Here's what happened - Think you'll like this story and how fell into place. Let's start by saying I was totally unaware of what I would discover but stoked I bothered spending the time searching the net, as the outcome makes the story so much cooler.
Right, I have been on here for ages and I'm well into messing with BMXs. Around a year ago an very old friend of mine bought really nice Motomag, an 82 from memory. Anyway, this bike set him off and he's gone googoo-gaga on BMX - yeah, good lad! He went deep into BMX Products, early Chatsworth output; Supergoose, early blue Moto with metal wheels, lovely susrivor De Costa. He's more recently had tunnel vision focus on JMC and got one of these Derek, Dave, or what name begging with D, I know it's not Spazmo Speakin Deacon. Oh, yeah it's
Darrell Young, and a Shadow. Nick, that's my mate in question, has seen my bikes and my tangent taste for Jad and Kappa is clearly contagious as he has two seriously cool bikes now; one of the very rarest - a Jad Sherman and Kappa Trick Starsky.
His son Charlie is a high level Motocross rider, he's progressed from riding his BMX he got when he was about 10 years old. Nick has often mentioned his old BMX and that it was a good bike from what he remembered. The bike had been taken to bits ages ago by Charlie and a few parts were around the house, like the wheels and stem, but the rest was somewhere in a business storage unit.
I had seen the wheels and the fact they had Profile hubs got my attention. Over the months the bike has come up in conversation a few times and I have said I'd be up for rebuilding it (I hate seeing bikes unloved) and Nick has kept saying it should go back together. Anyway, I pushed the subject last week, and said if they sorted the bits I would sort the bike out and sell it for Charlie on eBay if he split the money.
I got sent a photo of the remains on my phone on Tuesday evening, and as you can see the poor thing wasn't in a happy place... I went over and collected it and got back at about 7.30pm and steamed in straight away. The whole lot, every little bit was washed, scrubbed and cleaned. The frame, forks, cranks and bars needed a lot of graft; I used oven cleaner and fine grade wire wool to get all the scuffs and marks off. Worked amazingly well! The whole lot then got done with Tar Remover (snazzy Autoglym stuff), then Farecla G3 Professional Bodywork Detox, Farecla G3 scratch remover and finally T-cut followed by Mer polish.
Next I had to touch in any chips, there were a number of them. The wheels got scrubbed and Bodywork Detox and polished, every spoke end to end. Only a few little touch ins on the odd spoke were needed. The Alienation seat was grubby on top and muddy underneath - so I said 'Come on, it's bath time!' and it went in the sink. Fresh and clean I could now get the date 09/08 from it.
The forks took a few goes to get right, but I had what was missing in the box of little bits we all seem to end up digging through and are glad we've got. The sleeve and spacers essential to the task were there... Result!
Macneil Crank arms spruced up, Profile chainwheel greasy grot scrubbed away, bearings cleaned, checked lubed, it was refitted and shimmed up. Odyssey Pedals scrubbed, even the tricky to get to corners and the chain freed up and inner link wheels wire brushed to get the surface rust off and any stuck ones moving.
It was about 2.00am by the time I was brushing the old dried mud off the tyres and looking at the bars still missing pair of grips. One of the bikes in my shed drew the shot straw - I'll sort some grips out whenever.
Charlie had not found the brakes, lever and cables, so I had got as far as I could... So, I put a jacket on, stuck a pair of lights on and went out for a ride! :-)
Even at this point I was oblivious to the fact the bike I was riding had been on this site a decade ago and had been the result of a project by Paul - HARORIDER.
This fact only came to light due to my curiosity - as I had no previous with Kink bikes I was interested to find out if the Kink Apex came with Profile hubs and so on. I didn't find the answers on BMX Museum - the three Apex bikes registered were nothing close in looks, Kink's site couldn't provide anything either - the oldest catalogue was three years newer than this bike.
None of the few Kink Apex bikes I found in private ads were similar... and then a photo appeared as I scrolled down... THAT'S IT! IT'S THE SAME BIKE! I clicked on the photo and found the post Paul had made just over 10 years ago on April 17th 2009!
This post!
http://www.radbmx.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,85602.msg860718.html#msg860718I had stumbled over the fact the bike I had rebuilt in one night had been a one-off and had been on a forum I'm a member of but I had never seen the post before.
Well, I was so blown away, I ended up thinking the story needed to be shared - especially as Paul probably hasn't seen his old bike for a decade and I've no doubt will like knowing it has come back from the dead.
The cool thing is what I agreed I was doing with Charle was bollocks, I never planned putting the bike on eBay and rinsing half the money. I just wanted to get his bike back together for him. I dropped it back to Nick late last night after Charlie had gone to bed, so he'll get a surprise when he comes down this morning as his bike is waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
Hopefully, he'll get fired up about it and keep it - as how many of us would love to own our original BMXs we had as kids?! His dd has some very cool bikes, but he doesn't have the his first ever BMX. Charlie will have a lot of memories with the bike, as has Paul, and Charlie will soon find out the history he has never known dating back to before he owned his bike.
If Charlie decides not to hang on to his bike, I am sure it will continue onwards being ridden and enjoyed and that's cool with me. You're sure to agree, it's good seeing it back again! :-)
