ZXRob
Europe
Posts: 1,193
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Take yourself back to the year 2000 for a minute and think about what you were doing back then. I am sure there will be many different people who were doing very different things. I was 13 at the time and I was just gaining an interest in punk rock music from the likes of NOFX, Rancid, Lagwagon and many more, but more importantly I was lusting after a BMX. I remember it like it was yesterday, after a particularly bad school day my brother was going to the local Mountain bike shop and asked if I wanted to come with him. I was never really into mountain biking I always prefered BMX but I agreed to go anyway as it was something to do and it meant I got a ride in his, then only 1 year old, Saxo VTR which was something I always seized the opportunity to do. As we walked into the shop we were greeted to row upon row of Marin, Trek and Cannondale mountain bikes but my attention was taken straight away by two BMX bikes in the corner. One was all black and the other was black and chrome it was love at first sight. The contrast of the chrome in my 13 year old mind reminded me of a 1950's caddilac. I had to have that bike. I got the bike from my dad that christmas as a joint christmas and birthday present it was the most expensive present I had ever had and I vowed that I would keep it forever no matter what I think that I was the happiest person in the whole of England that year. The bike wasn't the best BMX that money could buy at the time, it was relatively heavy and apparently not so good for tricks because of this. I was always rubbish at tricks anyway so at least the bike had given me an excuse. The thing that made it so cool to me was the black and chrome and the fact it was the signature bike of my favourite rider Dennis Mccoy who was on pretty much every VHS I had at the time and now I had his signature bike. 11 years on I still have the bike, I still love listening to punkrock music and I am still terrible at tricks. After turning 17 and getting my drivers liscence the bike got pretty neglected until around 2007 when I moved out of my parents and took the bike with me and gave it some polishing and made the chrome shine once more. I rode it for around 3 months and then parked it up again and it didnt move until 2010 when it had to be rescued from my ex-girlfriends house before she skipped it. I then took it to my parents and moved to Germany leaving the bike in England but saying I would come back for it one day. After a year of being in Cologne this weekend I took a 2000km round trip and picked the bike up I had to dig it out of my dads shed and I almost cried when I got it out I have really neglected the bike over the past years and it is really looking worse for wear. The chrome forks and handle bars has surface rust, the chrome on the front wheel has all flaked off and it just looks a shed. Now that I have no cars taking up my time I am setting out on restoring the bike to its former glory ladies and gentleman I present to you my K2 DMC. And some of the bits that bring tears to my eyes. And a picture from 2007 when I last cleaned and polished it. Thankyou for reading this if you did I know I wouldnt have! I have posted it on hear as I would like some advice on the best ways of removing surface rust from the chrome as I guess you guys with chrome bumpers etc. will have a little experience in that. Rob
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woodenspatulas
Part of things
Retro in ways you can't imagine
Posts: 448
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mmm nice bmx! I had one in the late nineties and I wish to God I had kept it Rough spec was, Harrow handlebars, redline grips, and disc crank. racing mongoose frame, multi spoke anodised wheels, bulldog brakes, odessey laid back seat post, a named headset and seat aswell but i foget the names. I used to just clean the chrome with autosol, and it used to keep allot of rust at bay, might be worth a try?
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1999 Vectra Estate + 1995 Saab Engine = Good Times
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ZXRob
Europe
Posts: 1,193
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Wow sounds like a fair old spec. I have been looking at BMX parts lately and things really do move on when you are out of it for a while. I actually have no idea what most makes etc are these days!
The photo from 2007 was after a good autosol session which did work back then but it is the rust on the headset that is the hardest I doubt that autosol would get that off.
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woodenspatulas
Part of things
Retro in ways you can't imagine
Posts: 448
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yeah it was a bitza bike but I had it for some time and I only got rid as i passed my test and needed a bit of cash for the B reg metro HLE is was driving bicycletutor.com/rust-removal/what about that ^ Google is your friend and all that
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1999 Vectra Estate + 1995 Saab Engine = Good Times
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awoo
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,505
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wire wool, the stuff with the soap in that you use to clean pots and pans with. use it wet and that will take that rust off no trouble, and bring it up to a good polished shine!
seriously it will be easy and look like new. go for it!
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Ah yes the year 2000 - I was 16, with a similar taste in music, but my steed was a Haro Mirra Flair. At the time all freestyle bike ssubscribed to the overbuilding trend. My Mirra, with Odyssey Hazard wheelset, 4 pegs and ridiculously narrow bars weighed somewhere around 45 pounds!
I remember that DMC started on K2 (he had ridden for Mongoose since the late 80's and had a signature bike with them) about the time I started riding - the very first issue of BMX Plus! that I bought had a feature on Dennis and his new K2 team mate Parker (can't remember his first name). K2 was going to be the next big thing in bmx at the time, but to be honest I don't think they lasted more than a couple of years in the market? DMC is still riding and ripping it up though!
As for the rust, get yourself a plastic tub and fill it with white vinegar and soak the forks and bars in it for 12 - 24 hours, then clean it thoroughly with warm soapy water and make sure you get as much of the water/vinegar from inside teh forks, etc as possible as it will eat into the metal if left. Then just buff it up with autosol and jobs done! I wouldn't recommend using wire wool, I have foudn ti tends to leave swirl marks in the chrome
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ZXRob
Europe
Posts: 1,193
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I think K2 went back to what they knew and continued building mountain bikes. Like I said in the first post this bike is in no way the best bike in the world infact it is far from it. I have had much better bikes since owning this including a mongoose but they have all been sold for one reason or other but this bike, as I said when I first got it, is going nowhere!
Yesterday I gave it a clean up and tried the wire wool method on the chrome then buffed it up with some sonax metal polish. The results are unbelievable the chrome lookes like brand new on the forks and bars. The seat stem is too far gone so the chrome is very pitted there and also on the top of the headset where the brake cable goes through is also a bit pitted but it looks 110% better than it did. I am trying to find a set of the original Alex rims Supra 3's in chrome and I will also be hunting out a new seat stem.
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ZXRob
Europe
Posts: 1,193
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This thread is seriously lacking in the Youtube and punk rock department if I could embed it would be so much better but follow this link and see DMC riding in 1998 and 2000 to the soothing tones of Lars Fredrikson covering Billy Bragg "To Have and To Have Not"
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Last tome I rode a BMX was 1995, I wish I never sold mine to make the move to the all impressionable Mountain bikes of the time Mine was nothing special and was rather heavy but it had an oval frame (that always cracked your knackers when you tried anything) it was a Raleigh with yellow mags, that's all I can remember about it Fast forward to 2000 thou and I was free I had my first car so a bike was a distant memory
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Some days you just need to take a grinder to an inanimate object, just to make your day a tiny bit better!!
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Way back in the distant past, my sister had a mongoose decade, parents bought it instead of a kiddies bike for her as she fell in love with it. Bring it forward a few years and I inherited it from her, but a bit different, at the time my dad worked as a chrome plater so it disappeared one day and came back a few days later. I thought it was the dogs danglies. When I started to ride a bit further afield I bought a raliegh marauder which got the same treatment by my dad. Went through a fair few cheap mountain bikes which all ended up broken to hell, mainly due to the jumps at the local disused BMX track. The only bike to make it through was a giant euro 2 which I still have at my parents.
About 2000 ish I bought a huffy delirium in 2 tone green which lasted a couple of years before I could drive then sat in my garage for ages until a friend bought it off me to rebuild for his mrs, she bred dobermans and needed a bike she could carry over gates when they went for walks, being alloy framed it was ideal. Last time I saw it, it was painted pink with a pink glittery seat and she was being given it for her birthday.
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1977 datsun 810 180b estate
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crazymonkey
Posted a lot
ummm....what was I doing again???
Posts: 1,981
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Ive only ever had relatively new models (last one was a 2008 GT tour) but something about that one has made me fall in love with it.
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whoever said dogs were man's best friend....obviously never heard of cable ties
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,714
Club RR Member Number: 34
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My love affair with a BMXDez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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This thread is seriously lacking in the Youtube and punk rock department if I could embed it would be so much better but follow this link and see DMC riding in 1998 and 2000 to the soothing tones of Lars Fredrikson covering Billy Bragg "To Have and To Have Not" possibly one of my favourite songs off one of my favourite albums (the lars one, not BB) ever. always saw it as a bit of a soundtrack/athem to my life tbh. i love irony of it being the epitome of punk, yet written by a "folk' artist. back in 2000 i was also 16, listening to the same stuff as you, but hacking around on robinson ruckus. top thread.
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I've think I've just had my first proper attack of nostalgia. I must be a grown up.
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...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,714
Club RR Member Number: 34
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My love affair with a BMXDez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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I've think I've just had my first proper attack of nostalgia. I must be a grown up. +1. i don't know if thats a good or bad thing yet though
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ZXRob
Europe
Posts: 1,193
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Its great to see people enjoying this thread and also great to hear peoples BMX/Year 2000 tales. As I said earlier in the thread I spent some time the other day polishing up the chrome following the instruction given to me from you guys on here and I have to say the results properly blew me away! I thought that alot of the chrome was too far gone to be ressurected but it now looks like it did 11 years ago. I have one photograph that I have taken but it was taken like the other in my flat so you can't really tell how good it looks. I have been using the bike to get around Cologne over the past week and I have enjoyed every second of it (even when the heavens decided to open) it just feels great to be pedaling around on BMX again! I also found this link, www.bikesdetails.info/K2_DMC_Pro_2001.html which has all the details of the bike when it was new. A few things differ on my like the crank on mine is polished with the K2 logo where as this one is plain black. But this is the closest I could find. I love how the weight is unspecified I suppose thats because it is rather difficult to weigh the Titanic! Dez - The self titled Lars album is a very very underrated album of that era and I don't think many people give it the recognition it deserves. The cover of Motorhead Leaving here is also a highlight of mine. Ben711200- Firstly yes that seems to be happening to me alot too of late! And secondly you need less numbers in your screenname as that was difficult to remember when typing! Crazymonkey- I always aspired to own a GT back in the day but never did maybe one day I will get one. Damian4884- I wish my dad was a chrome plater my whole life would be chrome! And also the fate of that Huffy is a very sad one. One of my mates had a Huffy around the same time I got this, his bike was by far the best out of the two although I would never have admitted that to him! When I am out and the chome is looking mega shiny I may grab a photo for you guys if I can force myself to stop (its quite literally forcing as I only have trainer brakes!)
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Last Edit: Oct 9, 2011 7:43:32 GMT by ZXRob
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Damian4884- I wish my dad was a chrome plater my whole life would be chrome! And also the fate of that Huffy is a very sad one. One of my mates had a Huffy around the same time I got this, his bike was by far the best out of the two although I would never have admitted that to him! Unfortunately he stopped when I was about 14, so no shiney bits have ever been done by him for my cars . A while back we found a box of chromed bits he done for his allegro, must of been done about 15 years ago and they still looked absolutely mint even though they hd been left in a damp box in the shed. The huffy was the best bike i've owned and I'm happy its got a new lease of life and is being used again. It was amazingly light and now I'm starting to miss it.
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1977 datsun 810 180b estate
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Ben-Seventy-One-Twelve-Hundred I answer to most things Ben+number combinations. 90210 seems most popular. I have no affiliation with the TV show or anyone living in the affluent zipcode to which it relates ;D Thinking back.. I had a 1999/2000 GT Dyno with lots of chrome, one piece cranks with a clicky bottom bracket that was absurdly high geared compared to most current BMXs, that silly kinked seatpost that meant you couldn't lower the seat enough and it weighed enough to give you a hernia. I loved it though. That was reduced to second bike status when I bought a 2001 Trek Bruiser 1. I later bought a Planet X BMX frame directly from Planet X, but on an ebay stock clearance for about £60 and simply built all of the GT stuff onto it, reasoning that I'd upgrade as stuff broke. Nothing ever did ;D
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...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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ZXRob
Europe
Posts: 1,193
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Ben+some numbers- It was the kinked seatpost that made GT's of that era so cool! That and they always had so much chrome on them. They were absurdly reliable bikes too, another friend of mine got a 1999 GT in around 03 it had been thoroughly abused on the local dirt course but all the parts where still original he used that bike and gave it so much more abuse (he was a truly fearless kid) for years later and never had to replace anything on it.
Damien4884 - It is a shame he had stopped chrome plating once you had reached the car ownership years. I would have still had chrome plated everything. Furniture, bikes, clothes, limbs, the list is endless!
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Oct 11, 2011 11:06:04 GMT
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mainly due to the jumps at the local disused BMX track. Not the one at the top of Caesars Camp by any chance? With a Total garage just over the road. We used to go and session that place every weekend. Gone now though apparently. But we went and dug our own trails at Tunnel Hill and eventually became Lookout regulars. Need to build some lighter wheels and ease myself back into it I think, shot knees or not, I hate not being allowed to ride.
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Much the same story. Back, so long ago, my parents bought me a "freestyle" BMX, which was white and orange. It had no pegs, just little prongs on the front forks. I abused it until it got old, and replaced. A few years ago, 2007/2008, I decided to rebuild it, and I did it to match my rat Skoda. It's not going anywhere. It's a worthless cheap and nasty (although still light) bike with very little in the way of good features. I've not used it since rebuilding it, just moved it around a lot. FWIW in 2000 I was listening to appalling dance music and trying to get into nightclubs at 14 or 15. Crazymonkey, the 2008 Tour is the blue one, yes? Or is that the 2009? I can't remember - I have one as well and love it.
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