[chazz michael michaels]

I hope this thread isn't sacreligious to all you diehards in the Yeti nation. I've always wanted a hardtail with 26" wheels and a roadie drivetrain, and then one day I walked in to the garage and was rummaging through the parts bin and it dawned on me that I had just about all the parts I needed and my Arc frame was on the wall in the house, and so it came to be a new project was born.
This bike is an absolute blast to ride. Hope you like it.....

 

[bikebruzz]

Old school! Very nice, love it!

 

[pieterp]

The Specialized bottle cage is sacriligious. The rest is very cool.

 

[crisillo]

awesome indeed! :thumbsup

 

[zenboy99]

That is awesome! What a cool, unique looking bike. I'm very jealous. That would be a great cyclocross bike on a muddy course.

Kind of reminds me of Dave Zabriske's Niner

 

[all-yeti!]

man that looks like a TON of fun!

 

[Blackjd1]

Sweet ride.

 

[GreenBonty]

Looks light and fast!.
I'm trying to imagine how stable the bike will be on a trail and find out I have no idea. Is this set up best for training?, or it's the better fit for some trails?.\Enjoy!

 

[antonio]

Cool!

Like GB, I'd like to know where/when you ride it?

 

[chazz michael michaels]

Thanks so much for all the kind comments- glad you guys like it!
It is such a fun bike to ride...it handles exceptionally well, and climbs even better than I had imagined. I haven't taken it on any real hairy technical single track, and honestly it probably won''t see much heavy trail use. My commute to work is a mixture of gravel paths, dirt trails, bike paths, and open road, so it was mostly designed to handle those moderate conditions. I also plan to use it in a weekly cyclocross series we have. It is just one of those go anywhere, do anything style of bikes. It handles like a road bike, but I can really throw it around and be sloppy and hit bumps and responds really well, so it's just a fun time every time I take it out.

 

[Big Jim Mac]

Would be a great commuter.

 

[Motivated]

Do you think a road (i.e. 700c) wheel/tire would fit in the rear?

 

[chazz michael michaels]

Motivated, A 700c and road style tire should fit okay, but I'm not sure if any big tires will work. I'll check it out when I get home from work and get back to you.

 

[Motivated]

If so, the ARC could be used with 700c cyclocross tires - making it a bit more road focused version of what you have created. If the tires fit, then the geometry would not be changed much compared to high volume 26"ers.

 

[dvo1]

Just for an example.

 

[chazz michael michaels]

Nice bike, dvo1.

I like running the mtb wheels- they are just fun to ride, but I did build this bike with wheel diversity in mind. I've got some 650b wheels on order and plan to experiment 650b tire setups. And when cross season rolls around later this year, Imay end up running some 700c wheels for dry courses.

 

[Motivated]

Great info. If I buy another bike it will be an ARC setup similar to yours. I like a light, fast, versatile and strong bike and I think that is what you have. I believe I'd go with different wheels as I like the option of tubeless (stan's rims) and your radial lacing in front also scares me with disc brakes.

 

[nikoli8]

What shifters did u use for franken yeti...

 

[Rhino-x]

CX wheels in a YETI ARC work very well...

http://thechargingrhino.blogspot.com/2010/07/equations.html

I think I could 'almost' get 38mm into the rear of my frame (size large)