Yeti Cycles is an American bicycle manufacturer located in

Golden, Colorado Golden is a home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States Census. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the base of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountai ...

Early history

Yeti Cycles was founded in 1985 by John Parker in California, when mountain biking was gaining in popularity. Parker was a welder who built movie sets in Hollywood and later became a mountain bike designer and racer. Becoming one of the sport’s guardians, he was inducted into the

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (MBHOF) was founded in 1988 to chronicle the history of mountain biking. Formerly located in Crested Butte, Colorado, it relocated to Fairfax, California in 2014 and became part of the Marin Museum of Bicycling. S ...

in 1997, and a trustee of

NORBA Norba, an ancient town of Latium (''Adjectum''), Italy. It is situated 1 mile northwest of the modern town of Norma, on the western edge of the Volscian Mountains or Monti Lepini. The town is perched above a precipitous cliff with a splendid v ...

Board of Directors for five years. The first mountain bike World Championships took place in Durango, Colorado in 1990 and the next year Parker moved the Yeti Cycles factory from California to Durango to be closer to the action. The company made a range of mountain bikes, but were best known at the time for their iconic turquoise colored FRO (For Racing Only) models. Early sponsored riders included John Tomac, and

Juli Furtado Juliana "Juli" Furtado (born April 4, 1967 in New York City) is a retired American professional mountain biker, who began her sports career in skiing. After knee injuries dashed her hopes of ski success, she took up cycling and won the US Nation ...

. In 1995,

Schwinn The Schwinn Bicycle Company is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets bicycles under the eponymous brand name. The company was originally founded by Ignaz Schwinn (1860–1948) in Chicago in 1895. It became the dominant manuf ...

bought Yeti Cycles company and later sold it to ski company Volant in 1999 (now part of

Amer Sports Amer Sports Oyj is a Finnish sporting goods retailer and holding company overseeing equipment brands Salomon, Arc'teryx, Peak Performance, Atomic, Suunto, Wilson, Armada, ENVE Composites, Louisville Slugger, DeMarini, and Sports Tracker.

Revival

In 2001, two Yeti employees, Steve Hoogendoorn and Chris Conroy, bought the company."From The Top: Yeti Cycles' President Chris Conroy"
May 2014, Mike Kazimer, pinkbike.com Conroy is currently the president and Hoogendoorn the vice president of Yeti Cycles. The company headquarters is now located in

. Yeti Cycles competed in downhill mountain bike racing with the successful Lawwill DH-9 full-suspension

downhill bike A downhill bike (also known as a downhill mountain bike) is a full suspension bicycle designed for downhill cycling on particularly steep, technical trails. Unlike a typical mountain bike, durability and stability are the most important desig ...

, developed by former motorcycle champion,

Mert Lawwill Mert Lawwill (Born September 25, 1940) is an American professional motorcycle racer, race team owner and mountain bike designer. He competed in the AMA Grand National Championship from 1962 to 1977. Lawwill is notable for winning the 1969 AMA Gra ...

. Yeti has a patented suspension system that they call ZeroLoss Technology or linear guide technology. The suspension system consists of two gliding pivots. The wheel path follows the direction of the impact so it transfers directly into the mountain bike suspension system and goes into the shock rather than flexing the frame. More recently, Yeti has patented a new suspension design called Switch Technology, which is basically a dual-link design that utilizes an eccentric mechanism that switches direction as the bike moves through its travel. This type of suspension is found on their 2012-2014 era mountain bikes, the SB-66, SB-75 and the SB-95. In 2014, Yeti introduced a refinement to the Switch Technology, dubbed Switch Infinity. This patented design was developed along with

Fox Racing Shox Fox Factory Holding Corp. is an American company best known for their Fox Racing Shox brand of off-road racing suspension components. History In 1974, Bob Fox ran a small business distributing suspension components for motocross bikes with his ...

and involves a 'translating pivot' which is said to improve the bike's rearward axle path. This rear suspension design change has been used on Yeti dual-suspension models, including the SB5, SB4.5, SB6, SB5.5, SB100, SB115, SB130, SB140, SB150 and SB165. Women specific bikes were introduced in 2015. Yeti Beti caters to women with smaller sized frames and lower standover height. These models have since been discontinued after the 2019 season. Current Yeti/FOX Factory riders include Richie Rude, Duncan Nason, Shawn Neer and Jubal Davis. Yeti is also represented by a number of athletes and ambassadors throughout the world.

References

External links

* {{Sports equipment brands Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1985 Cycle manufacturers of the United States 1985 establishments in Colorado Mountain bike manufacturers