What makes a Fat Ti special?
- Thread starter john
- Start date
To be slightly contentious, nothing I suspect is the answer if you are comparing workmanship and ride quality with any of the other so called boutique brands
Reckon its more due to name, scarcity and desirability, are they the conclusions you already came to anyway.
There will always be these items no matter what leisure pursuit you undertake, sure there are rare footie programmes and train numbers that have only been spotted once or twice.
Reckon its more due to name, scarcity and desirability, are they the conclusions you already came to anyway.
There will always be these items no matter what leisure pursuit you undertake, sure there are rare footie programmes and train numbers that have only been spotted once or twice.
jez-4-bikes-max
Kona Fan
- Feedback
- View
It was very light.
Welds were nice.
...but alas it didnt mean as much to me as the other steeds...
Welds were nice.
...but alas it didnt mean as much to me as the other steeds...
which FAT ti? the serotta built later models were better made if I'm honest, slightly stiffer, tighter angles & jigged for suspension forks & more of the tubes were machined for a supposedly smoother ride(more later). this is how chris wanted to build his ti frames from the start but it took a while to work it all out... plus the massive costs involved are 1 of the small reasons that led to FAT closing shop.
the earlier, original FAT made tis vary massively in welding quality, some are amazing, some not so great. mine broke at the BB weld due to a contaminated weld apparently. the originals were generally much more desirable, but going by the current pricing, the later serotta models have caught up.
the earlier sleeved & gusseted FAT tis had the best ride quality, that weird blend of stiff in the drivetrain, yet surprisingly smooth in the rough. the only ti frame i've ridden (& I try to test ride a lot) since, that is as smooth in the rough is a GT xizang, but its nowhere near as stiff in the bottom bracket.
the magic IS in the brand name, deffo marketing appeal. BUT, if you like the ride of short fork length rigid forks, then the early FAT ti ride is pretty special also. the sleeved tubes also add to the coolness aspect.
I rode early FAT ti from 92-98 & later serotta from 98-2004 (sold it earlier this year through lack of use). despite my now suspension loving ways, if the earlier FAT hadnt broken I would have kept it. the later serotta built just never had the same ride feel, stilll stiff in the BB, but nowhere near as smooth in the rough & for me never had the same appeal as the earlier FAT. my current Titus Ti winter hack handles the same, cost less than 1/2 what the FAT tis are making, has a lifetime warranty & IS better made...
wendyl told me later chris eventually managed to repair my original FAT ti & kept it for himself.
honestly? If I suddenly wanted to track down a short rigid fork length early ti builder I'd look for an early merlin. perhaps no surprise given the FAT/ merlin history but the merlin handles pretty close & I'd trust the welds a lot more.
the earlier, original FAT made tis vary massively in welding quality, some are amazing, some not so great. mine broke at the BB weld due to a contaminated weld apparently. the originals were generally much more desirable, but going by the current pricing, the later serotta models have caught up.
the earlier sleeved & gusseted FAT tis had the best ride quality, that weird blend of stiff in the drivetrain, yet surprisingly smooth in the rough. the only ti frame i've ridden (& I try to test ride a lot) since, that is as smooth in the rough is a GT xizang, but its nowhere near as stiff in the bottom bracket.
the magic IS in the brand name, deffo marketing appeal. BUT, if you like the ride of short fork length rigid forks, then the early FAT ti ride is pretty special also. the sleeved tubes also add to the coolness aspect.
I rode early FAT ti from 92-98 & later serotta from 98-2004 (sold it earlier this year through lack of use). despite my now suspension loving ways, if the earlier FAT hadnt broken I would have kept it. the later serotta built just never had the same ride feel, stilll stiff in the BB, but nowhere near as smooth in the rough & for me never had the same appeal as the earlier FAT. my current Titus Ti winter hack handles the same, cost less than 1/2 what the FAT tis are making, has a lifetime warranty & IS better made...
wendyl told me later chris eventually managed to repair my original FAT ti & kept it for himself.
honestly? If I suddenly wanted to track down a short rigid fork length early ti builder I'd look for an early merlin. perhaps no surprise given the FAT/ merlin history but the merlin handles pretty close & I'd trust the welds a lot more.
ti-fat-man
Senior Retro Guru
John":p12xyrhf said:
until the move to serotta yes. during serotta days only the big one inch fork & the all steel shockabilly were built in the fat chance ranch, everything else was built by serotta.
the serotta welding was always better. FAT era was fairly inconsistent.
webby knows a lot about the later era as he spent time with chris, wendyl & "the cogs" including darren tapp in the fat ranch during the slightly later days
FAT ti
John, check out the FAT Cogs website, the bloke that actually did the welding posted a message explaining the details of fabricating them...and his views as to which 'vintage' he preferred.
I ride one still...like Scant's it cracked near the bb but fortunately the kind folks at Indy Fab repaired it (phew)
Obvioulsy like any thing with retroness it's kinda subjective, but at the time the frame was pretty futuristic in what was being attempted in terms of the tubing and so on.
+ it's the only FAT Chance that doesn't have a fancy paint job...prehaps that makes it special?...
John":6ji0gh28 said:
John, check out the FAT Cogs website, the bloke that actually did the welding posted a message explaining the details of fabricating them...and his views as to which 'vintage' he preferred.
I ride one still...like Scant's it cracked near the bb but fortunately the kind folks at Indy Fab repaired it (phew)
Obvioulsy like any thing with retroness it's kinda subjective, but at the time the frame was pretty futuristic in what was being attempted in terms of the tubing and so on.
+ it's the only FAT Chance that doesn't have a fancy paint job...prehaps that makes it special?...
