The Silverfish/Yeti Cycles booth at CoreBike2017 was awash with swoopy carbon-framed bikes in the modern style. There was the whole range of bikes from the trail-friendly SB5 to the more enduro-y SB6 (and no, despite Richie Rude’s Instagramming, there’s apparently no plan for a DH bike).
There was also the 29er ‘Point 5’ versions of these machines – the SB4.5 and SB5.5 – and even the new plus bike, but there was one machine that drew gasps of amazement from the old hands and blank stares from the Saturday lads. It was Myles Rockwell’s 1993 Kamikaze, Reebok Eliminator Yeti, complete with battle scars and that 64T Paragon Machineworks chainring.
The beautifully well preserved bike is still fitted with a Retrobike explosion of components; Grafton Speedstix cranks, Ringlé hubs, IRC tyres, XTR front and rear mechs. No, we don’t reckon that mech will make the shift either, but it served to help keep the chain on and we imagine the bike was used with a more conventional triple range. The huge A-Tac stem is of its time, as is the untapered 1 1/4in steerer on the Answer Manitou forks. And are those SRAM X-Ray shifters? Nice!
Here’s a short moment of the bike being ridden to victory in the 1993 Reebok Eliminator. Although Myles beat a young Jason McRoy (from ‘Scotland’ apparently) it propelled JMC into the international limelight and helped him become a pro rider and the first international mountain bike team signing for a UK rider. Plus there’s a video of the retro Yeti A.R.C below.
https://youtu.be/RSsdsfGY4BI
Can’t see it? Here’s the link.
