1983 Fat Chance

The bike featured here is the firs Fat Chance made for the 1983 model year and in many ways is a direct, though slightly different continuation of the 1982 production run of 15 bikes. Beautifully fillet brazed (likely by Chris) and finished in a stunning forest green metallic with a matching fork and Bullmoose bar (in black) it stands out in a crowd, especially in direct sunlight. Fat built approximately 150 bikes in 1983 with only a small percentage featuring fillet brazed construction making this a very rare bike.

Not sure whether someone took out the seat tube insert on this bike and installed a larger diameter seatpost or if it came this way, but as time went on and manufacturers starting making longer posts in more sizes it would have made sense to switch to a stronger post in favor of the BMX unit included with many early bikes.

The build on this particular bike is somewhat haphazard and likely it was put together with available parts to suit a specific riding style rather than keeping with a group mentality. I suppose that some parts could have been swapped out over time as others failed, but given it’s very clean condition I don’t think this particular bike had a lot of use. The Deore rear derailleur pictured here is much newer than the bike, so most likely it was a replacement or updated for a worn or failed original unit.

Clearly by the time this bike was made Chris went away from braze on front derailleurs in favor of a clamp on style. Still present are welded on cable guides underneath the bottom bracket shell, same as the 1982 bikes.

By and large this is virtually identical to the 1982 bike that proceeded it and in-fact Chris Igleheart’s personal 1982 Fat Chance was modified to include the same style cable guides and stop and removal of front derailleur braze-on in the end resembling this bike.

I had a chance to ride this bike back in 2013 and although it was a bit too big for me it rode very much like my 82. The larger size of this frame coupled with the short for the time seat stays (16 7/8″) and 72 degree seat tube made it a reasonable climber and the long top tube made for an open cockpit enabling weight placement to optimizing for climbing or descending.

Yet another amazing early example of Fat Chance craftsmanship that still looks stunning after all these years.