This is THE first-ever 20" BMX bike i EVER owned.
This is the story about the bike that got me hooked into the sport of Freestyle BMX.
This is the bike that was cheap to restore but emotionally became the MOST valuable i will ever own.
With this project my collecting has gone full circle. 100-percent. This is what i once started on and this is what i've ultimately returned to. "Return to the source". It is very cool yet kind of sad in a way because it made me realize how long it has been since it all started for me. As much as i would like to, i can't go back in time execept ofcourse in my memories and now, with this bike. I could've never imagined if you'd ask me 18 years ago that i'd be one day restoring a cheapie, let alone riding it again! However, i feel that you can turn almost anything into something cool if you have a vision, set your mind to it and use the right parts, even the ones that are cheap and generic.
How many of you have heard about "Carraro"? Thought so.. lol! This is an Italian, chrome plated 20" Carraro BMX bike made of steel tubing. It has a loop tail, 1-inch seat tube and a plate for kickstand, now how cool is that! Little did i know how much i'd one day miss this bike when i carelessly sold it away in 1989.
GETTING THE BIKEIn the past few years, like in so many times before, i had really started to miss my first-ever 20" BMX bike and couldn't think of any reason why i ever got rid of it. I knew it would be next to impossible to locate the very personal ride so i settled for the idea of atleast trying to find an identical bike one day. Although the Carraro BMX is a low end bike it seems to be rare bird these days (pun intended). I kept browsing thru various auction sites and for sale ads every now & then and kept my eyes open at the local fleamarkets and 2nd hand pawn shops just in case i would "somehow" bump into my old bike.
Then finally, about a month ago i was browsing the local auction website as usual (smaller, sort of a local version of ebay) to see if there's anything BMX or freestyle related old stuff. Now i must clarify that normally there really isn't much (anything) old and/or BMX related stuff circulating here as most of the stuff is just new school. However, i did yet another search with the usual terms for "used old/old school BMX bike/80's" and clicked "search" to see the results...
"BOOOM"!!!! "THERE IT IS!!! I screamed in my mind, filled with excitement.
The title said: "80's BMX bike with hand brakes" Further viewing revealed that it was a complete 20" chrome plated Carraro BMX just like mine used to be in used condition BUT, still with original decals (except head tube) and most of the original parts too!! I could not believe it! When i found the ad, the current bid was around $15 with one week to go. I literally dropped from the chair. There was already three bids, three guys wanting the bike. Knowing the finnish non-existent collecting "scene" i knew none of them would bid high on it. I had firmly decided that if i'd ever see one, i would get it, whatever the costs. The minute i saw the ad, there was no question about it, i contacted the seller with my offer ($80) and he agreed to end the auction immediately and also told me that with that offer he'd bring the bike to my door. Even better, cause he was located pretty far away outside the city and i had no way to pick it up myself. We agreed on the arrangement over email and made a date.
Two days later, in 21st of march on a chilly, rainy wednesday evening around 8 PM he called he was at the neighbourhood with the bike in his car. I went downstars to our door to meet him and saw him pedaling on the bike towards our doorstep. Even still i couldn't believe this was actually happening! I was simply overwhelmed with the excitement to see how my old bike used to look. He then handed me the bike and for a short passing moment he sounded a bit reluctant of letting go of something he'd obviously had for long time, i could sense it in his voice and choice of words and just plain see it from him. I paid, we shook hands and i ensured him the bike will stay in very good hands and promised to send photos once the restoration is done. On the way while i was carrying the bike to our apartment i remember thinking at the stairway "was this really this heavy back then?!"
Obviously the bike had been sitting ourdoors for good amount of time judging by the rust build up everywhere on it. It seemed he was the original owner and there was even a social security number engraved on to the bottom bracket which i'm guessing is his. Realisticly, the bike was a total mess. A very rusty survivor, but mostly original nonetheless. The guy proudly told me how he had just replaced the grips and lubed the cables but away from those everything else was just as they had ever been
without any maintenance whatsoever. Everything was loose, the wheels, the headset, the bb. The brakes were there (with those lubed cables..) but they were seized to death like the chain and pretty much the rest of the parts.
Dismantling a used bike is always as interesting as it is to build one up, especially when working on a old bike with history. Everything had a build of dirt, grease and rust. You should've seen the mess.
Like i said, most of the original parts were there except for the front brake, a plastic chainguard-thingy around the sprocket and the pad set. The right pedal was stuck in the cranks with a weld-on sprocket, cracked stem etc. etc. The list goes on.
The funniest single part without question has to be the seatpost. It was an enormous 22-inch tall, home made steel rod with 5mm wall thickness! While i was pulling it out of the frame it felt as if it would never end. No wonder the bike was so heavy cause the post alone must've weighed atleast about 1 to 2 kilos! Seriously. The original bars are CW type copys. They would've been cool to use on the build but they're very narrow, only 25". Because the frame is already pretty small scale it would've felt even smaller with narrow bars, so that's why i got myself a set of full 28" Kusuki Win CW-type bars.
At first i had the optimistic idea to use as many of the original parts as i could but after everything was dismantled, ispected and carefully evaluated, i decided to let go of the idea cause the original parts were such crap and they certainly wouldn't do the justice to the bike. After all, this was supposed to be honoring my first-ever bike, not to recreate it spot-on.
THE VISIONThis is a race bike but i used it for freestyling back then. This time around however, i wanted to do things differently. I didn't want to build another personal replica (although i was very tempted to do so) simply cause i had it set up in such horrible way back then. Instead, i wanted to compliment the fact that it is a race bike but build it with that early 80's "race-bike-used-as-a-freestyler" aspect in mind. Something i am too young to have experienced myself, unfortunately. I wanted to build my first-ever BMX bike back up with the style it truly desreves in my eyes. But let's not forget that this is just a low end model with bubblegum welds, with that in mind i didn't feel comfortable putting on too many expensive brand name parts and components. And besides, i was (yet again) on a limited budget.
I had also been wanting to build a race bike one day and this was a perfect candidate for my first. I already had most of the suitable or "right" parts in my possession but i did had to order quite a few missing bits. I figured the black Z-mags (previously on my '88 Master) would be perfect wheelset for the theme. Tuffs would've been even better, but since i already had the Z's i decided to settle for them. I also had a spare orangish-gold anodized RE-Racing power disc, a Tuf Neck chainring, KMC chain, a bottom bracket, ODI grips, the headset, the cranks etc. I still had to find the "right" tires, the brakes/levers, cables, CW style bars, numberplate, stem, seat/post/clamp, the pads and the pedals. Most of them are the cheapest ones you can find but, i realized it is possible to create a stylish looking bike even with those generic parts. Remember, the bike isn't pro-class. I wanted to keep what was left of the original decals, cause, well, they're original. The frame's missing the headtube decal so that's the only one i had to recreate from scratch.
That one photo i think from '84 of Maurice Meyer doing an Endo had a huge influence on me when i was pondering which direction i should go with this project. So, thank You for the inspiration Maurice! That is the reason i chose a Haro plate, black mags, the CW style bars and inspired me to add initials "TL" on the headtube reflecting my name.
BUILDING IT UP!This has really been a fun and same time emotional restoration project. Like i have said many times before, i am always very specific about the overall color balance in my builds. It was very easy to decide the color scheme for this because of the yellow decals with black details on chrome. I don't mind having variation in the yellow, as i've always thought that small variation in one single color adds to the interest for it. Gold, Yellow, Black & Chrome, a guaranteed and easy combination really.
The headset size on this frame is a not your every day BMX standard. It is smaller in diameter, the same they use in those retro-style beach cruisers etc. these days. Fortunately the original headset was in excellent shape so i didn't have to start hunting one down. I thought for a long time whether i should go for a black or yellow set of pads. I chose yellow, cause black pads would've brought "too much black" as most of the other parts already are black.
The numberplate is special. Well, not "special" as in rareness, but because it is the first numberplate i have ever owned! Talking about a project filled with new, exotic aspects for me. I wanted to incorporate a part of my persona/alter-ego somehow to this build to make it personal, so what would've been more appropriate than the initials "2F" written on the plate for what else than short for "2Fresh" as it has always been more less my BMX/Freestyle related alter-ego. So in a way, this is the ultimate climax of my alter-ego-centric persona, lol! Not. By the way, those letters are hand cut. I couldn't see myself paying some odd Euros for simple letters written in "Arial Narrow" -font cause it took me 10 mintues to print them on the back of adhesive film and then cut them out. Home made is custom and vise versa, it also adds some of that personal touch and acts as my bold "signature".
The bars are CW-type "Win" bars by Kusuki, made in Japan. They're 9" tall and 28" wide and very light weight. Changing the bars into something completely different shape than the original would not been right. Like i said i wanted to stick with the CW bars theme, but simply couldn't see myself using the original 25" wide steel set of bars. By far the Win bars have much better feel and are high quality stuff with their welds and full Cro-Mo tubing.
I chose the generic "Aeromax" seat striclty for the looks and shape of it and because of gold lettering and the rad thunderbolts. Yes, it's generic, and yes it is cheap but it is definitely an improvement compared to the seat that this bike came with.
The seatpost is one of those from Pyramid Accesories. It is now "sealed" from both ends with plastic pipe end caps. I almost had nightmares of a wrong size stuck post because the seat tube on the frame was odd size but fortunately that wasn't the case, it's accepts standard 25.4mm (aka 1-inch) posts.
There's pale yellow Odyssey Linear Slick cable housing for the brakes, first time ever i use linear cable housing. They're stiffer than regular but work great and the tone of color is as perfect as it can get. As for the brakes & levers, well they are what they are, generic taiwanese imitations but they work and look just as good as the originals would i suppose.
The forks were badly rusted, the chrome plating was gone in some areas. However it turned out looking ok after the dip and some polishing/waxing. The fork legs are left open at the ends but now with added plastic caps to keep the dirt and humidity out. I also added an extra plastic cap at the bottom of the crown tube to "seal" it from dirt. It was then drilled for the front brake bolt to go thru.
To my standards the frame has strange angles or, i am just uneducated with the geometry on old race frames. I'd guess the steering head angle is around 71 or 72 degrees and the seat tube around 68 or so. I am telling you, it is VERY laidback. For once for a tall guy like me there's plenty on room while sitting and pedaling even with a straight post. The rear triangle is unusually long, probably because of the layback seat angle. The top tube length is just 17" which combined with the mellow headtube angle makes the frame overall feel pretty small but again, the seat angle compensates that.
I replaced the original dark steel bottom bracket cups with chrome plated cups from Tioga. It's amazing how a small change like that can effect the overall appearance.
The Italian bicycle company Carraro seems to be still around selling road/mountain/downhill/hybrid etc. bikes in every price range as well as entry level BMX and kids' bikes. Website:
www.carrarocicli.comI wonder if they know (or care) of the fact that somewhere there's more less fanatic finnish collector who has just restored one of their early BMX bikes from early to mid 80's. LOL!! What a mind tickling thought..
PARTS & SPECSCarraro BMX 20" frame & fork set made by Carraro s.p.a. in Saccolongo PD, (as in "Provincia di Padova") in northern Italy.- Frame: Carraro BMX 20"
- Type: BMX racing
- Tubing: hi-ten/mild steel
- Fork: Carraro BMX 1"
- Handlebars: Win CW-type 28"
- Stem: Suntour type, 22.2mm quill
- Grips: ODI Mushroom
- Seatpost: 1" dia. 15" tall
- Seat: Aeromax "Aero"
- Seatpost clamp: generic 1.1/8"
- Brake levers: Lee Chi MX
- Front brake/pads: Lee Chi MX-1000 type w/GT by KoolStop pads
- Rear brake/pads: Lee Chi MX-1000 type w/GT by KoolStop pads
- Front/Rear cables/housing: Odyssey Linear Slik cables
- Headset: generic w/Tioga nut
- Cranks: JM Cro-Mo 1pc, 175mm
- Pedals: VP-555 "DX" copys
- Front sprocket: RE-Racing powerdisc w/Tuf Neck chainring 43T and chrome plated generic bolts
- Bottom bracket: generic 24T
- Chain: KMC ½ x 1/8"
- Freewheel: Dicta 16T
- Wheels: ACS Z-Mags
- Tires: Deestone Comp-III copy, 20 x 1.75
- Tubes: Kenda ..or whatever
- Year: unknown (best guess, early to mid 80s)
- Serial#: none
- Steering head angle: 71-72 (approximate)
- Seat tube angle: 67-68 (approximate)
- Chainstay length: 15.3/4" (from middle point of rear drop outs to center of bb)
- Top tube length: 17
"BEFORE" (the bike "as is")
"DURING" (removing rust in Oxalic Acid dip, polishing, waxing & cusomizing)
"AFTER" (fully restored and finalized)
Due to "2000 character limit" in this system, if interested you can read the full story at
VintageBMX.comThanks for looking!
-Timo
Here i'm putting the bike to the test.
[/list]
