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The Apocalypse Now Build 1983 Quadangle - Hearts Of Darkness -Now in Full Technicolor

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factory pilot:






At 15 months and counting this build really is my journey into the Heart of Darkness....

And so we begin with a flashback to April last year when during a visit to Joffy's I saw this and fell in love with it..



This bike had been dibbed by a friend and I thought nothing of it...
A few days later I found out he had backed out of the deal .. I joked to my girlfriend Jo about the Quad and how she could buy it for me as a Christmas present and to my surprise she said I could have it if I really wanted it .. I was gobsmacked and ofcourse bit her hand off!!!



The bike wasn't original paint and had a hairline crack which I could have left but I always want my builds to be right so thanks to Andy DTTDB the frame was sent to Geoff Haslam Welding in Warrington to be repaired... He did an amazing job and he was really reasonable too...







I then started to research 83 Quads and what parts came as spec both in the U.S. an UK..

U.S.
Action Bike Review





UK
BMX BI-Weekly




( thanks Torkerdude Tony Lee for the lend of the mag!)

It was hard deciding what to do and I didn't want to be restricted by a 100% factory spec bike as I'd done that already with my 85 Haro Master.
Quads came with a huge variety of parts and even those sold by Shiners never matched the one reviewed in the UK magazine.
I wanted the bike to be sympathetic to those SE bikes but I decided that I'd either pick parts from either of the two bikes reviewed or I'd upgrade if possible to make this a really Bitchen 83 Race bike with every part era correct. To keep this interesting on a personal level I decided to get parts I'd never bought before but the brief was it must be 83 era correct at all costs.

They first part I decided to get was Oakley .5s in black ... (Nightmare ... Why oh why ?!!)

I love my Oakleys and these came on both 83 and 84 Quads in the States so I began my search ...
Now I'm a teacher and paying £300 for a pair of grips wasn't happening so I read an old thread on rad about dying these suckas... RESULT! I thought .. How wrong could I have been!!!!
I managed to get a NOS pair in yellow at a very reasonable price from Rich Devilock and phoned up the boys for a night of BMX chat and grip dying...

To be fair we had a great night round at Joffy's but those bastard grips weren't budging and ended up ruined ...

I don't think those muffins helped the process ... Tony's idea I think ...









I don't think the Gucci perfume helped either...

We ( thanks Andy ) tried again on 3 other occasions but these suckers were ruined and not yellow or black anymore!

I can't believe I've not even got round to mentioning any parts for this build yet! 

Part 2 of this insane build thread coming soon ...
Y'all come back now ye'hear !!

deeman:
Eagerly awaiting Pt2 Ant!! been waiting for this for ages!!  :daumenhoch:

factory pilot:
Saving all the good stuff for parts 2,3,4 and 5 Damo!
 ::) Just kidding .. :LolLolLolLol: I'm awaiting a coupla bits for the final build .. It feels like this will never be done but the end is in sight ...
A combination of parts hunting and saving ( all part of the fun ) has meant this build has seemingly taken forever ..
This Quad is definitely like my baby ... Not my last build but my last epic build for sure .. It's definitely been emotional and s roller coaster ride so far :daumenhoch:

Part 2 coming as soon as I can photo all the lovely mint and  NOS parts I've collected so far  fistblump

Bigfrawg:
I do like a black quad  :smitten:  my old one

Retrodan72:
Sexy frame set that is Ant. Can't wait for the next instalments.  explosion

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