Fat City history - fall 1994

[fat66]

I've bumped into this site a few times over the years. I noticed Scott was posting. Anyhoo, i was curious how many other former Fat employees have posted here in the past.

I had a brief stint at Fat between 90 and 92, in the tacking department while I was in highschool and early college. My primary duties were as a "domer", which was essentially forging the seat and chainstays using a torch and lathe to create the signature conical shape at the dropouts. Over parts of 2 years, i think I domed enough stays for approximately 2000 bikes give or take. One of my first duties was helping build Don Myrah's 91 custom rigs. I was with the company during the olive square days, before they moved to their final somerville space in 92 or so. this was across the way from merlin, and fat head cycles above.

at the time the only experience I had was highschool shop, a basic understanding of metalworking practices, and a growing love for fat tires. I bumped into harry one day while out on a ride, riding what was the largest mountain bike i had ever seen (Harry was an enormous guy) and he mentioned they had an opening for a "domah" so i called them up and was offered the position at 6 an hour in 1990. At the time, hardly anyone there was making much over 10, but there was a vibration to the place, like you could tell something bigger was going on than its modest, grungy appearance.

those were some pretty amazing days, arguably the golden period for the brand just having released the Yo but before dallying much into Ti and suspension. I was too young to really appreciate how unique the opportunity was, mostly concentrating on college and dreaming of a cushie office job in my field of industrial design. Little did i know it would never get any better than that. I've never been prouder of a job since, despite earning vastly more. It seems like a lifetime ago, and I suppose it was. I miss everyone there, although I hardly remember everyones name to be honest. I worked directly with Reggie Jackson (anyone heard from him?) who headed the tacking department, along with a tool maker named Rob. Reggie showed me how to run every mill in the department. before long i was doing jig setup and mill work. I'll never forget how bad the mill sumps stank in the summer, never mind that somerville had a stink all its own regardless. 11 am foodtruck. The wednesday meeting....( at least I think it was wednesday?) WMBR in the mornings and WZBC in the afternoon. The 91 "tour de square" (STILL got the tee shirt!) Drinks at Cambridge Brewing Company. Driving to mt. Snow with Chance in the summer of 90 in a beat up dodge omni missing the first 2 gears. Getting busted by Wendyll for "borrowing" stickers and water bottles. yah, those were the days.

I went on to become fairly close friends with James Achard who initially was a brazer/finisher but moved over to tacking after I left. I think he is an engineer at Skip Barber racing school these days. haven't seen him, or anyone else for that matter, in ages.

I moved to california in 95, spent some time in the tech industry designing cell phones and computers in silicon valley for a bit before returning to the bike industry, spending time doing industrial design work (mostly helmets ) for Bell, Giro and Specialized before spending about ten years with fox racing. Living in the Santa Cruz mountains these days, not too far from the latest incarnation of Ibis headquarters.

i'd be shocked if anyone remembered me, but I'm the skinny guy in the black t-shirt and glasses on the far left in this 92 catalogue shot that i was able to scrounge up in a search earlier tonite:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmoseleyphotos/4380559639/in/pool-527719@N23/

pretty funny image to look at under present context..you'd think we were a gang of proto-tea-partiers

bonus points for anyone who knows my name!

Derek, very cool of you to share some FC shop memories.I believe the James you mention is the same guy who lived in Flagstaff for awhile in the late 90's. I bought his FC bike built with Genius tubing (1 of 2) and quite the mix of parts.....Campy, Mavic,Salsa etc.This bike was painted either in the Harlequin or Spumoni style, every tube is a different color. Very nice box crown fork. I still have the bike and ride it once in awhile.2 Wheels Good

 

[Dr S]

Facinating read. Thanks to all who have contributed.

A personal slant from someone belonging to 'the fickle European market'... At the time, myself and many others over here felt that Fat City just failed to move with the times. A few days ago i was looking through some Fat City brochures- by 1995 they were looking so dated (most kids i hung out with back then had pictures of San Andreas' and Outland VPPs stuck on the wall). I don't think that building steel bikes and refusing to move to other materials, or suspension were their downfall, but a reluctance to let the designs evolve and move forward being the cause. Looking again now at a 1995 catalogue I see amberwall tyres, curved blade rigid forks and cantilever brakes. Although the hardcore Fatcog bought Fats for their abilities, many Fat owners bought them as a statement. This was the big problem. Your true Fat fan was happy with his ride and did not need a replacement every two years to keep up with fashion- and the bike had not changed anyway, so he had no need to buy another. The trend orientated buyer looked elsewhere as the bikes were sliding out of fashion and there were much 'cooler' looking bikes to be had elsewhere. Fashionistas did not want cantis, curved forks and amberwalls in 1995.

Skinny tubed steel frames are still quite popular over here in Europe, especially here in the UK- they always have been and are still bought by the same kind of people who would have bought Fats back then. But they have evolved- 140-150mm forks, long top tubes, tight stiff rear ends, disc mounts, lots of standover height etc.
I do feel that if Chance had continued, but allowed evolution of steel hardtail frames then they would still be with us- just as IF are today. I don't think they would be selling 10,000 frames a year but it would still be a living. Just look at how many builders there still are in the US churning out well designed, beautifully built and finished steel frames.

 

[earthtoned]

Derek, very cool of you to share some FC shop memories.I believe the James you mention is the same guy who lived in Flagstaff for awhile in the late 90's. I bought his FC bike built with Genius tubing (1 of 2) and quite the mix of parts.....Campy, Mavic,Salsa etc.This bike was painted either in the Harlequin or Spumoni style, every tube is a different color. Very nice box crown fork. I still have the bike and ride it once in awhile.2 Wheels Good

not only do I remember that bike and the summer james built it, but for a period that bike was in my possession while I lived in rochester NY. I don't fully recall why he left it with me, but it was around the time he moved to flagstaff. He wanted to sell it to me but we couldnt agree on a price. I remember at the time it was insanely light for a steel bike, and I put some miles on it. I seem to remember it having a custom bottle opener (a campy drop out actually, fairly common for a lot of the builder bikes of the time) under the top tube....? altho i could be confusing it with one of my own, who knows. I totally forgot about that bike until you mentioned it...crazy.