Hey guys, I was away for awhile but couldn't stay away completely. Code Blue actually kind of forced me back into a build and I am hooked again!!!! He actually called me up one night and told me he had something for me. Boy was I surprised!! For some unknown reason he gave me this FMF Frame!!! All I had to do was show up!!!! The frame had some nicks and undesireable scratches on it so he commisioned Johnny Severin to do the touch ups on it. When I picked up the frame it had a fresh polish job on it. I was going to anodixe it but there are quite a few of them that are colored so I decided to go with the other option that FMF offered and had it Burnished. I am almost done collecting the parts to complete her and let my boys take her for a spin!!!!! I just wanted to share with everyone and let them know what great friends I am fortunate to have!!! Thanks to the Johnny's!!!!!

GASP...what is that funny looking round thing with the hole in it towards the top left?
I guess free FMF's are the flavor of the month!!!

[ June 02, 2006, 10:11 PM: Message edited by: Jeff V ]

Jeff, that is a factory brake bridge. When Code Blue got the frame it was spray painted black and it still had the original fmf stickers that were destroyed by the paint!!!!

[ June 02, 2006, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: larock ]

Cool...that thing sure is pretty....

bling!! bling!!

YET another Bastain oddity. FMF "suppossedly" nver had a welded in bridge. It would have been fun to work there. Imagine what Frankenstein bike you could have made. FMF JU6, Race Inc Ripper, ;o)

Pretty frame. Nice of John to pass it on!

I think I'm in love.

Ben, John has another with a brakebridge original gold color and he had another the same way. Thanks for the kind words!

Welcome back Willy, that FMF is sick, now git er done! lol

Jumpin' back in with a bang. Way to shake the boys up Larock. You have to keep these guys on their toes or they get lazy. LOL!!!!

Willy, can't tell you how stoked I am for you bro.
I can honestly say it was the least I could do.
I'm glad that the frame finally landed in your hands.

I can't begin to tell ya'll the things we did as teens growing up without sounding like a name dropping/ reminiscing bragger. But because of him, his wife & others just like them, they included me in experiences & situations that'll last a lifetime.

That bead job just came out awesome and I can't wait to see the finished project as it's gonna be pimp.

Big thanks to Johnny Severin for breathing life into this frame. The frame would have been stuck in my garage without him.

Btw, I'll share the before and after pics of the strip job when I get the chance to pull and post them up.

Glad I kept the pics

When did this frame come out? Who knows..... I know I've never seen any material concerning a brakebridge on a FMF and I've seen no pics either. I've spoken to a couple of dozen oldschool racers who say some did, but that's second hand info and subject to memory (which we all know can be fuzzy after 30 years of beer consumption and drug use.)

The frameset Willy showed has no serial #'s, has the diamond dropouts, original hole in the gussett but has the brakebridge!

Does this make it a Laguna GT, Race Inc or FMF? Well since it has the hole in the gussett we can pretty much rule out Race Inc (it was original as it had the original anno present in the hole and not an after the fact job).

I figure the only difference between a Laguna GT and a Race Inc would be the stickers (fyi, I'm not sure if the GT's came with a brakebridge either perhaps someone can elaborate).

Here is the before pics....... painted with thick heavy black paint, in some areas over the stickers (downtube stickers were under the paint as was the rear gussett sticky)!

Here are some after pics:

Note the sticker shadows (headtube, downtube and rear gussett) and anno in the gussett hole.








[ June 03, 2006, 02:57 AM: Message edited by: Code Blue ]

Thanks for the pics Johnny! I just remember seeing it hanging in the shop for years!!

This setup had a small crack at the 7 O'clock position from the opening in the frame gussett (see after pics #4) to the outer edge of the gussett (I've seen that same crack on 3 other aluminum FMF's). Typical tweak job at the seatpost clamp area.

Btw, Some of the fellas who frequent the boards here saw and handled the frameset in person at one of the Swap shows in So-Cal before it was repaired and polished.

Sticker shadows indicate FMF shape and style (see rear gussett, downtube-team replica shaped, headtube) all pointing towards FMF again.

Original stickers could not be salvaged at all, areas where I was able to get the paint up off of the original sticker there was no image to salvage.

I've seen a FMF with a solid gussett (no hole) at bmxmuseum.com, Race Inc without a brakebridge and diamond dropouts, PK's with Diamond dropouts and PK's stickered Race Inc, Round toptube PKs and now I've seen 2 FMF's with a brake bridge.

Bill B. you sure were all over the place.

I'm thinking that it happened towards the end of the run of FMF. Kids were starting to utilize freewheels and handbrakes, aftermarket companies were making brakebridges for FMF (as well as Mongoose & others)..... what prevented them from adding a simple piece of tube?

oooooh.... shiny! That's an amazing difference between before and after! I'm sure it is going to look great when its finished!

That is a very good looking bike, the burnished
looks awesome.
I was an FMF fan for years after seeing a burnished
frame at the Bicycle Inn in Dallas back in the mid 70's.
It was beyond belief how high tech that bike looked back then. (This was in the days when chrome frames seemed exotic) After all these years I've seen fewer original burnished than red or gold.
I think Jeff V. (Shinglehead) had one.

[ June 03, 2006, 10:48 PM: Message edited by: stratbike ]

Jeff, that is why I burnished mine. I know of a few reds and one gold. Wish it was the original finish but can't complain about a gift!!