Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration
First Ever Build - Kuwahara Laserlite KZ-83
southern andy:
Rich, when you finally get that done mate that is gonna look so good. :4_17_5: You'll be glad you started it.
The coke/tin foil treatment works really well mate, then spend a few hours with the Autosol and condition wise it'll be a different frame.
Here's the link mate if you haven't already had a read.....
http://www.radbmx.co.uk/forum/index.php'topic=52096.0
Phil's ( sawzell) is only a few miles down the road from you aswell.
rhino_mac:
Update: OK, a couple of small updates, one is a new part, the other is that I've finally decided what to do with the frame in terms of restoration.
My new RH DC Tech 3 has arrived, courtesy of JT and in very lovely spanking NOS condition it is too! Thanks JT, I know how hard these are to come by!
Secondly, I've contacted Sawzall (Phil) today and had a chat about the frame. In my opinion, the chrome isn't in too bad a nick, but I don't like the rear dropouts one little bit. So having spoken to Phil today, he is very kindly going to restore tham by straightening them out, rewelding metal onto them and filing to shape. The only issue is that to reweld, the frame needs to be stripped right back. So it's decision made really, as to get the dropouts fixed, I will need to rechrome.
The plan is to contact Hampshire Electroplating in Hants next week and drop the frame off to them to have it stripped, drop it over to Phils and then once Phil has done his magic, whizz it back over to HEP and get them to chrome it up again. Phil says he's had a number of frames done there and they do a top job. I'm going to have the bars done at the same time I think so everything is brand spanking as I have NOS forks. I've got a fuill set of new decals from Del for the bike so these should look good on the new chrome.
So there it is, it would have been nice to have kept the original chrome, but the dropouts are a real let down so they've gotta be sorted. Means the build will take a little longer but I'm still trying to source parts anyway. I think after all this expense, I'm going to aim for a 100% faithful replica, rather than a 90% one and I'll be on the lookout for a cheaper rider to do some old school racing on - something like a Diamond Back or a Redline (always wanted one of those!)
Jt:
cant beat a lovingly restored bmx.
laserlite too 8)
ace
wildon:
Hey Richard, man i feel really bad about the problem you got with the rear dropout .. i only had the bike a couple of weeks and never really noticed ... here is a pic i took and it can't really be seen....
As for the foil and coke treatment .. i already done that ... as you can see the frame was in a lot worse state when i got it ... never ran the autosol over it though so maybe that'll bring it up a bit better ...
I got a set of 401's, half wrap with sealed bb, that i mentioned before in your other thread ... very nice chrome .. i wanted £200 but you can have them for £150 due to the work you gotta do on the frame... if thats what you're looking for. Let me know, cheers
rhino_mac:
Hi, thanks for the reply. Looks like you had to do some serious work to it to get it into the state it's in currently. How come you decided not to build the bike in the end?
I've tried the coke and tinfoil on it, but I guess that's just to remove the rust which you have done already. I was going to polish it to within an inch of its life, but that's not going to sort out the rear dropouts and it looks like the chrome had gone through around the bottom bracket.
So I'm just trying to work out whether to use Hampshire Electroplaters or someone else locally that has been recommended and I'll get it dechromed and over to Phil (Sawzall) by the end of the week (with luck) for him to work his magic on.
In terms of the cranks, thanks for the offer - they look great and are a very good price. I'm no expert, but from digging around, I think the half wraps are from late 80's to early 90's and as I am so stupidly over budget now on this build, I might as well really break the bank and hold out for a set of 400's to keep it eracorrect/original. I'm talking to Orangezippy about his at the moment and as soon as he PM's me some piccies, I'll make my mind up if I want to spend the bucks, given the frame rechrome is probably going to cost me now.
I was in a bit of a rush to finish the bike ready for the spring/summer. But as it's more work than I first imagined, I'm not worried about how long it takes now.
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