RADBMX.CO.UK
Technical & Reference Section => Tech and Restoration => Topic started by: ED209 on October 17, 2009, 02:54 PM
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Thanks to one Mr Steven Costa I received a free pair of GT fork standers with some other items I brought that just needed a little love to get them back in the game.
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/i63/209ed/IMG_0310.jpg)
One of the pins where the peg pivots had bust so quick trip to B@Q located me a neat little bolt to replace it. Once I had done one it looked neat so I knocked the pin out of the other and did the same ( watch out you don't lose the metal washers from the end of the original rubbers when you take them off )
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/i63/209ed/IMG_0311.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/i63/209ed/IMG_0318.jpg)
Second problem - the GT rubbers were green and the build I'm going isn't. After convincing myself that you can't dye rubber ( there's one US product that its supposed to do it but its $100 a tin! ) I was stuck for ideas and had decided to just spray them up for show.
Then I realized that seeing as I had them apart I could replace the rubber with whatever I wanted... and it just so happened that the nice AME grips I had waiting to do on my bike fitted perfectly ( to the diameter of the hole ) - but obviously they were too long. Also the ones I had were A'me Rounds and the pattern wasn't going to cut neatly.
I reckoned solution was to go for a coloured 'mushroom' type grip as that can be easily cut neatly. E-bay has loads of cheap mushrooms in any colour for £3.50 so I thought I'd try out these first. It would be even better to get some mini grips but there isn't too many around these days. The mushrooms also allow for the compression / expansion of putting the fork standers up and down... sweet! but there again - any rubber will allow this.
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/i63/209ed/IMG_0316.jpg)
As for cutting - I was considering a kind of 'hot wire' technique as even with a sharp stanley knife they are hard to cut neatly - I did one well but the other side was a bugger! This is mainly due to the fact that once you cut the ends off they lose some rigidity - so its easier to get it right first time. Got there in the end though! I ended up sticking an old pizza tray on the gas and pressing the rough end of the cut grip down as I turned them around to get a nice neat end. Quite a bit of rubber smoke and a mildly irritated wife later I had some neat ends!
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/i63/209ed/IMG_0322.jpg)
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/i63/209ed/IMG_0323.jpg)
The Ame grips where much tighter when I slid them onto the bar than the cheapy mushrooms so, obviously really, better grips would give better results.
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/i63/209ed/IMG_0324.jpg)
In the end I was pretty pleased for a first go - check the pictures :daumenhoch:
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/i63/209ed/IMG_0327.jpg)
NEXT WEEK : How to crochet Haro Y-Fronts
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sweet as edd :daumenhoch:
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Cheers Steven
Just occurred to me that Sharp did those 1.11 grips that you could cut down to whatever size you wanted. retro-bmx.co.uk still have 'em... made for the job :daumenhoch:
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:LolLolLolLol: "Quite a bit of rubber smoke and a mildly irritated wife later I had some neat ends!" i got done for useing the new pans for melting grease in for a set of sealed bearings :daumenhoch:, good idea with the cheap mushy :daumenhoch:
(http://www.radbmx.co.uk/archive/albums/ff98/jimjdld/bmx/bpb.jpg)
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nice bit of work mate, cant wait to see the haro y-fronts >:D
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Crocheted Haro Y-fronts have been shelved.
Itchy as f**k and the chevrons looked like arrows pointing to my bung hole.
Not a good look :P
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Good idea. You could have left the little flange on the end of the grip and cut a circular hole in the end of the grip and you wouldn't have needed to melt that end of the grip. Plus, the little flange on the end of the grip would mean the grip would be almost flush with the end cap instead of the end cap being a larger circumference than the grip. :)
Don't mind me - I am very anal ::)
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Don't mind me - I am very anal ::)
You might be down with those Haro Y-Ftonts then :LolLolLolLol:
I did think about leaving the flange on but I seemed harder to cut the hole then just cut them off - plus I would have missed out on that lovely head rush I got from the burning rubber :crazy2:
Why does 'flange' always sound like a dirty word.