need help restoring an old '79 Mongoose / Tuff I's

[Ramp Rat]

Hey - this will be my first restoration and I was looking for some advise on cleaning up old Tuff I's and polishing up an old Mongoose frame. I welcome your input  - Cheers - Damon

Here's what I have to work with. This is an old Mathews hardtail frame '77 - I'm gonna put all the parts on the '79 Mongoose




Here's kinda where I want to end up...can this be done?

[harris]

nice that mate
the tuffs all depend on stains but if its just fade then a re dye will cover most problems
as for frame its nickel plate the one on the very bottom  so its all about polish polish polish  autosol or similar
is your nickel platter  hard to tell from pick but just give it a 2 minuite polish and the gold will pop out 
if not then you can get it re done for about £90.

[bobafett]

I think your gonna end up with a nice lookin bike there matey 
Hard to tell from your pics - but i think your goose might be a chrome one - is it definitely a 79 ? post the serial number up - nickel or chrome though autosol and elbow grease required Failing that it's off to the re-chromers if you really want it to dazzle !
Don't forget your new decals from bill at bmx products they are spot on : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mongoose-decals-BMX-vintage-old-school-Super-DeCoster_W0QQitemZ250317802499QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250317802499&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1431%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
As for your Tuff wheel restoration - here is a lengthy but detailed thread covering most aspects including dying to get that original colour back 
Here you go : http://www.radbmx.co.uk/forum/index.php'topic=17050.0
All i build / restore is old mongoose bikes mate so if you want any help give us a shout - there are quite a few other mongoose addicts on the site as well - just do some mongoose searches in the forum and you'll get to know who they are pretty quick - there is a lot of knowledge on here if you dig deep - good luck 

[sawzall]

i have a mongoose style saddle nos inc guts yours for £12 posted

[Ramp Rat]

this is great info. cheers everyone. Looking forward to getting stuck in. Bike's still in the shipping. I'll send over the serial number, not sure of the true age of the frame, I was guessing'79 cause these was no coaster anchor.  I do love that nickel plate though on the restored Roger Decoster. Glad to ear of more mongoose addicts, I don't know what it is, but I just love the really old mongooses. I love looking through the mongoose museum and checking em all out. So simple looking. takes me back to my first love of BMX.

Thanks Sawzall, but I'm in the US so exchange rate sucks. I'll pick one up on ebay.

Cheers lads - will be back w/ pics!

Damon

[Ramp Rat]

just want to let you all know how I'm getting along...I love restoring this bike, it might be my new hobbie. Last night I was putting back my Bendix 76 coaster brake on the tuff I and I was loving the challenge of fitting all the pieces back together, it was like a hands on BMX puzzle. I haven't seen the inside of an old coaster brak in almost 30 years. Took me a while, but when I figured it out, it was magic.

Here's how they arrived..


So I stripped out the bearings and used brake cleaner to wash out all the crud and dumped the Tuff's in the bucket of dye.





next morning pulled them out - sprayed some WD40 and hey presto  - well chuffed.


some cracks in the hub which the bloke mentioned on the ebay auction - he said usual sun crack on rear hub - how stable is this wheel? Can I jump on it??


Next step is sand down the box bars and Tange forks and spay them flatt black.

keep you all Mongoose heads posted on my progress....

[bobafett]

Nice job on dying those tuff 1's bud - they've come out sweet   

Crack looks a bit nasty though 
Not so sure about the claim of "usual sun crack" i've got a used set of red tuff 1's and ther aint no cracks on them 

I'd be loathed to jump around on them too much with that crack - and i'd invest in some decent solvent weld glue as a precaution ? 

Which forks are you gonna use on the frame - the ones that came with the frame or the black pinched tange ones on your old bike ? I think the tange pinched fellas will look the part as they came on early geese 

On another note did you look at your serial number to get your frame date confirmed ?
Looking at the decals (if they are original) they have the black background rather than the yellowy background suggesting later than your original 79 date but you've got the hole-less flat dropouts of the earlier frames so i reckon it's from around the change over period - Ill take a guess at an early month 1981 frame 

[J Rolla]

just want to let you all know how I'm getting along...I love restoring this bike, it might will be my new hobbie.

Nice job on the wheel restoration, the finish came up a treat

some cracks in the hub which the bloke mentioned on the ebay auction - he said usual sun crack on rear hub - how stable is this wheel? Can I jump on it??

If someone said "sun cracks" to me (not that I've heard that term before) I'd think of the tiny hairline cracks that only occur on the very surface when mags are left outside and weathered through the seasons for years. My white Acorn Freestyles had this. That crack looks more like from heavy use. As bobafett said if you are going to ride them I'd think about a reliable way to fill/bond it. Maybe an epoxy filler or something. Good luck with the rest of it and keep us posted!

[harris]

good job my man ,glad your enjoying the restro, it gets inside you   
i will be watching this build closely   Dan

[Ramp Rat]

cheers - guys.

Yeah - I'm a little pissed off at the sellers "normal sun cracks" quote - I also thought this meant some tiny hairline cracks - this rear hub has 4 big cracks (2 on each side) and I want to ride this bike, not just look at it, although I do love to just look at it for hours. maybe look into some sort of glue.

What should I do, ask for some money back?  He did add in some red rat trap pedals, but they're for a 3 - piece crank - dumb ass.

bobafelt - you have a good eye - the serial number is D106797 which I heard makes this April 1981 - is that correct?

Yeah - I was planning on going  for the Tange Champion forks for the late '70's era look rather than the TRX forks. Should I spray those forks a Matt Black or what colour? recommendations welcome.

anyway, I'm having a blast and it's all I think about - wife's not too happy about all the dye and greese everywhere    - oh well 

[harris]

the best part of a keeper is once your done,you can always dial it in when better parts turn up   ie a rear wheel might find it your way
so enjoy the experience   

[Ramp Rat]

Harris - very true - I've already been looking for upgrade parts on ebay and craigs list - it never really ends does it. The eternal / elusive search

[Mattdub]

Lookin' good Damon    .

pm'ed ya 

[bobafett]

bobafett - you have a good eye - the serial number is D106797 which I heard makes this April 1981 - is that correct?

Cool 
Probably is chrome on that fella rather than nickel as we discussed earlier in the thread since she's an '81 but nothing is set in stone with a goose ! The frame pic you have is under too dull a light really to tell - a brightly lit or outdoor pic after a good autosol would probably show it up to be nickel or chrome in pictures - nickel has a more yellowish tint 

Yeah - I was planning on going  for the Tange Champion forks for the late '70's era look rather than the TRX forks. Should I spray those forks a Matt Black or what colour? recommendations welcome.

If it was me i'd probably go with a powder black with a bit of shine rather than a flat matt black. The flat matt was more typical of the ashtabula forks shown in the docoster you pictured early in the thread that inspired you for the build but the tange forks you've got where finished in nickel / chrome to match frames or in a painted finish to match frames (yellow, red, white, blue or black) and the black used wasn't a flat matt black it was more glossy  Or you could alway re-chrome / nickel them to match the frame 

[bobafett]

One other thing damon - I've had a sniff around in my surplus bits box and i've got an old black vinyl gooseneck pad which would be perfect for your build mate - it's pretty much exactly the same pad as the one on that decoster picture. It's not mint but it's in pretty good condition - I don't want anything for it mate, you can have it, just enough to cover the postage if your interested let me know 
Here's a pic :

[Ramp Rat]

Bob - you are the man!   :daumenhoch:Def. what's your paypal address? I love this place! Now I need to bid on that old gooseneck stem.

[bobafett]

PM on the way my man 

and it's boba fett or mr.fett or fett or plain old john (but please don't call me bob  )

 

[Ramp Rat]

sweet John! Do you have a link to your collection?

[bobafett]

sweet John! Do you have a link to your collection?

Soon matey, soon 

I'm a bit of a perfectionist - not totally obsessive like but I don't want to stick 'em up until they're how I want them, which is close for a few of them 

Basic run down of what i'll be posting up soon :

Chrome / Red Supergoose 2 showy
Nickel / Yellow mongoose showy
Chrome / black mongoose showy
Chrome / black californian rider
Chrome / Red Supergoose 2 rider

There's more long term projects on the back burner as well ! (Including 2 frames going to the chromers at some point)
And my golden goose (pun intended !!) which is my nickel non looptail minigoose which is the same bike i had as a kid - took me ages to find this lil fella and i'm gonna have it exactly how it was BITD 

I'll let you know when i finally post them up 

[Ramp Rat]

sounds like a great collection - looking forward to seeing them posted.

Nickel mini goose sounds lovely.

[bobafett]

Nickel mini goose sounds lovely.

Yep - That's my baby 

Just posted your pad today Damon - thanks for the paypal funds - easily covered the postage costs so i took myself for a pint with the change 

Santa Monica hey - nice part of the states that mate - I did the whole west coast thing with the family a few years back, had a great time 

[Ramp Rat]

Cheers John - glad you had a pint too. 

So I put together my Matherews hardtail frame just to see what it rode like...I'm still polishing my goose and seems to take forever to get a good shine out of theat crappy chrome. I'm thinking of maybe getting it powder coated (thinking yellow w/ black parts looks mint or classic red) or re-chomed or nickel plated - need to research the cost of those options.

Here's the Mathews - rided like you'd expect an early BMX to ride - short top tube and angled head tube gives it a whippy turn making it really fun to ride. I'm almost considering keeping the bike mde up as is and have the goose as my #2 project. Talking to Matt, we both agreed that rare / weird old bikes are way cool



In the mail I waiting on: Ashtabula stem, John's 'gimp mask' pad, snowflake sugino 40T sprocket.



I love the rear end of this frame - looks like an old team murray

[bobafett]

That looks like a funky little rider Damon 

You could swap the forks over with the ones that came with the goose and have the mathews as a rider and the goose as a showy 

Hope you like the "gimp mask" pad   

  Let me know when it arrives bud

[bobafett]

Is that an old school deck in the background i see ......... Got a few old decks me-self 

[Flatcap]

Ooooh, I think Mr Nichols has got the bug 

Looking cool mate, I'd keep that one as it is and do another as a second project - it's zub zero that is!

Keep up the good work mate and if I can help with owt you know where I am dude 

Daz.