Wednesday, February 27, 2013

1993 Fat Chance Yo Eddy

For the second installment of the 2013 NAHBS bikes I'd like to present this 1993 Fat Chance Yo Eddy. This is a relative straightforward build approximating a catalog spec'd bike from that time period, the excitement here comes from the Grello paintjob. The drivetrain is all NOS 8-spd Suntour XC-PRO MD which just came out in 1993. All the bearings components (except the Chris King headset) are Grease Guard, right down to the pedals. Stem is Salsa, Sakae Bulge Ti bar and TCO seat post with a Flite Ti seat.

With the exception of the rear hub/cassette compatibility and accommodating a top pull front derailleur routing this was actually a pretty smooth build. I have several XC-PRO hubs and when building the wheels I picked the one with a 8-spd cassette not realizing that the axle was for some reason from a 7-spd setup. Consequently there was not enough clearance between the cassette and frame. After locating the correct axle in my Suntour bin I was able to remedy the problem. The previous owner of this bike used to be sponsored by Fat Chance and would periodically send his bike in for new paint and upgrades or modifications. Among those he added mounts for the Toothpic chain anti suck device and removed the mounting for the front derailleur pulley. I forgot to add a new mount for the pulley and only realized it too late. So I had to scrounge around for a top pull Suntour front derailleur which was not easy to locate. I finally managed to locate a 34.9 and installed it with some shims until the correct 31.8 shows up.














Monday, February 25, 2013

1993 Yeti ARC Team replica build

I'm finally able to catch my breath after a whirlwind weekend in Colorado and get a few pictures up of the three bikes I featured alongside Spectrum Powderworks at the 2013 NAHBS in Denver.


The bike was a huge hit, both spectators, media and the manufacturers came over to hang out at our booth and reminisce about the good ole days of brightly anodized parts and suspension with barely 1.5" of travel. It was a blast.


In my humble opinion this bike perfectly embodies the 1990s mountain bike explosion. The Yeti ARC is about the most iconic and recognizable image from magazine covers and posters from 1991-1996. I've said it before, but it bears repeating that many so many of the then racers who we now call legends raced for Yeti and many won on a bike just like this one. You simply can't talk about the golden age of mountain biking and not mention the Yeti ARC and simultaneously envision the sliding Yetiman gracing that huge 1 1/4" headtube (hoping it hasn't cracked yet.)



Of course where would Yeti be without the 3DV?? (that's 3D Violet for those of you who weren't there) Brands like Ringle, Grafton, Critical Racing and Answer Manitou is synonymous with big time racing in the early 90s. Tomac, Furtado, Juarez, Giove and all of the other greats had them, we all wanted them and this bike is dripping with all the requisite bits; Grafton brakes, levers, cranks, bottom bracket and shifter perches. Hubs, seatpost, skewers and the ever so popular Mojo "Peace Sign" brake straddle hangers courtesy of Ringle. Last but definitely not least a Chris King Evolution headset and the famous Onza Porcupine tires.




Team cut Answer ATAC stem and an Answer Hyperlite round out the cockpit.


You had to be there man!!


For anyone interested in this bike it will be displayed at the Pro's Closet bike shop in Boulder colorado. 

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Quick pics from NAHBS

Just a couple quick pics of the three bikes I had featured at this year's NAHBS

1990 Klein Attitude


1993 Fat Chance Yo Eddy


1993 Yeti ARC


Sunday, February 10, 2013

1992 Klein Attitude - Sunburst Linear Fade

I recently acquired this bike from a good friend planning to use it as a template for a batch of Attitudes I'm getting repainted in Sunburst. I had no idea just how nice this fuselage was going to be. The colors are extremely vidvid, with minimal fade. There are only a couple small nicks here and there. The most unfortunate thing is a couple spots of under paint corrosion around the bottom bracket and down tube cable exits, otherwise it's nearly perfect.











1994 13" Yeti ARC

Just another cool frame passing through... I only provided the decals and some anodizing help on this one and it's off to the UK tomorrow. I'm not sure how the rear brakes will be routed on this frame, maybe it's meant for V-brakes only, but there it no brake bridge. The rear end looks right, but the front end looks just a bit odd, I could barely fit the decals onto the downtube.







Tuesday, February 5, 2013

1986 Fat Chance Titanium

Every now and then I have the pleasure of working on something really special. At the moment I'm assisting a friend with some minor restoration work on this beautiful 1986 Fat Chance Titanium. This is the first ever Fat Ti bike welded by Gary Helfrich before he left Fat Chance to start Merlin. Arguably, this is the first ever Titanium mountain bike, who knows. The geometry is identical to the Team Comp right down to the box crown fork. Gary built the bike to showcase what he could do in Titanium and when Chris said it wasn't something he was ready to do Gary left and started Merlin. The rest as they say is history.

Since the bike is in such good shape I'm merely assisting with some build details and component selection. As I mentioned the frame was welded up in 86, but the bike was assembled in 87. So, the parts are a bit of a mixed bag of M730 XT and some other bits. Planned changes include Specialized yellow label Ground Control tires, M730 XT front brakes, older Turbo or Avocet Racing seat, maybe black M730 cranks (doubt it though), some adjustment to housing lengths and a general tune up.

More pics to come when it's finished.






Sunday, February 3, 2013

Restored 1990 Klein Attitude for NAHBS

This bike came to me as a frame with the orignal MC1 and a later model uniklein fork. Structurally the frame was in good shape but the paint was pretty rough, the MC1 was cut down and of course the fork was wrong I managed to find a nice box crown fork to replace the uniklein and happened to have a nice MC1 to complete the set. The frame was originally painted in the pink/white/green Team colors and so I chose that same color for the repaint.


This Klein will be displayed at this year's NAHBS along with the 93 ARC I started building a couple weeks ago and a 93 Fat Chance Yo Eddy I have yet to build. I probably could have made it more exciting by going with a Campagnolo build, but in the interest of time I opted for some basic Shimano XT. However, since it's going to be a show bike I decided to spice up the build a little bit by adding Bullseye cranks, Bullseye wheels (not yet built), American Classic quick releases and a perforated white Turbo (not yet installed). 







The bike still needs a bit of work before it's ready for its debut, but not a lot more. Hope to get it done before next weekend.