I posted this over in another forum, so I am sure that many of you have seen it, but for those of you who haven't, I will copy here too..

Well, I received a surprise gift today from my father. My JMC is back..sort of. I bought this bike used when I was about 10 years old and living in Florida for $100. I raced at the track in Coral Springs. When I was 12, we moved to Ohio, and there wasn't much of a bmx racing scene here, and I lost interest and sold the bike to my cousin for $125. It was in very nice shape; candy apple red frame with Maxy Cross cranks, new Araya rims, Tange forks, Pro Neck stem, KKT Lightning pedals, blue Dia Compe brakes, etc. A year or so after I sold it to my cousin, I heard that it was stolen out of his front yard, oh well, I was driving then, and didn't care much. Well, 25 years later, I got into bmx restoration and acquired a couple of bikes. I was kicking myself for ever getting rid of the JMC as you can all imagine, and I'm sure you have all been there. I assumed that my cousin never saw the bike again..wrong. My dad saw my cousin today and mentioned the bike, and my cousin tells him that the police had gotten it back for him, and it was sitting in his attic. My dad purchased it back from my cousin, and gave it to me tonight, very cool. When I first saw it, I figured that he found this old JMC at a yard sale, because it didn't look anything like my bike, it is black now, the seat post is broken off in the tube and the downtube has been cracked and has a crappy reweld job. The more I looked, I saw some familiar parts, and realized it was mine. Anyway, sorry for the long story, but it is a good one. I figured I would start my story here, and hopefully I can get it repaired and get some new parts over the following years. The number by the rear dropout is 4287. I have seen others who have gotten information from the Jim Melton about their bikes, and I am hoping to do the same. I do not know what year it is, but I can submit the bike pics to the website, and edit later I guess. Thanks in advance for any help you all can give.

Update: I was told that Rod Miles does excellent work, and could possibly help me. I do not have contact information for him, but if someone knows him or is contact with him, please direct him my way. I was also informed that this bike is probably a 1980 short, standard frame. I emailed Jim Melton, and hopefully he can get me a certificate or some history on the frame.






















It had a blue Uni seat on it, so I am assuming that is what I am seeing crammed down in the seat post tube. I have no idea how to get that out. The bars that are on it now are CW bars, which I did not have on there when I owned it. The brakes are also different now. I had blue Dia-Compe brakes. It's a shame to see that it was so beaten up, but at least I have it back.

Rod'z Repair - click on his site sponsor logo to the right >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

That is an awesome story, you have quite a gem there and better yet it is yours again!

It would definetly be worth putting that thing back on its feet again. All is not lost with that seat post issue, it can definetly be extracted. Because of the personal attachment to your bike I COMMAND YOU TO REBUILD IT!

Thanks again for sharing and good luck!

Thanks Paul, I sent Rod Miles an email, and I am trying to get the ball rolling on this one. I will possibly try and extract the broken seat post, strip the paint and clean it up. Hopefully Rod will have some time to take on this project. I will have to do a search for replacement parts. Ebay is the only source I am familiar with at this time. The JMC bmx website does not seem to be loading for me. I heard that you can get replacement stickers there.

Wanna sell it?

Just messin' with ya

Great story and even better that the old girl is back in your hands. Lot of potential there. Not only can you get info from Jim on original date of dispatch and purchaser, colour and bike shop, but you can purchase a genuine JMC certificate for your frame with those details too. If only all BMX manufacturers retained Jim's dedication to their product and its history...

Cool story - man if only I could get my DG back. Starting to drive and chasing girls sounds familiar. Then I caught one and I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with her ever since. Like I said – I wish I could get my old DG back.

Jim Melton is actually selling the JMC stickersets on Ebay now. Type in JMC and his Ebay name is bmxjim or something similar.

If that is the fiberglass Uni seatpost you can take a hammer and screwdriver and actually chisel it away slowly and carefully. Since it's fiberglass it will "shred" into pieces. I'm not saying it will be easy, but I've done it before.

Were all of the classic looking Uni one piece seat/seatposts made of fiberglass? The mangled mess that I see is actually metal, so maybe the seat was switched out too after it was stolen. I see some blue down in there, and the Uni seatpost and seat that were on it were blue, so I was just assuming it was the remains of the Uni, but it could be something else. It would really take some serious effort to turn what I used to own into what I see now. It surprises me that they even went through the trouble of repairing the cracked down tube. I have seen those sticker sets you are describing on ebay. That is great that they are available, and Jim is really a great guy for all that he has given to the bmx community.

what a bittersweet moment given the condition it is in but amazing to have it back in your hands after all the years i am sure. very cool.

Great story !

good luck with the resto !

Just got an email from Mr. Melton:

"Hi Scott,
4287 was a red 1981 JMC Short Standard frame with a European bottom bracket. It was sold to Mr. Moped Cycle Shop 1/13/1981. I don't remember where they were located. Here is a link to where you may get it repaired.
http://vintagebmx.com/rodmiles.htm Thanks and may God bless you.

Jim Melton"

That's Jim for you. What a legend.

Updated photos.
Looks like they burned through the tubing when they welded.

what a cool story, glad to hear its back in the hands of the rightful owner. it will be fun to see the project progress, good luck with that. oh my those welds are N-A-S-T-Y, looks like something i would have welded together LOL. and yes Rod is the man!!

I hope the broken seat post apple cored the guy who stole it's yang hole!

The frame is done

What a great story. I saw some of seracingmans work at Rockford, dude is the man, you wont be disappointed. Post some more pics of the mans work.

Tim (SERacingman) is going to send me some pics of the frame tonight before it goes to the powder-coater. He is going to do the dropouts and fix some minor dings too. It is great to have someone like Tim involved in BMX restoration.

Here's a picture of me and the bike B.I.T.D. after coming in 2nd or 3rd at the Coral Springs BMX track. I changed some parts on it after this photo was taken. I got the blue Araya's it has now and a Pro Neck stem. I still need to find a set of (expert) bars, rear brakes and lever, seat and post (13/16") and tires. For trade I've got a set of CW mustache bars (on bike in top pic), white MX1000 brakes, cable and lever (on bike in top pic), NOS blue driver side Tourney crank arm and sprocket.

Here's the miracle performed by SERacingman...







He replaced the headtube, and was able to repair the downtube. Next episode will be the red powder coat. Thanks Tim!

MAN that dude can repair!!!!!!!!

Here it is back from powdercoat. I just want to thank Tim again. He did a lot of awesome work at a reasonable price.





















Now, on to building her back up.....pics to follow, although I need to find a lot of parts.
Blue Uni seat, some 26" x 8-9" bars, Shimano euro bottom bracket, blue comp tires, sugino chainring bolts, kkt or similar pedals......

Fantastic story and an excellent restoration. I hope my restoration of my childhood bike will come out just as well. Thanks for all the pictures too and good luck with the rest.

SMcGILL that frame looks like its brand new, again what a great story, and excellent resto, I cant wait to see that baby finished.

Great story, great contribution by Jim, great repair work and a great end result.
Is that too many "greats"?

I think not. The documentation that you've done is quite literally inspirational.
The efforts by all involved is also inspiring.

great read and I'll look forward to the next chapter.

Thanks for sharing.

I just got it put back together tonight. Here's a quick pic (my camera batteries died after the first shot). It is late, but I will get better pics up soon.

What can I say man. A great story and a miracle performed by SERacingman. The bike looks absolutely STUNNING!

Wow, what an awesome restore. That is some great repair work. Really cool story that bike could tell I'm sure.

Peace

That's an awesome story!!! I got the bug to find or build my childhood race bike a few months ago. I'm not sure where the urge came from, maybe it's my mid life crisis...........lol

Man I never tire of reading this story and seeing the outcome, thanks cward for digging it up again for me to read.

seracingman frame repairs is now theframedoc.com. Check it out on the side of the screen-------->

Great story - thanks for sharing. The restoration job is amazing. But the frame looks a bit small for you now.

More pictures of the bike as well as any riding ones?

Great story...congrats on getting it back. I got mine back after 20+ years too, and there is no feeling like it.

Great story. Thanks for sharing it!
What a beautiful bike!!!

Great to hear you got her back. When I saw the first pics with the gnarled up booger weld, I had had a tear well up, like the Indian fellow in the littering commercials. Looks great now.