Does anyone know what happened to Tati Cycles?

[Benneke]

Until last year, an anonymous individual or group of people operating under the name "Tati Cycles" provided me with daily entertainment on twitter/instagram/etc for years, making fun of the bike industry and cycling culture while also posting pictures of sweet retro bikes. A few months ago, they stopped posting abruptly and deleted their web presence. I'm sure many of you are familiar with Tati. Does anyone know what happened? Why did they disappear?

[holliscx]

Find your answer across the hall

[Bruce K]

Or you could just answer his question .....

BK

[unterhausen]

I can't find the thread over there. As I recall, it was mostly speculation, but the person was moving

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Bruce K

Or you could just answer his question .....

BK

10-4..save some time and heart ache

[sandyrs]

Per the VSalon post, he's now doing this:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/tamago-coff...-bikes-chicago

I wish I still had friends in Chicago so I could visit.

[livingminimal]

I asked Tati about it...

He said the entire Tati persona, and the "shop" were the result of a bet. Someone bet he could not keep up the social media presence and whatnot for five years. That ended I think last year. He said he's still going to do 1$ fits and build wheels in a cold workshop, but the online presence of Tati and many aspects of that that were connected to the shop, were predicated on a wager with a friend.

Just reporting what he told me directly.

[Benneke]

Originally Posted by livingminimal

I asked Tati about it...

He said the entire Tati persona, and the "shop" were the result of a bet. Someone bet he could not keep up the social media presence and whatnot for five years. That ended I think last year. He said he's still going to do 1$ fits and build wheels in a cold workshop, but the online presence of Tati and many aspects of that that were connected to the shop, were predicated on a wager with a friend.

Just reporting what he told me directly.

That is crazy... he must have spent thousands of hours on social media, and he did it all because of a bet? He's definitely an interesting character. He said something about making a quarterly print newsletter, does anyone know how to subscribe? I want to keep up with his adventures, they were always entertaining.

[Benneke]

Originally Posted by sandyrs

Per the VSalon post, he's now doing this:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/tamago-coff...-bikes-chicago

I wish I still had friends in Chicago so I could visit.

Has anyone been to this new shop? I'll be visiting the north side of Chicago in a few weeks, is it worth the trip?

[coffeecake]

James Acklin (I believe) is attempting to preserve some of the Tativille writing. Find it here: http://tativille.jamesacklin.com.

There's some good stuff in there.

[bcroslin]

It lives on (sorta) through the Wayback Machine

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Benneke

That is crazy... he must have spent thousands of hours on social media, and he did it all because of a bet? He's definitely an interesting character. He said something about making a quarterly print newsletter, does anyone know how to subscribe? I want to keep up with his adventures, they were always entertaining.

Sounds like a Seinfeld episode.

[fiamme red]

He's probably out riding his bike.

[alexsteinker]

Im not so much as interested in his online persona, but the Pommes Frites Frames he was selling looked like a decent frame for the price. I wish i knew what happened to those/who made them.

[davidA]

J is back in HydePark, on the south side of Chicago.
His shop is now called Tomago, it's amazing, small with coffee and other goodies!
Still the best bike guru in town.