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RADBMX.CO.UK  |  Old School BMX 1980 - 1988  |  Old School Freestyle (frame stands and kickturns galore!)  |  CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED "updated"
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Author Topic: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED "updated"  (Read 7022 times)

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fuzzynod

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CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED "updated"
« on: January 28, 2006, 12:05 AM »
The Condor is finally finished so I thought I would put together a little report about the restoration.
It all started with reading Mats excellent biography “Ride of my life”. I had been riding about 4 years mostly with the local lads from Henley travelling all over the place to different skate parks with my car as the main mode of transport they were good times as always on a 20”it would seem. But gradually they were all going away to university, College travelling etc. I was not progressing with my riding as I had hoped for I bought the biography off the net, whilst reading it I gained a fresh motivation to my riding I found the book very inspiring and felt having read the fight Mat had to set up the company and keep freestyle alive, that I would like to own one of the first Condors as some kind of tribute to his efforts.
That’s where the trouble began I started searching the bay and various other places for a Early Condor but after a couple of months it wasn’t looking good .It would appear that although 70’s and 80’s bikes were made in great numbers in general and therefore there was stock left over, because of the state of the sport in the early 90’s only limited numbers of bikes were built, and they were ridden to death.
That’s when I discovered RadBmx.I kept posting in the “for sale or wants” section and following leads but all to no avail. Then Two Bob Rob contacted me and said that a friend of his Darren Claggitt had a frame that he bought as a frame and forks from Backyard in Hastings in 92 and had ridden constantly till the end of 2004 during which time he had won Prince of concrete at Southsea on it.
I was warned that it needed quite a bit of work to sort it out as the dropouts had been ground out to accept a Rekka hub that had a 17mm axle! Also that it may have a crack in the headtube area. A meeting was arranged and I became the owner of an Early Condor frame. It is one of the first batch made for Hoffman by S.E.Racing with the 70-degree headtube angle. (They later changed to a more normal 74 to make it more streetable)
The frame had been on top of the ramp at Charlton since Darren stopped riding it in favour of a T1 so was pretty scruffy when I got it.

       
The dropouts also needed some work and there were several dents to be dealt with.

So the first thing to do was getting the various layers of paint off the frame and get it down to my friends at Robinson Race Cars near Reading.
 
 There Luke Robinson the son of the owner jigged up the rear end of the frame and cut away most of the dropouts and replaced them with new fabricated ones in 4130.
He made a sweet job, as you would expect from people more used to building 230 mph Pro-Mod Drag racecars.


Whist this was going on I was busy tracking down a pair of forks I eventually found a pair almost by accident in the background of a picture on e-bay of a person selling a more modern pair of Hoffman forks I had to by both pairs to get them.
When they arrived one leg was slightly bent back and the other was damaged at the bottom from miss timed peg tricks.

 

I got these dechromed and off to the racecar shop as well, where they cut the bottom open reshaped and then capped the end off again.
I found a set of Peregrine sealed 48 spoke wheels in the states plus a pair of Comp st tyres and also a Tnt stem and Dia-compe 883 QR front brake.
The Tech 77 levers came from Vert-Ego and the chain from Rude Wheels.
The AD990 of the correct period came from Lazarou from the site.
The Hoffman Patriot bars came via Two Bob Rob from a friend in Romford.
The seat post was Nos from a very helpful O.T Cycles in Dartford.
The Redline Cranks came from Darren Claggitt (the original owner) and are the actual ones from the bike back in the day. The same also goes for both the pedal spindles and one of the pedals (the other came from the states).
The cranks needed stripping and polishing before rechroming by Woburn plating and polishing.
The pedals were all stripped and rebuilt using the best components from 2 sets. I installed a pair of my own design of end cap as I intent to ride the bike occasionally and it would be wrong to damage Nos ones.
The forks and frame were all magnafluxed for cracks and the head tube issue turned out not to be a problem. But I had them press in a reinforcing tube into the bottom of the steerer tube to support the weak spot where the bottom bearing fits.

Once the frame was filled and prepped by Les  of Ewelme Coachworks and forks were finished they were both sprayed  by Paul of Ewelme Coachworks with Peugeot Indigo Blue, which was the nearest match to the original USPS blue that Hoffman used.

 

The bear trap headset came from Allan’s who were also very helpful.
The bike then came together pretty quickly

 

Now all we needed was a seat and a sticker set.
Stodgy found the seat in the States and organised its delivery for me as a Christmas present (Thanks mate!)
The Final almost insurmountable problem was the sticker set. After a lot of searching eventually it came down to RadBmx members all pulling together to help me out.
Bren Gunn really went out of his way to get his set of multicolour ones scanned to disc for me and sent down to me also allowing me to photograph his Condor all over at Romford. Stuntmaster kindly loaned his spare headtube sticker for matching.
Then the genius that is Stodgy completely changed all the colours and redrew them on his Apple Mac, also making up a correct period seatube sticker.
Stodgy also organised the production of the stickers by one of his suppliers.

Finally after 9 mths the Condor emerged and has been test ridden at the Barn first by me then by Gerry Galley who banged out a couple of 7ft airs and a table to die for.
Jobs a Good Un.
 



 

Special thanks to in no particular order: -
Two Bob Rob. For finding the frame and Bars and advice
Darren Claggitt, for all the frame, cranks and help and encouragement.
Stuntmaster, for the loan of the stickers
Bren Gunn, for the scan of his sticker set.
Lazarou, for the rear brake and help and advice
Hutchman, for the chain wheel and help
Andy & Luke Robinson, of Robinson Race Cars http://www.robinson-race-cars.co.uk/ for all the fantastic work and importing the wheels.
John,Les & Paul of Ewelme Coachworks.
Mark Owen at Hoffman, for his advice
Stodgy, for the seat, Hours of his own time on the stickers and encouragement when it all seemed impossible.

The bike was entered for the show and shine at the Epic Gathering where I was shocked to win Best of Show which was a tribute to all the help I was given in its restoration.

After the show and shine Darren Claggit the Guy who originally bought the frame and fork set from Backyard in 92 took it for a run and was soon airing the Quater.Mission acumplished.
There is a 14 year gap between these 2 pictures.

 


 Finally thanks to Mat Hoffman for having the vision and commitment to help save the sport that I am now enjoying so much.
RIDE ON!

 :)

 
« Last Edit: April 03, 2006, 11:39 PM by fuzzynod »

daz bmx it!

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2006, 12:11 AM »
Well done matey that looks  :coolsmiley:

darren

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2006, 12:16 AM »
awesome mark, well done . i bet matt would be quite chuffed too see that and the trouble you have gone  to there.  :daumenhoch:

Offline kdw712

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2006, 12:24 AM »
that is off the chart  ;D

from what you started with, to that stunning build at the end, a true labour of love.

top job !  :daumenhoch:
cheers Kev
{ wanted : "Red Haro Handle" brake lever link to my trade post }

Offline Moose

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2006, 12:30 AM »
That's fantastic! What a great story, that's what really makes some of these bikes, knowing what motivated you in the first place and the 'blood sweat and tears' that all those involved put in to get it from that original state, to the beauty it is now.

Enjoy :4_17_5:

Offline tricknuts

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2006, 12:46 AM »
 What a beautiful story. Good on ya. Fecking  great. lets all ride till will we die. No exceptions. We'll never lose it now, If you can't give up BMX after 15-20 years , then we'll never give it up.  That's a great looking bike. Ride it like it was you first bird..  Hats off to all those that helped you get sorted. What an encouraging story. Long live the condor and rad.bmx.  Cheers  Ross
"I've never stopped riding badly....and I never will"

Offline showtime

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2006, 01:15 AM »
good story, good post, great restoration & very nice bike  8)

i know what you mean about 90's bikes being hard to find as there wasn't really many people making them during those dark years of BMX, just a few diehard companys fighting to keep the sport alive! i really like the early to mid 90's Hoffman stuff as they were all built with a passion for the sport that the mass produced Taiwanese bikes don't have!

very nice  :daumenhoch:

Lazarou

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2006, 03:06 AM »
....what they said! ^^^^^^ Well done Mark that is the fookin business! It totally matches your vision! Well worth the (mammoth) effort and a job well done!

Lazarou

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #8 on: January 28, 2006, 03:09 AM »
I cant stop looking at it ! It's perfect!!!

gmac

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #9 on: January 28, 2006, 08:32 AM »
Outstanding work feller  :4_17_5:

Offline lazychubs

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #10 on: January 28, 2006, 08:59 AM »
nice one fuzzy thats a proper job youve done there mate

Offline sawzall

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #11 on: January 28, 2006, 09:07 AM »
a job well done mark ,i know the quality of andy robinsons work as my mate had his sit up and beg pop chassis and axle etc done by him pure class great build mate :daumenhoch:
British race frames and race clothing wanted

Offline stuntmaster

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #12 on: January 28, 2006, 09:10 AM »
excellant work there fuzzy and a great story as well  :)
no1stuntmaster on instagram

stoke bloke

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #13 on: January 28, 2006, 09:38 AM »
Great write up mate , thanks for sharing. If anyone else has the desire to go to such magnificient efforts then  there is one  of the old SE made condors   here in Stoke . I t is in the same sort of shape as this one  was  and I would have said it was a non starter as far as  arestoration project , but after seeing this  amazing one....  If anyone was interested wirewheel is your man.
 great job fuzzynod and I totally agree about Hoffman. My son is named  matt   in honour. :)

scary_leary

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #14 on: January 28, 2006, 10:03 AM »
great resto..even better story

restoration at its best..pure passion.

Offline phantom photon

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #15 on: January 28, 2006, 10:23 AM »
Work of art  :daumenhoch:
Glad it all came together in the end  :)

Offline Stodgy

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #16 on: January 28, 2006, 10:41 AM »
Fecking awesome Mark - nice to see the story finally on Rad.

The dedication you have given to that bike is awesome and the attention to detail second to none. I love it! The pictures do it no justice at all - in the flesh it just rocks  :daumenhoch:

I think it's got to be the rarest bike on the site now, and a real piece of hard-core BMX history from the days when most of us had turned our backs on the sport.

Well done again mate, I look forward to seeing it in a show and shine in the summer!!!

Nana

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #17 on: January 28, 2006, 12:04 PM »
Great story and great photographic resto  :) awesome bike 8) well done all involved and well done mark your an inspiration mate 8)

Offline bmxmatt1974

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #18 on: January 28, 2006, 12:19 PM »
excellent build mate, looks well nice  :4_17_5:

Offline crazycraig

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #19 on: January 28, 2006, 12:21 PM »
spot on  :daumenhoch:
Old School BMX only
Cash is King
Your not famous because you have a BMX so dont expect me to lick your arse for bits !!! I will leave that to the sheep
Jim'll fix it did loads for charity

Offline billstup

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #20 on: January 28, 2006, 12:34 PM »
Well done Mark, outstanding job  :daumenhoch:
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
 Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
 Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
 Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

Offline QUADROPHENIA

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #21 on: January 28, 2006, 12:40 PM »

sweet build, the photos just not show how good it really looks

Offline Rombloke

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #22 on: January 28, 2006, 12:55 PM »
yummy

lovely build fuzzster

Dave
haro, how do you do

dan-dare

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #23 on: January 28, 2006, 12:59 PM »
Looking good fuzzy ;)

rom_kid_04

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Re: CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED
« Reply #24 on: January 28, 2006, 01:53 PM »
sweet bike look forward to seeing it in the flesh

RADBMX.CO.UK  |  Old School BMX 1980 - 1988  |  Old School Freestyle (frame stands and kickturns galore!)  |  CONDOR FINALLY FINISHED "updated"
 

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