dinglem

[dinglem]

Only just stumbled across this section so thought i'd better get a post running.


Name:  Mart (everybody else i know calls me Ding though, including the wife).
Occupation: Geophysicist. Been consulting for various oil companies for 10 years now. Take half of the year off, also a qualified snowboard instructor.
Years Collecting: 6ish
Interests: OS BMX, classic cars and resto, snowboarding, massive funbags (.Y.), Mrs.D 
Dislikes: That the excitedly displayed pic of my freshly radially-laced skinnies on my Birmingham WHEELS thread was viewed 2 times and then the following jovial pic of some puppies (including a Rottie) is on 230 views and counting(!)
Favourite BMX: Have to say my chrome Brum WHEELS. My holy grail. Would like to be given a Nomura for nothing too, obviously, and i'd defo pilfer Retrodan's Patterson if i could 
Favourite Old School BMX Brand:  All things WHEELS!


Well it all started for me when Father Christmas bought me a SuperTUFF Burner in 1984-1985. I'd hankered after an Ultra Burner for years as a lot of the older kids knocking around our way had those. I had hours of fun on that Burner and it remains a cherished part of my youth. It did land me in hospital for a week a few years later mind, and i spent the entire school 6 week holiday with my arm and leg in plaster 

So... fast forward to 6 years ago and i stumble across my old STB at my parents... looking very sorry for itself lashed to the ceiling of their shed. I got it down, gave it a wipe down and that was it! All it needed was new tyres and it was good to go and i haven't changed another thing since. Battle-scarred but mine and i still ride it a lot now... it's one i can really chuck about which is part of why i love it so much. Did a photoshoot for my red van a few years ago for Retrocars magazine and they asked me to mess about by it on a bike and i grabbed the STB straight away 


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[dinglem]

So at that point i had joined a few Burner forums and so on, and decided on a MkI Ultra Burner as my first genuine resto, based around how much i'd hankered after one as a kid.... i found an old beater on the Bay and little did i know what i was getting myself into....


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The strange thing is i've never ridden it, although i don't know why....? 

[dinglem]

That Ultra Burner build helped me to sort out some great contacts for my future restorations, i have a great anno place nearby, and i also found Howells in Walsall for all of my chroming needs. Plus i developed an extensive yet probably unhealthy knowledge of the internet....

Sat onboard ship working one evening i saw a Skyway T/A listed on eBay, the earliest known USA serial number of 0000003. I kind of hit BIN on a whim without thinking about it, but quickly realized that i was going to have to build it with suitable parts and then the monumental costs of a full decent-spec build really started to hit home 

 
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[dinglem]

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Skyway TA USA 0000003
NOS Skyway Race bars (previously unmounted)
Skyway padset with 'California Lite' straight bar pad...
NOS Blue/white Oakley B-1B grips
Redline Flight Cranks - freshly rechromed.
Redline chainring - polished.
NOS Titron BearTrap pedals in blue with ultra rare titanium spindles (one of 20 pairs made)
Izumi half-blue chain
NOS chromed UKAI rims
NOS Blue/Red Bullseye hubs
Blue/chrome/polished Pro Neck headset clamp
NOS Tange headset
NOS blue MX1000 brakes
NOS GT layback seatpost
NOS Hutch seatpost clamp (chromed)
NOS Viscount Dominator Pro seat
NOS 1.5 Mitsubishi Comp III tyres

[dinglem]

At this point I started hoarding any nice or unusual items i found coming up for sale, and it got a bit cRaZy... i am sure i am not the only one who has done the same, but the room you see in the above pics (it's the room above my garage) is now completely rammed full of NOS grips, rims, tyres, spare bars and a fair few f+f.

Next thing that popped into my head was an Ammaco Freestyle Pro, so i spent quite a bit of time trying to find a good frameset. I wanted an early one with the stamped Ammaco gusset, but without cracking. Not easy to source!

This still isn't finished (and the Bottema M-2 race forks are on it just so i could see what it was going to look like). I have everything to finish it now, except the time... the NOS padset was a lucky find that i got unexpectedly in a trade.


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[dinglem]

The next purchase turned out to be a total nightmare.... about 5 years ago i started looking for a National Pro Long. I love the way they look in chrome (some lush builds on the BMXMuseum) so i was keeping my eyes peeled on the bay whilst away working. Eventually a blue one popped up, which i immediately snapped up with a BIN with the intention of getting it chromed.

It turned out upon closer inspection that the seller was Bill Stonebraker, the ex-Team National Pro racer and this was one of his old team bikes, complete with early prototype undrilled forks, and was Candy Blue from the factory. I'm still in touch with Bill today actually, and he has given me lots of advice, contacts and the rest of it.

Anyway - he wouldn't ship to the UK so i asked a friend living in the US whether i could post it to him and then he could forward it on to me. He said yes so this is what went ahead. Big mistake. The guy never forwarded the frame on..... and no matter how many times i messaged or called him i couldn't get him to send it. He kept saying he was going to post it the next day but then after weeks of waiting... nothing. Over 4 years (4 YEARS!!!) later and having considered jumping on a plane and going to get it myself i eventually ran into his parents in the UK and had a mini spak-attack to them explaining how much it was worth... and it got sorted. That's my only bad BMX experience to date.

It arrived over the summer. I've been slowly collecting the right parts for it whilst waiting for it to arrive and now i know how rare the candy blue NP's are i am going to retain the colour and build it as is. Really excited about this one 


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[dinglem]

Many years back, whilst still at school and having grown up on the outskirts of Birmingham i had visited Birmingham WHEELS many times. Groups of us from school used to go and race on the track and stare wantingly at the Birmingham WHEELS bikes being ridden around the place. I got to ride a chrome BW bike on the track on one occasion, red Skyways and red decals. I loved it - will never forget it, and so i started a seemingly hopeless quest of finding myself a WHEELS frame although from what i had read online they rarely if ever came up for sale. I spent a fair bit of time lurking on RAD at this point, reading the wanted ads 'animal' was posting and thinking i'd never get lucky and source one.

I did a random Google search one day last year though and found one on a Retro bike forum, so snapped it up and i guess most on here have already seen the build thread i am currently running. Not quite finished yet but will be very soon.

I eventually lucked upon a second BW frame too, so that will be the next build after this!   


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[dinglem]

So the chrome WHEELS got finished, and through the piles of reseach I carried out for that build I ended up making a load of contacts including old Birmingham WHEELS team members from in the UK and also in the Dutch arm.

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Although there are fewer than 20 WHEELS frames known to have survived at the minute another two were offered to me within 3 days of one another. Both were Mini models, with thse two being the only two Mini examples known. One was sourced in the US (which i trade for a pair of tyres!) and the other came directly from the ex-WHEELS team rider Scott Beaumont, being one of his old race frames boasting a few additional modifications to suit him as a rider and complete with a rare set of early round-shoulder Robinson Junior forks. Pretty cool.

Red one from Michigan:

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The Scott Beaumont team bike:

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I am slowly building them up whilst keeping an eye out for a WHEELS Pro as well as a Cruiser to complete my WHEELS collection! I have also compiled a register of all of the known WHEELS frames including finish, location and the all important serial numbers.

[dinglem]

National Pro finished.

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[dinglem]

Ammaco finished.

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[dinglem]

I have generated a rather unhealthy obsession with all things Birmingham WHEELS  since I started collecting, and have now added a few more frames; a team Cruiser sourced from team rider Simon Lawther:-

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And a third Mini, which was raced by Rebecca Maiden:-

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[dinglem]

I've also managed to track down the one-off titanium WHEELS Expert frame, so the collection is steadily growing, now up to 7 frames of various sizes including all 3 known Mini versions along with 3sets of WHEELS race bars and a lovely (rare) set of brazed WHEELS Mini bars which came on the Maiden Mini, made for her upon request BITD. I also have her race top, which I'm well chuffed with 

Pile of WHEELS

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Bars

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Top

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