! They even still have the little whiskers on the knobs! :shock: :LOL:
- Ringle Ti Skewers. I now have black ones as opposed to the silver ones pictured.

I could have sent the hubs & rims off to have the wheels built 'professionally', but where's the fun it that...and you can't claim the ownership of it. I used to work in a bike shop in the day and had built wheels before, so I did. The hub dimensions are easy if you have calipers. The rims are another story. Trying to find the 'correct' ERD for old school rims is very difficult. Let me emphasize CORRECT ERD. There were sites with ERDs listed had several different measurements. :? The wheel building site where they have a YouTube video of showing you how to calculate ERD yourself provided me a different measurement altogether from what other people had found. :evil: So for spoke length, I played it safe and bought longer spokes (by 2mils) than needed. For the front, easy day and G2G (good to go). For the rear, one side was good, the other side too long. So, I had to send the long side ones back to get cut. After they were cut, all good to go.

During the build, I used Wheelsmith spoke prep. And like in the past back in the day, it F'd up my build to where I had to undo all the spokes and brush the prep off. I used just a drop of chainwax lube for each nipple and it was G2G. It's like how I did in the 90's with no issues and it works today.

References.
-For spokes & misc phone help=Wheelbuilder.com. I've used them in the past for other stuff and the workmanship is A+. * I could have bought spokes from an LBS, but their stock of lengths were limited and they would have had to order it, in which I can do the same.
- For rim ERD, to get me in the general area I used the old 1-800-bikepro website under rims. NOT the bikebling site when you google it. The bikepro.com one. I also used the YouTube video by Prowheelbuilder.com, along with the other YT ERD vids.
- used a Park spoke tension meter/measurer tool.
 

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Here's the bike all painted. I was a bit hesitant in using a new painter since Spectrum closed it's doors and this being my first 90's Yeti restore/build. There were no local (& proven) painters in my area that I knew of that I could trust. After a strong recommendation by a fellow vintage 90's Yeti owner, I committed. I'm glad it did! I highly recommend Harald and Toxik for any paint job! A straight professional!

Oh! and thanks to Retro Spud and others who helped me narrow & nail down the correct paint color!
 

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