MT Racing 'The Fox' SE model 1985. Now with correct forks & tweaked

[dancetothedrummersbeat]

I've deleted the original resto thread for this as it was old and rambling, so here's a new edited one. Many of you will have seen this bike, as I've used on the Radchester and Leeds rides. I also took it to MK last year. This is the most 'rider' of my 4 completed bikes, as the chrome to the frame is original but slightly pitted & scratched. The seatpost is slightly marked and bent, and the seat has seen plenty of action. I remember this bike from bitd, but I didn't know anything about the MT brand until I posted up the original resto thread. It was Nathan (Macmania) in particular, and also Joff who gave me a load of info on MT racing, their range of bikes, and also the correct spec for the bike.

I won this on ebay back in 2010. It was collection only, so that meant a 600 mile round trip to Dover.  It's a 1985 'Fox SE' model with a cr-mo frame. The only parts that were original were the frame, pads, seatpost and seat. It did come with a black suntour stem in great condition and tange locknut, which I kept on the build. Here's what it looked like when i got it home:



The chrome was in good enough condition that it didn't need a re-chrome, so I let it see some coke, tin foil and autosol. I couldn't find an original set of forks, so I settled for some unbranded ones that looked similar to akisu ones featured on some other MT bikes. New decals from Del, and a fantastic padset from Steve Firebird.



This is how it's looked from late 2010 to late 2012. Additions include Araya 7x rims, cheng shin tyres, Sugino 175mm crank, Sugino chainring & powerdisc, dia compe 901 brakes (now changed), and WIN straight bars.



Last year I was inspired to get the parts a lot closer to factory spec following a PM from Nathan saying he knew of someone in Australia (scottlox) that had a set of the correct forks for this bike. After a few messages and Nathan acting as the middle man, the forks arrived safe and sound. They were in need of a re-chrome, so that gave me time to get some more parts together. The dia compe 901's & tech 4 levers were replaced by MX 1000 style brakes bought off here from Tony Torkerdude180. One was gold, one black so I stripped and polished them up. Del made the Lee Chi decals, white on clear, and they were stuck to some red foil backing from ebay. Levers are NOS Lee Chi tech 3 style. I also finally found some Fuan grips, but they had white sleeves. Luckily I found a set of grey sleeves on rad a few weeks ago. Pedals have also been changed to correct era Victor beartraps. The plate is a NOS Max Star with the branding removed and MT die cut decals from ebay. Although not quite up to the very high standards of Nathans builds, or 100%  to factory spec, I'm finally satisfied with it.








Correct forks. Finally!













Once again, a massive thanks goes out to Nathan in particular, for all his help.  

[NORTY40]

Love it Andy,  the few tweeks have made a nice bike even nicer

Very underated bikes imo and they look the part aswell 

Nath's a Diamond when it comes to MT knowledge and contacts .


What did you do with the forks you took off 

[dancetothedrummersbeat]

Still got em Joff. They still have the fox decals on too. They were only cheapies off ebay, so they might not be cr mo. The look good though. Might be for sale if anyones interested

[monkian]

Proper job. Looks ace

[NORTY40]

Still got em Joff. They still have the fox decals on too. They were only cheapies off ebay, so they might not be cr mo. The look good though. Might be for sale if anyones interested

PM on the way Andy 

[Mattdub]

Good work , like the fact you're so determined to get it much closer to factory spec  .

However ......... I hate that tyre shine stuff , looks like someone's got too excited over the tyre in the pic ! 

[Macmania]

Nice job Andy 

Looks much better now its closer to factory spec. Forks look great but i'm surprised they needed a re-chrome 

[dancetothedrummersbeat]

Good work , like the fact you're so determined to get it much closer to factory spec  .

However ......... I hate that tyre shine stuff , looks like someone's got too excited over the tyre in the pic ! 

  You're probably right! These tyres have been on the bike since I built it in 2010. They get ridden on a lot, albeit lightly. I did 24 mile ride on it last year. They were full of dust/dirt, so I wanted a quick fix for the photos. They've lost some of their sheen now I assure you!

[dancetothedrummersbeat]

Nice job Andy 

Looks much better now its closer to factory spec. Forks look great but i'm surprised they needed a re-chrome 

Thanks Nath, I appreciate it. The chrome was pretty good, but there was an area of chrome loss and rust about 7mm x 12mm on the inside of the arch that was pretty deep. Maybe due to wheel/brake cable rub. You can still see a slight difference in metal texture even after the re-chrome, although there's no visible difference when you have a quick look. Thanks for putting me in contact with Scott. Didn't he used to race for MT bitd?

[Macmania]

Nice job Andy 

Looks much better now its closer to factory spec. Forks look great but i'm surprised they needed a re-chrome 

Thanks Nath, I appreciate it. The chrome was pretty good, but there was an area of chrome loss and rust about 7mm x 12mm on the inside of the arch that was pretty deep. Maybe due to wheel/brake cable rub. You can still see a slight difference in metal texture even after the re-chrome, although there's no visible difference when you have a quick look. Thanks for putting me in contact with Scott. Didn't he used to race for MT bitd?

 

Correct. Scott was an MT factory rider before moving on to Skyway (and others).

I've got something rather special that used to belong to Scott   

[Retrodan72]

Great job Andy, the tweaks look spot on, and you asked the right person in Nathan for your MT research.