Pulling Apart Some Sunshine Hubs

My Team Mongoose BMX originally came with a set of Araya 7X rims laced to some nice black and silver sealed-bearing Sunshine Hubs. After sitting around for 20 years, the bearings have dried up and stuck in place. It's time to pull apart the hubs and replace the sealed bearings and bring a little life back into these worn hubs. I pulled apart the hubs and begun trying to pry the bearings out. They would not budge. I put a little more...

My BMX Want List In December 2013

I've been speaking to a mate of mine who is completely engrossed in Old School BMX, especially the 80's BMX Freestyle genre. He's told me that over time I will learn more about Old School BMX, my tastes will change and my want lists will go from cheap riders to the high-end 80's BMX's. It happened to him and it's bound to happen to me. I completely disagree. I'm going to keep track of my BMX want list. These are the bikes that I...

BMX Bath Time! Oxalic Acid Rust Removal

With the stuck seat post removed, it was time for the Mongoose to have it's bath; an acid bath to remove the rust. I'd started spending a bit of time trawling the technical and restoration sections of a lot of BMX forums that are out there looking for ideas on how to restore our beloved BMX's.  All these threads lead to the same conclusion; rust on chrome frames can be removed. There was talk of rubbing aluminium foil soaked...

That Damn Stuck Aluminium BMX Seat Post

When anodized aluminium and steel sit side-by-side, like they do when an anodized fluted seat post is stuck into a steel frame, corrosion can occur when other factors come into play. This causes one of the most common problems; stuck seat posts! When I first came to own my Team Mongoose 25 years ago, I could barely touch the pedals while I was sitting on the seat. The first thing I tried to do was get the seat post out. I wiggled...

Haro Group 1b BMX... The Back End

This post is a continuation of my previous time capsule post running through the stock set-up of a 1990 Haro Group 1b Race Technique BMX and the changes that I made to it. The Group 1b came with a Fusion TwinTorc seat post clamp. I kept the seat post clamp because that thing looked chunky and really looked cool. It's still in great shape, only the nuts and bolts are a little rusted. The Group 1b came with an unbranded steel straight...

My Haro Group 1b BMX Time Capsule

My 1990 Haro Group 1b Race Technique BMX was hanging from the rafters of my mums garage. It had not been ridden, let alone touched, in almost 15 years. It's still set up exactly how I raced it, even down to the tires. The next two posts will walk through explaining the Group 1b. I'll go through how it came off the shelf in 1990, the parts that I switched out and why. Let's go! The Group 1b Frame was based on Mike King's frame geometry....

The Dents and Rust In My 1981 Mongoose Team BMX

I'm adding a few more photos of the main areas of deterioration, rust and just overall filth that this bike is in. This is just to keep a good before-and-after to show what a little work and a little effort can do, when you put your mind to something! Here's the flattened chain-stay and the rear drop-outs. As you can see in the photo, they're both in pretty bad shape! Chain burn was a common occurrence for the 80's Mongoose and my...