1984 Raleigh Grifter BMX build

[Lpodonovan]

The euro / mtb bottom bracket I ordered pre-Christmas still hasn't showed up and is unlikely to arrive for a few days.  I only need the bearings and dimensions from the set up as I will be making new bb cups to suit the Grifter frame.  This is now seriously holding up completion (and a fresh paint job!)

[Lpodonovan]

Parts update as I have mainly mid-school parts lying around Ive fitted;

Selle turbo seat
GT stem
Odyssey power paw grips
Odyssey Pitbull I rear brake and Pitbull lever
Profile imperial chainwheel
Odyssey crankset
DK handlebars

Ive also picked up some free wheels and tyres!

[rodriguez]

Great project, have often thought about doing one myself, enjoying the updates.

What top tube length does a Grifter have?

[Lpodonovan]

Bottom bracket sorted!

[Lpodonovan]

We have a rider!

[Lpodonovan]

More pics

[Lpodonovan]

and more pics

[Taipan]

Cool! 

now just cut/lower and reweld the top rear 2 triangle tubes so they match the top tube for a better riding angle    you may need to trim the seatpost down a little aswell to make it more atheseasticly pleasing 

[Lpodonovan]

Great project, have often thought about doing one myself, enjoying the updates.

What top tube length does a Grifter have?

Centre of seat tube to centre of headtube is 19 inch

[Lpodonovan]

Cool! 

now just cut/lower and reweld the top rear 2 triangle tubes so they match the top tube for a better riding angle    you may need to trim the seatpost down a little aswell to make it more atheseasticly pleasing 

I always appreciate good advice thanks!

In this case I'm going to leave rear as-is but only as (and this is very surprising for me) it actually rides really well.  Seatpost (length and clamp area) is however getting chopped today for sure as it has been bugging me!

[Lpodonovan]

Bottom bracket sorted!

This turned out to be reasonably simple if you have a lathe and some aluminum.

Things to watch out for;

6804 2RS bearing are 20mm ID x 32mm OD x 7mm Wide and you use 2 per side / 4 in total.  There is not an equivalent small bearing with a standard 19mm ID (which would fit inside the Grifter BB) therefore a 20mm centre section spindle tapering to 19mm is required to fit 3-piece cranks (and take up the slack)

The BB shell is very wide (70+mm) therefore a longer 153mm crank spindle is required and the home made bearing cups only have a 3mm 'outer lip' as per the (rubbish) drawing in order to maintain the correct chainline

Due to the Grifter threaded bb I opted for an interference fit on the home made bearing cups this is critical to ensure alignment mine are probably a bit over size and may never come back out of the frame as Ive pressed them in with a hydraulic press

[rooski]

Excellent work 

Top engineering skills, do a bit of this myself 

[deeman]

Have you ridden it yet? be interested to see how it rides! 

[Lpodonovan]

Hi guys sorry I've gone quiet on this I've been working away in America for a couple of weeks.

The frameset is ready now for collection at the painters and I will get over to collect it later this week

As soon as its built and test rode I'm going to write up the build and share it with everyone here so that anyone (who desires to do so) can build one for themselves

[BMX1973]

Going well 

[Dingobmxer]

That's ace!!!
Had a Grifter before my first "real" BMX

Dingo

[AceFto]

very nice and nice mods

[Midschoolfool]

This is awesome. How heavy is it? we always attributed most of the weight down to the rear hub when I was a kid.

[carmadham]

i really like this build, did i see the finished bike being ridden in Wickford a couple of days ago?

[Phil B]

I love this story - did you ever post pictures of the finished painted bike? Phil

[enc]

Any pics of the finished bike ?