2002 Moots YBB Mountain Bike
2002 Moots YBB Air
While not the very first mountain bike brand out there, Moots certainly can be called one of the “originals”.
Founded in 1981 by Kent Eriksen, the little Steamboat Springs bike company (that was named after Kent’s alligator-shaped pencil-top eraser Mr. Moots) has always led with great ideas and solid craftsmanship.
Back in the ’80’s, Moots was known as a fun custom shop that specialized in off-road frames, handlebars and stems. In 1983 Steve Tilford raced a Moots mountain bike to victory at the very first NORBA national championship and gave the creative brand instant racing credibility. In 1985 Moots came up with the first set of bar-ends for flat mountain bike handlebars. 1n 1987 Moots unveiled the YBB suspension seen here, and in 1991 they introduced their first titanium bike.
Mr. Moots Alligator head tube badge
The YBB Air soft-tail
This is a Moots YBB mountain bike from 2002.
The YBB (Why Be Beat) design is a signature style for Moots. In the 25 years or so that the YBB has been around the pivotless soft-tail has become one of the most copied suspension designs in the bike world. This variation, the YBB Air, utilizes a Rock Shox air canister to give the rider control over the spring rate and rebound characteristics of the rear end, managing the admittedly subtle single inch of rear travel.
Custom Sid fork
XTR all around
Joe Breeze designed dropouts
The front end of this bike features a custom Rock Shox Sid World Cup suspension fork. Hercules Castro, a friend of ours at Rockshox, built this fork out of the random ingredients lying around the office (in one of the Rockshox desx?). It has a carbon fiber crown and steerer, super light 28mm sliders with an experimental coating, white magnesium lowers and a prototype remote switch.
Shimano would be proud of the components bolted to this Moots. There are four generations of XTR parts working together. There ‘s the early generation XTR 950 hubs, the 960 brake levers, the 980 generation drivetrain and the 970 V-brakes that bring everything to a stop.