So, I’ve been dabbling around with my Fat Chance Shock A Billy build recently, inspired mostly by that fact the Shock A Billy’s seems to be being built all over the place at the moment. Including mine, there’s 3 on the go it seems – Mine, Kingroons and Rick’s.
So my starting point was that original build at the top of the thread, but something just really wasn’t working for me on it. I can only describe it as the build lacked a bit of poise and didn’t really look too nice.
So I’ve gradually made a few changes.
First were the forks. Even though Mag21’s are on the later end of period it felt firstly like they weren’t beefy enough compared to the main tube of the front triangle but secondly the shorter travel dropped the front end too low. I think it would have helped had the Mag 21’s been long travel but they weren’t. I found a pair of Judy SL’s and dropped those on the front initially. The fork seemed like a good option but the colour sucked.. I then embarked on rebuilding a pair of XC’s with new springs and a refurbed damper. Perfect.
Next was the drive chain. The M900 didn’t really feel special enough so I started on the long road to finding a nice CNC crank. I dismissed some Kookas and some Raceface Turbines I had didn’t feel right. Then I came across some really nice E-Series Cooks with brilliant Blue/Green/Blue chainrings and green bolts. I swapped the outer Middleburn with a super nice Turquoise Cooks ring I’ve had lying round for while and bling, there we go. Obviously the pedals are out and in their place some egg beaters for practicality.
I then turned my attention to the finishing kit. There’s been a few splatterings of purple so that had to go straight away to make room for some more complimentary Blue/Green. The SRP breakaway bolt was swapped out of the M900 mech to be the stock silver steel model.
Wheels and tyres have stayed the same: Blue Hope Ti’s to Mavic 231’s. If I get to it I might rebuild these with Blue/Green nipples but I’ll wait for some dark evenings before embarking on that particular task.
The DCD has gone – it’s just ugly.
Now to controls I’ve been messing around with a few combos but have decided for the moment at least that the polished Syncros stem and USE post work well with the rest of the polished alloy. I did have a black stem and post but it wasn’t working.
Oh and I recently picked up a Fat Chance jersey from Scant so expect to see me emblazoned at a RB event sometime soon.
So the spec as it stands
Frame: Fat Chance Shock A Billy / L / Aquafade
Fork: Judy XC’s with springs and metal damper.
Wheels: Hope Ti Glide, laced to Mavic 231
Chainset: Cook Bro E Series Middleburn, Middleburn and Cooks rings
Mechs: XTR M900 front and read.
Cantis: XTR M900 / Onza Chill Pills / Xlite Ti Bolts
Shifters: XT Thumbies with secret 8th click
Levers: Dia Compe SS5 with rubber lever molding
Seatpost: USE Alien
Stem: Syncros Cattle Head
Saddle: Flite
Bars: Pace/Renthal Sub 130
Headset: Dia Compe S2
Skewers: Hope Ti Gen 2
Seat Clamp: FAT OEM Ti Bolt
