Yeti Lawwill 4

1998 Ex-team Yeti Lawwill 4

I bought it as a frameset a few years ago from Mr Yetifan, he told me that it was once owned by Mert Lawwill/Team Yeti and raced by Marla Strebb in the '98 X-Games. It has full ball-bearings and 5+ inches of travel.

I built it up as an all-mountain bike (my first FS bike!) with triple chainrings and a BB mounted front mech. It worked fine and introduced me to the world of full suspension but I discovered that it’s way too heavy for AM, has a longgggggg wheelbase and needed a good seeing to. So up it went to my ceiling, as seen on yetifan.com, where it stayed for a couple of years waiting to be restored. Last summer I completely dismantled the frame, replaced some of the bearings and sorted out the lose bushings, but it was still left un-built due to lack of motivation.

However.….

Recently I got hold of some Shimano Airlines which I thought would be perfect for this frame since it was an ex-team bike. Although it was actually a couple of years before Airlines if I remember rightly.

I’m going to use it as a play/coffee bike because it looks like it’s had a real busy life and I have a beautiful Intense Uzzi SLX for real riding. Please excuse the pretty random parts selection but I (or should that be "my wallet") decided that it worked better as a rat-rod than a garage queen...

Cool! How do those Airlines shift compared to a normal drivetrain ?

Archangel":1i2mvmg0 said:

Cool! How do those Airlines shift compared to a normal drivetrain ?

Click to expand...

Effortlessly, efficiently and lightning fast... and of course with a psssst!

beepbeep":39z4sngb said:

and of course with a psssst!

Click to expand...

Very nice bike

Mate, the bike is fantastic!!!! Is really interesting the Airlines!!! You surprised me a lot
May be a fork, a upper chainguide and something else, and can be part of a mtb museum!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Effortlessly, efficiently and lightning fast... and of course with a psssst! [/quote]

Fantastic I think the mix of parts give it a cool tool look.

Thanks for the enthusiasm guys!

Ximo, good point about the chain-guide.
I actually have the original Yeti upper part but left it off because it looks rather clumsy (sorry Yeti) and it doesn't fit right now because the chainring is mounted in the middle-ring position for a better chain-line. There's not enough clearance between that and the frame.

Good idea about the forks though, some period correct boxxers would be the icing on the cake, I'll have to keep my eyes open...

How's the Straight 8 build going?

beepbeep":3m07f5q0 said:

Thanks for the enthusiasm guys!

Ximo, good point about the chain-guide.
I actually have the original Yeti upper part but left it off because it looks rather clumsy (sorry Yeti) and it doesn't fit right now because the chainring is mounted in the middle-ring position for a better chain-line. There's not enough clearance between that and the frame.

Good idea about the forks though, some period correct boxxers would be the icing on the cake, I'll have to keep my eyes open...

How's the Straight 8 build going?

Click to expand...

Hi mate!

tHE s8 IS IN sPAIN AND i'M IN uK.....It's a project just for pleasure...Now I'm involved in a Schwinn Deluxe Cruiser 100th anniversary.

I think that if you can find a Judy DHO, and paint it in blue yeti, could be fantastic!! excellent!!! great!! lovely!!!

Cheers bro

The more times I dip into this thread, the more I like the look of that bike, I bet its good fun to ride and the air shifting is so cool

I dunno why I like it cos full bounce stuff doesn't normally do it for me...

Hello beepbeep!

I love your lawwill !!! Probably because I have one too!

Mine is a 97' that was company sponsored to race here in british columbia and has been passed down to me being the third owner.When it arrived here it was the hottest thing seen in central vancouver island.Time has created many bikes with a lot more travel but this ride still rocks and the components it has are still superior to most bikes around today.Not bragging,just have a lot of respect for this bike!When I go riding with my buddies who have new,wicked,longtravel bikes,on our local ski hill the lifties always stop and gawk at my old yeti.Totally chokes some of my friends who have invested loads of cash into their rides.hehe.

I have built new wheels for mine,reinforced the lattace portion of my swing arm with welded alum. plate. and given it a set of sherman sliders to provide 6'' of front travel. Rides totally awsome!!
It has a ringle' rear hub,massive hope front hub and hope C2 brakes with an oversized front rotor,chris king headset,shimano xtr gears and a radical ingot stem!

I have one problem though and I hope somebody here can help me;

My swing arm bushings are wearing out badly and I have not been able to locate new ones.The guys at Yeti were hardly able to help me let alone reply to my requests other than to provide a link to a sales page of unrelated bearing sets for a totally different bike.Does anyone out there know where I could get some from or have any ideas of options open to me??????

Please help me! This bike is WAY too deserving of new bushings before the titanium bosses begin to get damaged.With any luck this classic will live for ever.