For fans of the ‘Old School MTB’ genre, a Fat Chance Yo Eddy! Team is kinda like a Holy Grail. Minneapolis’ Jeff Frane of legendary bike site Bike Jerks fortuitously acquired one back in 2017, and he’s recently built it back up into a legendary, usable utility vehicle.
Those Facebook markets can turn up some amazing finds for the astute customer. In January 2017 Jeff had been eyeballing some vintage MTB groups for a while when a real-life Yo Eddy! appeared. He hit up the seller and it was still available, so he nabbed it.
Being the Brand Manager of All-City Cycles and a general all-round good bike guy has positioned Jeff at the heart of a passionate network. The Fat Chance was located in Belmont so he arranged with a local All-City dealer to box it up and send it.
After a few years of use, it arrived in Jeff’s hands with a component mashup, retaining a number of original parts combined with a few upgrades and downgrades: Ritchey cranks and a Chris King headset, a 29.4mm Syncros seat post, and Real brake levers.
Jeff traced the serial number back to 1995, its year of manufacture in Saratoga, New York, which featured a threaded bottom bracket and the most iconic Fat Chance color-way, the green-to-blue fade.
Over the last couple of years, the parts bin was rifled through and the Yo Eddy! was rebuilt with a more consistent list of bits, like a pair of Sun Rims with a Ringlé Ti Stix front and an XT rear hub, matching Salsa skewers, and Kenda Small Block Eight tires.
Nearly a full Shimano XTR M950 groupset was found, including cranks, rear mech, and brake levers, married to Avid’s classic Ultimate calipers. A Velo Orange rack was installed, and the Syncros post was replaced with a Thomson.
The Pacenti-crowned fork was actually made by Bryan Hollingsworth of Royal H Cycles, which Jeff had repainted to match the frame, and today it looks like the Yo Eddy! has evolved into a fun and happy machine.
Who wouldn’t be, after a long life, to be retired to a leisurely life under an appreciative owner? Better than being a wallflower.
Big thanks to Jeff Frane for the photos.
