tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6645169994371315314.post8679113156790145206..comments2024-03-01T05:17:40.167-08:00Comments on Yo Eddy !!: Personal Rides: Fat ChanceDan Ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609122101907983132noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6645169994371315314.post-28980149946416970822021-09-24T05:43:06.872-07:002021-09-24T05:43:06.872-07:00In 1981 I moved to Burlington, Vermont and was imm...In 1981 I moved to Burlington, Vermont and was immediately hired by a local bike shop. In '84 I bought a Trek 820, which proved to be better suited as a gravel bike (a category that did not yet exist) than an off-road bike. In '85 we were selling Trek, Ross, and Cannondale mountain bikes as fast as we could get them and had just picked up Fat Chance, so I passed the Trek on to my wife and bought a Kicker. In '86, my wife experienced a high-speed shimmy on the Trek which unnerved her, so I got rid of it and bought her a Fat to match mine. For those who do not know, frame shimmy is not necessarily a defect, but is often a fluke of a mismatch between rider weight distribution and frame geometry. If you ever experience it, it can be quite scary, but just put the side of your thigh against the top tube and it will stop immediately.<br /><br />We met the entire Fat Chance crew when they started coming up to a series of giant mountain bike weekend parties we were holding at our house each year for bike mechanics. We re-united with Chris and others at the 30th Fat Chance Reunion several years ago and I brought along both of our original bikes. My wife has never been a mud-bogger, so her bike is still quite pristine. Mine is more like yours, having gone through multiple wheelsets and drivetrains, though it still has the Deerhead Deore XT group that I built it up with in '85, matched to Suntour hubs. These days it has done duty as my foulest, foul-weather winter bike and I don't bother swapping out the studded tires in the warm weather, as I now have four other Fats to ride off-road.<br /><br />That sealed seat tube you noted was actually the Achilles' heel for many Fats. Water that got by the seatpost had no way to ever get out, and many is the Fat that ended up in the dumpster after the bottom of the seat tube rusted through. It took years to learn that there really should have been a weep hole drilled in the back of the tube at the BB. Those with these classics would be well advised to be sure that they remove the seatpost and dry out the frame after riding in the wet or hosing it down, and to keep the inside of the tube oiled (Framesaver is not enough). It's not a bad idea to leave the post out entirely when the bike is in storage.<br /><br />Thanks for the ride down Memory Lane.Steve Barnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05141738452735566462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6645169994371315314.post-32571898682357071182009-01-31T22:50:00.000-08:002009-01-31T22:50:00.000-08:00Yet another excellent and enjoyable post."Process ...Yet another excellent and enjoyable post.<BR/>"Process their arrest, Dan-O!"uptonsinclairlewiscarrollhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05116720328587028577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6645169994371315314.post-65521795046427367432009-01-31T11:18:00.000-08:002009-01-31T11:18:00.000-08:00Hi Dan,thanks for your comments on my Blog regardi...Hi Dan,<BR/><BR/>thanks for your comments on my Blog regarding the Ritchey and Yo Eddy.<BR/>Your Fat is way cool!,...i enjoy reading about it,..<BR/>Come on,..show some pics from your Yo!<BR/><BR/>cheers<BR/><BR/>BasOLD-METALhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00795269560470790818noreply@blogger.com