Yeti started as a labor of love in 1985, when John Parker, a welder who built movie sets in Hollywood, bought some jigs and fixtures from a defunct bicycle factory and applied his craft to making mountain bike frames. His early days were spent honing his craft in the back of Matt Sweeney's special effects shop.

As an ex-midget car and motorcycle racer, Parker knew the only way to legitimize and test new products was to go racing. So he loaded up his frames in the first ever mountain bike team box van and went off to the races. The frames immediately found a cult following among the racers, who found the Yeti steel frames solid, neutral handling and fast as hell.