According to Frank this is the first prototype of the ATAC stem, circa '88.
It's in a filing cabinet labeled "do not take pictures of this stuff and put it on Retrobike". By most accounts the ATAC was the first commercially available oversized aluminum stem.
What's the timeline on the Syncros stuff? Bueller?


Notice the one piece quill and shaft? Pretty snazy, but not all that light or strong, a smart way to make a stem like that if you don't have the resources to press-fit dissimilar materials on a Friday night.







The finished product was certainly a lot smoother, for sure, but it's nice to play with the first one when I can't deal with answering many more emails.

A box full of NOS production stems just came in for the "Pro Cut" which is something that Chris Herting started to do to team stems to save weight by drilling a hole in the face, scalloping the edges and slicing off the top of the stem at an angle to get it all dialed and light(as seen on the coolest bike ever).



I'll snap some "how-to" shots of the slicing and chopping on the stems that just came in.

I'm knee deep in cool old stuff all the time, I'll try to do a better job of sharing and documenting the cool crap that haunts the filing cabinets of FTWindustries here in beautiful Southern, VT.

There's even a batch of new Bullseye crankarms being made right now as I type!

Cool stuff!

Here's my early alloy FTW stem on my yeti, exactly the same quality details:







If you happen to find that you have a spare 172mm non-drive arm spare amongst all that loveliness then please let me know, I desperately need one to complete a set of much loved, but now under-used, cranks!

Someone, somewhere is having the Bullseye cranks made- they're all 176mm long. No idea how to score them either...

very cool stuff!

I decided that this might be a good place to dump pictures of Yeti's that come through the shop for repairs or to get replicated.
I'm guessing that some of this stuff might belong to members here at Retrobike, so perhaps I shouldn't share...
This showed up yesterday;


It's the smallest A.R.C. frame I've ever seen, and I saw pretty much every A.R.C. on the circuit in the '90s.

It doesn't have a serial number and frames were never made that small.

Pretty trick stuff.
Like a lot of Yeti's the frame cracked at the seat collar. It came in re-welded so I'm not sure what's happening to it.

Mysteries abound here.

Very cool, thanks for sharing. What size wheels for that frame?

Found this on the welding table today;


That frame is for 26" wheels.

Can I say wow, and you lucky lucky barsdard

Those were the instructions for my stems...

Any more pics what else have you got must be tons

Frank lays down "Yeti" bead when he works on these bikes


It's flatter and more washed out than the welds I usually specify.
I like 'em big. Parker liked 'em bigger.




Speaking of flat this is at the Spooky Safehouse and Country Club deep in the heart of Vermont ski country;


My friend Garson is pretty good at riding bikes, and sometimes I can even take a picture of him without cutting his head off!



This is his road bike.

He scored the frame for free and we fixed the **** up derailleur hanger.
Not too bad for free eh?
The frame even came with the sweetest seat ever-

Mickey

You guys take on a Manitou FS repair project??

Depends on what the issue is.
Send me some pics eh?

Ive been trying to get a back end made for my 96 YETI sherpa for years (steel 2 piece type) Would you guys be interested in bending me a back end up and ill get it welded by a local frame builder to me.?

It would be a dream come true