Mirage_Man
Flashlight Enthusiast
I don't typically post stuff like this but I had to share a project I just finished for my son. He's turning 7 this weekend. He's recently gotten into BMX racing and has been doing so on an entry level Redline chromoly framed bike. My wife and I wanted to get him a lighter "racing" bike so he could be more competitive with the other kids. The problem is that those "racing" bikes are downright expensive!
We really could not afford a new one. So we spent the last few months looking at the track and on Craigslist and the like. We found a few decent bikes but they were all too small, until a couple weeks ago when I stopped by the LBS (local bike shop). I asked if they had anything used and would you believe it the guy said he might. He told me to wait a minute while he went to the back. When he came out he was pushing this well used but perfectly sized bike. It was complete with carbon fiber forks and those skinny racing rims and tires. It was really well equipped with higher end parts. It was definitely on the rough side though. I asked how much it was. He told me and I told him I would have to discuss it with the wife and get back to him.
Well the wife and I did talk it over and decided it was a heck of a deal for what it had. So I went the next day and bought it. Here are a few pictures of what it looked like the day I brought it home.
That would have been the end of the story but as fate would have it I have a buddy that's a machinist by trade but also a body man, painter and air-brusher. I told him about the bike and he offered to do a custom paint job on it. He said he could do a "true-fire" effect. What's a guy to do? I said, "Yes" of courseJ. That same day I completely disassembled the bike so I could get it to him to strip and paint.
I dropped the frame and handle bars off the next day. I was going to keep the forks as they were because the name "Scythe" was supposedly the in thing to have. The more I looked at the forks and how scratched and dinged up they were the more I knew something had to be done. One night I spent an hour or so lightly wet-sanding them to get as many of the scratches out as I could. When I was done they didn't look nearly as bad as they did but now had a very dull finish from the wet-sanding. That's when I decided the heck with the name I'm going to go ahead and paint them. So I really went to town and got all but the deepest scratches out.
I told my buddy the next day what I'd done and he said that he could use a candy coat paint on them and that they would look "killer". What a great idea I thought.
My buddy had the parts for several days during which I decided to replace some of the other parts on the bike. For instance the cranks that came with it were 170mm and 160mm were the recommended size for my son. So I bought a new set of cranks, bottom bracket and chain ring. They were not as nice or expensive as the originals but perfectly adequate. Then I looked at the break lever and breaks. Those worked fine but I convinced myself new ones would really put the icing on the cake. So those were replaced as well. The "headset" was also pretty bad shape. It had obvious impressions of bearings in the bearing race which you could feel when you rotated them. So of course that was replaces as well. This was getting more expensive by the day. However I had to admit I was having fun with it. The "stem" or "goose neck" as it was called when I was a kid, was pretty sad too. Thing is a replacement would have just been too much. So since it was bare aluminum I decided to try to use some Scotch-brite to clean it up. Once again it took some of the scratches out but looked dull. I told my buddy and he said not to worry he could use his buffing wheel to polish it for me. So I dropped that off with him.
The next few days he stripped and primed the parts to be painted. He then laid down the base color on them. Then the day came for the air brush work. I was stoked. Unfortunately I could not be there to watch. Instead I got a couple cell phone pics to tease me during the process and even when it was complete. But you know how cell phone pictures are, pretty much useless. When he finished he said the paint would need to cure for around 15hrs. and that I could pick the parts up the next day. Lemme tell you I was dying until the next day.
The next morning arrived and I knew I was to pick up the parts shortly. I planned to take the parts by the shop I bought the bike from to have them press the headset into the frame and fork steering tube. I could have done it with some sort of makeshift arrangement but thought I'd be better off using the "right" tool with less chance of screwing something up.
Anyway, I showed up to pick up the parts. He had them in the back of his car sitting on a blanket. The closer I got to them the more I could see the detail in the flames. All I could say was "Wow!". It really looked amazing. Then I saw the carbon fiber forks in the sunlight. Absolutely beautiful! I couldn't have been happier.
That night I was up until 2AM putting the bike together. I was very careful since the paint was still soft. When I was all done I staggered to bed for the night. The next morning after dropping my son off at school I pulled the bike out of its hiding place and took these pictures.
Here are some High Resolution pictures. Click on them then click again for the full size images. The first hi-rez photo of the forks is really impressive. If you like you can check out the whole album HERE.
We really could not afford a new one. So we spent the last few months looking at the track and on Craigslist and the like. We found a few decent bikes but they were all too small, until a couple weeks ago when I stopped by the LBS (local bike shop). I asked if they had anything used and would you believe it the guy said he might. He told me to wait a minute while he went to the back. When he came out he was pushing this well used but perfectly sized bike. It was complete with carbon fiber forks and those skinny racing rims and tires. It was really well equipped with higher end parts. It was definitely on the rough side though. I asked how much it was. He told me and I told him I would have to discuss it with the wife and get back to him.
Well the wife and I did talk it over and decided it was a heck of a deal for what it had. So I went the next day and bought it. Here are a few pictures of what it looked like the day I brought it home.
That would have been the end of the story but as fate would have it I have a buddy that's a machinist by trade but also a body man, painter and air-brusher. I told him about the bike and he offered to do a custom paint job on it. He said he could do a "true-fire" effect. What's a guy to do? I said, "Yes" of courseJ. That same day I completely disassembled the bike so I could get it to him to strip and paint.
I dropped the frame and handle bars off the next day. I was going to keep the forks as they were because the name "Scythe" was supposedly the in thing to have. The more I looked at the forks and how scratched and dinged up they were the more I knew something had to be done. One night I spent an hour or so lightly wet-sanding them to get as many of the scratches out as I could. When I was done they didn't look nearly as bad as they did but now had a very dull finish from the wet-sanding. That's when I decided the heck with the name I'm going to go ahead and paint them. So I really went to town and got all but the deepest scratches out.
I told my buddy the next day what I'd done and he said that he could use a candy coat paint on them and that they would look "killer". What a great idea I thought.
My buddy had the parts for several days during which I decided to replace some of the other parts on the bike. For instance the cranks that came with it were 170mm and 160mm were the recommended size for my son. So I bought a new set of cranks, bottom bracket and chain ring. They were not as nice or expensive as the originals but perfectly adequate. Then I looked at the break lever and breaks. Those worked fine but I convinced myself new ones would really put the icing on the cake. So those were replaced as well. The "headset" was also pretty bad shape. It had obvious impressions of bearings in the bearing race which you could feel when you rotated them. So of course that was replaces as well. This was getting more expensive by the day. However I had to admit I was having fun with it. The "stem" or "goose neck" as it was called when I was a kid, was pretty sad too. Thing is a replacement would have just been too much. So since it was bare aluminum I decided to try to use some Scotch-brite to clean it up. Once again it took some of the scratches out but looked dull. I told my buddy and he said not to worry he could use his buffing wheel to polish it for me. So I dropped that off with him.
The next few days he stripped and primed the parts to be painted. He then laid down the base color on them. Then the day came for the air brush work. I was stoked. Unfortunately I could not be there to watch. Instead I got a couple cell phone pics to tease me during the process and even when it was complete. But you know how cell phone pictures are, pretty much useless. When he finished he said the paint would need to cure for around 15hrs. and that I could pick the parts up the next day. Lemme tell you I was dying until the next day.
The next morning arrived and I knew I was to pick up the parts shortly. I planned to take the parts by the shop I bought the bike from to have them press the headset into the frame and fork steering tube. I could have done it with some sort of makeshift arrangement but thought I'd be better off using the "right" tool with less chance of screwing something up.
Anyway, I showed up to pick up the parts. He had them in the back of his car sitting on a blanket. The closer I got to them the more I could see the detail in the flames. All I could say was "Wow!". It really looked amazing. Then I saw the carbon fiber forks in the sunlight. Absolutely beautiful! I couldn't have been happier.
That night I was up until 2AM putting the bike together. I was very careful since the paint was still soft. When I was all done I staggered to bed for the night. The next morning after dropping my son off at school I pulled the bike out of its hiding place and took these pictures.
Here are some High Resolution pictures. Click on them then click again for the full size images. The first hi-rez photo of the forks is really impressive. If you like you can check out the whole album HERE.
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. The bike is an Expert Plus size. It's got the same size top tube as his current bike. But because the new frame is a "Formula" it looks different. Formula is kinda unique inthat the seat tube is much shorter than most. It gives an illusion that the front is taller than it really is. That said I've been thinking the bars might be slightly too tall for him. We'll see when he gets a chance to ride it. If they are I'll have to pick up some shorter ones.
