1989 Fat chance wicked

Quotama

Dirt Disciple
Hi Guys.

Finally got down to this project again. I got this bike late December last year. It popped up on the local marketplace. Of course it somehow spoke to me even though I am mostly into Road bikes. It was built up with a terrible suspension fork ( stuck as well ) and of course it had a stuck seatpost. Frame number is 14899W, which should make it a late 89? so probably a 90s model year. I have checked the 1990 catalog on here and it is in there in this colour.

Luckily after some contact with the seller he managed to find the original front forks. It was a little bit of a sad story. The original owner had recently passed away and the seller was his old friend helping the family clear the house. It probably had been sitting for a while though and the cranks wouldnt even turn over. It is rare to find these in the Netherlands, although the local Mtb museum has a couple of them ( defenitely worth a visit -> https://mountainbikemuseum.nl/home )

I wrestled with the seatpost for quite a while. I had it sitting upside down for two weeks.
First centimeters.jpeg
The first centimeters were a struggle.
But at some point I could clamp it in the vise and twist it out using the frame.
Finally it came out.jpeg
The axle and bearings require some forcefull removal as well. Both the axle to bearing as well as the bearing to frame being mostly stuck.
Crunchy bearings.jpeg
Luckily the axle appears to be in decent enough shape, not great but it feels reasonably smooth, I can still polish it a little bit.
Axle.jpeg

The bike was fitted with a strange mix of a 105-7sp rear derailleur and deore index shifters. It ran deore brake levers, but XTR cantilevers front and rear. I have some parts which are probably original to the bike. I have the suntour xc pro crankset, the xc pro front derailleur, a stem and the seatpost clamp. Unfortunately the seatpost clamp has a crack in it, so that is not safe to reuse, the seapost was damaged while removing it. A 26.4 seatpost is on order. The headset is an 'unknown' black needle bearing, cant remember the brand right now, but it will do. The wheels came with the bike, some deore hubs on a ritchey and a specialized rimruim. The rear hub has 130 rear spacing and HG 7 speed freehub, while the frame spacing is 135. It was run with two spacers with on either side of the hub on the skewer, dont ask me why...
These wheels can't stay, although the front hub is reasonably smooth. Stem seems to be a simple black chromoly stem, not the same as in the catalog, but functional and sturdy. It can be reused.
Wicked 1989 orange.jpg

This is the current status of the bike, it sat like this for the last few months and finished another project first. I have ordered the press fit bearings and new collars for it two weeks ago, they should be here next week according to tracking and customs ( The collars were stuck on too, and I had no other option than to cut them off ). It is a bit unsure how exactly it will be built or whether it will be painted. I know its only original once and I do like patina, but the metal needs protecting too. Especially the area with the chain suck damage doesnt look too pretty. The only problem is all the colour differences and stickers placed on the frame under which more original colour is present. A tune sticker, a cooks bros sticker on the NDS chainstay. And there are some parts of the fat chance sticker set missing. The orange appears to be powder coat to me, which would make it significantly cheaper to redo it.

And to be fair I'm not a huge fan of fluorescent orange. Especially since I know how much brighter it should be than it is now! Other original colours are Porsche red, Black and Candy wild cherry. Of which the last on is wet paint I, i have seen pictures of black and red bikes which also do look like they were powdercoated. Red is an option to me.

I'd like to hear your thoughts and suggestions regarding the build, available parts etc.

Lets see if I can keep you updated.

Have fun riding!

Lukas
 

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Very nice. What you could try is first polish en wax the paint. Protect the exposed metal with a combination of Carpotech RX5 and clear enamel. If you do not like the result new paint is another option.
 
If it’s a bike you owned from new and the patina is due to you riding it, I’d probably keep it original paint.
But if it came to you like that, no problem with a respray - make it your own.
 
The bike came to me like this. I am ( not yet ) emotionally invested in it.

Don't worry I'm not decided what I will do with it yet. But I have no personal attachment to any of the damages or stickers put on there. Slowly working on getting parts so it can at least be a functional bicycle.

I also wanted to paint my previous bike I shared on here, ( Pinarello Radius ), but in the end I just polished that up and built it as it was. I get very good response on it and I am happy the way it looks now. However with that project I was mainly put of by the cost of rechroming + painting. And that bike is now actually doing duties as one of the main road bikes.

I am happy that at least it is a viable project. I mean I could have lost out if that seatpost had remained stuck, or the bb remained seized in place. I know many things can still be repaired, but some things are just cost prohibitive.

Of course good paintwork also doesn't come cheap either. And maybe it is better to either invest in an awesome splatter wet paint job. Or leave it as it is, with maybe a new decal here and there.

Don't worry i definitely won't rattle can it myself.
 
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Build it. Ride it. A lot of riding. If you are still bothered then redo the paint. A tattered original is always better than a half done job and a good repaint is not easy or cheap. Only do it if you are fully comitted.
 
Btw.. the fluorescent orange is one iconic color of the late 80s.

I have a wicked and ride it all the time. And a 54cm Pinarello Vuelta which is the same generation of your Radius. What a coincidence. Back to the Wicked, it´s a great bike at technical singletrack. It has a high bottom bracket which helps clear rocks, steps, roots etc.. It reacts fast but gives you great balance meaning you will clear stuff on the Wicked you would not have tried w/ other bikes. It´s fun to ride. Not a speed monster but a technical terrain wizard. It has a short top tube and short front center so do not undersize... it´s not made to have loads of seatpost showing. I like the orange but you can paint it however you want it: it´s a great bike for customization. Much more than yo eddys which people tend to build conservatively. Wickeds were built w/ all kinds of rigid forks, stems, bars, cranksets. To some including big fat collectors, it´s the quintessential Fat Chance.
 
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Nice find! Especially in the Nertherlands! 😎

Look forward to seeing what you do to it. I love original paint jobs and always look at patina as perfection.

However it’s your bike, so your choice.

I’d focus on building it up to see how it rides, especially as @Prodigal Son has wetted my appetite on how amazing Wicked’s are to ride and you can renovate at a later date after ”accumulating” old/new bits for it! 😜

ENJOY! 😎😍
 
More updates with pictures coming soon. After I finished work on the polishing frame.

I first tried to clean as best I could and removed the most damaged and incorrect decals since there was also so much dirt stuck in and under it. I have cleaned and treated all the remaining rust spots so bare metal with Evaporust and some rubbing.
I tried to buff and polish a section of paint. However so many deep scratches with dirt stuck in them made it still look very tired.

I have since took a little bit of a gable and wet sanded large parts of the frame with 1000 grit ( with a mild detergent in the water ). This made it clean up nicely but of course dulled out the paint. I have now clearcoted over the entire frame and forks. The two large Fat chance decals wicked decals on the downtube have remained. Since I quite like their ratted look and they are the originals. So the frame and two downtube original decals are now lightly cleared over in hope that they will survive from now on. I will now have to cut and polish this clearcoat to even out my home spray job to perfection, but i think it will come out all good. And since all the rust was removed it should make the original colour last and keep the bare metal spots protected for at least another few years.

The many shades of orange still remain very visible, the overall is now just a little more clean and shiny. The removed decals are still visible in the discoloured paint, and it gives quite a cool effect actualy. ''Cooks Bros Racing" is still perfectly readable on the left chainstay. And it still says 'Tune' on the toptube. Where the two black decals on the toptube were are now two dark orange squares. I will probably just two two small US flag decals there to cover those two spots.

Unfortunately I didnt get any Cooks bros or Tune parts with the bike. Even though those words are now embedded forever in the orange frame paint.
 
At least the cranks and pedals are now ready to go. Probably wont ride those pedals much on the actual trails. But i had these cages around and they match.

Cranks are now polished, xc pro logo is a fresh decal.
20231026_172750.jpg
 
At least the cranks and pedals are now ready to go. Probably wont ride those pedals much on the actual trails. But i had these cages around and they match.

Cranks are now polished, xc pro logo is a fresh decal.
View attachment 790796
That´s the pedals i ride. And i rip off decals from stem, post, cranks etc.. It´s a habit. Just keep those originals on the frame.
 

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