The "bmx" Project

[foxx-racing]

The project:
To restore/pimp my bmx bike :cool:

The goal:
To complete the bike by the Christmas holidays so it can be given as a gift :)

The story:
Well... 3 years ago my mother, my sister "Chloe" and me "Daniel" moved to Newcastle in the lovely suburb of Kotara South right next to a bike path. It was a short commute to school, so as a birthday present that year my mother purchased me a bmx bike :D, so I could travel to school in style :p. As time went on and I got more fit and I started to do mountain biking at school as a sport. Every Friday afternoon we would head off as a group to check out the local trails. So every Friday i would gear up and go bashing in the bush. Until about 2 years ago they suddenly canceled the sport as it was getting to dangerous, and then as I had no riding buddies and I didn't know where all the cool trails where, slowly the novelty wore off and my bmx bike started to collect dust.

Later on my dad was given a mountain bike as part of a NRMA bonus and I took it for a ride one day, then the mountain biking bug got me again but on a bigger bike. So the bmx bike sat some more as I went off to the bike store to buy myself a new Mountain Bike.

About 2 months ago, I decided it had sat long enough and it was time to do something about it so I pulled it down and got ready to get my hands dirty, but there was one problem - Spend money on XC racing or Fixing my bmx. It has once again lost the battle.

At the end of the year I will be moving to my dad's property near Bathurst, so I want to give her something as a gift as she won't be going with me.

Every bike store i go to with my sister and my dad she always looks at the bmx bikes and tells me and dad how much she likes them, how she would like one for Christmas and how much she missed riding my old one, then I thought "Hey, maybe as a going away gift from me it would be really nice if i fixed up and customized my bmx bike for her." which brings me to this thread - 'The "bmx" project'.

The photo's:
The bike before being fixed
http://farkin.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=118104&stc=1&d=1223790885

Update 1
http://farkin.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=118108&stc=1&d=1223791523
Removed rust from wheel nuts
http://farkin.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=118109&stc=1&d=1223791523
Removed some of the rust from the stem cap nut
http://farkin.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=118110&stc=1&d=1223791523
Put some spare specialized grips on
http://farkin.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=118111&stc=1&d=1223791523
Started to spray the bike gold

The progress:
So far I have started -

Painting the bike gold
Removing the rust from the stem cap nut

So far i have finished -

Cleaning up the rust from the front triangle
Removing the rust from the axle nuts
Tiding up my specialized grips for the bmx bike


The donor's:
If any of you guys feel like sharing some tips/tricks or have some spare parts lying around which you would like to contribute to this project it would be greatly appreciated :)


Please feel free to reply and post some opinions ;)

[Haro_MTB]

Hell yeah man! Good on ya for putting a bit of effort in for a present for someone too. Just get the bike running, and running reliably. Probably some new tyres, tubes and chain would be good, and getting the brakes working well should be a high priority too. I would get into things you should change performance wise, but I'm sure your sister would probably not be able to tell the difference anyway.

[BUSHPIG]

looks great mate, good on ya for rebuilding her for a present.

hope it all goes well, i have some parts if you need anything.

cheers

[foxx-racing]

Do you guys know how much a 1" headset bearing will cost? And where i can get it?
One of them needs replacing.

Cheers.

[foxx-racing]

Hell yeah man! Good on ya for putting a bit of effort in for a present for someone too. Just get the bike running, and running reliably. Probably some new tyres, tubes and chain would be good, and getting the brakes working well should be a high priority too. I would get into things you should change performance wise, but I'm sure your sister would probably not be able to tell the difference anyway.

Thanks mate, i was thinking about that too. Do have have an tips on getting u-brake setups working well? because when the bike was together I struggled to get the back weel to lock up. Maybe better pads?

[Haro_MTB]

Thanks mate, i was thinking about that too. Do have have an tips on getting u-brake setups working well? because when the bike was together I struggled to get the back weel to lock up. Maybe better pads?

In reference to the bearings - your LBS. Maybe even a bike shop specialising in roadies because a few of them have 1" headsets. Just make a few phone calls. Can't be more than a few bucks.

Well on my bmx, I used to think that by keeping the cable as absolutely tight as I can would work. I then found out from playing around, that if you have a bit of give in where the brake cable attaches to the bracket that hold the cable to the caliper (shit wording, sorry), the brake tends to be more linear in it's feel, and actually much more powerful. If you want it working better, yeah as you said, new pads, and maybe if it's really bad - a linear slick brake cable. Make sure the rim surface is clean too, and check for shit that's caught up in the brake pads as well.

[DANCLOSH]

How old is your sister?
You may need to cut down the seat post if she is younger, and maybe try to find a more padded seat (They complain about those sort of things :))

With the brakes, get yourself a slic cable (like, 5 bucks?) and some KoolStop pads. I take it she is not going to be doing barspins or tailwhips (prove me wrong?), so you could get rid of the gyro completely, giving a much stronger brake feel. Also, this would give you the opportunity to grind those tabs off the headtube.

Apart from that, good start, nice to see someone making some effort for somebody else.