Cyclo-Bang Bang: #491 BMX bike redux

Our six year old likes to race BMX in the NBL at South Park BMX.

We support him in this endeavor even though it's a long drive to get to the track because BMX is a gateway discipline for bigger steps up the cyclo ladder, such as track and road racing. After all, Chris Hoy started in BMX.

Last season he didn’t have a dedicated BMX rig; he used his single speed Gary Fisher Precaliber 20”MTB, which worked okay, but BMX bikes generally run bigger gear inches than his 32t crank could accommodate and BMX bikes also don’t use a front brake.

But the Fisher has an excellent aluminum frame--the same size as standard issue BMX frames, and it is as well-crafted or better than any top-shelf BMX frame on the market.

#491 before

So over the winter, I decided to transform the Fisher into a homegrown BMX racing bike. That required stripping the gawdy and beat up red paint, repainting it a nondescript color scheme (He likes a black and blue scheme, which is fitting for his riding style: black and blue!), and replacing some of the components, such as the crank and the handlebars.

Stripping and Painting

Let me say that stripping and painting was an all-winter-long task, and doing a frame strip is not for the casual DIY'er. I used a wire wheel on the drill to blast off every bit of paint (well, almost every bit--it's hard to get the tubing joints perfectly with the wire). Do not attempt this without proper eye protection, full wrap-around goggles preferably. Then I cleaned the bare metal frame with acetone and isopropyl alcohol. Then I sprayed on a bare metal primer. This requires both goggles and a respirator--not just a cloth mask, but the full deal charcoal filter job!

I even stripped and painted the headset cups in matching blue

His fork had brake studs. A friend ground those off for me and then sanded it down to a nearly unnoticeable flat spot. Then I stripped it the same as the frame, and primed it.

After the primer thoroughly dried and I wiped it down with a tack cloth, I then masked it. He wanted a blue/black color scheme, so I decided blue panels would be cool on the downtube, on one chainstay, and on one fork arm. This took a lot of delicate, artsy effort to make the masks perfect. So then after much finagling with the masking tape, and then masking off the other parts of the frame, I sprayed the panels in, gave it a good dry time of a few days, then sprayed on another coat. It came out really nice.

After a few day's drying, I masked the blue panels and sprayed the whole frame with semi gloss black, about three coats. It came out really stunning, in my opinion. Finally, I clearcoated the entire frame with about three coats. Lots and lots of effort for a nice paint job that he will thoroughly trash in the first month of riding. But, it was enjoyable to do it. Snow was falling outside and I was lost in the man cave.

Rebuild

I tried not to put too much cash into the project. A new mid-tier BMX bike with all components costs about $600. I had the frame/fork, plus the wheels and tires. So I needed the stem, bars, crank, chain, and seat post/saddle. It came out to less than $300, plus I got to color-coordinate and to choose mini parts, since he's 6 years old.