Yeti ARC AS – Missy Giove’s 1992 Kamikaze race frame!

Yeti Cycles have long had a following, quite unlike any other brand – and their older bikes have become collectors editions.

We recently had a good look at this stunning Yeti ARC AS,  which dates back to 1992 when the frame used to belong to non other than MTB icon Missy Giove…

Photo | Pete Drew

The Yeti ARC AS was actually a 1993 production bike, but Missy and team mate Jimmy Deaton rode these prototypes back in 1992. That same year, they both won the legendary Kamikaze DH and both set course records!

Missy clocked 53.5mph on this very frame – and it still bears her name decal on the top tube.

Although the classic Yeti blue is what most Yeti fans salivate over, for us it’s this grey, blue and anodised purple combination that gets us all clammy handed. It’s stunning! Photo | Pete Drew

The front of this awesome Yeti ARC AS is bang on point – the right amount of anodised purple and Yeti blue rarity! Photo | Pete Drew

Now owned by Andrew Palmer – the man behind Yetifan  – this awesome Yeti ARC AS has been rebuilt as best as possible with period components, and as near as possible to what Missy raced back in 1992.  The only one thing that looks visibly different is the lack of Tioga Disc Drive rear wheel that Missy used to often race with – though we prefer the Ringle Bubba hubs any day!

Like many bikes of this period, this Missy replica Yeti ARC AS features Onza bar ends – these particular ones are ski-bends, and are of course purple anodised.

The stem is a Team Yeti FTW (Frank The Welder) stem, complete with milled out top and milled clamp hole – and it’s custom painted in Yeti blue. The bars are answer Hyperlite, which measured in at 580mm – not a lot of working space, especially with the bar ends in place!

Up front there could only be one set of handlebar grips – the awesome old Yeti ODI grips, which although a little tough at first always bedded in amazingly.

Keeping speed under control on the Yeti ARC AS are a set of purple anodised cantilever brakes – we’re fairly sure they are Critical Racing as they always had a lower profile rear design, and a wider stance front unit – as opposed to Grafton Mag Lites, which were low profile front and rear. Either way – they are another iconic bit of kit from the early 90’s.

This particular Yeti ARC AS has the lovely looking Manitou 2 fork on it, which features chromoly stanchion tubes and is elastomer sprung. It’s still one of the nicest looking fork designs out there!

Photo | Pete Drew

As with all bikes of this era, the Yeti ARC AS features the stunning Ringle H20 bottle cage – probably the best looking bottle cage ever made! Even the DH racers like Missy used to use them – not that you needed a bottle cage for downhill racing. Eagle eyes amongst you will be probably have spotted the IRC Yeti FRO tyres too – this bike has all the details!

The Yeti ARC AS (active suspension) frame design was really simple – a low pivot behind the bottom bracket shell, a seat stay mounted pivot and an inline shock mounted on the end of the seat stays. Yeto offered two shocks with this frame in 1993 – one was the Risse Air and Oil version, seen at the time as a state of the art bit of kit. The other was the Yeti/IRC elastomer rubber sprung option – which is the one Missy used to use.  Photo | Pete Drew

Shimano XTR had only just been introduced in 1992 as the race orientated groupset – so of course all the top riders ran the stunning looking 8 speed groupset. The Ringle Superbubba front hub still looks as stunning today as it did back then – and is of course in the obligatory anodised purple colour way. Photo | Pete Drew

When Missy raced the Kamikaze, she would have had a far bigger chainring than the stock Shimano units in the images here – more like a 58tooth, or much bigger!

Got to love a decent retro MTB. This Yeti ARC AS owned by Andrew from Yetifan.com is one of the nicest we’ve seen. Photo | Pete Drew

Below is a scan of a 1993 Yeti catalogue, featuring the Yeti ARC AS bike, and the details of this awesome bike.

Yeti 1993 catalogue

The classic Missy Giove shot that people know so well. Braided hair; cheeky grin and her dead piranha Gonzo on a bit of string round her neck. After a long road trip, she returned home to find Gonzo had jumped out his tank, and had dried out on the window sill, so naturally she punched a hole through him, and wore him round her neck! That’s just one of the many crazy things about Missy! Photo | Tom Moran

And here’s a cool little clip of Missy racing this very frame – at the Kamikaze in 1992!

What do you think of this retro Yeti ARC AS bike?

Have you got a retro MTB build worth showing off?

Let us know in the comments below and we might get in touch! 

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