Yeti Cycles
Yeti 575
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| Industry | Bicycle Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Successor | Schwinn purchased in 1995; Volant purchased in 1999; Chris Conroy and Steve Hoogendoorn purchased in 2001 |
| Founder | John Parker in 1985 |
| Headquarters | Golden, Colorado, United States |
| Products | ZeroLoss Technology (patented); Switch Technology (patented) |
| Website | http://www.yeticycles.com/ |
Yeti Cycles is an American bicycle manufacturer located in Golden, Colorado.
Yeti Cycles was founded in 1985 by John Parker, in California during the time when mountain biking was first getting started. Parker was a welder who built movie sets in Hollywood and later became a mountain bike designer and racer. He later became one of the sport’s guardians, inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1995, and a trustee of NORBA 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 Tinker Juarez, John Tomac, and Juli Furtado.
In 1995, Schwinn bought Yeti Cycles company and later sold it to ski company Volant in 1999.
In 2001, two Yeti employees, Steve Hoogendoorn and Chris Conroy, bought the company. Conroy is currently the president and Hoogendoorn the Vice President of Yeti Cycles. The factory is now located in Golden, Colorado.
Yeti Cycles competed in downhill mountain bike racing with the successful Lawwill DH-9 full-suspension downhill bike, developed by former motorcycle champion, Mert Lawwill. 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.
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