So… when I was at school and first got into riding in about 1996, the Fat Chance Yo Eddy was about the coolest bike going. Oh how I drooled over the Evolution Imports adverts in MBUK. I’ve been lurking on Retrobike for ages now, and when a frame came up for sale in my size… well it would have been rude not to.

I had most of the M950 XTR in a drawer, so that was handy. Managed to find a cheap chainset and some bargain King hubs off eBay. The rims came from a friend who’d just bought a bike shop as a going concern and found a shed full of brand new bits and bobs from the late 90s…

The frame is 1800g, which goes to show how much extra heft a steel frame has nowadays to pass the silly CEN tests. A steel El Mariachi 29er I had for a while was 2500g and the difference is night and day – comfy, springy, absolutely flies down the trails. The geometry is fantastic, the only things that feels a bit weird are the front mech and narrow bars. Wide range cassettes are definitely a winner! The forks are amazing for their age; I don’t think they’ve been used a lot, but they are buttery smooth and feel great. Not too flexy either. I don’t imagine they are terribly weatherproof, but as this will never be going near a puddle that’s fine.

What I find remarkable is the BB is 20 years old and is still perfect. No play, totally smooth and no creaks. They don’t make them like this any more – serviceable needle and ball bearings. Just goes to show how terrible modern pressfits are. Got to love a BBM950.

I like good retro, not crappy retro, so the tyres, pedals, saddle and grips are modern. That makes a huge difference.

Absolutely stoked with it!!