Kastan Mid School Build Up, ....and help with some parts needed Options

[ExKastanRider]

Hey All,

My first post after joining here. Ill try to make my story quick.

Just within the last week or two I got a wild hair up my a$$ and wanted to build up my old BMX bike. Riding bikes still occupies most my time, but I now ride downhill on a full suspension DH bike.

For my build up, I am lucky that my brother kept many of my old parts around, so Im not starting from complete scratch, and the parts I have are the actual parts that was my bike back in the day.

Its a Kastan, although I dont know which model. I bought it from the original owner in approximately '90-'91 (so Im also not certain what model year it is). When I bought it is right when Kastan issued the recall on the Uniblade forks, so the entire time I rode it was with a standard Kastan fork.

My goal with the build is to build it up as I had back in the day ('90-'91 to '95 or so). From the beginning, I bought everything seperate and built it up custom, so nothing was an 'off the show room floor' part. Most of what seems to be the most difficult to find parts (based on my limited, recent searches) I still have which is good. But my old wheel set, which was a custom built set of Kovachi Wheels with their branded hubs, is long gone so I will end up just ordering a new set. I was at least happy to find out they are still in business.

Below is a list of the parts I have, then a list of the stuff I am still looking for. If anyone has a line on anything it would be much appreciated. Also below is a few pics of what I have now

Kastan frame (not sure year or model as described above)
Renthal aluminum bars with bolt on cross bar
Technique crank arms with single pinch bolt at spindle
Crupi square pedals
Sella Italia Flite Seat (yep, I used a road / mtn seat back then)


Parts I still need
Kastan fork (either standard of Uniblade, standard most likley as thats what I rode & I know will be cheaper than a uni)
DK inverted stem - maybe XL size (did they come in anything smaller?)
Bottom bracket and spindle for the Technique cranks
Odyssey Pitbull brakes in black (Ive seen these on eBay, etc. so they shouldnt be difficult to source)
ATI Pistol Grips in translucent purple

Then the rest of the stuff I need is just basics (tires, chain, etc) that I will source from where ever. Thanks for looking and sharing my trip down memory lane!

(IMG:http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r112/88Cossie/IMG_0190.jpg)

(IMG:http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r112/88Cossie/IMG_0193.jpg)

(IMG:http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r112/88Cossie/IMG_0191.jpg)

[JC82]

Congrats on deciding to rebuild your past. Luckily Ive never got rid of anything from mine so no rebuilding needed, lol. Anyways the standard kastan forks, dk invert, and pitbulls should be a very easy find. You could proly buy those parts today. But the rest is going to take forever, rarely do parts for technique cranks come up, you might have to look for a cheap set that has stripped pedal bosses or a cracked arm to scavenge parts from. The grips will be like winning a million dollar lotto, i havent seen a purple set come up for sale in 3 years. Doesnt mean they arent out there. Looks like you had a nice set up bitd, carefully remove the spray paint from those crank arms and let the purple ano shine. Also that dk stem you have pictured is a mini stem, noted cause of the alum shaft. Good luck on reliving the old glory days and make sure you share with us!

[ANT DOG 3:16]

ATI Pistol Grips in translucent purple


on it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[ExKastanRider]

Congrats on deciding to rebuild your past. Luckily Ive never got rid of anything from mine so no rebuilding needed, lol. Anyways the standard kastan forks, dk invert, and pitbulls should be a very easy find. You could proly buy those parts today. But the rest is going to take forever, rarely do parts for technique cranks come up, you might have to look for a cheap set that has stripped pedal bosses or a cracked arm to scavenge parts from. The grips will be like winning a million dollar lotto, i havent seen a purple set come up for sale in 3 years. Doesnt mean they arent out there. Looks like you had a nice set up bitd, carefully remove the spray paint from those crank arms and let the purple ano shine. Also that dk stem you have pictured is a mini stem, noted cause of the alum shaft. Good luck on reliving the old glory days and make sure you share with us!

Thanks for the encouraging words!

For the crank arms, yeah Im actually going to have them re-ano'd. It will be worth the cost once they look nice and new. The black paint was my brothers doing, as well as the reason i no longer have the bottom bracket. He pillaged them from me after I got out of riding and used them for dirt jumping, eventually twisting the spindle. But I cant be too mad as its thanks to him the stuff seen here is still around for me!

Ive been poking around and cant find any forks yet. Ill just look harder I suppose. For the stem and grips, Mr. Smith (here on the boards) offered up ones he had, so I was stoked about that!

Yeah, the DK mini here is what my brother ran on his Hawk frame, and he gave it to me when I picked up the rest of the parts. I dont really need it. Bur, yeah, overall Im expecting the buld to take me a little while. Between hard to find stuff, and the cost of the wheel build. Thats ok though - half the fun is the project nature of it.

[GBOSS]

I like them Cranks,this looks like its going to be a Nice build (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drinks.gif)

[mattfx81]

Where did you source those renthal bars originally, they are a british made bar and probs alot older than your frame.

[JC82]

Renthal was around in the 90's. My friend bought a set from dan's comp bitd.

[ExKastanRider]

Where did you source those renthal bars originally, they are a british made bar and probs alot older than your frame.

Ya know, sadly I cant rememnber!! Im usually really good about remembering that stuff. I THINK I might have got them off of one of the kids that I raced with at my local track, because I have zero recollection of buying them new from a bike shop (no internet shopping back then!)

Same thing with the cranks, I dont really remember where I got them.

I have vivid memories of excitedly buying the frame & fork from my friend, and calling myself to order the Kovachi wheels I had on it, but for some reason these other parts I dont know where they came from.

But yeah, Renthal is making their way back to the biking scene. They are making MTB bars and stems, and sponsor a couple of the current top DH racers. I think they are also back into BMX with chainrings for now. I do know that when I first got the bars I was aware of Renthal's MX background, and that these bars were basically like their MX bars, but made for bicycles.

[mattfx81]

Ya know, sadly I cant rememnber!! Im usually really good about remembering that stuff. I THINK I might have got them off of one of the kids that I raced with at my local track, because I have zero recollection of buying them new from a bike shop (no internet shopping back then!)

Same thing with the cranks, I dont really remember where I got them.

I have vivid memories of excitedly buying the frame & fork from my friend, and calling myself to order the Kovachi wheels I had on it, but for some reason these other parts I dont know where they came from.

But yeah, Renthal is making their way back to the biking scene. They are making MTB bars and stems, and sponsor a couple of the current top DH racers. I think they are also back into BMX with chainrings for now. I do know that when I first got the bars I was aware of Renthal's MX background, and that these bars were basically like their MX bars, but made for bicycles.

I have seen a set of renthal bmx bars on pics of a new british bmx at a bike show recently so they may be selling them again and I have seen the chainrings about for a while now, very mx sprocket influenced design.