Team Yo Eddy Help

jwilly

New member
I recently picked up a Team Yo Eddy s/n 743Y1S I plan to clean it up for my wife. That s/n means (I think) it is a 1991 - and maybe the first year for that model? It has a Saratoga sticker. From what I've read around the net of Fat City history they moved to NY in 1994 so I'm curious what I'm missing there.

Also it came w/ a suspension fork w/ a/c of about 416mm. Could that be right or should it have a shorter rigid fork for proper geometry?

Thanks
Jim
 

Spikes

New member
Maybe the frame was resprayed. That serial definitely indicates a 1991 model. Maybe you can post some pictures of it.
 

jwilly

New member
pics

Maybe the frame was resprayed. That serial definitely indicates a 1991 model. Maybe you can post some pictures of it.

Attached (hopefully) are a few pics.
 

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Yo Eddy!

Member
Hi,

I think Spikes is right. Besides the serial# that already indicated it is not a NY one, I now also a press in bottom bracket. Probably it is reapainted at some point or it got new decals.

Officially the fork is to long, but why not trying it? If you (or your wife) don't like the handling, you can always decide to source some $weet Yo forks.
 

I-ROBOT

Active member
a possible explanation

Hi Kids,
The 1 indicates that the frame was originally constructed in Somerville in 1991. In fact it would have been constructed at the Olive Square shop. It is remotely possible that the frame never sold until after the merger and move to NY which I was not a part of. By 1994, I had made up my mind to move on regardless of whether the company survived in Somerville or not. There were many unfinished frames left in production inventory at the time of the move. Those frames were sent to NY and most likely finished and sold from that location. If I remember correctly, 1990 was the first year of Yo Eddy production. All Yo's were designed for a suspension fork. It was the first Fat bike built to have a suspension fork. The Big One Inch forks had about the same length as the average suspension fork of that period.
I'll try to recall more of the detail as time goes on.
Feel free to contact me
Scott "I-ROBOT" Bengtson
Chief Welder for Fat City Somerville (the real Fat City) Nov., 1986 to Oct., 1994
 

zsazsu

New member
Hello,

I have a '91 Monster... When I first received the frame from you guys it was that hot pink color. Do you remember what the factory name of that color scheme was?

Thanks
 

Yo Eddy!

Member
Hi Scott,

Welcome!

I were not chief welder at the time, so who am I :D ..but I do not vaguely recall the Yo frame was suspension corrected at some point and I do also know of 2 lengths Yo forks. Does this mean it was corrected to accomodate even longer suspension forks???
 

schneidw

New member
I Robot Welcome

Scott,

Thanks for your posting and sharing your technical insights wrt Fat City frames... We will all benefit from your wisdom and experience..

I just looked at the card that came w my 93 Yo Eddy and see you were the master welder so let me extend a belated (late by 13 years or so) thanks for your quality workmanship

Bill
 

rody

Member
Scott,

Glad to see you finally registered and posted over here...be ready for more brain picking than you've already dealt out on the vintage mail server :D

cheers,

rody
 

Jack Lantern

New member
I recently picked up a Team Yo Eddy s/n 743Y1S I plan to clean it up for my wife. That s/n means (I think) it is a 1991 - and maybe the first year for that model? It has a Saratoga sticker. From what I've read around the net of Fat City history they moved to NY in 1994 so I'm curious what I'm missing there.
Does your frame have the "tooth pick" chain suck device on the drive side chainstay? I don't think they started putting those on until around 92 or 93 (plz correct me if I'm wrong Scott). I have a 91 and it doesn't have this feature.
 

jwilly

New member
Does your frame have the "tooth pick" chain suck device on the drive side chainstay? I don't think they started putting those on until around 92 or 93 (plz correct me if I'm wrong Scott). I have a 91 and it doesn't have this feature.

Thanks to all for the help.

Another good point here - no chain suck device, along w/ s/n & press-in BB I'm convinced its a Somerville '91 - sweet. So maybe a paint and re-decal or took the trip to NY to be finished. If I get to taking the paint off I may be able to tell. Though I'd be inclined to think if someone took the time to re-paint and apply new decals they would be more careful about components. Current setup is all over the map!

Above Scott made a reference to the Yo geom. corrected for 'average suspension fork of that period'. I suppose thats on the shorter side of what's currently available. Would it be in the range of 50-60mm or ? Or what's the length of the big Yo forks?

I do plan on riding what's on there but would like to know what Fat City spec'd.

Thanks Again,
-Jim
 
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I-ROBOT

Active member
Good evening fellow fatties
The website finally decided to let me in. It's been a bit frustrating logging in several times and not being able to do anything. I'm not a geek by any means but I have owned a computer since '84 so I'm not really a novice either. That said, how the F do you put pics up on this site?

If I remember correctly, we started experimenting with anti-chainsuck devices near the end of the Olive Square period. I don't think anything went into production until we moved into the Linden Ave shop. I remember doing lots of chain-stay repairs. Some were beaten so badly the entire stay was cut off and replaced. Some were smoothed out and the dents and gouges were filled with brass by brazing.

I didn't get that involved with frame design so I can't be really accurate about inquiries as to when design changes were implemented. The Yo may have started out without any compensation for a suspension fork. You guys probably know more that I do.

I was in charge of welding. At our busiest, I had 6 people working for me and it was a daily challenge to keep up with ordering consumables, coordinating with the production planner (Lawrie), maintaining the equipment, and developing techniques to increase the welding speed and constantly striving to improve the quality. I did a lot of tool, jig, and fixture building as well as the lion's share of production welding. I tried to be involved as much as possible with the manufacturing end of the business rather than the design and function of the bike itself. I left that to the real riders and racers in the shop. My competitive edge was with the speed and quality of my torch work. Towards the end in '94, I could weld a Buck Shaver main triangle in 17 minutes and I could weld a titanium frame complete in 1 hour.

Feel free to ask any type of question. I've been getting into trying to remember all the cool **** we used to do.
Scott
 
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Yo Eddy!

Member
Scott,

Maybe you face this? => http://www.fatcogs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=444

In the 5th post I explain how I solved it.

Photobucket is indeed very good for uploading pictures. When you place the generated hyperlink between
, you're done.
 

Bssc

New member
sorry for the hijack

I bot where you been Olive square was the best and talking to Lawery while naked ( post shower pre opening of the shop) at North East Bikes was a howl. I miss the toxic tours by big Harry. I miss going between Merlin and Fat, I also miss the LW race and all the prototype bike that would surface there.

Yo Eddie for life

B-man
 
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