Hi.
Thought it would be good to post this build up as I do it from start to finish
It will be a complete mish mash of parts but they will all be old school and with no repop parts whatsoever. I have done a couple of builds and my favourite part about doing a bmx is getting a good colourway right and balanced, which is not easy when your buying everything on line.
The resto side of this build will be a bit hairbrained, but you might get something from seeing the ideas that I have tried out and maybe learn a bit about what works and what doesn't work so well
I really want to do this one properly so any help and ideas would be great. I know with this build I am going to come up against a fair few issues such as lacing up a wheel, installing a gyro and I also want to use a three piece crank for a change. I am still a newbie and I don't ride, I just love a lot of things from the 80's and have always liked the look of old school bmx and the two other builds hanging on my wall look sweet
So here it goes
1st lot of parts gathered together. I tend to look on the bmxmuseum and then pick out the colours that I like the look of and choose colours I haven't used before. This one is going to be blue, white and green and this is what I have so far
Mike buff z rims, haro tyres and lee chi brakes
First thing to do is to unlace the rims and start cleaning them as they are pretty dirty. The other bits are mint and have never been used.
A trip down the hardware store for some cleaning stuff and to see weather any of this stuff actually works
I have had a go at cleaning tuffs before which were really dirty and nothing worked for them so I wasn't expecting great results but wanted to try and thought this time round ill use more patience:)
2 days later and I found that scrubbing with the pink stuff did sod all and neither did the power cream
The jeyes fluid I didn't use as it said it wasn't good for plastic, so that left the bleach. I soaked the rear rim in 1 part bleach 3 parts water for a day, but again the dirt wouldn't budge.
From what I have read on other threads, my options were really aqua blasting, media blasting, sanding or using a razor blade. There is no where round here in Norfolk that does the blasting for plastics, so I thought Id start slow with a razor blade
Turns out that the razor blade is good for the brake rub if you hold it at the right angle and scrape softly in one direction, but it is slow and it can leave big scratches on the rims if your not careful. So I pulled out the sander with a high grade (180 grit) paper
This shifted everything with no effort whatsoever and it took about 10 mins for the whole rim. The downside is I lost the stamping
You can still just about read it but that gives you an idea of the amount of plastic that was being removed. The front rim did better in the bleach but not perfect. Here are the two rims side by side
The one furthest away has been sanded but the other has just sat in neat bleach for a day
I will do some more sanding on the other rim has it is a bit off white when put next to the other one. I guess I had to choose weather I wanted the rims white or weather I wanted to keep the stamping. I will be doing the front this weekend so will post up pics when I have done it
. I have also bought some green asahi 194 spokes and a front and rear 36 hole low flange suzue hubs which should arrive next week
In the meantime the frame arrived yesturday
I was told it was an 89/90 frame, but in looking at my other 80s haro team master, the bashguard fits differently. I googled 1990 haro bash guard and the pics that came up were matching my frame so I am guessing its a 90. This is a pic of the bit im on about
Its a shame as I don't really class 1990 as old school really but I do love the design on this so I think ill be able to live with it. I don't know if ill ever find a bash guard for it, but I keep checking ebay and the bmxmuseum and I have seen some older listings that are now sold so I might get lucky but at least I know that I need a 90's one as an 80s one wont fit.
The other issue is the decal set that Ill be going for. I want these but done in a different colour way. The frame forks and bars will be light blue sort of ral 5012 so I am still deciding on the colours for the decal set and am also waiting on Del to see if its possible and that he can do them
I was maybe thinking green lettering with the man being white but not sure yet. Can anyone confirm the year of this particular decals set as I have a same set on my other build which I thought was 80s. Ill post a pic of it
Forks arrived today and maybe I should have held out for the right ones, but these were cheap and I think they are awesome, so Im going to try them and see if they look cool enough
I was told that these are spinner forks and that they were made for se during some point or other in the 80s so I hope they are se standing gears. Also does anyone know if they should be decaled landing or standing gear??
Here is the frame and forks together
I reckon its going to look badass and cant wait to do more work on it
but also appreciate it wont be everyones cup of tea. Must remember to make a note of the serial number this time before it gets powdered and I still have to find a white stem and have to choose a three piece crank set up.
Ill be looking for advice on this build and your thoughts on mixing up all the parts and it also weighs pretty heavy as it is compared to other framesets I have had in the past. Ill need info on wheel building and gyro installation and how to fit a three piece crank but ill also need advice on which ones to buy and a rough idea on cost.] and I guess they will have to be minty chrome or white if I can find a set
