First time entry for me, and this one has been a long time coming.....
Frame: 1983 Birmingham WHEELS ‘Expert’ BMX in Butted Reynolds 531 tubing. Frame number 072.
Dimensions: 9 inches centre of crank to centre of top tube / seat tube junction (seat tube), 18.5inches centre of seat tube to centre of head tube (top tube). Original factory chrome finish retained.
Forks: 1983 Tioga Max Flo Aero (made by Tange) – presumed original to the build. Original finish.
Bars: Original and extremely rare pair of Birmingham WHEELS race bars, complete with Reynolds 530 tubing decal (authenticity confirmed by Anthony But – ex-BW Team racer) with a TT Racing Products ‘Jam Buttie’ Double Decka Anti-Tweak in NOS Blackberry.
Wheels: NOS Black Ukai ‘skinny’ rims (20 x 1 1/8 stamped) with original decals, as originally came on the bike. Further research and discussions with various ex-WHEELS Team members reveals they mostly raced on skinnies.
Hubs: Polished silver Son-lite Turbo with original etched logo, titanium spindles and hardware.
Lacing: Radially laced front and half-radially laced and 3x rear (with thanks to Steve69).
Tyres: NOS Panaracer ‘skinny’ 1 1/8 gumwalls.
Padset: NOS original white set with black lettering (with thanks to Khaled).
Decals: Reproduction by Del. Unused original gold set (including Dutch dealer logo) retained.
Headset: NOS Tioga MX402 sealed headset with black Tange headset lock nut.
Headset: Suntour in black – came with the frame and presumed original to the build.
Grips: Black NOS ODI Tec-7 (rare, often used for freestyle mid 80’s onwards but one of my favorites!)
Brakes: NOS MX 901.
Brakepads: Scott Mathauser finned ‘Superbrake’.
Brake Cable: 84 dated black Dia-Compe.
Brake Cable Guides: NOS black Dia-Compe.
Lever: Black NOS (still in packet) early 80’s MX-121/Tech 3.
Cranks: Rare early-80’s Hanabishi 3 piece 175mm cranks – retained from original build. These cranks took quite a bit of effort to identify, and I actually removed them from the bike at one point as I did not know what they were. Another RADBMX member eventually posted about his set and my problem was resolved. (Hanabishi was an early Team Kuwahara racer in Japan in the early 80’s who ended up briefly putting his name to various sets of cranks; not many left about today).
Crank Dustcaps: Original Hanabishi in black (took 12months of hunting to track these down).
Pedals: NOS (and NIB) black Shimano DX including original caps (plus one spare).
Chainring: Black Ammaco stamped 44T (130BCD) with NOS Sugino chainring bolts.
Chain: Half black Izumi chain with a pair of NOS black ROE Whale Tail chain tensioners.
Seat clamp: TT Racing Products ‘Jam Buttie’ Clamp in NOS Blackberry.
Seat post: Shimano DX – presumed original to the build; polished, repro black decals.
Seat: NOS black Cycle Pro Shot Gun II, date-stamped ’82 on the underside.
There's a monster build thread in the Restoration section.
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Thanks to dirtskirt, jp-rebel, willo73, NORTY40, monkian, andy68 (didn’t focus on the build pics on my thread for too long I don’t think!), nikkyp, Spence, Retrodan72, Del (of course) and all of the other amazing members of RAD who commented on the thread, PM’d me with advice, criticism or general comments, sold me parts and so on…; all very much taken onboard and appreciated. Also a special thank you to ‘Spartacus’ for the amazing NOS padset, ‘animal’ for the bars, sawzall (and animal again) for all things BW and also to ‘Steve69’ for the wheel lacing and associated advice!!
Also added here with more pics
http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/birmingham_wheels/77882
