Hey guys. 43 year-old VintageBMX newbie here. Just stopping in to say hey. I started riding BMX recreationally since '79 or '80, and even though life has pulled me in a million different directions since then, I've always been a BMX nut.

I found VintageBMX.com while searching for info on restoring my '83 Mongoose. I'd sorta resto-modded it about 10 years ago.......freshly laced blue Z-Rims, newer Mongoose decals, Redline layback seatpost, etc.

Anyway, my nephew has been riding the bike off and on since then with no regard for keeping the bike nice. It's seen some hard miles since I rebuild it. SO, now I'm doing a proper resto. Well, I am taking a few artist's liberties with it, but for the most part, it'll 'look' right. I just received my new repro Mongoose decals in the mail today from BMX Products. As a side note, my 13 year-old son Alex also received his new black Tuff Wheel IIs in the mail as well (birthday present). He's in the process of back-dating his '09 SE Quadangle. He's absolutely hooked on vintage BMX, and wants his bike to look the part. Meanwhile, I'm keeping my eye peeled for a true old school ride for him to tweak around on.

Glad I found you guys.

Mike

Welcome Mike,


I'm restoring a mongoose myself. Good luck with the build. Post some pictures of your progress.

Gidday Mike. Welcome aboard.
I'm in OZ and I've built a few geese and still have my 2 geese from 1982.
Feel free to document your build on here.
Oh I have a newschool Quad too and It runs black Tuffs also. Ya just gotta!

Congrations on being one of the few who managed to keep ahold of _your_ genuine oldskool ride from back in the day.


"Well, I am taking a few artist's liberties with it, but for the most part, it'll 'look' right."

Take as many artistic liberties as you want , by keeping a BMX that has evolved on & off over ~25year's you earn the right to restore it however you see fit.

Just don't turn your 'goose back into a sparkling clean NOS showroom stocker as your bikes "cool factor" will drop to Zero.

I hope you can post some pix of the bikes evolution over all these the years.

A tip from someone who found that his rear MX 1000's no longer stopped his old skool ride..
Dia Compe 990 brakes with a plate adaptor & properly dialled in will fix up any braking problems you may encounter nowdays

JB

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. I should have taken 'before' pics, but I just didn't think about it. Dang it.

Earlier today I broke the bike down into a pile of greasy, and somewhat rusty, bits. Most of them are still soaking in Castrol Super Clean. I'm installing brand new bearings in the neck and crank, so I won't be reusing the crusty old stuff. My son, Alex, and I just spend the tail end of this Halloween evening watching horror flicks, polishing the frame and putting on the new repro Mongoose decal set. WOW, this thing finally looks great.....again. The frame is certainly not perfect, but the chrome (yes, chrome) is in decent shape aside from a few nicks here and there, some surface rust deep between the gussets, but no dents, bends, etc.

A side note: Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish worked great on the Mongoose' chrome frame, but get this, I tried some Wieman Glass Cook Top Cleaner (along with a soft yellow Scotchbrite pad, guaranteed non-scratching - made specifically for ceramic/glass cook top stoves). The Weiman Polish can be purchased from Home Depot.

I just installed the brand new chrome plated Tioga MX-2 headset bearing cups in the frame's neck. What a difference a dash of fresh chrome makes!

Still looking for a set of original Mongoose forks.......currently running an old Tange set.....stamped 2H on the steerer tube. If you have a set of Mongoose forks you'd like to sell, please shoot me a line. Thanks!

I'll post some new pics soon.

Mike

JB, this 'goose has ALWAYS been a daily rider, so it'll continue to see occasional action. No pseudo showroom stockers here. Thanks for the tip on the 990s! The old brakes are toast, so I'll definitely be replacing them with something.

Mike

welcome. you're gonna have fun here.

FWIW the original set of Tange TRX forks I fit to my frame bitd held up _really_ well , ask Coasty what he thinks of earlier Tange & 'goose forks in general as far as strength goes.....
TRX forks seem to be either ignored or used by people who didn't break or regularly bend their bikes original forks bitd.


As for the 990 brake setup it was an interesting challenge/project to put together.
It became clear very early that mounting them on top of the brake bridge was not going to work , so I inverted them & got creative.




Avoid using brake cable inners as seen above , too much flex or stretch.


I found that a piece of bike chain has much less give than brake cable




These pix were taken during the construction , fitting , alignment & testing stagessssss...

There are pix of the clean end result taken by other people floating around the internet somewhere.....


JB

PS have a read or even just a look thru the Oxalic acid thread above if you want that old rusty chrome to shine again.