Fat Chance Kickstarter

[NeilM]

Re:

I am genuinely amazed by this thread.

Despite riding since the late 80's I never hankered after a Fat Chance, they, like many other icon brands, were just out of my reach and were ridden by those in the trade, in the know or in a position to spend more money that I could (married, mortgage, kids etc).

After seeing the type of loyalty the brand has amongst many on this very forum, I kind of expected an outpouring of support, while cynical old me looked at the kickstarted page and thought, a hardtail 27 or 29er with disc, drop post and tapered headset...meh!, I could get any number of UK frame builders to put me together something like that... for less. Turns out it was not just cynical me thinking that way.

Like others I wish Chris every success, but like others I think he would be better following a different business model.

 

[M-Power]

Re:

I agree with many of the points above, am also a massive Fat fan with 4 of them, looking for a few more. I think Chris may have got cold feet over self funding the relaunch, hence his Kickstarter approach. I applaud him for not selling out again, as that would have strangled the baby in infancy.

Kickstarter is a great way to test how much commitment customers will actually make by opening their wallets. I'm glad there may be a segmented fork option now I have a dream of a modern update on the Shockabilly, then I will drop.

 

[Rahbari]

Re: Re:

I suggested in the Comments section that they should offer a rigid for for us old school fools.

As you are obviously a backer (and therefore being able to post comments), can you please post a comment, asking who will build the frames or at least in which country the frames will be built? I sent him a polite E-Mail but he did not deem it necessary to answer.

 

[walleater]

He should at least have a prototype built up and some geometry figures! I've just had a frame fillet brazed for me to my own design for a small fraction of what he's charging....just by an unknown builder....which is what his are too at the moment. Bizarre.... And $25 for three stickers? Are they 10ft long?

I hope he comes through with some better info, as I'd like to see these frame built but hopefully people are at least getting some sort of decent return for their money rather than just some stickers on a random frame.

 

[sinnerman]

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

I had not read this thread until today.

It seems to much like, there is a love for the Name, and the Person.

But is he Skint....? Frame shops aren't cheap to set up and do well...., did the banks say No...? Not given your track record, money management, current FINANCIAL SITUATION...?

He may not even of had enough money for the basics..., to be able to custom build one at a time, and market it etc.

Christ even big business who showed interest to invest would have been edgy unless they have control to turn the profit...!

It certainly doesn't look to me to be what he first intended to do...!

This looks like a case of, shit ive started, now what am I going to do...., I know ill get the fans to pay and then im sorted. Long Live Fat Chance....? the alternative is egg on face if not.

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

I could be wrong but the impression I got was that this first run would be built by him to some extent then if it works out a cheaper run would come later, probably built by someone else?

 

[sinnerman]

Re: Re:

I could be wrong but the impression I got was that this first run would be built by him to some extent then if it works out a cheaper run would come later, probably built by someone else?

At 5 grand for a hardtail steel frame and a tee shirt, its a piss take regardless.

 

[pete_mcc]

Re: Re:

I could be wrong but the impression I got was that this first run would be built by him to some extent then if it works out a cheaper run would come later, probably built by someone else?

According to the kickstarter the first batch is 250 frames to be built by August 2015. If he started on the first of Jan and didn't take a day off until the end of August he'd have to make more than one a day.

I'd say that's impossible for any builder, let alone one who's not built a thing in 15 years

 

[makster]

Re: Re:

I could be wrong but the impression I got was that this first run would be built by him to some extent then if it works out a cheaper run would come later, probably built by someone else?

According to the kickstarter the first batch is 250 frames to be built by August 2015. If he started on the first of Jan and didn't take a day off until the end of August he'd have to make more than one a day.

I'd say that's impossible for any builder, let alone one who's not built a thing in 15 years

Spot on.
This is a massive scam imo, rinsing people who are looking through rose tinted glasses.
I can see this ending up tainting his name for years to come if it's not done properly

 

[sinnerman]

Not a scam, just a business short of capital imho. And if you can create a customer base in this way, I think Ladbrokes would call it a sure thing.