I bought one of these frames with incorrect forks last November, Ive always been a massive fan of this frame set & as such did a lot of digging around through my magazines to try get to the bottom of the Fox Factor / MT Racing relationship & to see where the 4-Styler fitted into the collection ....
To be honest some of this is conjecture (maybe a little common sense) but it seems to add up.....
OK so please bare with me : Released in 1984 The Fox 4 Styler F-1 was the only British Made (Fox Factor) frame & it was made from Reynolds 531 & was solid the UK by Fox Factor Ltd who were an offshoot of J&B Associates Ltd.
J&B associates ltd were the MT Racing UK distributor based in Ashford Kent. You can see at the bottom of the few 4 styler adverts that were put out that they have the same address as J&B on their MT adverts...
Here in the U.K J&B re-branded MT Racing's products & sold them under the name of (Fox Factor). I haven't been able to find out why but it could be as simple as there was another company already in the UK called (MT Racing) & had trademarked or Registered the name making to difficult to sell MT Products under that name ...
In 1984 MT Racing still didn't have a freestyler in their range (they were all race bikes) which would have been an issue for J&B as freestyle was about to explode & they had nothing to sell , so as a result it appears that they employed Lynx Engineering at their Hastings workshop to build them a standalone freestyle frame from Reynolds 531 tubing to add in to their UK Range thus giving them a freestyle option to sell here in the until the MT Trick Fox was released in 1985/6 .
A guy on eBay who had this one for sale late 2015 explained all about this in his advert as he was an apprentice at Lynx engineering at the time saying they came out mostly in White Light blue & Gunmetal grey also stating hardly any were made as they were expensive.
The 4 styler was first featured in (BMX Action Bike Nov 1984) as a competition prize , it was yellow & sported Silver fox decals & it was referred to as the (Trick fox) ...
The frames were partnered & sold with MT Racing Super Fox Forks Made By Akisu from 4130 Cromo Tubing . Nobody knows why they didn't also have forks made in Kent as they were advertised as being made from Reynolds 531 in the test & write ups of the time (even slagging off 4130 )... which is ironic.
Im guessing as the Super fox had great (oversized forks) & by using these forks with MT’s signature & distinctive drop outs that it would have tied the 4 styler in with the rest of the MT or (Fox Factor) range for the year. Also as I've worked for bike & Sports distributors in the past its clear to me that they would have potentially had relationships not only with MT racing but also their frame manufacturer (Akisu) so it might have just been the easy option to get the forks supplied from them.
Ive only been able to track down 4 of these frames thus far with only 2 of them havingthe correct forks although now the cats out of that bag this could change ...
I'll add the test images below & then my build...
Ok to my build..
As I mentioned I bought the frame in November with Incorrect forks but i loved the colour green & it had been recently powdered & it reminded me of the advert
I then waited until i could find a super fox, so & bought that bike complete (just for the forks) & had them colour matched.. I then added some Nos Chrome MT racing UFO Forks to the Super Fox & sold it on ....
Super Fox forks added..
Stock Photo i found of a nos frame set showing the forks again...
Mani did such a great job on his Green 4-styler i wanted to do something a little different . i actually also had a set of Rickman Bars which the bike was partnered with in the freestyle BMX test & as Mani had also used but i didnt want to so the same build even though i had a lot of the same or similar parts to hand..
I then came across a Shotgun 2 seat , nowI had a nos one of these on my pink Rickman & this one had very little wear so I had it refurbished & built the build around it to make it different from Manis.
I also messed with various bars as wanted something BiG (Vector VC-10 or Hanter freestyle BIG) & angled too in order to go with the frame as this look definitely in my opinion suited the 3 TRM's that I've owned ... I settled for Columbia freestyle bars however i dont like the freestyle stand so removed this ...
I found an MT racing seat clamp in Greece & decided this would work really well & a set of Suntour XC-II pedals which i refurbished & rebuilt & Im loving the result...
Anyway heres the pics: Spec to follow:
F&F: 1984 Fox Factor F&F
Bars: Columbia Freestyle Bars (Modified)
Grips: Ame Round
Levers: Dia Compe Tech 3 Refurbished with new hardware
Seat: Cyclepro Shotgun 2 Chequered
Post 531 Cromo
Clamp: MT racing Donut
Stem: Suntour Power Stem
Locking nut: Tange LP440
Callipers: NOS Dia Compe MX-1000
Pedals : Suntour XC-II
Crank: Nos SR Crmo Lite
Power Disc: Tuf Neck Chrome
Chain: IZUMI Black / Chrome
Wheels: Skyway Tuff 2
Tyres: Kenda White Wall
