1993 Fat Chance Yo Eddy

rva

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I'm coming for the 2026 August BOTM (LOL ), so I thought I better start a build thread. :)

Many, many moons ago, I helped a friend buy a Yo Eddy frame from Germany because he was a bit financially weak at the time. After a few months of him paying me off, I forgot about it completely. But about a year ago, he decided to liquidate his collection, and when I heard the news, I asked what was left (I didn't even think he still had the Eddy). So I drove about 2.5 hours to see him, and while browsing, I saw the one I bought for him, the M/L Eddy. It was sitting in a dark corner underneath a pile of other stuff. It was waiting for me, with my name written on it.

Of course, it took a bit of bargaining, as Eddy prices have gone through the roof since then, but in the end, I was lucky enough to get it within my financial tolerance (obviously, for many of you, it would be 'for free', so I won't even dare say how cheap it was)

When I bought it, I was given a fork to go with it, which was sold as a Tange Switchblade. This shows my lack of education in the early 90's - when I got home with it, it turned out to be a Yokota. I don't know its name (if the forks ever were named), but it's cro-mo and has Spinner dropouts. Since there are no Eddy forks available at the very moment, and I liked these forks from the beginning, for the time being, I'll stick with these. The legs will be color-matched to the frame.

Here are a couple of pictures of how I got it. I have shared these photos on Facebook to figure out the original color (on the german papers, it was stated 'Lila', but that could have been Team as well.) Luckily, there is a lot of information in that Facebook group, so I found out that the German importer had a good relationship with the final finisher, Harry Wallace, which may have led to the creation of the Wicked colorway Eddy series. Leslie's Purple was a Wicked color in 1992, and it seems to be the base color for this frame.











I do not know much about why it looked like this; maybe it was used badly, so somebody just stripped most of the purple, except where the stickers were. And then, like a 5-year-old, he overpainted the stickers...

Several people advised me to keep it as it is, as it carries with it the whole story of its life, but for me, restoration is the first word that comes to mind. And it's a fact known to all - these Eddy's rot in their standing position, so I was curious to see how bad the situation was at the usual rot points. Well, it's not good; the bottom of the seat tube has holes in two sides, so that needs to be repaired. It looks like I've got the man for it, and now it's the next project in the queue. In the meantime, I am looking for somebody to replicate the paint.

Original paperwork when the frame was sold:




Parts-wise, I had some I had been looking for a good home for ages, like a pair of Bullseye hubs or a Syncros Revo crankset.
It's not finalized, but the plan is the following: since the Bullseye hubs are freewheel, and I wanted a 3x8-speed bike, I needed an 8-speed MF. A few weeks ago, I eBayed a Sachs LY93 11-28T multiple freewheel, solving that problem.
I have no idea if it will work, but I have a Campagnolo Icarus RD/FD in the shed and want to pair it with an SL-M732 XT thumbie. The chain should be Shimano, maybe an HG70 if I can find it. Braking will be done by a pair of MachineTech Zeroflex mk1 levers from 1995 (they might be too young for a 1993 build) or a pair of Graftons attached to Gravity Research Pipedreams. Rims most probably Campagnolo to match the RD and FD. Seatpost I have a Syncros and an option to use Roox in 29,4. The stem will be a color-matched Odyssey VAPOR stem, and I also have the matching rear Odyssey VAPOR rear brake ratio pull modifier to go with it. Others are not decided.

Current status after sandblasting:






 
Why do Eddys rot so fast?
Did they slather them in flux and not clean it up properly before the paint shop?
Or did they all spend their teenage years hanging out at the beach half submerged in salt water?
I can't think of another quality frame from that period that was anything like it.
 
Why do Eddys rot so fast?
Did they slather them in flux and not clean it up properly before the paint shop?
Or did they all spend their teenage years hanging out at the beach half submerged in salt water?
I can't think of another quality frame from that period that was anything like it.
i had a 96 YETI Sherpa which lasted 2 years in the UK climate before rotting out from the inside of the chainstays :(
 
Sweet resto project you have there...nice background story too!

I am following through buddy! Hope it all goes to plan and you can get it back on the trail!
 
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Liked for the resto project, not the rot in the seat tube :( Glad you have someone to fix it. Does he (she?) replace the whole tube or splice in a new section?

Why do Eddys rot so fast?
No drain hole in the BB shell so it trapped water/condensation, especially if you rode in inclement weather and put it away wet. Also thin tubes, so not a lot of meat.
Some Yos had a small seal around the seat clamp collar to mitigate water getting in, not sure how effective that was.

My LBS just put a ton of grease in the seat tube when mine was build up, guess they recognised what could happen. No problems so far (*knocks on wood solid seat tube base*)
 
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Liked for the resto project, not the rot in the seat tube :( Glad you have someone to fix it. Does he (she?) replace the whole tube or splice in a new section?
He is almost local and an avid cyclist, for example he made this to my son:
IMG-6572.jpg

that was a trekking (700c) fork, and he cut it down to fit a 12" wheel

He told me that, looking at the pictures, he could not decide whether to replace only the section or the whole tube. He said he would start working on it, and we would see. I will bring him the frame next week, so hopefully only the section replacement will be enough.

-------------------

Question: Has anybody experimented with automotive rust preventers like Mike Sander's grease?
 
Rust preventers work really well beforehand - like spraying Framesaver in a freshly built frame.
Once there's holes, it's torch time.
Often rust damage is surprisingly local, but it's difficult to repair a section of tube tidily. Some people just go remove the rust and fill the holes. Seems a little cosmetic.
 
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Yes, I used Mike Sanders on my Aquafade Yo already 20 years ago. You need to heat the stuff up to 100+ degrees and you need a compressor with serious spray gun. I can't think of better protection. A spray can Fluid Film ASR offers also good protection and much easier to work with. They are available with a long nozzle.
 
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Okay, it seems I was not paying attention to what I was buying.
It turned out that the fork (Yokota, mentioned earlier) is 1.1/8" instead of being 1"
It had threads and came with the Yo, so I was assuming it would fit.

Now it seems I had to custom-make one headtube or I could use one of my forks:

IMG-6388.jpg


from left to right: Girvin ProForx, Rond Hydro Pro 1, RS Mag20, RS Mag21 (for those, I have a black AC brace) Manitou 1 and a Marzocchi Star Fork and have one NOT in the picture, an early production Specialized FSX (the one with a milled down Mag21 leg) fitted with all the AC goodness.

Any thoughts?
 
Mine came with RS Mag21 and spare original 91 forks.

Considering that the early frames (pre 94?) were not suspension corrected I think these forks will do the job. They have relatively low travel so the geometry should not be affected by much.
 
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