Team Chance

[ribaldmanikin]

I had posted this recent addition to my garage full of bikes on MTBR, and was asked by Elevation12,000 to post it here.

Before the rants start, I'm aware this isn't a Fat Chance. From what I've been told, it was distributed by Concorde in Canada, and made in Japan. Chris Chance had some input on the design. I'm not sure how much.

Bottom line, it's a lot of fun to ride, and I expect to ride it until I can afford a real Fat Chance.

I'd be interested in any information on this frame.

I don't know the year, but am guessing around 1991 from the original owner's information. He said he bought it in 91 as a frame and had it built to his specifications. He upgraded to gripshifts from the original XT thumbshifters, which he said he threw away (ugh).

Other than the gripshifts and tires, everything is original from that build. I did swap out the middle chainring yesterday since it was skipping on my ride. It's in good shape. I removed some ugly decals. The Team Chance decals are all in pretty good condition.

Components:

Frame: 19" Tange Prestige Double Butted tubing
Fork: Tange Struts
Derailleurs: Shimano XT
Cranks: Shimano XT
Brakes: Unsure
Hubs: Unknown
Rims: Front Mavic 221 Rear Mavic 231
Tires: Front Specialized Mt. Baldy, Rear Continental Travel Contac
Stem: Specialized
Seatpost: Syncros (I think)
Seat: Velo Titanium
Shifters: GripShift 600

And now the photos:

[MikeNZ]

It looks like it was made in the Diamondback factory.. just my opinion

[Yo Eddy!]

Not so much FAT dna for the Team Chance, but being a chapter in Fat history & because there are not so many & yours looks in pretty nice shape, I think you got is a nice ride there!

I saved some pics from a Team Chance on eBay several years ago:


Tange Struts fork: Also the Buck could be ordered with Struts. Yo and BOI fork were closed at the top of the blades were Struts had plastic caps(removed on this bike). Struts have curved blades, Yo and BOI straight. Struts were Yo derived forks that Tange built under licence.


A seatube this long beyond TT is really un-FAT


No domed stays! Tapered stays too. Fat stays of course aren't tapered. Not as neat looking dropouts with 2 eyelets.

Here a pic of the dropout area of my '95 Yo:



That are a few things that are un-FAT. From your pics I see the Team Chance is made with Tange Prestige. Great tubing of course, but by far most Fats were made with True Temper.

For as far as the ride is concerned my guess is the US Fats will be stiffer because of the rear end.