This bike I wanted to build for a long time,...
I always loved the 80ties and 90ties mountain bike era, as this was unquestionable the most creative time for steel bike frame building.
When the mountain bike boom really took off, new builders popped out everywhere and they were literally reinventing the bicycle as we used to know it.
Old conventions and traditions were just blown away and the new builders were challenging each other with the wildest designs, ideas and features you could only imagine. My favorite builders are for sure Tom Ritchey, Paul Brodie, Joe Breeze, Bill Grove, Steve Potts and so many other, but one always stood out to me and that was Chris Chance of Fat City Bikes. I always loved his bike designs and his approach to colors and graphics were just so different from what every body else did back then. Fresh and bright paint jobs, cool comic style graphics, neon cables all over the place, super nice little details, happy bikes which are fun even just looking at them. And that is what a bike means to me, it should drive a smile in your face every time you see it and it should make you happy when you go out and ride it. I don't like all those boring black and super streamlined modern bikes which are so perfect and slick, with strained looking riders on top of them hunting for the best times on strava. Bikes are so much fun and you should be happy and relaxed every time you ride, not super serious and ambitious.
They should make you forget about all those challenges and troubles you have to deal with every day, they should give you freedom and make you smile, that's exactly for what bikes are made for! After having quite a hard time this year I decided to finally make that bike real and build it just for myself. I build it to get my self finally back on a bike, to be more motivated to ride more often, to care more and do more good things to myself.
There is nothing better than just go out riding on a bike that you really love and no matter how dark and grey the world might look some times, you will always come home feeling much better as you have left the house before.
Happy bikes will make you happy.
This is an homage to one of my heroes in frame building, Chris Chance, and Chris,... I really hope you will not be too angry that I "stole" your designs ;)
I am so happy to see that you are back in to frame building and bringing your unique good vibes back into the scene,...I really hope to meet you one day in person!
Thanks so much also for the amazing team play and support for this show bike:
First of all for sure to Tine at Gramm-Tourpacking for making these super nice retro inspired wedge style framebags and the happy smiley safety saddlebag!
My friend and fellow frame builder Jatzek Orlowski made that amazing Yo-Ferny Team Lavender paint job and Christian of Cyber Cycles, who came up with the awesome new cantilever Cyber Fork which really got me motivated to finally build that bike. Other fine parts were sponsored by Tune, Son, Garbaruk, Thomson Bike, Shimano and Pro, thanks so much to all of you for your support!
Photography: Florian Haeussler / FERN Bicycles.