1986 Yeti Fro Mystery Team Bike // Help Solve The Mystery

[theproscloset]

Another vote for restoration.

And another.

Just out of curiosity, why does the original owner not know the name of the person he bought it from. If it was Johnny O then he'd surely know, especially if he was a motocrosser, he's not the sort of person you'd forget.

Currently it's a rusted through bike with bad parts and a cute story, except the story holds no water.
Why would one of the worlds best riders choose to borrow someone else's bike for two months when he would have had a choice of countless others, especially at the time when he was carefully maintaining a constant riding position with his road bike using high rise and drop bars.

Also surely a highly professional Tomac would have used all his sponsor parts: stem, forks, seatpost, rather than being seen on a bike with none of them. Sort of means that he would have stripped the bike to a bare frame and added his parts before breaking it down again and handing it back before the bike was rebuilt with the original parts again. Just sound like a bit of a stretch.

I'd vote for fixing it, building it properly and selling it on. It's got the basis of a really nice bike that stands on its own without the story.

The past owner told me all he could remember and being that it was so long ago his recollection was cloudy. I wish I knew more but everything I know is listed above. He was riding at the same track as the team rider and heard that the rider had a garage full of bikes he was selling.... this bike was one of those that he bought from the rider in 1990. He remembers Tomac's name because "it's a hard name to forget".

There is not solid facts that I have to back any of this up so that is why I am looking for any insight to help connect some dots. I don't think the rider was Johnny O', he even confirmed that. I have no idea and frankly it really doesn't matter at this point. What matters is what to do next. Have FTW cut out the tube and reweld another? Repaint and restore.... or leave as it and let the rust continue. The bike can't be ridden as is. Would you keep a car unrestored if you couldn't drive it as is? I don't have the bandwidth to tackle this restoration as needed so right now I am leaning towards parting it out and helping folks here complete projects.

 

[yeti_bomb]

Seriously cool bike. Hard call on what to do with it. I love the patina of the old paint but the rust is badnews. I think I would hang it up and tip a fat tire beer to it on the weekends.

 

[pete_mcc]

The past owner told me all he could remember and being that it was so long ago his recollection was cloudy. I wish I knew more but everything I know is listed above. He was riding at the same track as the team rider and heard that the rider had a garage full of bikes he was selling.... this bike was one of those that he bought from the rider in 1990. He remembers Tomac's name because "it's a hard name to forget".

I'm not doubting the original owner but if he was a MXer then O'Mara's name would be even harder to forget than Tomac's.

It could be one of these bikes here:

Russell "the muscle" Worley, Greg Dress, Aaron " drew blood" Cox, Rob Nilsen, Johnny O'Mara, Sue Fish, Mark Langton and Paul Thorsen.

This bike still deserves to be fixed, it's a cool frameset and the parts will find many happy homes if you part it out. I'd probably keep frame, forks, stem, bars, headset and seatpost together as they compliment each other perfectly and should sell for hundreds even as is

 

[theproscloset]

That's why I don't think it was O'mara..... however the last owner of the bike was racing motocross but just for fun. He doesn't remember much from that era as it was short lived for him. He just doesn't remember.... I don't blame him, 25 years is a long time and without any email history etc. He didn't know the moto guy personally. It was through the moto newsletter that he found out about the mtb for sale.

I have looked very closely at this photo trying to see who has their brake set up backwards. I can't tell.... can you?

 

[CTK]

Re:

Cool bike, I vote stick it on the wall for a year or 2 and see if anything more comes to light.

 

[theproscloset]

Re: Re:

Cool bike, I vote stick it on the wall for a year or 2 and see if anything more comes to light.

I am more of a "minimalist collector".... meaning I don't have anything hanging around for too long if it isn't dedicated to a project. We always joke around the shop not to leave anything laying around because it will get sold on eBay.

We are parting out the bike right now and will put our rust inspection scope camera down the tubes to see what we find. From there we will make the call.

As the bike sits right now it can never be ridden. If we find that we can replace a tube and get it back on the trail that is what I'll do. If it is shot then I'll part out the bike and sell the pieces off.

Stay tuned for what we find inside.

We are lucky enough to have Mosaic Cycles right next door to us. Some of the best welders in the business.

http://www.mosaiccycles.com/

These guys would bring the bike back to life if we end up going that route.

 

[theproscloset]

Re:

Yesterday we parted out the 86 Yeti and did some investigative work. It looks like it was hung on a garage wall for 20 years from the rear wheel leaving the water to pool near down to the headtube. The rest of the bike is super solid..... Mosaic cycles put a camera scope down it and there is no signs of rust anywhere else in the rest of the frame.

We are going to have Mosaic replace the downtube and get it back on the trail.

 

[Retro Spud]

Re: Re:

We are going to have Mosaic replace the downtube and get it back on the trail.

Fair play to yah, much has been written about your true reasons for being on here hopefully the doubters will take heart from your actions (perhaps not)

......that said don't get saving everything that darkens your door as I've bought hard to find parts off yah a number of times and appreciate your service(s)

 

[theproscloset]

Re: Re:

We are going to have Mosaic replace the downtube and get it back on the trail.

Fair play to yah, much has been written about your true reasons for being on here hopefully the doubters will take heart from your actions (perhaps not)

......that said don't get saving everything that darkens your door as I've bought hard to find parts off yah a number of times and appreciate your service(s)

Thanks man, I appreciate It. Time and actions speak for themselves.