My Pink Polka Dot Yo, review and pics

mcgurme

New member
Hey, gang,
I finally got my '91 Yo about finished. This is a mini-review of the project.

It's been a long, challenging project, for both Rody and I. Rody did all the work. I sent the Yo to him last November with a rusted out seat tube. He replaced the tube, repainted the bike, built new Yo style forks, and built me a custom stem so I can use weird handlebars. I did the entire build from the frame myself, using a mix of components old & new. This includes E-style cook bros cranks, Phil BB, Chris king headset (new), Deore XT components (old), Barcon shifters on a Soma moustache bar (new), and Mavic wheels on a mid-90's Hugi hub. My next project is to build up some purple Velocity Aeroheat wheels with pink spoke nipples.

Rody's welds are excellent. He warned me ahead of time that his welds wouldn't look like the originals. However, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. As you can see from the pictures, his welds are professional and match the originals well. He also did a bunch of fillet brazing of various dents and dings in the frame (I used her as a commuter for several years), and she looks smooooth now. We came up with the paint color scheme working together through several iterations, and I'm really happy with it. There's no other Yo like it, which is fine with me. It still looks weird enough to fit in with the Yo! mystique.

The forks are awesome. After some issues fitting my crown race, I got the bike together Saturday and went out for a ride on my local trail. It's like a whole new bike. I had Marzocchi Air MX's on her before, and since she wasn't built for suspension, the ride was never quite right. The front end was too tall, and so the front end like to kind of flop over, and also lift up on climbs. Now it is right as rain. So much more precise and agile than my full suspension (a Gary Fisher Sugar 2, which for an FS, I like a lot). And the bike is fast. I added about 0.5 mph to my average doing the local loop trail, compared to before (that's actually a big difference - it's a technical trail - my typical average is only 9mph on this trail, and for perspective, my average road speeds hover in the 20-22mph range on hilly rides). Of course, I just swapped out tires to WTB Mutano Raptors, so maybe that helped too (I love these tires - great for fast XC).

The paint job is really nice. There are a few minor flaws in some of the pink dots. I would barely have noticed them. But Rody was trying to get the bike to me in a rush for a race, and he was so unhappy with his paint job that he offered to re-do it in the future after I trash this one. Rody is serious about customer satisfaction. But anyway, from more than a foot away, nobody can tell there were any issues. Plus, the decals look just like the originals. Awesome!

As with most craftsmen, be prepared to wait a bit for the work to get done. It was almost 10 months from when I sent the frame to when I got the last parts back. Was it worth it? Totally. There were various reasons for the delay, including some of my own mind-changing, and Rody had some very good personal reasons for being out of the shop for a while. In fact, because he felt bad about the delays and some of the issues he had, he went the extra mile in other ways, and I really appreciate it.

About the only other slight improvement I'd wish for was a bit more frequent communication from him about what was going on. A number of times I wouldn't hear anything for a month or two, and I'd start getting frustrated wondering what was going on. Then I'd write him a note, and he'd usually write back with a progress report. For someone with more patience than me, that wouldn't be a problem. But I'm a bit of a type-A personality, and I really, really wanted my Yo back together, so it was hard not knowing what was going on at times.

While I'm not at liberty to quote the final price here, I can say that it was more than fair for the large amount of work that Rody did. It wasn't a cheap project, by any means, but the bike looks virtually new, and at significantly less expense than having a custom IF made. Plus, it's a Fat!

If you have money and some patience to get your Fat restored, I would highly recommend Rody's work!

See below for pictures.

Morgan
 

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Yo Eddy!

Member
That defo does look like a great job, McGurne. Awesome you got your Yo back on the roads (trails:D ) again.

It seems quite a lot interesting stuff is coming out Rodys shop recently ...and the praising words I also don't hear for the 1st time.
 
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