Right apparently they are back, sadly they have no cash.. i just don’t get this kickstarter thing.. explain 🙂

you pay your money up front and 9 months later you don’t get what you paid for…

If they really were that good then they wouldn’t have packed up in the first place. But they did. Meh.
Just what the world needs another expensive steel frame.

you pay your money up front and 9 months later you don’t get what you paid for…

a bit like the mintsauce key ring thing then 🙂

don’t agree with you guys. A lot of people will remember these bikes and they had a lot of fans. Sure there’s a lot of good frame builders but the name will hold kudos for many. I admire his desire to get back into the bike world, setting up wouldn’t be simple and this way the customer invests in him, not some other investor that might ‘own’ his name and reputation. I like his idea. Clearly a few others do as he already has some backers. Good luck to him.

The point is that lots of people will say they’ll part with money for something. A company like Fat Chance can bank on that being true, borrow money, make the frames and then sell them to make millions. The risk of course is that as is often the case, what people say and do is often very different especially when it comes to money.

Kickstarter allows companies to get the sales up front effectively so that they’re definite they’re not wasting their time. Of course there is an element of risk on the part of the backers but then that’s usually offset against a slightly cheaper price.

Seems like a good way to resurrect the brand IMO or at least find out whether people are interested.

a bit like the mintsauce key ring iDave diet thing then [/quote]FTFY

West Coast bikes from Tom Ritchey and Gary Fisher had ultra-long chainstays, shallow head angles and low bottom brackets. But Fat Chances were different, with buzz-cut chainstays, upright angles, and high bottom brackets to clear the stumps, boulders and eruptions common to New Englands battered terrain. In other words those Fats already looked a lot like the bikes we ride today in 1994

so it’s like a mid 90s bike – whereas todays bikes have gone full circle – longer and slacker? and this is the best quote about them to find.

I can’t see the point…

@scotroutes – careful there, have you forgotten the night of the long bans and the mysterious fate of the disappeared 😆

@scotroutes – careful there, have you forgotten the night of the long bans and the mysterious fate of the disappeared

yes i often spend my time wondering about the fate of tandemjeremy… lets hope hes brought himself a lid 🙂

I think the whole idea of the Kickstaarter is to be sure that it remains his company this time as he doesn’t want any investors who can then have their say in the way the company is run. They shut down before after being bought over by a holding company who at the same time bought Serotta cycles.

£1653.44 for a hardtail frame with upright geometry? I don’t think I’ll be backing this one

Kickstarter is fundamentally patronage, and makes more sense when thought of that way. You’re handing over money but with no real guarantees that you’ll get anything back. It’s not investment, it’s not (really) a pre-ordering scheme, although many can feel like that.

In this case, you’re giving him a chunk of money because you’re nice and want be a patron of his framebuilding “art”. If you give a big enough chunk of money he’ll hopefully make you a posh frame.

I wouldn’t pay $2500 for a steel frame that I have to wait 9+ months for (no guarantees) but I can see that other people might.

everything you need to know except the angles whatever trail ready means. so you could be buying into anything. yet its all ready to go just needs my cash. chances are i could get a shopping trolley so im out of this one.

$2500 for the basic frame is 😯 enough but the $5k or $6k for the “limited edition” ones: whaaatttttt ??? Definitely one for the rich MAMILs who collect rather than ride.

And there’s plenty of those who will be exactly the right age to have either had or lusted after a FC first time round…

With a name and ‘heritage’ like Fat Chance, I can see why you’d go down this route. There’s plenty of folk who’ll part company with that sort if cash for a limited edition modern frame built by Chris Chance.

I was really keen on one this time round, but as a lot of previous posters have said, there’s too much uncertainty regarding the product.

I’d have considered it for £1000 or a little more, but £1700 is a lot, especially considering I could get a known-quantity Ventana for that sort of money, and they have the heritage too.

I hope that it works out for them. It’s too rich for my money but presumably if all goes well then we can look forward to more stock production in 2016.

I’d buy one, if it were endorsed by one of the original guys that was there at the time 😀

Love the idea, love the bikes but this time around I’ll not be buying one 😐

£1653.44 for a hardtail frame with upright geometry?

Plus VAT and import duty (unless I’m missing something).