RADBMX.CO.UK
Technical & Reference Section => Tech and Restoration => Topic started by: davym2112 on October 29, 2012, 10:54 AM
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I got a call a while back from a guy who said he had an old bmx for sale if I was interested. He finally sent through a few photos last week and it turned out to be a Skyway ta with lots of nice parts.
At this stage because of the crap pics he sent I didnt know exactly what the bike had. A deal was done and I agreed to go pick up the bike last Sunday morning.At the current exchange rate the bike cost a little over £120... I work in Singapore and the bike was actually on the island of Batam which is part of Indonesia . A 6 am start on the first ferry of the day got me there in 45 minutes and the guy agreed to meet me outside the ferry terminal
He said I could identify him by his white arab clothing an there he was in the full gear including turbin with the BMX. Really friendly guy who had the bike for over 20 years.I wish I had taken a photo of him with the TA !
Back to Singapore on the ferry and a few strange looks walking through customs :idiot2:
Got back home and finally had a chance to get a good look at the spec.
Skyway ta usa made frame and forks
Kuwahara stamped freestlye bars, laser post and stamped stem.
Redline / sugino 400 crankset and shimano pedals
DC calipers, cables and levers
Alloy hub skyway tuffs
Suntour arrow seat clamp and headlock
Tange headset
Mushroom grips
Seat is marked promax ? 1981
The Kuwahara stamped freestyle bars were the real bonus, I think these were only standard on exhibitionists, They go for silly money on the museum.
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0524.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0523.jpg)
Kuwahara stem
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0520-1.jpg)
And the rest
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0534.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0522.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0525.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0546.jpg)
Frame is in good condition and should clean up well, forks not so good on the inside
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0535.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0545.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0538.jpg)
The tuffs were so badly faded I thought they might have been white or yellow to begin with but 30 years in the Indonesian sun had taken its toll...
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0526.jpg)
Totally fookin shocked when I started to give them a light sand alond the edge of one of the spokes and they are in fact blue :daumenhoch:
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/m_DSC_0537.jpg)
Going to get it stripped down now and see if I can get the rust off the frame and forks, will update with more pics as I progress with it.
Done think I will ever find anything this good for £120 again..... :shocked:
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Give you £125 for it
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Awesome find fella, and who would have guessed the Tuffs were blue?
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top find that mate. :daumenhoch:
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top score :daumenhoch: great parts and the frame looks like it will come up a treat with the right care - don't use the wrong stuff :'( give it loads of love ;)
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Great story. The DX pedals look in excellent condition. Try soaking the forks in citric acid crystals in water for a couple of days,it worked for me. :daumenhoch:
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Congratulations to you sir, what a result.
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Incredible score :shocked: :coolsmiley:
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Wow...nice one, just goes to show there are still gems out there worldwide :daumenhoch: :smitten:
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Clean it, grease it, ride it. Its fookin ace just as it is :daumenhoch:
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Wow...nice one, just goes to show there are still gems out there
Yes, here are some more
(http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j436/mothwasp73/gem-1.jpg)
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great story,even better find :)
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Hell yes!!!!!!! Nice score there bud. :daumenhoch: Just tidy it up a bit and re grease, sorted!!!!
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RESULT! :daumenhoch:
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Fantastic :daumenhoch:
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Nice patina.
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i dont know bmx prices on batam island but by uk prices you saved at least 600 pound sterling upwards!!
so you are chinese singaporean and you got it off an indonesian arab?! wow you should have got pictures ! :coolsmiley: :daumenhoch:
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Good score dude :daumenhoch:,looking at it everthing looks in very good condition,theres no hammer marks on anything,just looks very grubby :)
Be CAREFUL how you clean it up,should look really good :daumenhoch:
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Great find, nice story behind it. Another old school bmx saved. :daumenhoch:
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Sweet find and price! :daumenhoch:
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What a brilliant find :daumenhoch:
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Wow, great story and great find :daumenhoch:
Good to know there are still bikes and parts like this just waiting to be discovered. Look forward to seeing how it cleans up
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Great story , great find , great bike :smitten:
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Nice one, those wheels are going to need a shot blast me thinks but with some loving that bike will look sweet :daumenhoch:
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Nice when you get a score like that! Great find :daumenhoch:
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Sweet score mate :4_17_5:
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what a steal well done that man :daumenhoch:
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yes >:D result that! :daumenhoch:
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Nice find :shocked: :daumenhoch:
Looks like it will clean up great aswell 8)
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:4_17_5: Awesome result , can't wait to see how it cleans up :daumenhoch:
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i dont know bmx prices on batam island but by uk prices you saved at least 600 pound sterling upwards!!
so you are chinese singaporean and you got it off an indonesian arab?! wow you should have got pictures ! :coolsmiley: :daumenhoch:
Lol, I`m from Northern Ireland but working more or less permanently in Singapore.
Bars , seatpost and forks in a bath of oxalic acid for a soak. The chrome on the inside of the forks has totally gone in places so it will never be perfect. Will stick some photos up later after work .
I have another chrome T/A frame and forks and the forks on it are rusted the exact same way on the inside. Skyway chrome was crap
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nice one :daumenhoch: there are still a few bargins out there
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Nice one, loving the parts on that, still some beauties out there :4_17_5:
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i dont know bmx prices on batam island but by uk prices you saved at least 600 pound sterling upwards!!
so you are chinese singaporean and you got it off an indonesian arab?! wow you should have got pictures ! :coolsmiley: :daumenhoch:
Lol, I`m from Northern Ireland but working more or less permanently in Singapore.
Bars , seatpost and forks in a bath of oxalic acid for a soak. The chrome on the inside of the forks has totally gone in places so it will never be perfect. Will stick some photos up later after work .
I have another chrome T/A frame and forks and the forks on it are rusted the exact same way on the inside. Skyway chrome was crap
There has to be more bargains to be found out there. I'll give you your money back on the next one you find. :LolLolLolLol:
Seriously though, very nice find and a proper survivor that needs cleaned up then rebuilt with all it's original parts. :smitten:
Me love it long time. :D
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nice find
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Bars and post out of the oxalic acid and looking much better already.
Before
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/DSC_0548.jpg)
After, should polish up well with a bit more elbow grease.
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/DSC_0569.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/DSC_0561.jpg)
Surface rust came off the forks but a lot of the chrome has already gone .
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/DSC_0565.jpg)
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Very nice score & great project :daumenhoch:
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Fantastic find mate :4_17_5:.....it gives us all hope and a renewed vigour to keep our eyes and ears open at all times.....cos you never know ;)
top work dude :smitten:
to quote a chav who drove passed me onto the way to a car boot a few years back.....'you bargain hunting cnut' :LolLolLolLol:
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Fantastic find mate :4_17_5:.....it gives us all hope and a renewed vigour to keep our eyes and ears open at all times.....cos you never know ;)
top work dude :smitten:
to quote a chav who drove passed me onto the way to a car boot a few years back.....'you bargain hunting cnut' :LolLolLolLol:
lol, brilliant one. there are still a lot of old jems to be found around the streets here. An old lady who owns a market stall in Chinatown rides an ET with a metal shopping basket welded on to the bars !
Also an old man who rides his sons old Kuwahara Exhibitionist to and from the train station. He is asked to sell on a weekly basis but isnt interested no matter how much he is offered. I saw a late 80`s GT and a Kuwahara Bravo chained outside one of the tube stations last week. Left a note on the Kuwi but no response.
I was convinced the skyway tuffs had been painted, I asked the owner and he said they had just went that colour over the years. Still wasnt convinced so I tried some high strength paint stripper on them ( not the watery Sh1t we have in the UK, no silly chemical laws out here lol). This stuff goes through 2 pack in seconds and will shift powdercoat. Made no impact at all on the wheels so they actually have faded to that crappy brown colour. If they had been painted the brake blocks would have worn the paint off the sides
Tried scraping the surface with a stanley blade , comes off the raised spoke edges but would take weeks to do the whole wheel. See how much I had to scrape off just to get to the colour below in the photo.
I think best option short term will be to give them a quick sand and dye black , if I was back home I would get my mate to give them a go with the soda blaster.
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/nn241/deetechmotorsport/photo1.jpg)
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Cool find. Cool project. Keep us posted. :daumenhoch:
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You got a result there. I'm also working in Singapore - ill pm you, we should meet for a beer. I picked up an early GT a year or two back i found at the polo club of all places, which I later brought back to the UK. There are a fair few nice bikes knocking around like the ET in Paragon shopping centre.
Cheers
Mark
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What an awesome find ! I thought I had a result finding one in a skip in California for £280 , but yours is a real bargain find !
Glad to see another TA that will live again .... Can't wait to see the build :)
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Have those Skyways gone from Deep Blue to White. The Sun must have attacked them big time. :shocked:
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nice find mate, jealous much!
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is it done yet?
8)