State of the Collection - December 2011

Complete bikes:

1989-90 Yeti C-26
1991 Yeti Ultimate
1993 Slingshot
1993 Trek 7000
1993-94 3D Racing Rover
1994 Ted Wotjik Softrac
1994 Kona Lava Dome
1994-95 Yeti ARC

Frames:

1993 Klein Attitude
1990? Aegis Aro Svelte
1994 3D Racing Rover Ex-Team Frame
1992? Supergo Access XTR
1998 Fat Chance Yo Eddy Restomod

Modern:

2005 3D Racing Crossfire
2005 3D Racing Rover XC [w]
2009 Yeti ASR
2009 Yeti ASR [w]
2009 3D Racing Road-E [w]
2011 Orbea Orca GDR

1993-94 3D Racing Rover

in 1992 Chris Herting left Yeti Cycles in Durango to form 3D Racing. He continues to operate 3D to this day. I came across this frame in Durango and couldn't pass up a vintage 3D in my size. I struggled with build options for awhile, and ultimately I let the 1993 catalog pick it for me. You can see many Yeti ARC-like details with riveted cable guides and Easton varilite tubing. Very cool early nineties race machine.





Right when I was finishing up this bike, another Rover popped up locally on Craigslist. It was a former race frame from someone else I knew in Durango. Too big for me unfortunately, but its cool to have pairs!

1994-95 Yeti ARC

Team edition with HED wheels & blue Ringle. Pure mid-nineties race bike porn.

1991-92 Yeti Ultimate

No surprise to see this one in my garage. The classic Yeti Ultimate. One of the most recognizable frames to come out of the mid-nineties in a classic Yeti paint scheme. This thing is heavy and handles like a shopping cart. Its such a fun bike to ride. A

1993-94 Specialized S-Works Epic Ultimate

This is one of my favorite bike projects. Specialized had been doing the carbon/steel Epic thing since late 1989. In 1992 Specialized commissioned Merlin Metalworks to craft titanium lugs that could replace the steel ones to make it even lighter. I think this frame would have cost like $4,000 in 1994.

The frame was an ebay purchase in Vail, and amazingly the guy was kind enough to drive it all the way into Denver to my house. This was no garage queen, but it was in decent enough shape. This project originated as a weight weenie vintage bike that, while it ended up light enough, was never really that light. 20lbs I think it came out to with the rigid Direct Drive fork.

If you were building a bike from scratch, in 1994 this thing would have set you back a few years financially. Carbon and titanium everywhere. The lack of color anodized anything just makes this thin even cooler: a serious race machine.

95 Catalog photo:

1992 Klein Rascal

I was never a big Klein fan as a teen. For some reason they just weren't that prevalent in New England, and all the rumors I heard and magazine reviews I read said the same thing: pretty to look at, expensive, harsh, fragile, etc. I bought this on ebay mainly to flip, as stayed cheap yet came with some real nice parts. I ended up throwing some period-correct stuff on for just one ride. Pretty fun! I decided another Klein purchase was around the corner with an Attitude or Adroit.

This is also my first real example of the photo studio set up. I had yet to get the lighting results I wanted, but we all have to start somewhere.

1992 Grove Innovations X-Frame

This is the only bike to date that I'm embarrassed to have put effort towards. I was impatient in looking for a Ritchey fork for the Breezer and ended up getting the fork with this frame. I had some XC-Pro parts laying around and decided to see how it rode. It actually handles nicely but its heavy and ugly as sin. I ended up taking this to Keyesville as nothing else functioned at the time, and although it performed well, I regret "showing" it.

1994 Breezer Lightning

The blue Breezer Cloud 9 was the bike I wanted most when I was 14. The paint and clsasic parts selection just oozes class. As I couldn't find a Cloud 9, I had a Lightning repainted with the color scheme. I was waiting to fall in love with this bike, but I never did. It still made for some nice photos though.





This was also featured in the 2010 Privateer article. The photo took up two pages!

1998 Fat Chance Yo Eddy! Restomod Project

This was an interesting project that took almost three years to complete cradle to grave. By 98 the Yo Eddy frames were designed around an 80mm suspension fork and had more "modern" details like a threaded bottom bracket and 1 1/8 headtube. I wanted a vintage bike on which I could thrash, so I had this frame retrofitted with disc tabs and had Rody at GroovyCycleworks (the chief Fat restorer) mix up some team lavender paint. To this day the lavender paint is still one of my all time favorites.

As purchased:







This was no garage queen







This was my main rider for about a year. Sadly, the wet paint just doesn't hold up like powder, and this is currently de-commissioned and in need of a serious round of touch up paint.

1991 Fat Chance Yo Eddy!

I happened to come across this frame from another former Fat employee from the Saratoga Springs factory, who had collected this Mass-built bike from the factory without paint. It was the first small I had found with the original Yo fork. I thought I'd try a local powder coater and experiment with the Grello paint job. That particular paint is very hard to reproduce because none were alike, and it took the special touch of the painter to get it "right." This result came amazingly close for a powder.





This was also the first bike I completed after the move from Durango the suburbs of Denver.



This photo was featured in a 2010 issue of the British magazine Privateer.




Sold to a friend. It wouldn't be my last Yo though.

1994 Ted Wojcik Softtrac FS

A frame I bought simply because I was interested in AMP bikes at the time, and I have a [very] loose connection with Ted Wojcik as we're both from NH and I've met him at several races. Pretty simple early-90's design with period parts. I was able to ride this a few times before donating it to my father for his 60th birthday. Heavier riders would say it was too flexy, but I thought it compared to my modern FS bike in terms of bump compliance and pedal bob. Plus it has that Ted Wojcik class. I'm glad this bike is still in my family.

This was also the time I got a real camera and began taking more professional looking bike photos. Much nicer

1986-87 Yeti "Yak"

Another really cool vintage California Yeti. The "Yak" was simply a FRO with a third bottle mount and rack eyelets for touring. I've only seen one other Yak and it also happened to be a 16".

This had an early serial number in the 100s, which makes no sense since they supposedly started around 300 something to pay tribute to some motorcycle. Either way, it was a very early Yeti that belonged to former pro motocross and track racer Walt Axthelm of Durango, and it made it all the way to Alabama before it turned up for sale. I took the classic Yeti turquoise and threw in a twist with the white panels. I was pretty stoked on this bike and regret selling it. Nothing rides like a classic Yeti, and this 30lb beast took me to victory in the 2009 Keyesville Classic Vintage MTB race.





This time I made sure to get the proper front derailleur



Original Yeti fork with eyelets. So cool!

1994 Schwinn Homegrown - Ruthie Matthes Tribute

I found this locally from another bike nut. A 1994 Schwinn prototype frame welded by either Chris Herting or Frank the Welder for pro racer and former world champion Ruthie Matthes. Schwinn was about to break out into the high-end race frame market and sponsored the Evian Water team for that year. These frames preceded the production "Homegrown" bikes by a year and have many Yeti ARC-esque details. Stupid light too at just under 3 lbs. Complete bike with Rock Shox Mag21 SLTi and M900 was around 21lbs.







I took this photo in 1994 at Mount Snow. Racing this very bike?





On a neat little sidenote, I rode this bike on the day of my wedding: