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...

How I Became Addicted to Haro BMX's

This is my baby! Well, today she is my baby. We started things out with a love-hate relationship. So  here is the story of how I fell in love with Haro's. There's not going to be any pictures. They'll come in the next post. This here is the first big purchase that I ever made in my life and I was only 11 years old. My 1990 Haro Group 1b Race Technique cost $599 at the start of 1990 and I paid for almost every cent of my bike....

1981 Mongoose Team BMX! Beaten But Not Over

Looking at this bike, 25 years after I came to own it, I never thought I would love this bike the way I do  now. I only asked my mother to buy it because it originally came with a set of CW style bars, the same bars that were on my mates BMX. Seeing my old BMX's got me doing some research on this bike. As a kid I actually thought this bike was some Woolworths junk. I started browsing forums. I remember the back end of the bike;...

How My BMX Restoration Journey Begun

My mum decided to do a clean-up of the place in preparation for having the floor boards painted. That got me back into the garage and made me look up and see my old BMX bikes hanging from the rafters. Staring at those BMX bikes brought memories of my grandfather flooding back to me. He was an amazing man; my hero and idol. He was the handyman of our family and would fix, restore and glue everything that was broken. There was nothing...