1989 Team Comp

[mainlyfats]

Bought it a year and a half ago thinking that it would be great to have an unmolested, pretty original bike in my size - XL Fats don't come up often - to take out on the occasional ride, but not worry about as it was described as being in good working order. Unfortunately, the seller's pics are now gone from flickr, but it had been refinished by Fat Chance at a time when the only decals available were Wicked Lite ones, so it was incorrectly decaled. I thought that wouldn't bug me...

On arrival, the feeling that this wasn't a rider, but a project was apparent the minute I opened the box. I could tell the wheels were screwed and the drivetrain looked rough (my Park tool subsequently just went round and round when checking the chain stretch). The shifters were super loose and the bar and stem were just plain wrong. Live and in person the Wicked Lite decals rubbed me the wrong way.

So I took it all to pieces and thought about just hanging the frame up. I'd pretty much decided prior to this never to restore another bike (essentially, I spend too much, then regret and sell and feel the money is better spent supporting framebuilders who are still working). Then I impulsively sent it to Toronto for paint.

Turns out there was a crack and it needed pretty extensive refinishing work. I had a stem painted to match and in one fell swoop exceeded my buy price without even a single moving part purchased. Decals were a nightmare. No one has 89 Team decals and everyone who said they could do it no problem had no idea what they were talking about. I kept getting serifed text for the headtube, or mix and match Yo/Wicked decals. In the end, I cobbled some decals together - still no small US Flag decal, though - and got Jen Green to make a headbadge.

When the frame came back I got to thinking that it would be cool to have a straight XT bike. Nothing fancy, just the kind of build I might have got in a build-kit from Veltec back in the day. I looked for a donor bike, but didn't find one. Then I went down the NOS road.

There are some things I'll spend money on. Fresh shifters, fresh derailleurs, fresh drivetrain, serviceable wheels and original skinwalls are all in the "worth it" column for me. I made those happen.

But there are other things I just can't get behind. I never liked the seats from that era and rejoiced when my butt first hit a Flite. I also didn't like the period correct XT pedals and couldn't bring myself to spend the kind of money NOS 1 inch XT headsets are fetching.

I built the wheels and started hanging parts the day of the Tsunami in Japan and again had a pang of regret for the money I'd spent on my own nostalgia rather than supporting existing businesses. So I finished off the build with current, but classic MKS pedals (love them - they are on all my bikes) and a Tange headset.

So there it is. All done. Now I have two bikes - I have an unrestored NOS 1984 Ritchey too - that have never been ridden. Not sure how I feel about that.

The Build:

Frame/Fork: 1990 Fat Chance Team Comp with G.P. Wilson drop outs and Jen Green headbadge
Seat post: Ritchey NOS
Stem/Bars: Ritchey NOS
Saddle: Flite Repro
Grips: ODI
Pedals: MKS Cyclocross, MKS clips,straps and flips
Headset: Tange Levin steel
Brakes: XT NOS except I always hated those pill with short cable things they came with, so I didn't use those.
Shifters: XT NOS
Crank: XT NOS
Derailleurs: XT NOS
Wheels: Black XT hubs NOS, Wheelsmith spokes, Araya RM-17s NOS, XT Chain/Cassette
Tires: Ritchey Z-Max WCS NOS
Cables: Fat NOS XT brakes, Shimano SIS
Cages: King
Serial: 016C01

[tvcreative]

please please more pix closer closer

[mainlyfats]

Originally Posted by tvcreative

please please more pix closer closer

A few more. Sorry they're not too great... If you want to see anything specifically, let me know.

[sketchy]

Who is this Jen Green who made the head badge? Never heard of her but the badge(and the bike) look fantastic. Nice job!

[mainlyfats]

Originally Posted by sketchy

Who is this Jen Green who made the head badge? Never heard of her but the badge(and the bike) look fantastic. Nice job!

http://www.headbadges.com/

Jen is great and does fantastic work. Here's one she did for me for the bike I built at the Yamaguchi school.

[I-ROBOT]

Love the Head Badge!!!!

What is the material?

Scott

[mainlyfats]

Originally Posted by I-ROBOT

Love the Head Badge!!!!

What is the material?

Scott

Sterling, Scott. The one she made for me is sterling and enamel. It depicts a very weird intersection in Winnipeg called confusion corner and has Yamaguchi's family symbol in the lower corner.

This Team Comp - I assume - is one of your babies?

Matt

[mainlyfats]

You'll note when I put this up I thought the bike was an 1989. Then - when I actually looked at the serial number 016C01 - I thought, 1991? Can't be... Must be 1990.

Just had a look at the 1990 catalogue and the Team bike was a Yo!. So... After years of me answering serial number questions for others, anyone want to take a stab at mine?

[mainlyfats]

Bueller?

[tvcreative]

i think jonsonneborn has access to the original build books

why not email him

he has pulled some rabbits out of the hat as far as build mysteries

sure love your bike - regardless

that color rocks

[colker]

Love the straightforward build.. it brings a time era intact in my mind.

[mainlyfats]

Hey thanks!

So consensus is that it's indeed a 1990. Interesting as this model isn't in the catalog: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/d/2159-4/1990.pdf

That was the original source of my confusion.