After months and months and months of not building anything, I finally got motivated to build a few little toys today.
I have picked up a few things recently, but nothing major. The parts used to build these were pretty much just hanging around my house.

I started out with a pile of stuff......


And moved onto project #1, a 1981/82 GT "frankencruiser". I bought this from Ken Pliska awhile ago, he said he thought the origin on it was maybe a factory experiment, he thought it was actually a GT 26" that was cut down to fit a 24 inch wheel and had 24" forks added to it. The rear triangle has been modified, I will get some pics of that tomorrow.


I built this with something I don't use a lot of....one piece cranks. I actually like the way it turned out. Cranks are SR tubulars, 175mm, with Shimano SX pedals and Tioga BB. Chainring is a Petes Precision.

Here is the nicest part of this bike...the wheels. Black GT hubs, black Arayas, black spokes. Very cool.


Can't forget the GT cruiser bars or Oakleys, with a Tuf Neck and GT repop pads...


Since it was cold in the dungeon, I built these in MANTOWN. Luckily, the rugs are going bye bye soon.

Next up was a Torker 24, frame oand fork from Bill Ryan, Flights from Mr. Pliska.....


Hot Flights with Techmatic BB... I didn't have a small Flight sprocket around, so until I get one, the gold disc and Petes Sprocket will have to do....


Gotta have a Torker stem on a Torker build....again, courtesy of Mr. Pliska.....bars are KOS bars, my buddy MCAM is sending me a set of Torker cruiser bars for this beast. Grips are A'mes.


Wheels are Campy hubs with Ambrosio rims....


Thats all for now...I am going to do some pics of them this weekend when its light out....

Wow, Tom both are nice! And yes, that Torker will look nice with Torker bars

And VERY tasty GT wheels! I'm liking those A LOT! Nothing wrong with one piece cranks. No bolts to come loose!

Lovin the Torker, looks awesome.

Excellent builds, but Cash help me out here.

You bought all those excellent parts, then let them sit? Not directd at just Tom, but do you buy as an investment?

Seriusoly cool builds. But from afar, I wonder what all this cash could be in your retirement account.

Cash - What could you turn $1.5k into 25 years (assuming ave age is 40) from now?

Great bikes, flame me. Sorry for the side track.

No way, you have a FRIED & ROY poster.

Keep that sucker.

Sorry!

If you have the chance have the 24" stem inverted. Not stock off the floor but how most racers had them on 24's.

Beautiful Builds Tom!

Just Beautiful!

Ben, I'll bet that many of our VintageBMX "investments" have actually outperformed many of our short term (less than 18 months) retirement investments and all of our long term investments so long as we buy/sell at the correct times and do so in moderation.

Back to Tom's new builds...... I love 'em!

I dig the 26 into 24 frame! Great builds. I side tracked.

I'll hit the good stuff 1st....the Siegfried and Roy poster...

My stepdad was a magician. He did it for many, many years, and would go to all the conventions and actually knew Sigfriend and Roy fairly well. When he died in '96, we actually got a card from them after about 6 months because they heard thru the magicians gossip circled he had passed away. Whenever they would go to Vegas in the 70's and 80's they would inevitably end up at the Queens house with a bunch of other magicians after one of their shows. In fact, I have pics around here somewhere of my mom with a rockin' 70's hairdo holding one of the baby white tigers they breed and keep at their house. The poster is actually from their Frontiers days, and is signed to my stepdad from them. I also have some other promo type pics they signed too, along with a personalized Copperfield poster from when he made the statue of liberty disappear. Its really cool stuff.

If anyone is into magic,I have boxes and boxes and boxes of tricks and magic stuff. I know nothing about it!

Now Bens very valid point....NO FLAMING HERE!!

"Excellent builds, but Cash help me out here.

You bought all those excellent parts, then let them sit? Not directd at just Tom, but do you buy as an investment?

Seriusoly cool builds. But from afar, I wonder what all this cash could be in your retirement account.

Cash - What could you turn $1.5k into 25 years (assuming ave age is 40) from now?

Great bikes, flame me. Sorry for the side track."

You have some seriously good points here, Ben.

When I started collecting/selling/buying in June of 2003, I started with $250.00. Since then, I literally have only had to really touch my "real" account maybe twice to purchase any vintage stuff. All the rest has come from my "hobby" account. I buy a lot of stuff thru various methods. Since starting out, my $250 investment has turned into a upper middle five figure return if I count all the other stuff I have purchased and profitted on, my current collection and parts inventory, and other stuff I have bought for my other hobbies- photography, etc. I would say that $250 has FAR outperformed the stock market or any other investment on a dollar to dollar ratio. I have used hobby money to buy non hobby stuff, so that saves me from taking my paycheck cash out to get things. I put a good sized down payment on my truck from hobby money, and also put some money towards the down payment of my house from hobby money.

When I got my huge Nomura score a few years ago, I paid $350 for it. Once it was all said and done, that stuff sold for well over $5,000. Solid return.

I guess I am an investor and collector and business idiot- the Torker 24 I just got, I paid a LOT for. I would have never dreamed of spending what I did on that frame a few years ago. But, I really wanted to see that sucker built, and I love Torkers, so, I got it. I would drop serious coin on a JMC 24", just because I want one. Thats the collector. If someone came to me with a truck full of parts and said I want $10000 for it, and I knew I could move it over a year or so for $30,000, thats the investor and collector, because inevitably I would keep some for my builds.

When i am buying big dollar stuff now, its because its something I really want, or I have a vision for. I bought the black GT wheels on the bay because I saw that 26/24 build in my mind, and thought that would be an awesome, different thing to have. I bought that frame ages ago from Ken. I have just been quite lazy and/or busy to get my hands dirty again and build them.

Don't get me wrong- I am sitting on quite a bit of cash right now in terms of vintage stuff, and would actually be quite happy to sell most of it because I am looking to buy a piece of land here in NH, but even if I don't, vintage bmx has been a great investment for me.

[ April 07, 2007, 08:15 AM: Message edited by: NFR5111 ]

Very nice builds....it's great to see a pile of parts just come to life like that..Nice job!

Very nice Tom.

Ben, assuming a 7% annual return without any tax obligations or further principal additions, the future value of $1,500.00 is $8,141.15.

hehe.

Tom,

Have you put the bars on the Torker yet?

If not, get'em on!