1991 Team Fat Chance (Canadian Issue)

Hey guys, I know I have what is considered not a REAL Fat Chance bike but is there anyone on here that could help me with some info on my bike. The MOMBAT site doesn't really give much detail as to who or what company actually made the bike or where, why or if Fat City had any input on the design or why Fat City farmed out the name to a off shore company to produce the bike or how many were actually produced and why did they only distribute a limited number in Canada(guess). I got it from a sponsor when I was racing back in the day and have had it since 1991. I'm currently getting it back to it's former glory and will post some pics when it's near completion. When I received the bike it was a frame,stem(Ritchey) and fork only (Tange Struts),black paint and not even one decal although it uses Ritchey drop outs. I'll also post the serial # once I can get it cleaned up and can actually read it. Thanks in advance to any help you can give.
 

mainlyfats

Member
Hey guys, I know I have what is considered not a REAL Fat Chance bike but is there anyone on here that could help me with some info on my bike. The MOMBAT site doesn't really give much detail as to who or what company actually made the bike or where, why or if Fat City had any input on the design or why Fat City farmed out the name to a off shore company to produce the bike or how many were actually produced and why did they only distribute a limited number in Canada(guess). I got it from a sponsor when I was racing back in the day and have had it since 1991. I'm currently getting it back to it's former glory and will post some pics when it's near completion. When I received the bike it was a frame,stem(Ritchey) and fork only (Tange Struts),black paint and not even one decal although it uses Ritchey drop outs. I'll also post the serial # once I can get it cleaned up and can actually read it. Thanks in advance to any help you can give.

Search "Concorde" in the search box above and you'll find some discussion and pictures of nice one.
 
Thanks for all the links, it certainly answered a bunch of the mysteries surrounding my bike. It makes sense that the Canadian distributor was indeed Concorde. I was riding an aluminium Concorde mtb when the frame cracked, my sponsor sent it back for warranty to Concorde. Thats when we were told Concorde discontinued the aluminium frame due to weak welds, I had an upcoming race so they fired out the Team Chance which arrived at the shop as frame/fork but without any decals at all. All they told us was that it was a Team Chance and it had the same basic monetary value as the alum. Concorde frame. Since I had never seen another one I figure it was a good idea to hold onto it, it may not be a real Fat, but it still is a pretty decent bike and Im glad to own it. All this was back in 1991 which I do believe was the first production run of this bike.
 

I-ROBOT

Active member
Most likely they just ripped off the name, knowing that a small company in the US probably wouldn't have the resources to pursue the matter in an international court. It is highly unlikely that Chris would give his name to a bike he didn't design or have his company build. We did build frames for John Tomac in 1988 when he raced for Mongoose and they couldn't keep an imported frame under him. We made a couple of design changes to try and hide things a bit but any sharp-eyed MTBer spotted them pretty quickly.

I would be interested in seeing pics of the frame.
Thanks
Scott
 

IF52

New member
I remember when Chris came to our shop to give a slide presentation with Mossman somebody asked him about those frames and he merely stated that they were a low point at Fat, or something to that effect.
 
Here are the Pics

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speedyj

New member
I had one too!

As a 15 year old I lusted after my local shop owner's Wicked, however, being only 15 I simply could not afford the real thing.

The Concorde 'Team Chance' was apretty good place holder though. A few thoughts on the bike:
1. It was put together by the distributor - VellandTech
2. It had a full DX grouppo with thumbshifters (Yay!)
3. It had a sweet Ti handlebar
4. The fork was a five tube Tange Struts
5. I *think* that the frame was Tange Prestege
5. The cost was about $1100
6. Mine was all black with the Yo Eddy stickers

Unfortunatly I don't have any pictures of the bike, whoops!

Incidently, someone passed me on the street (in suburban Calgary) riding one of these just a week ago, it brought back a lot of memories.

Cheers
J
 

speedyj

New member
Hey?

Canadian Fat Chance,

I just realized that you're in Cow-Town as well, maybe it was you that I saw a few weeks ago? I'm in Tuscany.

J
 
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