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Yeti Prototype: 30 ...what tha...? - From 2008 Sea Otter -

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
Yeti gets weird.... REALLY weird:















...so I want to call it the "303-7" but I know this is just a proto variant.

I feel like I just saw the Loch Ness Monster.

Any ideas?
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
7th iteration of the 303 in prototype phase. Should be interesting to see where they take it and to hear why they are changing it up. What do they feel the new design can accomplish that the old one couldn't; etc.
 

DirtyDog

Gang probed by the Golden Banana
Aug 2, 2005
6,598
0
7th iteration of the 303 in prototype phase. Should be interesting to see where they take it and to hear why they are changing it up. What do they feel the new design can accomplish that the old one couldn't; etc.
You send me my right column, quit avoiding my IM's, or I'm going to fly up there and smash your nuts with a ball peen hammer.
 

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
That's what I thought, but wasn't sure...

Man... never seen anything like that before... what's the deal with that enclosed swing-link thing?

Thanks for the info Fras!
 

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
OK - I just figured it out:

The WHOLE swing-arm moves up and down vertically w/ the aid of the linkage at the rear - the center of the swing-arm cradles the shock but the "swing-arm" is only connected to the bike at: the rear linkage, (EDIT: the vertical rail...) and the front swing-link...



Man that's nuts... very different. Wonder how it feels.
 

yesimaddicted

Monkey
Apr 28, 2007
824
0
centeral Euroland via CA
here is another shot i took of it too

the front pivto moves up but DOES NOT hit the the frame. it was intresting to see and hear about how many parts are cnc'd and then welded on.

another angle of back railing


the yeti man that i talked too said that both pro racers like the feel of it alot but have not gotten enough ride time on it to feel confident racing it
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
The swingarm moves vertically and the front slider thingy creates the axle path. No idea how they will keep it form wearing and being noisy etc. Looks like it is aluminum on aluminum right now.
 
Apr 16, 2006
392
0
Golden, CO
I think it keeps the rail for shock rate management, and uses the swing link/linkage to save weight over the rail and carrier system used on the current 303. they prolly relized that they can attain the same wheel path as the regular 303 by replacing a rail with a linkage, and maybe this is that in physical form. Of course the shock rate will differ a little bit by replacing the rail with a linkage, but they can change it to be preferable.

Quick Q to anyone in the know, to attain the IC of this design, is it the intersection of a perp line to the rail/slider position, and regular line through pivots of the linkage?
 

ThePriceSeliger

Mushhead
Mar 31, 2004
4,860
0
Denver, Colorado
The bar slides in the curved groove and pivots around the shuttle on the rails. It tunes the rear axle path. Seems insanely complicated to me.
That's what I thought, but since it's Al on Al, I needed to clairfy. Seems complicated and super expensive. All the CNC'ing on it would cost out the ass if an average joe wanted one.
 
Apr 16, 2006
392
0
Golden, CO
Okay smarty pants explain this to me.

simple the guy standing in the back, is talking to the other guy with long cycling socks on about the current election.

@ Transcend - is that the information Yeti said about the operation of the frame? If you talked to them did they mention if the linkage design on the front is lighter than a rail and slider setup?
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
simple the guy standing in the back, is talking to the other guy with long cycling socks on about the current election.

@ Transcend - is that the information Yeti said about the operation of the frame? If you talked to them did they mention if the linkage design on the front is lighter than a rail and slider setup?
Didn't ask anyone. Checked the frame out and saw the rear end moving a bit when it was lifted off the stand and put on ground at one point.
 

General Lee

Turbo Monkey
Oct 16, 2003
2,860
0
The 802
This makes the folks over at Orange look more ingenious every day:crazy:

I think I finally figured out where Yeti gets their inspiration:
 

TomBo

Monkey
Jan 13, 2004
300
0
Calgary,Alberta
Looks like fun.

Well fun for the machinist in me.

For the rider / consumer side of things... hmm. It will take a bit of explaining and a bunch of time. To prove the concept, functionally, cost and durability.

I ride a Morewood...
 

ChrisKring

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
2,399
6
Grand Haven, MI
The swingarm moves vertically and the front slider thingy creates the axle path. No idea how they will keep it form wearing and being noisy etc. Looks like it is aluminum on aluminum right now.
I think the curved slot is just clearance for the shaft that connects the swingarm to the short rocker. I can't tell what is going on with the rear linkages with the pictures attached in this thread.
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
I think the curved slot is just clearance for the shaft that connects the swingarm to the short rocker. I can't tell what is going on with the rear linkages with the pictures attached in this thread.
Ya to be clear, the bar doesn't seem to touch the slot in the DT, why it is there is beyond me besides the fact that it may need a stiffener? The linkage piece is what changes the axle path.

Sorry if my post seemed to insinuate that the piece in there actually carried a load or something.
 

vitox

Turbo Monkey
Sep 23, 2001
2,936
1
Santiago du Chili
Ya to be clear, the bar doesn't seem to touch the slot in the DT, why it is there is beyond me besides the fact that it may need a stiffener? The linkage piece is what changes the axle path.

Sorry if my post seemed to insinuate that the piece in there actually carried a load or something.
bingo

the slot and the thingy that goes through it, are only there to add rigidity as far as i can see.

that means that yet has now:
made a bike with rails instead of links, then realized they needed a linkage to stiffen that up (current 303 has a stiffening link not present in the first drawings), then redesigned the bike completely to avoid one of the rails, only to find it also needed stiffening so now they make a rail to stiffen the links again...

maybe next year they invent pivots, with bearings, and links!! thatd be news.


more seriously, its great to see them doing their thing, for all i know they could be onto something only im too dumb too see, for now.
 

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
vitox, i dont think they did that to try and work away from having a scissors link. more likely they are trying to design a similar bike to the 303 with only one rail.

if they could stiffen up the structure between the link and the rail enough, they will be able to get rid of the sissors link. they probably put it in just so that they wont have to worry about it not working as they want focus on the axle paths and levarage ratios first.

Or to do what the 303 cant do, have the second 'rail' with a curved path.

straight rails can be looked as links with an infinitely large radius. but since bikes work with small angles, can be modeled very closely with longer links.


i am definitely excited to see the future refinements.
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
Quick Q to anyone in the know, to attain the IC of this design, is it the intersection of a perp line to the rail/slider position, and regular line through pivots of the linkage?
Yep, exactly that. IC movement should look something like a V10 in the middle part of the travel, but further forward earlier on, and somewhat higher in the later part of the travel.

Looks like a relatively poor execution of link positioning to me though. Seems like a lot of hassle to get a setup you could have achieved with much more conventional (read: cheaper, stiffer, lighter) means. Not that the original 303 was any different, but good on them for actually looking at new ideas.
 

JohnnyC

Monkey
Feb 10, 2006
399
1
Rotorua, New Zealand
Looks easier to work on than the current 303, replacing some parts in the current one can be seriously not fun. It'll be good to see if it rides as good as the present bike but in a much simpler package
 
Apr 16, 2006
392
0
Golden, CO
Yep, exactly that. IC movement should look something like a V10 in the middle part of the travel, but further forward earlier on, and somewhat higher in the later part of the travel.
Yea i was gonna say it looks like it will have a similar IC path to a v10, but with the path will dip up at the end vs dip down.

I counted the bearings to be something like 12 bearings, 13 if you count the rail slider, which is kinda an integral part lol. And i thought 10 were bad on my bike haha.
 

profro

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2002
5,617
314
Walden Ridge
bingo


that means that yet has now:
made a bike with rails instead of links, then realized they needed a linkage to stiffen that up (current 303 has a stiffening link not present in the first drawings), then redesigned the bike completely to avoid one of the rails, only to find it also needed stiffening so now they make a rail to stiffen the links again...

maybe next year they invent pivots, with bearings, and links!! thatd be news.
Awesome.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
I spoke to one of the guys at Yeti about this bike and had a chance to sit on it and bounce around. He might have been bending the truth but he said it is NOT a newer version of the 303 but rather a completely different bike for less gnarly courses than the 303. (Lighter, less travel, etc.) I am pretty sure he said they use "303" for all DH bikes or something. He admitted the code name is confusing. Said the racers really like how it feels.

The forward/upper link helps limit chain growth despite the use of a high forward pivot. It was fairly easy to see how it would do that when you could sit on it and see it move, but if you look at how it moves in an upward curve you might be able to imagine how it would change the rotation to limit growth. Not sure how much it minimizes the rearward axle path but it seems it would need to if if minimizes growth. It is surely a very complex mousetrap but very impressive work for sure.

I'd want to get it out for real ride before reaching a verdict, but in any case I think it's cool that they are being pretty open and public with the rail experiments/protos. I got the impression that they are not committed to going in this direction.