Fat Chance Kickstarter

[pete_mcc]

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see Fat back but my abiding memory is that video of him hand shaping the bullet stays with his own hands. Sure most of his bikes weren't built by him but he had a hand, he oversaw, you were buying into him and his skills, experience and knowledge. He was a leading light in the eighties and nineties but he's far from that now so you're not buying his skill, you're not getting his knowledge and experience of building 27/29 modern trail bikes, you're not getting heritage or a proven design so all you are buying into is the decal.

 

[Rampage]

I see your point, I take it he hasn't been involved in bikes at all for the last 15 years?

 

[FMJ]

For $5K I want a massage thrown in to the deal.


With a happy ending.

 

[syncrosfan]

"For $5K I want a massage thrown in to the deal.
With a happy ending."

From Chris himself ???

 

[WWC]

Re:

What the most expensive off the peg HT frame you can buy?

Chain reaction goes to £1424:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobi ... prod115092

This is at least 10% over...

Mad or not?

 

[mr_ship]

Re:

I'm sure most people would love to see Chris make a go of this but so far there is not enough detail for me to drop that kind of cash. I'd really like to know who is going to be building them.

 

[elPedro666]

Look at all the pop groups doing reunion tours.

Surely that's a solid argument against this?!

It is indeed possible they could be brilliant, but there's nothing to support that at the moment so you're being asked to take a massive gamble with a huge amount of money.

 

[pete_mcc]

I find it hard to be so concerned at someone trying to make a bit of money out of their heritage. Look at all the pop groups doing reunion tours.

Who is to say Fat 2.0 won't actually turn out some great bikes?

But the pop bands still do the singing and/or dancing, all this is is sticking decals on someone else's work. To use your analogy Chris Chance is the Milli Vanilli of the bike world..

I'm sure FC 2.0 can make some great bikes but why not do what everyone else does - build bikes, get reviews, build a name, build on success. The problem he's going to face is the number of people who will buy a new bike just because of the FC name is so, so small.

He will struggle with that target of selling 250 frames in a year - at the peak of their fame and market position they only created 200 premium priced 10th anniversary frames. The market for high end hard tails is much smaller now than in 92, the marketing clout of FC is much lower, the pool of people who know or remember the FC name is now tiny.

Why doesn't he go back to his roots, sell bikes handbuilt one at a time under the Chris Chance name and become a custom builder again -far better suited to his customer base size and far better way of bringing in new customers

 

[ti_pin_man]

ibis did some limited copies of the Ti Mojo about 3 years ago. I rode an original ibis ti Mojo for last 2o odd years so bought one. Ibis were into their carbon thing so didn't make them, they pushed them to Lynsky. But they made sure the design was true to their specifications using their spec tubing but they didn't weld them. I bought one and when I compare the two rides they are very similar to the original except it has 90mm fork allowance and disk mount. I love it.
I think people live in a fantasy world to think that chris chance actually welded their bike, even tom ritchey stopped doing that when numbers rose. Most Fat Chances were overseen by him, his team did the work, it'll be no different and good luck to the guy.

 

[webby]

Pete Mc is so right, those who know me know how much I love my fats, I even named by dog Betty after the Yo-Betty... but Pete's right, Chris needs to get his hands dirty (I'm sure they are very soft after 15 years rubbing) and make some frames himself. Rebuild his reputation and almost start from scratch again.

Four Fats in my garage, loads of other Fat products collceted over the years, but I won't be ordering one of these frames, would rather get an old Yo and retro-mod it.