Author Topic: Birmingham Wheels Frame - Reynolds bars (Read 20201 times)

Retrodan72 · « **Reply #25 on:** December 23, 2013, 06:45 AM »

Quote from: dinglem on December 22, 2013, 11:55 PM

Quote from: Badbaldie on December 22, 2013, 10:27 PM
welcome to RAD , great find, and what away to say hello .... very rare frame thanks for sharing

Many thanks for all of the welcomes on here... i'm a long time lurker...

I think my earlier post pretty much covers the majority of the known BW frames, so yes, very rare!!!! I got very very lucky indeed

I'll keep the thread going once the restoration and rebuild gets underway.

Martin, in reply to your pm, I'm sorry mate, I don't have Del's number, one of the moderators will though, no doubt.

dancetothedrummersbeat · « **Reply #26 on:** December 23, 2013, 05:48 PM »

A nice bike and a great find - especially as it's something you've been after for ages. There was a really nice BW at the Chest-Air ride this year. I was speaking to the guy who owned it for a bit & he was a nice bloke - can't remember his name/username though!

Retrodan72 · « **Reply #27 on:** December 23, 2013, 05:53 PM »

Quote from: dancetothedrummersbeat on December 23, 2013, 05:48 PM

A nice bike and a great find - especially as it's something you've been after for ages. There was a really nice BW at the Chest-Air ride this year. I was speaking to the guy who owned it for a bit & he was a nice bloke - can't remember his name/username though!

Paul Browning, not sure of his username either.

dancetothedrummersbeat · « **Reply #28 on:** December 23, 2013, 07:00 PM »

That's him Dan. Nice bloke I seem to recall

dinglem · « **Reply #29 on:** December 23, 2013, 08:13 PM »

Quote from: dancetothedrummersbeat on December 23, 2013, 05:48 PM

A nice bike and a great find - especially as it's something you've been after for ages. There was a really nice BW at the Chest-Air ride this year. I was speaking to the guy who owned it for a bit & he was a nice bloke - can't remember his name/username though!

Nice to hear there are still some out and about

I am really chuffed to have found this - the last one i saw i was riding back in the early 80's! I was at Wheels and was loaned one for a spin around the track; i have never forgotten it. Red decals and red Skyways. It really stood out against all of the other race bikes running spokes at that time. I wonder who the original owner was and whether that bike still exists?

dinglem · « **Reply #30 on:** December 23, 2013, 08:19 PM »

Here's a better shot of the forks that came with it. They have 'JT Racing USA' decals on both sides.

Macmania · « **Reply #31 on:** December 23, 2013, 08:31 PM »

Great score

I'd be tempted to keep all the original bits on it (inc the forks).

dinglem · « **Reply #32 on:** December 23, 2013, 09:08 PM »

Quote from: Macmania on December 23, 2013, 08:31 PM

Great score

I'd be tempted to keep all the original bits on it (inc the forks).

Yeah - i think i have found them described here:-

http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/tioga/64671

http://www.ozbmx.com.au/index.php'showtopic=45838

Perhaps i should retain them for the build as you say.

TORKER mick · « **Reply #33 on:** December 23, 2013, 09:34 PM »

iam not into race

but i do like these frames mate

good luck with the build

senzo milano · « **Reply #34 on:** December 23, 2013, 09:36 PM »

Very nice

dinglem · « **Reply #35 on:** January 03, 2014, 08:57 AM »

Some great comments about this frame here - thanks guys

I managed to find a little time to strip a few of the components off it yesterday, and also gave the frame a quick check-over and polish. There are no dings, dents or scratches in the chrome to speak of, so the original finish can definitely be retained. It isn't 100% at this stage but a bit of elbow grease (and maybe an attempt at the coke/silver foil trick?) should bring it up nicely i think. The drop-outs are pretty much perfect too

The forks are Tioga Max Flo Aero which were made by Tange and so can also be presumed to be original.

I've also noticed that the Reynolds 531 sticker mentions that this frame uses the Butted Reynolds tubing; information on the BMXMuseum site indicates that either plain gauge or more expensive Butted options were available, so it looks like butted tubing was used for this frame. All of the repro Reynolds 531 decals appear to be without the Butted option annotated from what i can gather, unless somebody knows any different?

Everything had obviously been well greased prior to the last build as i had no issues whatsoever when stripping her down. Once the seat post clamp (MX hinged) had been released the post just pulled out by hand with minimal effort. It is a tidy looking Shimano DX item in nice condition.

The cranks initially appeared to be Sugino CT 175's, but will require a rechrome. (Not sure about that spider though? Anyone??)

The wheels are super-skinny UKAI 20 x 1 1/8 items on silver Suzue hubs. They do look a bit funky but they seem to suit the lightweight racer feel of the bike. They are definitely growing on me anyway....

I'm not too sure what i will retain and what i will replace, but there are some nice components there and it seems a shame to change some items which could potentially have been from the original race build. The more i look at it and now i've looked beyond the frame and at the other components the more i think i got a bit of a bargain!!

dinglem · « **Reply #36 on:** January 18, 2014, 12:00 AM »

Well, i have just contacted another Birmingham Wheels owner, who has sent me the following picture of his frame. I have already added this to the full listing on page 1 of this thread for reference and to keep the full known Wheels listing complete.

What is interesting is that this guy is the original owner, having purchased the frame directly from the Birmingham Wheels workshop back in the day. He states that this frame (with the lower seat post tube) is actually a 'Pro' frame size as this is what he ordered.

At that time this frame was chrome and he actually watched the black decals being added to his frame by Trev Robinson.

I was under the impression that the frames with the taller seat post tube were 'Pro' frames and the one pictured with the shorter seat post tube was an 'Expert', but this info contradicts this. I am still after the top tube lengths on the frames with the longer (higher) seat posts tubes and also the BB to top tube lengths for reference and comparison.

Anybody got this info?

dordymush · « **Reply #37 on:** January 27, 2014, 12:32 AM »

Cool find
But don't take the OG stickers off it pleaseeeeeeee

dinglem · « **Reply #38 on:** January 27, 2014, 05:49 PM »

Quote from: dordymush on January 27, 2014, 12:32 AM

Cool find
But don't take the OG stickers off it pleaseeeeeeee

Thanks - i'm pretty chuffed with it!!!

I've already gathered quite a few parts for the build, have retained many that came with it and simply cleaned them up, and managed to get a load of information from old Wheels Team riders whom i've tracked down/Fb-stalked, including some great period Birmingham Wheels race photies

Just waiting on their permission before posting them up

I'm not too sure the Wheels stickers are the originals, well not the ORIGINAL originals anyway. The guy i bought it off was telling me a story about how he got some replacement stickers for it by going to see some guy about the frame 15+ years ago and during the conversation he pulled a set of decals out of a drawer for him, but to be honest i was so excited about how little he was asking for the frame i think my brain was filtering out all of the peripheral sound...! I was so excited i wasn't really listening. I have just emailed him after reading your comment so hopefully he can re-tell the story. So they might be, they might not. Depends if he ever used the new set. Or, they might be an original set of Wheels decals but not the original ones to the bike.... if you know what i mean. Will let you know.

The battle-scarred decals on the downtube are actually probably good enough to retain, thinking about it.... Undecided.

dinglem · « **Reply #39 on:** January 28, 2014, 01:31 AM »

Ok â€“ I just heard back from the guy I bought the Birmingham Wheels frame from.

He has owned if for over 20 years, having picked it up from a car boot sale with the intention of looking for something nippy to use for bike polo(!) Having immediately been offered 50pounds for it by a guy from a Midlands bike shop (Bike Pro, Yardley), and once he realized what it was he called into the estate office at the Birmingham Wheels Park and spoke to a guy there; he said they still had some decals â€˜floating around in a drawerâ€™ so gave him a set, and the ones still present on this frame are that set. The Reynolds sticker is the original that was on the bike when he bought it.

So, they are â€˜originalâ€™ Birmingham Wheels decals, but not the original ones to the bike.

He has not used it for over 15 years, during which time it has been stashed away in his loft before he eventually decided to sell it. So that's established a little bit of history about this particular frame.

One forum member has also sent me some pictures of his Birmingham Wheels Mini which I have now added to the full known frames listing on page 1 of this thread. He also sent a few cool period adverts which he has kindly said I am free to post

From a recent thread on this forum I have also seemingly discovered what the curious original cranks are that came with the bike, as pictured earlier in the thread. I thought they looked a lot like Sugino CTâ€™s but the spider was all wrong, having a small tear-drop pattern on the relatively thin arms; turns out they are Hanabishi, made in Japan in the early 80's:-

http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/skyway/64537/2
http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/se_racing/62038/2
http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/schauff/9776/1

dinglem · « **Reply #40 on:** January 30, 2014, 06:08 PM »

Well after almost giving up on ID-ing the cranks that came on my WHEELS bike I have stumbled across the answer... many thanks to 'dirtskirt' on this forum as he posted up about his own set of cranks which turned out to be the same as mine as pictured above.

They are Hanabishi cranks, dating from the early 80's. Nice looking and very unusual cranks when well finished and as i am assuming they were from the original build i will be retaining them (after a bit of a tidy up). I had already taken them off the bike as i was unable to ID them, so i am really chuffed to have found out what they are.

Mine as they arrived:-

Some tidier examples with the correct decals:-

The next thing I will be after is a black 44T Takagi (130) chain ring if anybody has one floating around???

Apart from that I am still tracking down a few other parts, but the bare bones of the build are coming together nicely

dinglem · « **Reply #41 on:** February 05, 2014, 09:42 PM »

I've started gathering some of the parts required for the rebuild now, and some of the original bits and pieces have gone off to be cleaned and polished also. I had been after a 44T Takagi (130) chainring and managed to snaffle one on the Bay last week, so that's another thing ticked off my list.

I have also managed to get hold of a decals set (thanks Del!), and the NOS WHEELS padset mentioned in an earlier posting by 'Spartacus' arrived this morning

I am particularly chuffed to get my hands on that original padset!!!

Del has also made me up a set of Hanabishi decals for my cranks so they should be finished off nicely also. I just need to correct crank caps now.... anybody??

bigfatolly · « **Reply #42 on:** February 05, 2014, 11:04 PM »

Cool thread and some great info.
These bikes are very similar to MRD in fact I think they were the inspiration for MRD race bikes.
Can't wait to see this finished you are doing a great job

willo73 · « **Reply #43 on:** February 08, 2014, 08:34 AM »

I've just about finished mine, chrome was shot so had it removed and the raw finish polished to keep the braze exposed,hoping to take it back to Birmingham next Saturday on wazzas ride, just need a shim for the seatpost (and a chain)lol. Tubes are stamped Reynolds butted which is cool. Awesome decals from Del as always.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

dinglem · « **Reply #44 on:** February 08, 2014, 01:34 PM »

That looks awesome mate - nice 1.

I can't wait to see mine finished now!

Will drop you a PM shortly...

Retrodan72 · « **Reply #45 on:** February 08, 2014, 02:42 PM »

Spence, that is lush fella.

I have a seat post shim, but won't be able to post till next Sat, so too late for you pal.

willo73 · « **Reply #46 on:** February 08, 2014, 08:08 PM »

Quote from: Retrodan72 on February 08, 2014, 02:42 PM

Spence, that is lush fella.

I have a seat post shim, but won't be able to post till next Sat, so too late for you pal.

Cheers Dan that's awesome, I'll let ya know mate, I'll try n grab one in the week so can take on the brum ride, if not it won't be going home just yet

EDBANGER · « **Reply #47 on:** February 08, 2014, 09:18 PM »

You know I'm almost certain I had one of these as a kid. I bought it off someone for £5 and it was spray painted loads of different colours DIY style. I was told at the time it was a Birmingham wheels frame and I was almost embarrased to be riding it. Especially when my dad bought me white tyres to go on it. As I've been looking into building an old bike it amazes me how many parts and frames I used to have in the shed that I was just given or traded. All been thrown out when I could have saved myself a fortune or made a fortune.

Mikku · « **Reply #48 on:** February 10, 2014, 11:57 AM »

Love this bike and build!! Can't wait to see how it turns out!

dinglem · « **Reply #49 on:** February 10, 2014, 07:21 PM »

Quote from: Mikku on February 10, 2014, 11:57 AM

Love this bike and build!! Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Not much progress recently as I've been away from home for the past month, although there has been a steady flow of parcels landing on the doormat

I almost have everything i need to start the build-up now.