Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration
1985 GJS Freestyler
AKGOFF:
Stunning build so far Andy and can't wait to see it finished.
I Always wanted a GJS Freestyler but never found one, square stays are much cooler too.
Adam
BMX1973:
This is great. :) I love seeing different stuff. :) I too can't wait to see it finished. :daumenhoch:
dancetothedrummersbeat:
Part 3
I did briefly think about fitting Redline 400 or 401 cranks, but decided on a set of Bullseye gen 2's as they are my favourite cranks. I picked these up on ebay, and they were in a terrible state. Original paint almost completely peeled off with pretty bad surface rust (no photos unfortunately). After a lot of sanding and polishing to get them prepped, Leigh metal polishers did an excellent job of re-chroming them. The decals were NOS from bmx museum
I got the powerdisc from Lee nitrohopper. It had been anodised? in matt black. I tried to strip it using oven pride and then caustic soda, but with no luck. I sent it down to Hockley chrome in Southend, and they managed to strip it with some difficulty and then re-chrome it. It's turned out great - Thanks Lee & the team at Hockley.
I wanted to keep to my favourite crank & chain ring combination, so bought this NOS Pro Neck chain ring
NOS Campagnolo chain ring bolts
The shot gun II seat was NOS from bmx museum
and I had these Elina PDNP seat guts on another shot gun seat i'd bought a while back. A quick polish and they've come up a treat
Seat post is Hutch and was bought as NOS, although I think it's been re-chromed at some point. Lovely finish to it though
I was given a white Hutch seat clamp as part of the deal on the frame & forks. I stripped it and had it re-chromed at Hockley
Ant factory pilot suggested that for brakes I should use something else instead of MX 900/1000's, and he suggested 880's as they would be bang on era correct for a 1985 build. The word must have got round that I was looking for some, and I got an email from Del offering me a set. They were in great condition but white, so I got the oven pride out, stripped them and gave them a polish. They came out looking great in no time
For levers I was going to stick with trusty tech 3's, but again ant said that tech 4's were the lever to have in '85. He was right of course. He kindly gave me a set of mint '85 levers that had been fitted to his Aero Reflex. The levers had been NOS prior to them being fitted. The only issue was that they were white, so it was out with the oven pride and polishing mop again
For brake pads, I wanted something a bit different to the standard dia compe/tuff pad option. I put up a wanted ad for some Mathauser finned pads, and one kind chap said he had a scabby pair that I could have for free. I thought he was being far too generous, so I sent him $50 to cover shipping from the US and to say thanks. They were structurally sound but absolutely filthy
but with a LOT of time and effort, they've scrubbed up really well
The original plan was to use pink dia compe cables. Trying to find any dated 1985 was a big challenge. I had a few NOS '86 ones, and everyone else only seemed to have '86's and later. There was some doubt that they were even available in pink in '85.... I was beginning to despair, but then WINI came up trumps. Thanks Mark!
Unfortunately, the issues with the frame colour and trying to get things to match meant that the frame ended up being a few shades darker than dia compe pink. The colours did actually go pretty well together, but I wanted to keep this build as clean as possible so I had a change of mind and decided on silver cables instead. I found these beauties dated 1985 on US ebay
NOS dia compe clips and spindle ends
I still have a few parts to sort out. Am waiting on a bolt for the stem, and the grips to arrive from the US. Part 4 to follow, plus the completed build with parts list....
insectbones:
This is shaping up to be a stunning build Andy :daumenhoch:
deeman:
Pure niceness Andy! I reckon you should paint the stamps on the calipers pink....like the RL20 II's :daumenhoch:
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