Is there a bike thread?

[AlienALX]

If not then this one will do. If one does exist shoot me a PM and merge this into it please. I did search but came up empty handed.

So back in October I had a bit of a mid life crisis and decided I was going to build the BMX that I used to drool over when I was a boy. I'm no spring chicken at 41 but I am desperate to get "bike broken" again so I can whip about town on my bike.

So, I built..

A 2014 SE Racing PK Ripper in duck egg blue. I got it so cheap I felt I robbed them, £180 for the entire bike !

That's actually criminal for a 'Ripper. New they sell for at least £350 so I calculated I got it half price due to it being a 2014. And I wasn't worried because the '15 was in a nasty cack maroon colour..

So I decided to smother the bike in orange parts and make it properly 80s lairy.

Here is the bike's full spec, I will get some pics tomorrow.

Frame - '14 PK Ripper aircraft alu.
Forks - '14 Landing Gear.
Wheels - Skyway Tuff II orange, cartridge bearings (the one thing they changed from then and now)
Crank - SE Racing 3 piece.
Pedals - Shimano.
Handlebars - We The People Mad Max. Copper candy. 8.7" rise.
Grips - Skyway sealed.
Tyres - Maxxon orange street. I know it's a race spec bike and I ain't gonna be doing anything stupid like I used to, so these roll nice on concrete.
Crank - SE racing saw blade.
Seat - Charge Saddle.
Seat post - Shimano DX
Brakes - V brake rear generic front*
Chain - Orange KMC (not fitted yet)
Brake pads - Orange Skyway Tuff pads. I used black and they fucked the rims badly.

* I am still waiting to find a good stiffener plate to allow me to fit a U brake to the front..

Pics tomorrow, but here it is during the lengthy build.

 

[Wraith]

Not really a dedicated biking thread but we do have a Mountain Bike thread http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=68173&highlight=Mountain+bike You new bike reminds me of my old Raleigh Burner and Grifter (old age :lol: ) I simply can't ride BMX anymore it kills my back.

 

[AlienALX]

Not really a dedicated biking thread but we do have a Mountain Bike thread http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=68173&highlight=Mountain+bike You new bike reminds me of my old Raleigh Burner and Grifter (old age :lol: ) I simply can't ride BMX anymore it kills my back.

Blimey the Grifter. Heavy as a battleship, always stuck in third gear

I had the Boxer which was the small one, my brother had the Striker which was the mid sized one. I came from a Tomahawk hahaha.

I did think about buying a Chopper but they're stupid. Always falling on my bloody ass on those things they have zero balance qualities

Thankfully because of the post and bar rise I can get away with sitting down and riding it. But I always end up standing because the seat kills your ass every time you go over a bump.

Bike is funny though. It weighs about the same as a ham sandwich so it's like being naked lol.

 

[Wraith]

Blimey the Grifter. Heavy as a battleship, always stuck in third gear

I had the Boxer which was the small one, my brother had the Striker which was the mid sized one. I came from a Tomahawk hahaha.

I did think about buying a Chopper but they're stupid. Always falling on my bloody ass on those things they have zero balance qualities

:lol: The Grifter was a beast, if you could bunny hop one you were a god, I had a Chopper for just a day, wheelied like a pro, but slipped off the seat once and collided with the gear shift and never rode it again. My Raleigh burner was a weighty ride too due to the alloy mag wheels, for alloy they sure were heavy. These days I stick to MTB mainly DH, as that's what I used to do semi-pro back in 1999.

 

[AlienALX]

:lol: The Grifter was a beast, if you could bunny hop one you were a god, I had a Chopper for just a day, wheelied like a pro, but slipped off the seat once and collided with the gear shift and never rode it again. My Raleigh burner was a weighty ride too due to the alloy mag wheels, for alloy they sure were heavy. These days I stick to MTB mainly DH, as that's what I used to do semi-pro back in 1999.

Tell you what, it's actually amazing there are any kids spawned from that generation.

I remember that shifter ! I had an accident with that once or twice.

I tried to go to mountain bikes so many times now dude. I just end up breaking them. Last one I had I rode down a fire escape and as I went to ride away the derralier (sic) ended up in the spokes and snapped the bloody frame off at the mount.

Mind you, it probably wasn't the best idea ever to ride one down a fire escape but the gears just totally got in my way.

I rode BMX sponsorered 96-99 so got up to some pretty crazy stuff lol.

 

[Wraith]

I miss the good old days last time I tried something stupid I spent a week laid up, that'll teach me for getting carried away.. leave it to the kids now. It's a lot less painful. :lol:

 

[AlienALX]

I miss the good old days last time I tried something stupid I spent a week laid up, that'll teach me for getting carried away.. leave it to the kids now. It's a lot less painful. :lol:

I stopped riding in 2001 after a really bad accident. Took over three months for my elbow to heal.

Just riding now. Trying to get my fitness levels up and weight down.

 

[SPS]

Got a custom Fly Bikes Pantera in sky blue.

Will find a pic later!

 

[AlienALX]

Got a custom Fly Bikes Pantera in sky blue.

Will find a pic later!

Sounds like a BMX? or is it one of them newer rock hopping things?

Could swear I've used Fly parts in the past..

 

[sheroo]

Wasn't allowed a Chopper - got a Commando instead, I seem to remember that spent most of its life stuck in 3rd gear as well. I'm a recreational roadie, get out on the bike most weeks...

 

[AlienALX]

Wasn't allowed a Chopper - got a Commando instead, I seem to remember that spent most of its life stuck in 3rd gear as well. I'm a recreational roadie, get out on the bike most weeks...

Yeah what I'm wanting to do now is pretty recreational. My flat is on the sea front, so 150ft out of the front door and I get onto a large path that runs across the back of the beach for about three miles in each direction.

Really looking forward to the warmer weather now. Can ride up and down all day

That old Stermy ? Sturmey Archer? thing used to break so quick. It had a small chain coming out of the wheel hub that connected to a cable and once it snapped you were always stuck in third gear lol. Terrible design !

 

[barnsley]

ah, Sturmey Archer. My sister's dutch bike has one and it seems to work quite well for an older bike. They always looked so elegant. I love the gear changing 'switch' on them.

I have 3 old racers now in varying states of disrepair. Never really got into BMX all that much.

 

[AlienALX]

Wasn't it a grip shift on the Grifter?

That's the bugger though. The back hub weighed about ten kilos lol.

 

[SPS]

Sounds like a BMX? or is it one of them newer rock hopping things?

Could swear I've used Fly parts in the past..

Yeah BMX

 

[AlienALX]

lol omg it's the same colour as mine ! awesome. Really like that dude.

 

[SPS]

lol omg it's the same colour as mine ! awesome. Really like that dude.

Cheers

Haven't rode it in a while now though!

 

[Wraith]

Yeah BMX

I miss my S&M Warpig now thinking back I've had quite a few BMXs, Grifter, Burner, Huffy, Fishbone, GT Performer Pro, S&M warpig, Moralles II.. I really want to hit up some old haunts now and just cruise town, if I end up buying a new bike I'm blaming you guys. :lol:

 

[AlienALX]

I think S&M are no more Some of my older bikes..

Standard STA in orange for gaps.
Standard Shorty.
Curtis DSR
SE Racing Quadangle 98 (was stolen in a mugging )
JAD
Hoffman Condor (hated it, most hoopty bike I ever rode)
Haro Shredder (was my first post 80s BMX as I got back into it)
Schwinn Hydraglide. Quite simply the best bike I ever had. Wish they still made them.
1985 looptail PK Ripper. Bought this from a closed down bike shop after the mugging. Didn't realise it was 80s NOS, sold it in the USA for $2500. I paid £300 for it. ACS Z rims the lot :O

 

[Wraith]

I think S&M are no more Some of my older bikes..

Standard STA in orange for gaps.
Standard Shorty.
Curtis DSR
SE Racing Quadangle 98 (was stolen in a mugging )
JAD
Hoffman Condor (hated it, most hoopty bike I ever rode)
Haro Shredder (was my first post 80s BMX as I got back into it)
Schwinn Hydraglide. Quite simply the best bike I ever had. Wish they still made them.
1985 looptail PK Ripper. Bought this from a closed down bike shop after the mugging. Didn't realise it was 80s NOS, sold it in the USA for $2500. I paid £300 for it. ACS Z rims the lot :O

My brother had a Hoffman as I remember it was far too short to do anything with, the simplest bunny would put you on your ass. The best frame I had was on the Morales, nice weight and length for throwing around...

this thread is pushing me ever closer to chainreactioncycles..

 

[AlienALX]

My Shorty was a little like that. They were primarily flatland but I used mine for small gaps and stair cases etc due to the fact it was built like an ox.

I did the same stair case on it that I did on a MTB only on the BMX run I couldn't get the front wheel up at the bottom of the stairs. Cue an almighty crack and serious pain in my wrists...

It wasn't me that was broken fortunately. I shattered the bearing cup and all of the headset bearings came out lmao. Was a weird ride home !

On a lesser bike I would have snapped off the head tube. But nope, frame was completely intact !

When I built my PK Ripper I looked at the models. There is the basic Ripper which is the same frame and fork set they all have. These are £350. I got mine for £180, then spent £170 on parts so I ended up with the fully decked out Ripper that costs over £600.

Look on Ebay mate. There are a lot of bike shop closures since the recession and BMX parts can be had stupid cheap. My Skyways were £50, they cost more than that in the 80s ! Tyres were about £4 each, chain ring was £6 etc.

I would find a basic bike, then switch out all of the crap you don't want. I almost bought a pair of S&M strip bars but the rise was not high enough. That's the thing with a BMX.. People don't realise that adults can ride them perfectly well, you just need to set up the geometry correctly.

Going back to Hoffman? yup ! awful bike. Back was stupid short and the forks were the worst I've ever used. Basically they were like a down tube with a 3" plate welded on the front. The front wheel stuck out about 3" more from the forks than any other meaning steering was all out of whack.

Mat Hoffman must have a weird body geometry and his bikes must only make sense to him. Amount of times I ended up on my ass doing 360s. The back of the bike was like a sodding magnet to the floor. I think I only had that Condor for about two weeks. I bought it with the insurance money from my Quadangle.