Ok so a few of you know that i picked up a 1984 British Made Wilson Freestyler a few months back...
After being quite gutted that the chrome corrosion which was only on the surface had still gone too far even after an acid bath.. i decided to have it stripped which unlike a few years ago proved impossible to have it reverse electro plated locally as companies just don't want to do that anymore due to the chemicals so i ended up having it blasted in order to remove the chrome ...
Now the Wilson Freestyler was basically a copy of the Haro Freestyler made by Steve wilson in Redditch who from what i can gather ran & built Bikes for the Halfords BMX Race team & these freestylers along with the rest of his small range sold primarily through Halfords...
I knew these came in chrome & White & the decals are Red & Black so i decided (Original white) was definitely the way to go with Black parts which always make for a clean & safe looking build....
I had all of the parts However along the way i also managed to pick up some Nos Red MX 1000's a Nos red DC MX seat clamp & beautiful Red Suntour stem ...
Now I don't know what it is about red parts but i just cant seem to make them work on my builds (somehow) I don't know why, but they always just seem to look wrong to me
?? So these also got shelved...
Like with my fox build I've picked up an amazing Red shotgun II Seat recently & i had to make this fit onto the build so i finally decided which way I was going to go & this is the contentious part for many of you I'm guessing ..........(TYRES) .........
Now I love a (white wall) Particularly with a Black Tuff 2 & I used to have a coloured set of with (Blue tread) BITD...
Mine came from an Ammaco (Freestyle team) as standard & Mason Smith amongst others used them on his Rickman, a mate had red & white set as well i also remember seeing them in red green pink Lilac & so on & I always though the looked really clean on a freestyle build as gum walls never really matched up to anything else on the bikes ....
Anyway i was doing a random search for a Blue & White set & discovered that (FINALLY) Cheng Shin has started making them for Bernadi in Italy & these were being sold on eBay ... I looked at the contact details on the bay & went direct to the retailer ordering online ....
Now ordering from an Italian site in Italian was interesting but you can pay with Paypal so i was protected if anything went wrong & by doing this I was saving a fortune & bought a blue & a red set at the same time from the site below...
https://www.ciclosportmarket.it/'s=20+x+1.75&post_type=product
So I had to also fit the tyres into this build somehow & honestly was worried it would look like a clown bike (But) i had to stick my neck out & do something a little different but still old school as to be fair these Tyres were quite common BITD its just you don't see them at all now on builds as they just haven't been available to buy..
Anyway hope you like it ...
Im actually really happy with the results & at least I've got all the other coloured parts if i decide to go safe i guess,
I'm still awaiting some delcals for the bars & to make up my Dice valve caps but its 99% there. As It was a nice day again today so I've fitted the chain & taken a few snaps...
Parts list Below:
Frame & Forks : Wilson Freestyle Reynolds 531
Bars: Nos Tioga freestyle with new bar ends as i broke the others taking them off for paint.
Seat: Cycle Pro Shotgun II Chequered
Grips: ODI Mushroom 2 with donuts
Levers: Dia Compe Tech 3
Lever Grips: NOS Sharp
Callipers: Dia Compe MX 1000
Seatpost: Elina Layback
Clamp : Dia Compe twin Bolt.
Stem: Suntour Power stem
Headset Clamp: Tange LP-440
Wheels : Skyway Tuff II
Tyres: Cheng Shin Freestyle
Chainring: Sugino 44T
Power disc: Generic Black
Crank: SR CRMO Tubular (hollow)
Chain: Izumi
BB: Tange
Pedals NOS: Victor Beartrap
