1988 Fat Chance

[Barry_H]

Hi All,
I am new to Fat Cogs. I picked this up last month in San Jose.

Sellers info:

1988 Fat Chance
16” frame, seat tube to bottom bracket.
Ross Shafer LEX downhill handlebar, Salsa stem, Judy XC fork, Specialized Umma Gumma tires.

Serial number says 05678, as far I can can make it out.

• I worked in a photo studio in the mid/late 80s in Cambridge MA, and the photographer (Greg something...) who shared the studio with us photographed the catalogs at the time. I always wanted one, so when I saw this in on Craig's, I thought I would give it a try. Fun bike! In really great condition.

• 
  

 

[colker]

Please more pictures.

 

[colker]

Beautifull build. You know that´s a 2 sizes too small frame for you, right? Judy has the bontrager crown w/ shorter rake.

 

[Barry_H]

Thanks—they guy who sold it to me did a good job kitting it out.
Size-wise; I’m 5'7", maybe a bit small? I may swap the cranks out maybe—not really ridden it much yet.
I’ll put some more pics up.

 

[I-ROBOT]

Nice looking Fat! Don't see many of these. The Fat had a slacker head angle - 69 degrees versus 71 for the wicked - slightly longer chainstays and a 2 inch rake on the original unicrown fork. Looks like the original black powder coat finish which was applied to all of the frames (I forget the name of the company that did that for us). It was used as a primer for custom paint jobs as well in the earlier days before we made a blast booth. Most Fats had the chainstay-mounted U-Brakes (or roller cam brakes) as opposed to the Wickeds that had seatstay-mounted cantilever brakes. The Fats seem to be more stable on higher speed smoother trails while the Wicked were quicker steering and excelled on the gnarly New England single-track trails. Oddly enough, I could ride a Fat with no hands quite easily but I cannot ride a Wicked with no hands since they are so twitchy.

We were probably all in Greg's studio for a photo shoot of a poster that featured many of FCC's employees - including yours truly wearing a white t-shirt and a welding hood. Wendyll's original idea for the description of us welders was that we were "anal retentive" but I objected and said I did not want to be described as anal anything! I think we settled on perfectionists or something along those lines.

Good luck with the Fat!
Scott

 

[Barry_H]

@I-ROBOT , thanks Scott, for all the info! I remember Greg was quite a fastidious photographer; I can remember red frames with yellow logos. This would have been 86/87.

Those were heady times in Cambridge/Somerville; Polaroid close by; Bistream was next to the studio (Matthew Carter’s son worked with us at Steve Marsel’s studio so he would pop in occasionally), and Aerosmith’s management was upstairs. I was playing in bands back then, so lots of TT’s The Bears etc. Fun days!