Readers’ Rides: Will’s Fat Chance Yo Eddy

For this edition of Readers’ Rides, Will shares his 2020 Fat Chance Yo Eddy complete with “Custom painted Thompson Elite stem”, obvs.

Bike brand and model

Fat Chance Yo Eddy

Why this bike?

Having started biking as a teen in the early 90’s, I blame this one on Dave Hemming. In particular, an MBUK article (Summer ’94?) entitled 10 things you should never do on a mountain bike, which featured him and his Yo Eddy in some pretty glam shots which must have come from Steve Behr. The aquafade of those bikes was simply the best paintjob on the scene. Then Clive Gosling got on one too not long after – fully tricked with bling Ringle kit of the day. It then took 25 years, and Chris Chance coming back on the scene, for me to get the pennies together to scratch this particular itch.

It’s essentially a build to remind me of that 90’s heyday, which was before pretty much all components turned to being black black or black by default. It’s nowadays tricky sourcing the hue of gold or turquoise anodizing that prevailed back in those days, so silver has been subbed in where it suited to give it a light look like bikes of that era used to have.

It’s a lot of fun pinging around on a fully rigid machine again too!

Frame

Fat Chance Yo Eddy 2020

Fork

Yo Eddy rigid – stiff yet wobbly, just like the good old days

Wheels

Halo Vapour rims (pretty much the only thing you can get in silver these days!) on Hope Pro4’s

Tyres

Onza Porcupines. White ones.

Chainset

Middleburn – a classic name from back in the day

Drivetrain

SLX

Brakes

Deore – classic 90s name

Bars & Stem

Custom painted Thompson Elite stem and some bars I had lying around, yet to be replaced

Seatpost

KCNC on account of it being the right colour turquoise

Saddle

Kona – off the DH bike – gold accents match the chain

Accessories

A small bell

Size and Weight

XL and maybe 25lb ish?

Additional Comments

I think a triple chainset maybe, and reverting to a closer ratio cassette to really bring back memories of those granny gears. Those bars will get swapped out at some point too. Some nice bar ends maybe, though they make less sense on longer wheelbase bikes/the geometries of today. Any other suggestions? For full effect I also have the yo eddy lycra strip bought from Corinne on the Been Bag stand (who remembers them?) at Bike 96 in Olympia. I’m definitely a lot fatter now though. Hmmm.

Want to share you bike with the group?

Whether you’ve got a special new bike or just a bike that’s special to you, this is where you get to tell us about it! You send us your submissions, and then we cast our judgemental expert lustful eyes over them and bring them to the world to ooh and ahh over. We’re picking the prettiest, the most curious, and the ones with a good story for you to appraise, praise, and maybe look wistfully at.

Ben Haworth

Orange Switch 6er. Stif Squatcher. Schwalbe Magic Mary Purple Addix front. Maxxis DHR II 3C MaxxTerra rear. Coil fan. Ebikes are not evil. I have been a writer for nigh on 20 years, a photographer for 25 years and a mountain biker for 30 years. I have written countless magazine and website features and route guides for the UK mountain bike press, most notably for the esteemed and highly regarded Singletrackworld. Although I am a Lancastrian, I freely admit that West Yorkshire is my favourite place to ride. Rarely a week goes by without me riding and exploring the South Pennines.

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