Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration
UBRI : Ultra Burner, Re-Imagined.
Midschoolfool:
Yup you saw that right, I am going to build an old bike :LolLolLolLol:
When I thought back to my childhood I remembered the good times. Like my TRM and its inner knee bashing width. And my pristine Z-rims that I managed never to flex in two years and then a pikey grabbed my bike and killed both of them in about two minutes.
However, I rode on. When every one ditched BMXs in the early 90s I bought a mountain bike, rode it down a railway bridge and snapped the rear deralier (sic) clean off. So I got another BMX and rode until I was 17 then got a moped. Few crashes later and I was back on a BMX in around 1996. Because of this I have far more fond memories of riding mid school on bikes that could take a beating, as well as the added bonus of pretty much being a full grown adult and thus able to perform lots of things I could not as a kid. I was a very small kid, then shot up to 5'10 in my teens.
So yeah, I am a mid school boy. I even like a bit of new school, providing it's moving technology on. So it's no surprise I really didn't have any plans to build a Burner at all. Then I remembered the year they came out (before the U.S invasion of real BMXs) and I got a warm fuzzy feeling thinking about the Ultra Burner. That Christmas my brother got a Burner in red and yellow (it was stolen about three weeks after :( ) and I got a BMX so shit that nobody stole it. It had a cotter pin crank on it it was that bad, so I was always whacking the pins back in.
So yeah, I kind of fancied an Ultra Burner, but in my way. I watched a F&F on Ebay for a few weeks but it was expensive. About £150 IIRC. In the end I bartered with the seller and managed to get it to my door for £125. This was F&F and headset. I was happy enough with that. This is it here.
The head badge was still on, though very beaten and battered. The right side of the beak was kinked over but after about an hour of very carefully removing the rivets etc I managed to rescue it, straighten it up a bit, give it a light clean and then clear coated it.
That is one part of the bike I wanted to keep original and ratty. I even clear coated some of the dirt in, just as a holler back to the old days. I have ordered some pins.
So I can put it back on properly. OK, so the plan. This is the part where all of the purists go -
I thought about what to do for quite a while actually. I started looking for parts and soon the laughter began. This is a Burner, FFS. £100 for a battered old faded seat. £160 for a clean stem. £350 for a set of Arayas. etc. Some of the parts were not even out there. So, I decided to build it how I wanted it without giving a crap. If you want to pull some one's head off for ruining an original Burner take it up with the guy who bought it as a survivor and then saw the dollar signs and broke it up for sale as parts..
OK, so the idea was "Original or better". Bear in mind when my brain gets all nostalgic and thinks about BMX parts it does it from the inception to now. When I say better I mean things like deep walled double skinned wheels and so on. All of the things that made BMX better. I wanted them to look somewhat original or close, but the idea of building a NOS Burner ended when I saw the prices. Like I said, this wasn't ever really a good bike and it isn't now. It was soon demolished by the Mongoose, GT and so on. You know? the bikes that people actually restore. Burners are nostalgic, for good reasons, but not good bikes. So I also knew I was never going to ride it because it's heavy and far too short. I have bikes for riding already (three of them) so I don't need another.
So I decided that as I had already had a black UB in 1991 (friend gave me the F&F) that I would try and get as close to this as possible.
Or even better, with all of the parts I would have wanted to replace over the years. So I chose some alu bars with beautiful welds. The V is lower than original but they look gorgeous.
Mirage Suntour replica.
A real, proper seat clamp.
Decals.
Clone chain ring.
Full MX brake set up
Seat
Tioga Max Flo FC2 silver on silver (it just looks gold in the pic)
170mm crank arms, just in case I do decide to ever ride it
BB
Double trap 80s pedals.
Eclat grips.
So basically here is where I am at.
Still waiting on a few parts to arrive but mostly there. Frame goes in for powder end of next week :)
Mikku:
Whilst I acknowledge and (now) appreciate the impact that Burners had on British BMX, I'm not and never was a fan of them (Aero Burners aside) but I do like a good build thread and am interested to see how this turns out! :daumenhoch:
Midschoolfool:
Thanks. Yeah, Raleigh had their scouts out there in the USA watching things very closely, rounded up a couple of well known bmx personalities (Ruffell for example) and then pounced.
I love the frame because it was made here on our soil in Nottingham and that means a lot to me but seriously £60 for a set of foam Viscount grips? Lmao gtf outta here.
I predict that this bike will cost me £600. That is all in padset the lot. Now that's a massive kick in the nuts but I could easily have spent three grand. On.A.Raleigh.Burner.
I could buy any bike for that much money ffs.
So yes I feel innocent of any major crime. It's the guys pulling what little there are of them left into bits and greed.
McQUEEN:
--- Quote from: Midschoolfool on October 18, 2017, 10:03 PM ---....So it's no surprise I really didn't have any plans to build a Burner at all. Then I remembered the year they came out (before the U.S invasion of real BMXs) and I got a warm fuzzy feeling thinking about the Ultra Burner.
--- End quote ---
I always thought the burners were a response from Raleigh AFTER the us invasion of real bmx's and Halfords Team Murray's knocked their Grifter and Chopper market??
Midschoolfool:
--- Quote from: McQUEEN on October 19, 2017, 07:21 AM ---
--- Quote from: Midschoolfool on October 18, 2017, 10:03 PM ---....So it's no surprise I really didn't have any plans to build a Burner at all. Then I remembered the year they came out (before the U.S invasion of real BMXs) and I got a warm fuzzy feeling thinking about the Ultra Burner.
--- End quote ---
I always thought the burners were a response from Raleigh AFTER the us invasion of real bmx's and Halfords Team Murray's knocked their Grifter and Chopper market??
--- End quote ---
Not exactly sure tbh. It was probably more of a mass market thing really. I mean I personally don't remember hearing about BMX until about three months before Christmas one year. Which would have been the first year of the MK1 Burner. I did watch a docu a few months back (I blame that really, that was what got me thinking lol) and it said Raleigh were first to market but then hey, lots of wrong info out there.
Mine was made December of 1983. I really got a laugh when I started mapping out tape so I could measure the decal positions so I get it spot on when they go back.. I think it must have been the Christmas party, because whoever put mine on was clearly drunk :D
Look at the bottom bracket then the decals on the down tube.
And then this one. Not only is it offset it's also pissed, leading me to believe the crank had been fitted already and was in the way.
Any considerations I had about keeping the very few original parts I had original soon evaporated when I looked closely.
The lower third of the forks are like 100% touch up paint. It's weird because above about half way and up on the bike the paint is spotless. The bearings had no wear, the headset bolt has never been touched (because the corners go and expose the copper under the chrome) and so on. I have a feeling this bike was used for a while and then thrown in a shed with other bikes (hence the damage to the lower fork, probably another bike's pedals) and then left there for a very long time.
It also had the original end caps in the forks in pretty incredible condition. I spent a while very carefully removing them.
The forks took a rusty dump all over the floor ffs. Any way, soaked them in vinegar for 24hrs.
And they came out perfect. Will clear coat the outer bottom parts before refitting them :)
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