Classic BMX Restoration

Inspired by another thread on OCAU (the Dave Mirra BMX replica by Bodger). It inspired me to ask my father if he still had my blue 'BMX Bandits' bike as I knew it then. Sure enough he'd put it safely away under the house with all the original bits we had on it.

My dad bought this bike for me in the late 80's from a friend of my older brother for $100 when even back then it was worth about $600. What we knew at the time was that it was a semi custom order from that family from a local bike shop where I imagine they picked certain options out of a catalogue of parts.

I've managed to identify it as a Madison Taipan Phase III, it has Skyway Tuff Wheel II's, Tange TX500 handlebars, and a Kashimax MX seat.

Here are some pics from yesterday after testing some techniques for removing the surface rust from the chromoly frame.








Since those pictures I've cleaned up most of the chrome, its really easy going so far and very rewarding. The pics show that I'd done some of the obvious parts of the frame but had not cleaned up the welds/joins, its looking even better now! I'll never part with the bike, there are far too many memories from my childhood that revolve around it, I used to ride it to and from school in the 90's. The goal is to restore it to looking better than I ever remember as a kid.

Frame = Madison Taipan Phase III (61868-AZ)
Wheels = Skyway Tuff Wheel II (PAT No. D244272)
Pedals = Lightning KKT
Cranks = TAKAGI Forged - Ultra Dyno
Bars = Tange TX500 Cr.Mo
Seat = Kashimax MX (replica - the cushion one on it was worthless and the original was too crusty to restore)
Seat Post = SR Japan
Brakes = Dia Compe MX1000 Calipers and Dia Compe Tech 3 MX121 Levers, and Dia Compe cables/ferrules/caps
Tyres = Kenda K50 Gumwall with Buyti tubes
Grips = AME Tri Grip

Work continues to clean up the chrome using "Metal Magic" cleaner, rags and a surgical scalpel. I will dye the nylon seat using a technique I found on OzBMX, and I will need to get the blue parts anodised again. New chain, tyres, brake assembly, and hand grips will be ordered soon.

 

Looks like a good project, cant wait to see the finished result.

Bunch of old school bmx parts, including new wheels if yours are a little worse for wear: http://www.strictlybmx.com/category/152/old-school-bmx

And about the only good blue tyre: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=40846

 

nice, love the wheels

 

Tested out cleaning up the wheels, I reckon they will look brilliant once I'm finished!

 

subD for nostalgia

tuffs FTW!
i had yellow ones, all my mates kept buckling rims on jumps and i never did

 

Yeah the Tuff's are great, I think without them it wouldn't be worth doing this project. Nevertheless I'm still gradually cleaning up the frame. I've ordered a new chrome chain, gumwall blue tyres, and waffle hand grips, they should arrive tomorrow or the next hopefully!

 

Did you ever finish this Rainey, or did the train set take over?

 

Still going with it! I got a bit annoyed trying to find the exact bits I wanted. I ordered some specific things and they took nearly 2 months to arrive and they weren't even the right parts I ordered - didn't bother chasing it up because the shop owner was bloody elusive/evasive and also deleted any posts from me asking for an update on the postage (ozbmx.com.au). Put on the backburner till I have a bit more cash.

 

This looks like a sweet little project - would love to see how you get on with it!

 

Bumpity-bump. Progress?

 

Stand by... hope these images work... posting from my phone.

So I've dry assembled the bike again after doing a complete teardown, washing all the parts of grease and grit, replacing the bearings in the headset and crank. I repainted the crank, pedals, seat clamp, and head clamp. Replaced the chain, tyres, tubes, seat, hand grips, and bought a new seat of Dia-Compe brakes front/rear and lines.

The frame still needs more rust removal which I plan to do with my dremel and wire donut attachment. The Skyway Tuffs need to be sanded, I've only removed the top layer of grime, but have not restored them to their original blue yet (its under there with some elbow grease!)

 

Looks brilliant! That bike has a lot of character. Real retro

How well does the rust come out? Is the metal plated or solid? I would have thought the best way to restore the frame would be to get it sand blasted and re-chromed, if that's how it was done originally.

 

Hey mate, you're absolutely right. The frame was traditional chrome-oly... electroplated chrome. Unfortunately cleaning up the rust has dulled the frame and it does need recoating, however I don't have the cash for that at the moment so I'm just making do with its years of character. I added a Skyway decal set (TA Frame) to the bike today and wet assembled the crank and headset with grease. The bike is ride-able again! I haven't put the brake calipers back on yet, but that will come next, along with the brake lines.









Need to replace the rusty nuts and the missing nuts. One day lads!

 

And a few more pics for anyone who's still following along.

 

Nice update. I saw the last photos after reading the thread preview and thought to myself, gee that's in great nick for something that's been in storage for decades!

Chrome and tuff wheels takes me back!

 

Awesome Rainey, well done, that looks fantastic

Brings back a particular memory for me as a kid, was my birthday coming up, parents asked me what I would like.....I said a BMX because it was cool and every other kid had one ( )......they didn't ask me which one I wanted, but didn't expect I would even get one. Came home from school one day and bam! Mongoose blue max sitting in the lounge for me, it was honestly like a dream come true, I cried, my best ever birthday present by far! I preferred the Blue Max over the Redline any day ; ) Dunno why, I just did.....at the end of the day I would have been happy with either, they were the envy of any kid.

Rode it for a few weeks, almost got run over by a guy pulling out a driveway....I was thrown clear but Blue Max ended up with a slightly bent right hand bike crank as it partially ran over it. the man drove me home, I was fine, just a couple of scratches. And all was basically good with Blue Max because I got used to the slightly wobbly crank ...heh.

Then came devastation.....left Blue Max in my back yard one day before school.....only to return and it was gone, stolen....probably by some scumbag neighbor who could see what was in our back yard. I made one mistake one day, ONE mistake! Every other single night I locked it away in the garage. I cried and cried lots! I couldn't believe my dream present was gone in a heartbeat. I had to go back to my old banana seat/handle bar chopper with the rust on it and back peddle to brake .....*sigh*.

Blue Max was never found despite a report to Police and me looking around everywhere all over the neighborhood for the next year for a blue bike with a slightly bent right crank.

I was the envy of all the kids in the neighborhood when I had Blue Max........it cost my parents $300 back in the early 80's......massive amount of money for a bike.

I would do anything to have Blue Max back.....I would pay a lot of money to have a genuine Mongoose Blue Max sitting in my lounge right now.

 

Gotta love those shin killers. When one of those beauties cracks your shin it is almost up there with landing wrong and crushing nuts on the top bar or the goose neck.
Now the fond memories: pulling a mono up the main street into the estate and the hours spent riding around the local forest making jumps out of anything.
Can't wander the streets like that nowadays.
Lovely bike and can't wait to see those tuffs buffed up.

 

Thanks lads. Love reading your fond memories of the good ol' days. Many a stack was had on this one, I've almost crashed off a clifftop and I knocked myself unconscious on it once too (left with massive swelling and 2 black eyes), lol. Had the wind knocked out of me riding along a road with a friend... no hands, and he chopped my front tire by accident.

 

Needs some foam pads Rainey

 

needs new axle nuts and chain tensioner then its perfection!