My Fat Ti

[Perryr]

I put on some new tires (and Stans) and took a shot of beast. Some old and new. Grafton Mag Brakes, Dean Ti 24" Bar (93), Phil Mag BB. She Rips!

http://www.apexspeed.com/fatcogs/community/perryr/perryr_001.jpg

[scant]

very nice mate! Did you get the frame via ebay? saw a fat ti with those colour forks on it a while back :)

[Yo Eddy!]

Both bikes look indeed very similar, but when you look more closely you can see that the componentselection differs very much.

The eBay one:
http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/FatTi(C).jpg

Nevertheless: I bet it´s the same. :wink:

Melvin

[Jeeves]

OH WOW...that's really pretty.

What's the story with that crank/chainring?

One of these days I'll post pics of my rides -- first need to figure out how to host pics on my webspace, and I'll take it from there.

Thanks for the pic!
-Raj

[Perryr]

Hey Guys, Yep, thats the Bike that was on Ebay. It was set up as a single speed by using spacers on the cassette and as you can see a pretty big front ring! I changed the cranks to white industry ENO, and put on a set of second hand Chris King Single speed hubs with 517's.

The old synchros post would not stay in place, been sliding for to many years, and I like more setback, so I put on a thomson 27.2 and used a cane creek shim to make the difference. The shim I think actually helps grip the post better than the Ti walls of the seat tube. The post has not slipped a micro-meter since installed.

The Bars and stem were a little to relaxed for me so I put a bit longer stem and flat bar with no spacer. She's diggin' a bit in the front so I will probably add the spacer back or go to a 1" riser bar.

Using Stans no-tubes. The Bike really flies. Its a joy to ride. I bought this bike because my 93' Yo suffered from a rusted seat tube. I miss my old Yo, but boy the Ti is really sweet. Bit more forgiving ride and still a great climber. Overall I am really happy with it.

I will eventually be converting back to gears, but in the meantime am really having fun on the Single Speed!

[Yo Eddy!]

Great buy ! It´s an awesome bike and a friend for life.

Your Yo suffered from a rusty seattube - very bad. I heard that it is a common problem for FATs. Likely because of bad ventilation. I think they sealed them a bit to much. In my Yo a laid a few layers of Tectyl. There is up to 1 cm on the bracket! I guess rust doesn´t have a chance in my bike anymore.

Was your bike totally rusted trough?

Melvin

[Perryr]

Yes, my seattube rusted through down by the BB. I bought my Yo in 93' and just don't remember being told to give the seat tube an annual treatment. I just rode it. Then this year during an overhaul I noticed the paint bubbled down by the BB. Poked around and went right through. UGH! heartbraking. Been my only MB for over 10yrs.

I needed a bike so I went to ebay looking for another early Yo and found the Fat Ti set up for Single Speed. Figured I'd give it a shot, but am finding that I miss the gears. Theres a winter race series comming up so I will convert it back to gears before that starts. In the mean time the SS is kind of an eye opener. Amazing how quick and snappy they are. I am sure the rigid fork has something to do with it as well. I am really liking the fork and so far have no desire to put suspension on.

[Yo Eddy!]

Never considered having your Yo restored?

[Perryr]

I'd love to restore my Yo. Still have it. If you know someone whoe could fix it, please let me know!

[Yo Eddy!]

A few names I know:

For Europe: Gleiss, Pulcro
For the US: Ted Wojcik

As rust is a serious problem for FATs it is probably better to start 2 topics in the Builders corner. One for preventing and one for restoration.

[scant]

As theres no warranty anyway. getting the dremel out & drilling a tiny hole from the BB shell up through into the seatube allows the water to drain from the seattube & into the BB shell.
coating the inside of the frame with waxoyl or similiar will help prevent rust.
This isnt purely a FAT related problem I should say. My 1990 yeti FRO is fully sealed & rusted through seat & down tubes are pretty common on these frames as well.
I know a few people who've successfully had the seattube replaced & its not as big/priccy a job as you'd imagine!
Argos cycles in bristol UK charge around £150 (a friends salsa had the same problem)

[dyg2001@yahoo.com]

My IF Planet X cyclocross frame rusted through the seat tube above the BB shell. Lloyd at IF first told me they could fix it for $400 but later said they would rather replace the whole thing for a bit more, so that is what I did. I still have the original frame and would like to fix it. If anybody knows of a framebuilder in the USA that will do such a repair for less than $400 please contact me. Thanks.