titanium mountain bike mongoose bike serial number

Russ’ early race bike has been lost to history and so these photos are about the only evidence it ever existed. One other thing to note is that this bike lacks any serial number. FTW once told me that early on they could not get any brake bosses and ended up buying Dia Compe brakes that came with bosses, used the bosses and threw away the brakes. The one unique thing are the brake bosses which don’t look like anything else I’ve seen on any Yeti. The fork is essentially the same as a Yeti fork, the legs are XX OD (vs YY OD on Yeti forks), dropouts are Campagnolo and the steerer is BMX style, just like early Yetis.

This type of decal was only found on a few very early Yetis and later on made a short lived comeback around 89/90. Here is a photo of the original down tube decal.

The original owner removed the stickers hoping that it would help prevent the bike from getting stolen. Originally this bike had a black and white ice axe decal on the down tube and a first generation Yetiman on the head tube. The cranks were loaned to John for testing and fearing that Shimano would ask for them back he painted them red to match the frame. The drivetrains is comprised of Campagnolo front and rear derailleurs, Simplex shifters with Shimano FC-6206 triple cranks running a Shimano Freewheel on Bullseye wheels. John ended up scrounging through whatever parts bins he could get his hands on to build this bike. Sourcing components was also a challenge. It is because of this that the early bikes didn’t have what would become the landmark oval top tubes seen on Yetis for years to come. However, Phil Wood was unwilling, at first, to make custom tubing for John. John wasn’t happy with the oval tubes used by Sweetheart and had his own ideas regarding the profile he wanted to us. Among those companies that were trying to collect on Bob’s past due payments were Phil Wood. According to John, when he took over Sweetheart Cycles he inherited a lot of bad credit left behind in Bicycle Bob’s trail.

Titanium mountain bike mongoose bike serial number