Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration
The mystery Kink. Mystery solved...
Midschoolfool:
OK so you are probably wondering why I am stupid enough to build yet another bike. Fear not, this will be the cheapest yet. Mostly as I am going to use up a ton of parts I have lying around. OK, so why am I building another bike? winter beater. Sorta. I ride a Metal Kizz. 2019 Go Fast one. It was hella expensive and every time I ride it I worry about scratching it denting it etc. Which, usually stops me riding all winter. Mostly as I don't want to get it soaking wet and go rusty etc. I initially built the Cam Wood with intentions of thrashing it, but well we all know how that went :LolLolLolLol: MONEY PIT COUGH.
For ages now I have been on the lookout for a Kink. Always wanted one, right from the mid 90s Revision B and Empire. The last Empire that turned up on Ebay was listed at 500 Euro. It didn't sell. Always fancied building one though. I knew it would probably have to be a newer school Kink. This I didn't mind, as they have made a couple of really nice looking frames. One I had my eye on was the Kink Liberty, which has the Brooklyn Bridge as its brake bridge thing.
You can't see it very well but it's hella cool. Then, right before the CW came up I almost pushed the button on a Titan II (haha, push the button, Titan II etc). Problem is I wanted it in the mute lemon colour that literally makes it look like a fookin rocket.
Sadly every single colour was on sale for 220 quid APART FROM THAT ONE. Grr. That one was RRP 350 quid. Any way, I have sold a good chunk of parts recently. It's not so much the money from those parts that inspired this though, it was because I scored big time. So about two days ago I search for "Kink BMX" on Ebay as I often do, hoping some nutter doesn't know he has a very rare bike. Like that will ever happen right :LolLolLolLol: what I do come across however, is this.
It was listed as a "Kink 457 frame". Googled it, nothing. Went through Kink's archives, nothing. Now I expected this to be about 10 years old due to the welded on lugs. That was where I went wrong. In the end after hours of searching I finally deciphered that what I was about to make an offer on was actually a 2020 Kink Whip XL. This is a complete bike, costing 525 quid. The reason it costs that much is because it's a full 4130 frame. So, with that learned I made an offer and it was accepted. It was reaaaaaally cheeky. And I scored.
So, being that it's a new school ride that means stickers are 1. Easy to get and 2. Fookin cheap. Both of those applied, these cost me a fiver.
So, the "part bin special" idea was made. I will buy as absolutely little as I can possibly get away with in order to build this into a rider. The funny thing is I have some really lovely high end parts for it. Starting with these bars.
Levers have sold and packed and I won't use those grips or the stem. I will be using this stem.
I have the headset from the Haro left over. Seat I will be using either the Witch Doctor or the Bone Deth Vibrator. I have a 200mm Cult pivotal post. Forgot to list it for sale, but it just saved me from removing it from sale :LolLolLolLol:
Wheels. Ah, the "pucker up butter cup" part. That usually makes the anus sting. Thankfully that part should be painless. I have two sets of these wheels.
One had the decals pulled off and were used on the Fatboy. The other set are on my Quadangle. However, whilst the rims themselves are brand new and they have stainless spokes and gold nipples the hubs are total shit. Steel, loose bearing etc. They really are awful. I only put them on the Quad because I used the wheels off it and it needed wheels. However, I can put my Alex Y22s on that as it's 14mm front and rear. So I got rims, spokes and nipples. I have the hub I pulled out of the Stolen Revolver wheel recently (to lace up freewheel for the 2hip)
9t 14mm sealed. So that is the rear hub sorted. Literally as I am typing this I just had an offer of 14 quid accepted for this.
So that's the wheels sorted :LolLolLolLol: for the fork I will use my Primo Kamikaze V2.
Got those cheap recently. I then thought about colour. It was either original Empire red of sorts.
Or the dark magenta used on the Revision B. So, I popped downstairs, had a look in the paint bin and....
One is half full, the other new. So red it is :LolLolLolLol: Got primer got all of the other stuff needed. For the brake I have a Mission Cease V2. This is a Kink part.
Mission is Kink. It's the brand they use for their cheaper stuff. That said it's a bloody good brake.
ETA? no idea. I do want it done before the weather turns shit though.
Midschoolfool:
Wow. Life never ceases to amaze me, nor does human kindness. So I posted a pic of Matt's Empire. It's stunning. I remembered he had decals made for it. My fave decals ever. Why? because if you look closely NYC is in the background, and specifically the Brooklyn Bridge.
But that's a Kink Empire and I do not have one of those. Ah. See, I did some more poking last night and it seems they made a new school Empire in 2012. The Revision C.
Which is pretty much identical to the Whip, only the whip has a gusset. Which got me thinking, then down the rabbit hole.. Until !
Remember when I said it's not about money and the cheapest bikes can be the most fun? see also this bike.
Midschoolfool:
OK. So finally the yucky part. Spending money :LolLolLolLol: Something I really did not want to do. However. I did need a few parts. I robbed the hub of its 17mm nuts (will explain this in a bit) and put 19mm on there. I also only had either green, aqua, duck egg or brown grips (eww). So I did spend some money. However, I went straight to CR's bargain bin clearout bit. Grips, Proper. Cost me 4 quid.
I wasn't going to use the stainless bars. I have a set of Vocal Neptune in black. However, they are really cut down. I will cut the Tierras a bit, but not full mid school like the Vocal. I found a Tektro brake lever too, so no spending there. OK, so wheel nuts. Some 14mm axle nuts are 19mm. With large grip flanges to bite onto the frame. Sadly these do not fit in pegs. And, I needed a set for when I finish the Morales. I don't have any more 17mm. So, I got these. 4 quid.
Always a nice, cheap addition. I will be using Gsport Van pegs (steel) so these are important. Then it was pedals. I stripped out all of the cheap ones I had experimenting, and couldn't be bothered to put them back together so I binned them. That only left me two options. Brown, or white. Neither would look good. So I started looking for red plastic pedals, but the only ones that are truly red are ODY and they are ?25. For the same price I found these (there must have been a drop recently).
Which are perfect. And, I didn't pay the ridiculous money people want when Primo don't make any.
Total spend on all parts with shipping was 38 quid.
Mikku:
What would this site do without your builds? God knows what we're going to do when you finally stop building!! :bow:
Midschoolfool:
Hah you will all need to take the baton and run. Build moar bikes lol.
I should be OK. I reckon I will strip down at least one more.
As I mentioned before after that it'll just be frames. I do need this bike though. I really don't want to trash the Metal. There's only about 40 that exist.
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