Part 3
Let's start with the steering dept. ...
I toyed with idea of a gold tuff neck or pro neck but with so many moody and fake ones around I opted to steer of them. I got a nice gold suntour power stem but it didn't do anything for me on this build so after a long long wait I sourced this ....
NOS SR Aerox-M "The Slant Stem"
The U.S. 83 came with these as spec and described them as "Perfecto Garcia" for the steering angle of the Quad.
It also came with a Hatta Mx2 headset but I wanted to add a few era correct upgrades. The rule was it had to be SE sympathetic and era correct and original finish. Again the search was long but well worth the weight as I found this...
NOS Hatta MX100 headset
To compliment this I got these beauties ..
NOS Tange Headlock and a NOS SST Dirt Skirt
SR was a make that supplied many parts for Quads and SE in general so I plumped for one for seatpost. I thought about a Shimano DX post but this fluted piece of kit was more era correct and was just a bit different ...
NOS SR Laprade fluted seatpost with integrated seat clamp. Many thanks to Paul Monkian for this beauty...
On the UK spec Quad it came with a OPC Sugino crank. I wanted an era correct upgrade. My holy grail was the Maxy Cross. I've always loved these and wanted one. Many riders used them in 83 so it was perfect. It also fitted in with my black, gold, chrome 3 build colours to balance the look of the bike. Most Anno cranks I found were badly scratched, dented or missing rank arms. I had no choice.. I had to find one in a box or it would seriously reduce the quality of this build which at this point had to be perfect ... There was no half measures now ..
People say there are no NOS parts around but if you look long and hard enough sometimes your dreams come true ..
NOS Sugino Maxy Cross complete crankset in box
( including 44t chain wheel and sugino bolts as used on the UK spec bike and NOS BB and crank end caps ) ...it's the most amazing thing I've ever found in all the time I've been in this hobby and got a such a buzz from getting it ..
Finally in these part I'll do the brake set up ...
Although I wanted this bike to be a thorough bred race machine the spec bikes had 2 brakes and 2 of my favourite racers ( Harry Leary and Andy Ruffell ) always ran front and rear brakes in 83 so it was good enough for me ..
83 Dated Dia Compe cables
83 Dated mx1000s ( front and rear )
Wanting to push myself at every turn on this build right to the limit I researched that in 83 the pro riders such as Stu Thompson and Eric Rupe were running these on their brake set ups so I just had to find them and put them on the Quad...
Mathauser Finned Pro Brake Blocks
These were era correct for 83 as different designed Mathausers were used in 84 by the pros.
Levers were a difficult one .. I sourced several NOS gold DC Bronco levers but even the Action Bike review said to ditch them straight away and I had to agree they just looked and felt terrible for this build so I upgraded once more ...
Believe it or not I didn't own any original Tech 3s in my collection so the hunt began long before MK last year and ended with those beauties.
Trying to find descent condition gold levers was near impossible ( anyone else looking will tell you the ball ache ) so again NOS was really my only option... I think I'm going to cry when I have to finally open this packet !
This build has been all consuming encompassing amazing highs and lows along the way ....
The end is in sight now .....
I'm saving some very special bits right until the end for you all..,
I hope you're still with me lads on this one!
Part four coming very soon..
Ant
