40 yr Old Newbie's Firebird Project - FINISHED!

[brettypeeps]

Coloredtuffs.com or eBay you can get them

[rollin72]

nice build mate, love a good firebird me  

[ED209]

See...SEE... thats FOOKING WICKED. John said it all "Reckon you'll have some fun with that mate" FUUUUN... DPs are fun bikes... piece of piss to ride too.

Gordy you have just made me realise that I've just been totally sidetracked by the beautiful bikes you see on RAD and have TOTALLY MISSED THE POINT which was that I WANTED TO RIDE A DP like I did BITD.

I've taken on too many opinions and I've now got a show pony DP that I CAN'T RIDE and a Hoffman that I'm trying to ride but ITS SOOOO HEAVY!

I love your bike and you've made me realise I need to get back to the roots of why I got back into it... to build a DP to RIDE NOT LOOK AT.

So I've now got a week to build a hybrid of the Hoffman & DP and BOLLOCKS TO BIKES YOU CAN'T RIDE  

Lets AVE IT.  

[NORTY40]

Turned out really nice mate , sounds like your well pleased with it too which is the important thing 

[ED209]

If you are going to ride parks etc, I would go for a slightly better tyre, there are a few amber walled New Skool Tyres about that look great on an old skool build, have a word with stodgy at the rad shop, he knows everything & will sort you out 

http://www.radbmxshop.co.uk/shop/article_696.001/FIT-F.A.F-Tyre---SKINWALL.html'shop_param=cid%3D11%26aid%3D696.001%26

I got a pair of those FIT tyres from Stodgy before Crimbo and gave them their first outing at the indoor park in Leicester today - they were very nice to ride so you made a good choice that... Mr W.I.K.M.TA was spot on 

They are staying on for my hybrid DP/Hoffman ( getting excited about it now  )

[pickle]

just get a decent NS bike to ride!  i bet mine weighs less than your DP and rides miles better   

[BMX20]

Well, thank you one and all for your kind comments,  Let's see if I can answer/address them without missing anyone out.

The Tuff IIs are new coasters bought from the States (colouredtuffs.com sometimes known as Planet BMX). With the current exchange rate they came in at £123 including postage, which I thought was pretty fair considering. A word of warning though, I then had to pay £18 VAT and handling this side of the pond before I could get them.

Bikes are definitely for riding, though I can see why people like to build up showroom examples.  I've sort of done both: got it looking as pristine as I could, photographed it at every stage (what do you mean you noticed?) and now have a record of how it did look before I go scratch it to bollocks.  I also had the great enjoyment of the refurb process too - there's a huge satisfaction to be had in the restoration of anything (I particularly enjoyed painting the F&F and fitting the Gyro2).  Now I get the satisfaction of riding it again, if that's what you call the blistered hands and aching back I awoke to this morning.  Anyway.  You can never cover all the bases at once (i.e. you can't keep it showroom and ride it too, at least I can't ...), but at least I've done them both, albeit one at a time.

Bike weight is something I'm a bit of a geek for.  My road bike is 6.8kg, and my 4 yr old daughter's is 9kg! (you gotta love carbon!).  I'm going to weigh the DP in a bit and post its actual weight as I've built it.  I'd be really interested to see how modern frames and wire wheels compare.

I'm well happy with the FAF tyres - sadly though it turns out they're from Evans!  My bro agreed to get me them as a little pressie and, rather than go to the link I gave him from WIKMTA, he obviously just followed the path of least resistance and went to where he has an account.  I did try ...

No plinths going on those cupboard - tiled to the walls!

See you Corby!

Gordy

[ED209]

Gordy,

If weight is an issue for you, you need to get some 48 spoke alloys ... less flex as well :-)

Bring on the DP Riders Club 

( Tyres from Evans eh... are you listening Stodgy  )

[Manticore]

That looks really good. How much time/money would you say you spent on it in total? Got a weight on it yet?

[BMX20]

Edna,

Weight isn't really something I'm too bothered about, it's more something I'm interested in to be honest - it's more of a fascination with the technology and engineering than any desire to have a light bike.  I'd be really interested to see how the old and modern compare though.  I have an ongoing argument with my roadie mates when they buy £1500 carbon wheels in order, they say, to save 250 grams: to my mind, why not just eat fewer pies and take your watch off?  Whereas, if they said they wanted them because they were just technologically amazing and a fabulous piece of composite engineering, I'd shake their hand.  Money well spent.

Anyway, I haven't weighed it yet as it's pissing down and I'm not going out there in that.  Plus, I'll have to weigh myself first, then me holding the bike and subtract the former from the latter, and I'd rather not know the former ...  I'll get my wife to do it (and they say romance is dead).

Manticore, I reckon I spent £400 all up, but put in a lot of hours (probably two complete weeks full time, albeit spread over a month).  I also have pretty much every tool in the world and was a fairly highly trained technician BITD, so that helped me cut the cost as I could do all of it myself.  Let us know if you fancy giving it a go.

Gordy

[ED209]

Well... my heart was in the right place and I built my DP up to ride last night and had a roll on it today but I'm now in the process of putting the Hoffman and 'show' DP back as they were 

I pm'd SBD who sprayed my frame - he had to use 2pack not powder to get the colour I wanted and he said that the finish would not last too long if I was riding it. I just know I would be annoyed with myself for fookin it up and hold back with my riding so its not to be. With the Hoffman I can just ride it and not worry if I bail - which is pretty important as falling off is a big part of riding 

Having ridden a mid school GT and Hoffman recently the head tube and fork angles seem really mellow on the DP now as well.

If I'd never had anything else I would have never known any different but whats done is done  Ride what you've got 

[brettypeeps]

Just enjoy it all Ed and ride it.  You can always repaint it if you need to.

[ED209]

trying NOT to hijack this thread... but heres my effort at making my DP a rider...





it was just not working... gonna stick to my Hoff and look out for an unrestored DP 

[fischflo]

hmm, was just about to ask for some pics 

build it and wreck it, doesn't matter will still be a dp 

[BMX20]

Well, in the words of Obi Wan, 'you must do what you think is right, of course'.  Ride it or store it as you see fit mate; if you've got the funds/time etc to put together another DP as a rider, then that would obviously be the Rolls Royce solution I think.  And don't worry about hijacking the thread - more pics!

Gordy

[CD17]

Clearly, I now have wheels.  And tyres and everything else I was waiting for.



Nice and simple black and white, but that suits me as I'm a nice and simple guy (and had nothing at all to do with the fact that the parts were easier to source).  That said, everything got resprayed anyway, so I could have gone for any colour scheme I wanted at no extra effort, Lesson learned.



I've been out on it and it rides well too.  It feels weird after riding road bikes but I'm getting used to it.  Even managed a rock-walk with a mini roll-back in the middle!  I now have a blister on my left hand and sore shoulders - was it always this difficult?

See you at Corby and thanks to the forum for the help,

Gordy

Looking very nice