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Greetings to all the FAT COGS members out there! After much thought, I have decided to sell my custom 1987 Wicked Fat Chance. I wanted to put this out here first to see if any Coggers may be interested. I will post photos and a price later on. There will be several extras which I will list...

Wow, I was just in Victoria two weeks ago. Would have loved to have seen it if it's still around. I did drop in at Goldstream Bicycles in Langford and had a fun conversation with the folks there. Very cool shop Scott

Good luck! There's just not that many of them. We didn't build many of them as inventory. Most all were dealer orders and many of those went to the dealers or their employees as personal bikes. I can't give you any production numbers on Team Comps for any given year but I would estimate that...

I doubt that was intentional. More likely just the way the machining came out. We only had an old lathe and I'm sure it was not as precise as a modern-day CNC lathe. Probably some tool run-out. We couldn't afford to throw away any tubes that the machining came out a bit off-center. Good eye in...

Hello I've been away from the site for a bit and just seeing this now. The first versions of the second generation of Titanium Fat Chances (I call it that since the first generation was the version created by Gary Helfrich who wound up taking his ideas and founding Merlin Metal Works) had...

Nice candidate for restoration. Doesn't look too beaten up. Fun fact: The cantilever brake mounts have the spring plates that are laser welded to the mounting bosses. I will contend that this was the first-ever application of laser welding in the bicycle industry. Scott

I still have mine. Wonder what I could get for it considering it was actually worn during the winter while welding Fat City frames! :ROFLMAO:

Hello and welcome! If the headtube and seattube angles are the same - 71 degrees - then you have a Wicked. The regular Fat has a 69 degree head angle and a 2" rake on the fork. It is a bit unusual for a Wicked to have chainstay U-brake mounts but a dealer could have ordered one that way. Most...

Your frame is a 1986 model. Most likely a Fat Chance (we called them "regular" Fats) It would have been the 688th frame produced in 1986. It was probably right around when I started with them (November 1986). Not sure who welded the frame but it could be one of Gary Helfrich's last Fat Chance...

Just to add what I wrote on the other thread, the black "paint" appears to be powder coat which we used on our standard frames up until we moved to Linden Street and had more room for a much better paint shop. Custom paint jobs done at Olive Square were typically shot over the powder coat (black...

You are correct! That would have been the 886th frame built in 1991. Not sure if I welded the entire frame or just the finishing bits. That would have been just before we pulled up stakes at 5 Olive Square and moved down the street to the Linden Street shop. I like the Grello fade like what is...

If anybody is looking for a Helfrich-welded Fat, this is likely one of the last steel frames he welded.

Gotta admit that I'm stumped by the A as well. May have been an employee bike and they added the A to the SN. It's definitely a 1988 Fat with cantilevers. Since regular Fats at that time came with chainstay U-Brake mounts standard, the A may have been for seatstay cantilever mounts (which were...

I'm curious as to what the serial number is. That looks like a Somerville Yo that was finished in Saratoga. There were quite a few frames in progress and/or completed waiting for paint when Somerville closed. Scott

Today is Jacquie Phelan and Charlie Cunningham's 35th wedding anniversary. That's right, they were married on 8-8-88. Jacquie was the Women's National Mountain Bike Champion in the early 80's and Charlie was a talented bike builder. Charlie was seriously injured a few years ago and still faces...

As always, I really appreciate all the kind words you guys have to say. Still makes me smile. Look for a FOR SALE ad later this week. I have decided that it's time to put my 18" custom Wicked up for sale. I will have full details, parts lists and photos. If anyone of you are interested, PM me...

It's likely that some of the early welded FATs of any type had a small handful of buckled downtubes and/or cracked welds at the DT / HT junction. I remember replacing some downtubes under warranty for that reason. Ron Andrews created and built the fatigue tester that we used when we were...

Brochures are rarely ever 100% truthful. The average buyer probably wouldn't have a scale to weigh their frame to the exact gram. I'm sure the Lites were at least close to the TCs in weight but probably not lighter given identical frame sizes. But the difference would have been very small

I guess that being better than a Wicked would be a matter of a rider's opinion. The super light TC might have been too whippy for a heavier rider. As the shop fat guy, that was never a problem for me!! The TCs were aimed at the pro class racer and those who wanted to spend the high end money to...

The Team Comps had Tange Prestige top tubes and down tubes. The down tube was only 1.25" diameter and had really short butt sections at the ends as opposed to the True Temper down tube which was 1.375" diameter, had longer butt sections and was seam welded. I believe the Tange tubes were...