Juli Furtado hasn't raced this steel Yeti FRO in 25 years but if you cock your ears just right, you can almost still hear the roar of the crowd - James Huang / Immediate Media
Yeti's trademark looped stays, here formed from steel tubing from famed builder Chris Herting - James Huang / Immediate Media
The chainstay loop actually carries all the way around the front of the wheel, joining to the bottom bracket shell with a short piece of flattened tubing - James Huang / Immediate Media
The fabled Campagnolo Euclid mountain bike cranks, in the flesh. And yes, clearly there's been a little chainsuck - James Huang / Immediate Media
Up front is a Campagnolo Euclid headset. Note the right-side cable routing, too - James Huang / Immediate Media
The stock seatpost collar was milled down to save weight - James Huang / Immediate Media
It's essentially unheard of to see three chainrings on top cross-country bikes these days, let alone ones this big - James Huang / Immediate Media
The Campagnolo Euclid rear derailleur is a beautiful piece of kit but like the rest of the groupset, it unfortunately also didn't work that well - James Huang / Immediate Media
The Campagnolo Euclid brake calipers had a wide profile to help generate more power - James Huang / Immediate Media
Answer Hyperlite bars and the matching A-TAC stem were standard issue on top-shelf bikes of the era - James Huang / Immediate Media
The simple cage shaping may not have yielded the fastest front shifting but it's a beautiful looking piece of hardware nonetheless - James Huang / Immediate Media
Both of the Blackburn MTB bottle cages were mounted on the down tube - James Huang / Immediate Media
The Accu-Trax unicrown fork was well known for its steering precision - James Huang / Immediate Media
The Onza welded titanium bar ends even still have their rubber clamp covers intact - James Huang / Immediate Media
This image is so chock-full of retro goodness that it hurts: between the Campagnolo Centaur brake levers and shifters, Onza titanium bar ends, Answer Hyperlite bars, "Designed by John Tomac" ODI grips, and period-correct neon yellow 6mm brake housing, it's like 1990 all over again - James Huang / Immediate Media
Yeti doesn't use this head tube logo any longer, which is a bit of a shame since it's awesome - James Huang / Immediate Media
The Campagnolo Euclid hubs feature grease ports in the body for easy bearing overhauls - James Huang / Immediate Media
This bit surely isn't easy to come by - James Huang / Immediate Media
A Selle Italia Lady Turbo saddle is mounted to a chromoly Campagnolo Euclid seatpost - James Huang / Immediate Media
Specialized GX26 rims were among the best available back in the day. Note the grommet stepping down the Schrader-sized hole for the smaller Presta valve - James Huang / Immediate Media
The frame was in rough shape when Mike Wilk found it. Most notably, there was a major crack in the seat tube but Wilk was actually able to have Chris Herting himself (who built the frame for Juli Furtado back in 1990) do the repair - James Huang / Immediate Media
The rear Specialized Ground Control Extreme tire has clearly seen some heavy braking - James Huang / Immediate Media
This tire is in better condition than some people this age! - James Huang / Immediate Media
While modern cassette systems are designed with individual 'gates' for down- and upshifting, Sachs instead shaped every tooth on its ARIS freewheel to help move the chain back and forth - James Huang / Immediate Media
The Answer A-TAC stem is an icon of the period. This one isn't quite correct, though, as bar clamps on team-issued stems were aggressive milled through to help save a few grams - James Huang / Immediate Media
Although Accu-Trax forks are more commonly associated with Answer, the design actually came from Yeti. Do a bit of searching and you can find some fun memories from legendary frame builder Frank "The Welder" Wadelton, who was pivotal in Yeti back in the day - James Huang / Immediate Media
Perhaps a bit sadly, these days more people might be better acquainted with Eli Tomac instead of his father, John - one of the biggest icons of mountain bike history - James Huang / Immediate Media
How many people can claim that their frame is personalized with weld bead? There's no serial number required here - James Huang / Immediate Media
Juli Furtado's professional mountain bike career may have spanned just five years but what a five years it was. She was the world champion in 1990, she won three UCI World Cup overall titles, and scored an unprecedented twelve straight World Cup wins before she was diagnosed with lupus in 1997. While her racing days are now long over, her 1990 Yeti FRO proudly lives on.
The story of how this restoration came to be isn't just one of chance. As a long-time resident of Yeti's former base in Durango, Colorado, vintage mountain bike specialist Mike Wilk was painfully familiar with the tortuous route many significant Yetis have taken over time and says that he'd been actively looking for it for two years.
"I was interviewing people, looking in garages, talking to everyone I could," he said. "I knew it was out there but just couldn't find it. This dude popped up on one of the retro internet boards with a question about a newer [Yeti] ARC. I clicked on one of his Photobucket image links and there was a picture of a bottom bracket with the 'J.F.!' on it. I was like, 'holy shit'."
How many people can claim that their frame is personalized with weld bead? there's no serial number required here
This was all restoration expert Mike Wilk needed to see
After more than a year of back-and-forth communication, Wilk and the owner were finally able to broker an amicable deal during a face-to-face meeting in Moab, Utah and then he was off to the races.
As it turned out, though, acquiring the frame itself was one of the easiest parts of the restoration. From there, Wilk not only still had to find out (with a high degree of certainty) what components were on the frame but he had to physically get them, too. Like many athletes, Furtado herself wasn't much help, either, as she was focused much more at the time on the engine, not what she was riding.
Yeti's trademark looped stays, here formed from steel tubing from famed builder chris herting
The entire rear end on old Yeti FRO frames was made from one continuous piece of 4130 chromoly steel
"There was only one photo of this bike," Wilk said. "It was really bad, and it wasn't even a driveside photo. I knew it was Campy, and they only had two groups in the early 1990s. After I started interviewing people, I learned that she ran a mix of each component group. I talked to Tracy Wilde, who lives here in town, and she was helpful. Then I talked with Chuck Texeira, who was the Easton engineer at the time and the team mechanic at worlds. He came up with a driveside shot from his own photos and I was finally able to piece it all together."
"The brakes were really hard to find. I got them straight from Italy from some seller who had a bunch of old Campy off-road stuff in his house. I expected to be able to just find a donor bike and pay a lot for it but I had to buy each part individually – and it was a real pain in the ass."
Wilk finally finished the project eight months after getting the frame in hand. While many would find no small amount of pride and satisfaction in such a feat, for Wilk it's almost a bit of a buzzkill.
Yeti doesn't use this head tube logo any longer, which is a bit of a shame since it's awesome
The fantastic head tube decal on Juli Furtado's old Yeti FRO
"The team bikes, the real special stuff is always more rewarding than just any old bike so I'm always on the lookout. There's so much out there that hasn't been found. Finding the bikes is more fun for me than doing the restorations. The finished product is awesome but it's the journey, not the destination. Honestly, it's disappointing when it's done."
Juli furtado hasn't raced this steel yeti fro in 25 years but if you cock your ears just right, you can almost still hear the roar of the crowd
Special thanks to Mike Wilk and the folks at The Pro's Closet, who will soon open up a museum of noteworthy vintage bikes at their headquarters in Boulder, Colorado.
Juli furtado looks fondly back at her racing career - and her old yeti
Complete bike specifications
Frame: 1990 Yeti FRO, custom built by Chris Herting for Juli Furtado
Fork: Answer Accu-Trax, 1 1/4in threaded steerer
Headset: Campagnolo Euclid, 1 1/4in threaded
Stem: Answer A-TAC, 135mm x 15° with 1 1/4in quill
Handlebars: Answer Hyperlite, 580mm, w/ Onza titanium bar ends
Grips: ODI Attack
Front brake: Campagnolo Euclid
Rear brake: Campagnolo Euclid
Brake levers: Campagnolo Centaur
Front derailleur: Campagnolo Euclid
Rear derailleur: Campagnolo Euclid
Shift levers: Campagnolo Centaur
Freewheel: Sachs ARIS 7-speed, 13-28T
Chain: Sedisport
Crankset: Campagnolo Euclid, 170mm, 26/36/46T
Bottom bracket: Campagnolo Euclid
Rims: Specialized GX26, 36h
Spokes: Wheelsmith stainless steel, 3x
Front tire: Specialized Ground Control, 26 x 1.95in
Rear tire: Specialized Ground Control Extreme, 26 x 1.95in
James Huang is BikeRadar's former technical editor. After leaving BikeRadar in 2016, he worked at CyclingTips and Escape Collective. He now runs the Substack cycling publication N-1 Bikes.
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