Author Topic: The Apocalypse Now Build 1983 Quadangle - Hearts Of Darkness -Now in Full Technicolor (Read 27634 times)

factory pilot · « **on:** June 02, 2016, 08:16 PM »

At 15 months and counting this build really is my journey into the Heart of Darkness....

And so we begin with a flashback to April last year when during a visit to Joffy's I saw this and fell in love with it..

This bike had been dibbed by a friend and I thought nothing of it...
A few days later I found out he had backed out of the deal .. I joked to my girlfriend Jo about the Quad and how she could buy it for me as a Christmas present and to my surprise she said I could have it if I really wanted it .. I was gobsmacked and ofcourse bit her hand off!!!

The bike wasn't original paint and had a hairline crack which I could have left but I always want my builds to be right so thanks to Andy DTTDB the frame was sent to Geoff Haslam Welding in Warrington to be repaired... He did an amazing job and he was really reasonable too...

I then started to research 83 Quads and what parts came as spec both in the U.S. an UK..

U.S.
Action Bike Review

UK
BMX BI-Weekly

( thanks Torkerdude Tony Lee for the lend of the mag!)

It was hard deciding what to do and I didn't want to be restricted by a 100% factory spec bike as I'd done that already with my 85 Haro Master.
Quads came with a huge variety of parts and even those sold by Shiners never matched the one reviewed in the UK magazine.
I wanted the bike to be sympathetic to those SE bikes but I decided that I'd either pick parts from either of the two bikes reviewed or I'd upgrade if possible to make this a really Bitchen 83 Race bike with every part era correct. To keep this interesting on a personal level I decided to get parts I'd never bought before but the brief was it must be 83 era correct at all costs.

They first part I decided to get was Oakley .5s in black ... (Nightmare ... Why oh why ?!!)

I love my Oakleys and these came on both 83 and 84 Quads in the States so I began my search ...
Now I'm a teacher and paying £300 for a pair of grips wasn't happening so I read an old thread on rad about dying these suckas... RESULT! I thought .. How wrong could I have been!!!!
I managed to get a NOS pair in yellow at a very reasonable price from Rich Devilock and phoned up the boys for a night of BMX chat and grip dying...

To be fair we had a great night round at Joffy's but those bastard grips weren't budging and ended up ruined ...

I don't think those muffins helped the process ... Tony's idea I think ...

I don't think the Gucci perfume helped either...

We ( thanks Andy ) tried again on 3 other occasions but these suckers were ruined and not yellow or black anymore!

I can't believe I've not even got round to mentioning any parts for this build yet!

Part 2 of this insane build thread coming soon ...
Y'all come back now ye'hear !!

deeman · « **Reply #1 on:** June 02, 2016, 08:25 PM »

Eagerly awaiting Pt2 Ant!! been waiting for this for ages!!

factory pilot · « **Reply #2 on:** June 02, 2016, 08:33 PM »

Saving all the good stuff for parts 2,3,4 and 5 Damo!

Just kidding ..

I'm awaiting a coupla bits for the final build .. It feels like this will never be done but the end is in sight ...
A combination of parts hunting and saving ( all part of the fun ) has meant this build has seemingly taken forever ..
This Quad is definitely like my baby ... Not my last build but my last epic build for sure .. It's definitely been emotional and s roller coaster ride so far

Part 2 coming as soon as I can photo all the lovely mint and NOS parts I've collected so far

Bigfrawg · « **Reply #3 on:** June 02, 2016, 08:35 PM »

I do like a black quad

my old one

Retrodan72 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 02, 2016, 09:24 PM »

Sexy frame set that is Ant. Can't wait for the next instalments.

Bigfrawg · « **Reply #5 on:** June 02, 2016, 09:51 PM »

Looking forward to seeing this build

dancetothedrummersbeat · « **Reply #6 on:** June 02, 2016, 10:52 PM »

Cool thread Ant. I got a message from Superbike Dan earlier. The courier tried to deliver yours and my frame today but i'm still away. I should get my hands on them by Monday at the lastest

NORTY40 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 02, 2016, 11:13 PM »

I should have kept this myself

Glad it's gone to a good home though Ant and i know you will do it justice

AKGOFF · « **Reply #8 on:** June 02, 2016, 11:15 PM »

Evening all.......Hope all is well with everyone!

Ant, in my humble opinion, Quadangles are the epitome of OS BMX, the frame design is just crazy but works so perfectly and they glide rather than ride. I had a 79 Loopy STR-1 and an 82 4130 Quad, and by far, they were my favourites.
I'm convinced you will love this bike just as I did mine and by the looks of it, it's gonna be a corker of a build.
I'll be very much looking forward to the finished result, and no doubt with a little envy!!!

Adam

oldschoolace · « **Reply #9 on:** June 03, 2016, 01:59 AM »

Dying grips you say

Taipan · « **Reply #10 on:** June 03, 2016, 08:08 AM »

You got my attention

In2bmx · « **Reply #11 on:** June 03, 2016, 10:22 AM »

Gotta love a Quad

Looking forward to seeing this Ant

factory pilot · « **Reply #12 on:** June 03, 2016, 10:32 AM »

Cheers for all the comments lads ...Part Deux coming after the London Ride ..
Desperate for this to be done in time for MK

kungfunky · « **Reply #13 on:** June 03, 2016, 01:44 PM »

Quads are indeed stunning frames and apart from the early mild steel Loopy's they're reasonably light. Great frames to ride, should be a cracker this

stu27 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 03, 2016, 07:08 PM »

Can't wait to see this built ant

have you managed to get an aerox stem for it?

factory pilot · « **Reply #15 on:** June 03, 2016, 08:39 PM »

Aerox stem ... What's that Stu ?

More updates soon ...

stu27 · « **Reply #16 on:** June 03, 2016, 08:52 PM »

dancetothedrummersbeat · « **Reply #17 on:** June 03, 2016, 08:52 PM »

The frame has landed from SBD. I got one painted at the same time, so they both got sent to me in the same box. I'll hand it over to Ant tomorrow morning. I'll let him post up some pics in due course, but it looks great

insectbones · « **Reply #18 on:** June 03, 2016, 09:16 PM »

That photo of Andy made me chuckle

Looking forward to seeing this built Ant

A Quad is on the ever growing list bikes to build

factory pilot · « **Reply #19 on:** June 15, 2016, 08:50 PM »

Part 2

So after failing miserably to dye those piggin' Oakley grips I had to go for a plan B ...

Andy Rooski came up trumps with these bad boys ...

But I wasn't happy and as luck would have it these turned up...

I'm so glad because these are just so right for an 83 Quad. U.S. Factory spec on both 83 and 84 bikes.

After much searching I managed to get a mint OG frame pad from Sam Meticulous and then I got a NOS handlebar pad and stem pad from an old collector friend of mine to complete the set...I love having OG pads on my builds!

Now Andy and I never do the things the easy way so instead of just posting our frames to SuperBikeDan we spent the best part of a day travelling down from Wigan to London Town ...
It was well worth it ... The guy is a legend.. It was great to see where the magic happens ..

The Quad wasn't original paint and due to the repair and a really impatient spray job the previous owner had done it was a no brainer to get it re-done ..

So glad I did ... SBD found more than few imperfects which he was more than happy to rectify ... His communication and work is first rate if you've not had the pleasure of using him yet...

The final results are just stunning ..

As you can see even before this I was determined to go all out on this build.

I'm not a fan of either Troxel seats ( 84 spec anyway ) or the Elina lightening bolts ( 83 UK Spec ) plus rumours of copies and repops made me stay well clear.
The U.S. Bike had a Viscount MX on it but I wanted an upgrade and decided to go for this .. Era correct and my favourite BMX saddle...

I was lucky enough to get this minter ( OG decals ) from Terry Wildon

I've never done a bike with Gold Anno parts before and this was a steep learning curve ...
It's been crazy difficult to find minty parts in Gold ( remember non of this build was done using FB ) .. Most are scratched or chipped so I had to take the decision to go all out and try for NOS wherever I could find them ( cost dictating whether I could afford them and meaning several of these parts took me two months of saving before I could buy them ) ......

One of the first things I got was this Tuff Neck clamp from MK

Then I got the gold bug. The UK Quad had gold Shimano DXs on them ( another of my all time favourite parts ) so after much hunting and negotiating ( with Andy's help ) I got this 100% NOS pair from the BMX museum ..

They are perfection!!!

I hope you are enjoying the journey as much as I am... It really had been emotional searching, hunting and scrimping and saving to get this build just right in terms of era correctness and SE compatible where appropriate...

And ofcourse using parts that I got a real buzz from finding..

More updates to come very soon....

Ant