Manuel The Bandito. 2001 S&M Dirt Bike NG

[Midschoolfool]

It was cheap man ! I paid ?130 for all of it.











1995 poor man's DMC 

I've got everything I need to turn it into a bike.



NOS pair of those and a 3pc. It should polish up nice, but I love the originality. I mean, nearly all of it is there.

It's you guy's fault ! I didn't have a chrome bike until I came here 

Oh yeah a tiny update on Manuel.

Last night I put the grips against the bars. I really like how they look. Let me explain the method to my madness.

There is one thing that worries me about this bike a bit. With all of the black parts it looks like a complete bike you would have bought. Does that make sense? I don't really like that. I want it to look like a custom ride.

With the pads on there the yellow grips pop. Like, really nicely. So I think I am definitely going to use them. The fact they will make it pop will take away that pre built look I don't like.

[bobafett]

Nice little project 

And... I hear you on the grips... at the end of the day its your build mate so fook it, you gotta build it your way 

[Midschoolfool]

OK so now I literally have one thing left to do, fit the grips. I will get that done tomorrow.

When I did the headset something up front was rattling. Turns out it was the front wheel. Sodding loose ball bearings ! Thankfully I bought a set of cone spanners a few years ago and had only used them once (I hate loose ball bearings). So I just took the wheel off, sorted that, fitted the Props decal (the 1998 one) and put on the frame whip girl pad.

So that literally leaves the grips. All of this ends right in time for the Mongoose, so that will be next.

[Midschoolfool]

The grips are actually two colours. They were absolutely filthy. Seems like some guy got them out of the packet every now and then for a fondle with filthy hands, then put them back. Gave them a good scrubbing with some washing up liquid, then cut and reassembled them. It went spiffingly well, now they actually fit without having the ends missing. I had the idea due to my obsession with water cooling computers and having custom blocks made (and thus having to make custom orings)

She's done. Oh, you will notice I put on a red ODI cock ring to stop slippage. Nothing pisses me off more than grips that don't stay put. I will do the spec tomorrow.

Cheers all, and thanks for following along/posting motivating etc.

[Picklez]

Well done buddy, turned out great. I'd have probably stuck with black grips too, but your ride, your choice, and you do have to go with what makes you happy, not others. 

Outside pics look great too, but I only realised how small those bars do actually look when you posted up the garden pics, see what you were saying about them earlier now.

Looking forward to tracking your work with the goose too.

Keep safe bud.

And Barnham, we're quite near each other, I'm up Midhurst way.

[Midschoolfool]

Oh nice one man. Mum's is Barnham. I live in Bognor, about 80ft from the beach. Problem is for the view (and it is a stunning view) I don't get any outside space at all.

So I come and do my bikes here. Lovely quiet little village.

Yeah, those bars are absolutely tiny man. I rode those for about a year too, then switched to some kneesavers. The rise on them is nuts. Maybe 5.5"? 6" tops? I guess the idea was that due to all of the excess weight you had the bars stupid low so you could pull the bike up more but I could never ride like that now. Far too old !

The wall on them is stupid thick too, so they are deceptively heavy lol.

[bobafett]

Well done mate, cracking end result and it's been a great build thread - really enjoyed following it 

Now chop chop, where's that goose 

[Midschoolfool]

Should be with me soon that. I will start a thread in a bit ! It's been sent Parcelforce...

I got this in today.



It's to tie in with the double I have up in the attic now.



That area is over 4m wide, so should hold loads. Problem is I kept forgetting to order the stand, so I have bikes all over the place (which has stopped me working on the loft more).



It needs to go in there. Once it has I can give the STA a good clean and get that upright, then put in the Haro and T1.



And then I should have more room to work up there, 'cause right now there's shit everywhere 

It was all a bit manic tbh. I'd lived at my old flat for 6 years, then had to move at very short notice. The new flat is sheltered accommodation, so I can't build bikes there etc. So I had to get all my stuff out of the old flat during the move, come over to mum's, strengthen all of the joists and floor it, then put all of my bikes up there in parts because they don't fit through the hole in the ceiling together. What a nightmare. Any way, I am putting up walls etc but I just haven't had the time nor the room to move to do it lol. The bikes just got kinda dumped up there and I closed it up for the winter.

So yeah, I will have a bloody good sort out this afternoon.

[griff]

Great thread 

[Midschoolfool]

Thanks man. It's been a pleasure tbh. I need to be more social, because I am terrible. Been nice sharing my projects, maybe we can get some more As promised here is the spec list.

2000 S&M Dirt Bike Next Generation frame with Lo Rider decals and S&M shield head badge
S&M Pitch Fork
Onza Mongo III headset (sealed external)
SNAFU Armstrong stem
Hoffman Jumping Bars (MK1)
S&M logo grips (yellow) with shield bar ends
Odyssey Pitbull II lever
DC 990 black
Fibrax cable
F-IT Indent cranks (first gen)
DMR Saturn sprocket
DMR V8 pedals
Sealed 19mm American BB
Alex X EE wheels 14mm rear 10mm front
Nutrak trail tyres
Huffy seat clamp
25.4 Alu post
Velo padded seat (red glitter)
S&M whip girl pads (have shields too)

I initially thought it was a 01. However, after lots of research and checking the serial I am pretty sure it's a 2000. They made them first in 99, but didn't date the serial so you can only really guess. I figured it best to go in the middle. The story goes like this....

After breaking every frame he rode in the 1980s, Chris Moeller decided enough was enough and designed the first true dirt-jumping frame, which became the Dirt Bike. It had beefier tubing and thicker dropouts than other bikes of its era, and Chris's company, S&M, used its underground image to develop a loyal following.

A few years later, Rick Moliterno, Krt Schmidt and Bill Nitschke, collectively know as the Standard Byke Company, refined Moeller's concept and designed heavier, beefier, higher-quality bikes that were built to withstand the rigors of modern street, dirt and ramp riding.

Despite their state-of-the-art design, lofty reputation and immense popularity, it could be argued that Standards were overbuilt, and Moeller resisted that trend as long as he could, even spoofing the Standard Lengthy with the release of the S&M Heavy as F**K.

Eventually, though, market pressure dictated that Chris would have to refine the Dirt Bike, and the Next Generation was the result. With capped stays, a sleek downtube gusset, and hefty dropouts, it had all the hallmarks of a refined 1990s frame without being too overbuilt.

In retrospect, considering the way that modern bikes have shed weight and dropout material over the past few years, maybe Chris was ahead of his time in trying to remain behind the times. But without Standard's influence, and the in-between steps like the Next Generation, modern BMX frames wouldn't be nearly as well-made as they are.

That is from a blog post on S&Ms old web site.

[bobafett]

Nice bit of info 

I like the look of that T1.... I've got a bit of a thing for painted frames with chrome or nickel forks - I like the contrast 

That probably originates from this goose obsession of mine though............

 



 
 

[Midschoolfool]

Yeah I had to do a chrome front end tbh. Was well handy when I used to ride hard, because chrome forks scratched a lot less and thus didn't look like crap.

This is the last bike I had in the mid school. I built it up working for minimum wage in a bike shop, and was short of a 3pc. I also had a 98 Quad with Peregrine Super Pro etc but I got jacked coming out of work one night.



was a 96 STA with Standard bash fork, standard stem, standard 6pc strip bars, standard post, standard seat clamp. At the time (1996) there were no more Standard parts, so my mates nicknamed it the standard standard. I didn't even know pics of it existed, but when my mother moved away from London and down here in 2007 she found them. Then I remembered I had to take some pics and get them developed so I could sell it in Ride UK. That would have been around ooo, 2000 ish.

My Quad Angle had a chrome front end too. Was a candy apple red frame. That is why I built the yellow one (because I didn't want to tempt fate).

It's pretty hard to do now tbh. I found those Hitman Conspiracy fork on Ebay NOS. With 990 lugs, which again is unheard of now. Maybe later I will post up some of the logs for that and my other bikes that I did a few years ago.

BTW the bars on the T1? they are not chrome. Only Fly does the finish and they call it Stainless.



Basically they polish the raw metal, zinc plate it and then clear with powder. It's really bloody nice tbh. A great way of getting around the nastiness of chrome plating.

[bobafett]

That is a nice finish on those bars indeed 

[Mikku]

Great thread 

This ^^^

Have enjoyed this one - thanks for sharing and good luck with the 'goose!