Many of you will know the story of this one already, but here's the official resto/build thread. I bought the frame, forks & bars from Wildon just over a year ago. When I bought it, I was aware that there was some pitting to the bottom part of the seat tube, just above the bb. The frame had previously been owned by Jono who had it re-chromed. The bars and forks were spot on, but the frame had some dull patches, the dropouts were slightly chewed, and there were areas of pitting on the top/downtubes. There was also some flatspotting to the rear cable guide. I therefore had the chrome stripped, thinking some minor repairs would sort out the issues out and that the frame could be re-chromed to a high standard. Oh dear. Stripping the chrome seemed to make the pitting worse to the seat tube, and also exposed some severe corrosion to the seat stay just above the brake bridge.
It was clear that the seat tube needed attention, as I intended to ride this bike so I wanted it as good as possible. I spoke to Phil Sawzall who agreed to take on the job, but was then out of action for a while following a bike accident. As I like an adventure and a good story, I decided to contact Mr VDC himself, Voris Dixon who agreed to take a look at the frame. Ideally I wanted the whole seat rube replacing, rather than a cut & shut job - again, this bike was always going to be ridden. I also asked Voris to take a look at some areas of pitting to the top/downtube, and also to smooth out the dropouts.
All boxed up, ready to be shipped to Voris in Arizona, USA.
There was part of an old seat post at the bottom of the seat tube that needed removing.
Seat tube removed
Voris did some work to the dropouts and tube pitting, but I wasn't 100% convinced that he understood that I wanted the dropouts to be flawless. I therefore scrapped the original plan of getting the frame repaired, re-chromed and then signed by Voris in the US. I therefore asked for the invoice and got the frame shipped back to me
New seat tube and some areas of corrosion repaired
I found a local welder (Geoff Haslam - based in Warrington), and asked him if he could repair the dropouts. I also asked him to build up and sort out the flatspotted cable guide. His work was excellent - thanks Geoff.
I then wanted the frame to be re-chromed by a top chromer. I usually use Leigh Metal Polishers in Swinton, but they only do the prep and outsource the chroming to various people. Allenchrome came highly recommended, especially by Nick (That Swan Guy). After speaking to Dave there, he understood exactly what I wanted. The turnaround time was good, Dave's communication and service was excellent. They weren't cheap, but you get what you pay for. Thanks Dave!
Taking shape
Discostu was a diamond geezer and gave a massive amount of advice, help and support in getting the cranks sorted. I traded my set of JDB Hutch cranks for a set of his Bullseye ones. Stu kindly got some spacers, washers, and the BB machined up and polished up in accordance with the measurements I gave him (based on his in depth instructions). It turned out that the BB was slightly offset. The non-drive side has more of an offset, as can be seen below
Other parts
All finished
The original plan was to build this up as a stadium/indoor racer using chrome Araya 7x's laced to chrome Suzue hubs. Unfortunately, the rims didn't make it back from the chromers in time for the London ride, so I used my alloy hubbed tuffs from my Skyway T/A. Now that they're on, I really like them.
I'll try not to turn this into an oscar winning acceptance speech, but there are some people i'd like to thank for their help and support with this build. First up, Terry (Wildon) for selling the frame, forks and bars to me. A big thanks to Lenny (Badbaldie) for his very generous offer of help right at the start. Ant (factory pilot) for his support and encouragement. Steve69, rads own VDC guru has been a massive help in all matters related to the build, in particular with decals and headset selection, as has Phil (Sawzall). Thanks to Derek (stunt nuts) for answering my wanted ad for a seat, and Joff (Norty40) for tidying it up and re-dyeing it. He also tidied up the stem, which has come out better than I could have imagined. Joff also buffed up my brakes to a mirror like shine - they look mint. I'll be riding this bike, so for rides it'll have JBD Hutch beartraps fitted, but Jaan (Chris) sorted me out with some NOS OG beartraps for show purposes. Thanks Chris, they look amazing. Decals as usual are from Del, and Paul (antiquebmx) and Stef (stef232) sorted me out with the pads. A massive thank you to Voris Dixon for agreeing to replace the seat tube, Geoff Haslam for doing some further repairs and sorting the dropouts. Dave and all the team at Allenchrome did an amazing job in re-chroming the frame, and their service and communication was second to none. To everybody else who offered advice or support - thank you
Parts list:
March 1984 VDC Changa Long frame & forks - repaired & re-chromed
VDC Monkey bars
Alloy hubbed Skyway Tuff II's (freewheel)
NOS Mitsuboshi Comp ST's - blue/green/white labels
Skyway Tuff pads
New Willinois VDC valve caps
Dia Compe MX1000's both dated May 84
Dia Compe Tech 3 levers dated July 84
Dia Compe brake cables & outers, dated May & June 84
Oakley B2 grips
Shot Gun II seat
Hutch seatpost (stickered up as a Pro Neck)
Hutch seat clamp (JDB)
Kashimax seat guts
Campagnolo road bike headset
Pro Neck stem
NOS pro Neck 42T chainring
NOS Campagnolo chainring bolts
Bullseye Gen 2 crank
Bullseye powerdisc
NOS OG Hutch Beartrap pedals
New Izumi chain
Decals from Del
Pads by Steve firebird (I think)
