My new purchase, 18" Wicked

[afterbang]

After searching around for a while, I came across this Craigslist ad from a guy in California that bought this bike and pretty much never rode it.

Like many other sellers that see old Fats listed for thousands of dollars, he was asking a lot of money for it. A big selling point to him was the extra money he spent on the Rolls saddle, haha. In the end, I feel like we came to a fair deal for both of us and I didn't want to pass this bike up.

Tires have been changed as the owner wanted to be nice and put new tires on since they were starting to crack and he threw away the original ones. He asked the bike shop what should be on the bike and they chose some expensive Specialized tires with black sidewalls so I'll be looking for something to change them out. Saw those Panaracer remakes but I need something with a little less aggressive tread pattern.

Serial number is 00109W and seller says he believes he purchased this in 1988 or 89.

EDIT: Need to give a big thanks to colker for being so helpful and walking me through the purchase of an older Fat. Thanks buddy!

It will be packaged and shipped professionally from a bike shop so I'm hoping it comes to my door as beautiful as it looks like in the pictures. I was a pretty picky buyer since I was buying sight unseen and the seller was nice enough to take pictures of every square inch of this bike. It really is, in my opinion, a gem in this condition for the age. I may replace the chain and cables but that's about it. I have always disliked black seatposts and I was able to get a nice Suntour XC Pro seatpost on eBay so that may go on there but that's about it for changes. Maybe some new skewers... I don't know. I have lots of mountain bikes to beat up on so I'm thinking this will be used for lighter trail rides with my wife.

 

[Syborg]

Congratulations to this wonderful Wicked. Very harmonious and built on time. Also a nice color combination I've only seen on Monster Fats. I wish you much fun with this bike and always happy trails.

Many greetings from Germany

Helmut

 

[chefmiguel]

Looks to be in great shape, best of luck with it. Nice assist Colker.

 

[Retro Dude]

That's awesome. Looks just like my old '89 Wicked.

I love the black/green combo.

You are going to love the ride!

 

[tvcreative]

Me likey....that one is in fine shape.

 

[yo-Nate-y]

Nice pick up!

The Panaracer TimbukII remakes really are the best bet for skinwall tires these days. The tread is great and def. not too noisy on road, if that's what you meant by wanting something less aggressive. They are very similar to the Ground Controls that are on your Wicked in the pics.

 

[colker]

cool. you've got original black fat city bars w/ the nice shape that's not easy to find these days, salsa w/rollers which are sought after on ebay like it's gold, xt platform pedals, Rolls saddle, paint looks pristine. decals intact.
Never seen a better wicked. I like 89. The best wickeds i've seen, the most loved ones are 89s.
SCORE!!!

 

[colker]

take it to a nice, slow, technical trail.. you will see the wicked magic come alive. The more demanding, sketchy, steep it gets.. the more you will be surprised at how balanced this bike is.
It may look fragile w/ it's small tubes, rigid unicrown fork and long stays.. but it's a monster of a technical trail bike. Tough. Finds traction where it's not supposed to. Climbs anything.

 

[afterbang]

thanks guys, I'm so hyped for it to show up. I found some low profile kenda gumwall tires that are 26 x 2.125 for 10.18 a piece on amazon and I'll just roll those until I pick those Panaracers up. I was looking into some NOS tires but I've heard they are hit or miss on quality. As soon as I get it built up, I'll send some pictures from the trails. My folks have 200 acres full of trails in the foothills of Mt. Hood and I can't wait to take this out!

 

[I-ROBOT]

Your serial number indicates that this was the 10th frame of 1989. We typically made 10 to 15 frames of each size per run so its quite likely from the first run of '89.
I probably welded most, if not all of the frame - definitely all of the finish parts for sure. The fork was probably welded by Chris Igleheart or George Reynolds.
The brazing would have been done by Mike P or Bob Fulk or maybe Alison Kuby
The paint is the standard black epoxy powder coat which we had done by an outside shop (can't remember the name right now). The green fork was painted by FCC - either Hoss Rogers or Dean or Mike Flanigan.
You should ask the seller if he has the hang tag that would have come with the bike from the dealer.
As the proud owner of an 18" Wicked myself, I can tell you that you have one sweet ride. I even like that saddle!!
Best of Luck
Scott B

 

[afterbang]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post and give me that information, it's very insightful and appreciated. I remember calling Fat City Cycles when i was like 9 or 10 years old just to get stickers because I wanted one so bad as a kid. Well, 17 years later I finally got one! I grew up on the east coast doing all the Norba events and traveled the country doing the Norba Nationals with my family so I've been on a bike forever. I'm not too familiar with the history of Fat but we're you working there in the 90's? Spooky Cycles was also a builder that was in New York that I got all my bikes from when I was a kid. My older brother was on their pro team and Frank Wadelton, a welder there, is still friends with my dad who is still building bikes independently.

I have a custom one-off short travel freeride bike and some hardtails that Frank built that I currently ride along with a stable of old Spooky Cycles bikes we've kept over the years. Didn't know if the east coast American-made builders had any relationships during that time. We have had some Brooklyn Machine Works bikes too but they always seemed a bit too over-engineered on the full suspension creations and we ended up selling those.

Anyways, I am very stoked on my purchase and still have plans to build a Yo for a trail bike. As I've gotten older and settled down a bit, the lure of cross country riding has taken over and become very appealing again. Gravity riding will always be where my heart is but it all started with my first size 13.5" Stumpjumper that was still too big for me on the trails of Pennsylvania and Maryland.