Get off the internet forum technophobe 
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Had a frame ‘lodging’ at work for a while and I’ve been reluctant to drive with fuel prices being up. Bit the bullet and strapped the frame to the rear rack. Changed handling a bit, but was rock steady all the way home. Forks were slotted into the backpack.
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Tyre change on No 2 Paino. Tried going from 23c to 28c tyres but the clearance was wafer thin at the back so downsized to 25c which fitted nicely. I can see problems sourcing decent tyres for this one if the current ‘bigger is better’ trend continues 
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Put a race number and transponder on the bmx. No racing today due to low numbers, but got the timing going and did 10 or so gates.
Can tell there arent many vintage (road) bike geeks in bmx, couldn’t believe this number was still available!
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Got it out again. Curse Shimano for not making the 105 silver parts more available here. I don’t enjoy the black cranks on this bike now but 52-36 is fitting nicely.
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Vintage road bikes are usually an older man’s game, where BMX is usually a young man’s game.
Agree they look odd. Is there a way to chemically strip them of the black?
Probably. But it’s not high on the list. I have a full silver Athena groupset I wouldn’t mind using but it’s 53-39, and Power torque not Ultra torque.
Five patched tubes for the week. 264Km travelled. 
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nah, I reckon way more older people on vintage BMXs than older people on vintage road bikes, and the prices that they fetch reflects this. Not much cross over, though.
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Well, the BMX guys used to (still do?) have a meet in Newy every couple of months and the attendance was huge with ages ranging from teens to pensioners. On the other hand, sometimes I feel I’m the only person still riding a steel framed road bike around the Lower Hunter. 
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I suppose my point was that BMX is more of a sprinters game, and young men excel at that. I haven’t done any numbers, so I’ll take your point. Are the vintage BMX bikes getting good money because older men are still racing them? Or are they just collecting them?
Not to the bikes, but for bike parts. Finally got some energy to make space in the cave. Bit of scrap 4x2, multiple 30mm holes and screw it to a bearer. Now spare forks arent cluttering the floor. Also did one for bars, and promptly ran out of space in it - need another.
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I picked up another Singlespeed at Tipshop.
20 dollars.
I Purchased for parts only, as it featured a very mediocre frame, some sort of welded steel, weighs a ton and with the most dismal colour scheme that I think I have ever seen on a bicycle.
But some of the parts looked Ok, such as the rim brakes, the headset, the pedals etc.
Getting a bike at the Tipshop is sort of exciting, You don’t really know exactly what you are getting until you look at it closely at home, and then pull it down.
The assignment of Tipshop prices must be a fairly random thing, as I have purchased better preserved bikes there in the past for less money.
But hey, it was still only twenty dollars !
So I started the inspection and pullapart process.
The wheels were true and spun freely, but the spokes are horrendously rusted so wheels will probably not get to be used again.
Getting the freewheel sprocket off the hub was quite a struggle.
I had the correct freewheel removal tool but the freewheel refused to unscrew, despite repeated efforts and copious amounts of WD40.
It just would not budge, despite various ridiculous long extensions being applied to the shifter spanner, and a few hammer blows.
So I turned my attention to the fixed sprocket on the flip side of the hub.
I tried wrapping a bit of old chain around it and clamping the ends of the chain with a locking pliers.
Which achieved little, again despite the use of a few hammer blows etc AND some prior attempts to loosen a “lock ring” that was located against the outer side of said sprocket.
I couldn’t understand why the lockring would not budge with the usual tool that undoes a lockring. (Note - this type of lockring is THE SAME AS the lockring for a square taper style bottom bracket).
So I scrounged around in the shed until i found a big chisel and started hammering away at the lockring indents (anticlockwise). This didn’t actually shift it but eventually the lockring was becoming pretty smashed up.
Only then did it finally give way and unscrew. Hooray !
After this “breakthrough” the fixed sprocket was then capable of being unscrewed (might have been a delicate blow from the hammer also)
Given the impressive utility of the hammer, i then turned to the other side of the hub and gave its freewheel sprocket apparatus a blow to the indents with the hammer and chisel.
Surprise surprise, if also started to unscrew, and without any damage resulting !
In retrospect it was touch and go, if I had known that it would be so difficult I would not have embarked on the dismantling process.
Because it all took a fair bit of time and I did manage to hit my hand with the hammer a few times, fortunately without any significant injury 
But at least I have salvaged an undamaged Singlespeed freewheel sprocket, 18 tooth.
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Pretty sure it is mostly collecting and cruising the boardwalks for the older guys. Re-living their youth maybe?.
The serious BMX racers want new fancy stuff, not old has-been equipment 
The collecting thing seems to be aimed at what you did in your late teens and twenties by people in their 50s plus. Kids grown, more time and more free cash.
For me, I got into MTB, so the toys I lusted after back in the day are early dual suspension bikes. Hence the 6 late 90s duallies and desire to find a GT LTS. I am post roadie.
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I still have the frameset of my 1991 Giant ATX 760 steel rigid. Due to mainly cost and maintenance at the time I never bothered to get a suspension fork. I’m still the same today. My latest 2025 Kona Unit X is also a steel rigid.
So I agree that some of us are somewhat locked into a time period of the past in our heads.
I don’t use the Giant anymore as it was designed for a 100mm stem (IIRC). They were more modelled after road bikes at the time with smaller frame reach and shorter centre to fronts for a particular size. I use 35 and 40mm stems now for ATB use. So that frame is a bit short for that config.
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I had trouble with the front derailleur on the Revolt yesterday. Did a Mt Alex ride and it kept dropping to the small ring.
Cable frayed inside the frame. Cables are fine when they run externally. A different story when they are inside the frame inside plastic tubing.
A bit of a mission to get out. I am definitely not replacing it. Will be getting and Ltwoo eGR 1x groupset. No cables.
I am seriously done with replacing gear cables on modern bikes. They work harden and break up in the shifter regularly which is bad enough with bits of wire in there and rerouting through the frame. When they do it inside the frame that is selective enough for me to piss them off altogether 
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Yeah, I haven’t got any interally routed cables and so don’t have issues. As strange as it may sound these days, I wouldn’t buy a bike that did have internal routing.
I’ve also heard that the newer inner cables can be plastic coated and this can cause problems too.
Tesla engineers say the best part is no part. While I don’t wholly agree, they have a point in certain cases.
I’ve also found a better option for off road is full length outer cables. My Kona is setup for this, where the older MTBs were only part outers, like road bikes. But at least they routed the cables high and not passing under the BB.
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Considered going 1x?
a few less parts to worry about!
I run a 40t chainring and a 10-44 cassette on the gravel, does the job for the most part (admittedly i was searching for gears when i did Sevens a few months back)
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