[dragon76]

i used to ride bmx when i was 7-11 or so - this is 20 years ago. i recently pulled my old bmx out, and am resurrecting it - new macneil bar, primopro stem, 21.1 --> 1 1/8 conversion kit, cheap rush pedals, rush brake caliper (no brake bosses on the frames back then, not mine anyway), odyssey brak lever, odyssey frequency g rubbers. i would also like to get some new wheels .. and that's my problem.

new wheels (i tried the front) don't fit. new bmx hub specs seem to be 100mm OLD (hub width from lug to lug) in front and 120mm OLD in back .. just like track bikes. my 20 yr old fork appears to be spaced 90mm, and the frame is around 110mm. i also need the axles to be 3/8" - that shouldn't be an issue.

can any one confirm that these are the specs from back in the day? and if so, are there any modern bmx makers who spec their hubs to these oldschool sizes?

if you ride oldschool, pls lemme know ...

thx

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[CMcMahon]

It should still work fine, at least for the front; I have a friend who runs an '85 GT hub up front.

For old school BMX info, though, you'd be much better off going to Vintage BMX (http://www.vintagebmx.com) than here.

[dragon76]

thx for the link, i'll check that out.

i did borrow a new front wheel from someone, and it did not fit at all - it wasn't just flex in the fork, but it was an obvious 5mm off. i'm pretty sure that it was 95mm for front hubs bak then, and 100mm for modern fronts. i checked with a LBS and they remember it was narrower as well, so it sounds like if iwant a new front wheel, i'll need to start with some vontage hubs ... ?

if your friend is going the other way around and using old hubs on a new fork that's ok - you just slip some spacers to widen up the hub. but fitting a new wider hub to an old narrower fork is the hard one ...

if anyone out there knows of makers putting out new 95mm wide front hubs, and 110mm wide rear hubs, pls lemme know ...

[CMcMahon]

What you might be able to do is look for narrower cone nuts, or get an extra pair and modify them, at least for the front. I don't have my bike in front of me right now, but I'm willing to bet that a pair of cones is at least 5mm wide, so getting a set of half-thick ones might do the trick.

For the back, there's always the G-Sport method of using a carjack to stretch out the rear a bit. No joke (http://gsportbmx.co.uk/support/rideuktech/dropouts.html).

edit: Actually, according to that article, the standard spacing for the rear on modern BMX bikes is about 110mm.

[Brian]

FTC would have a fix for this.

[CMcMahon]

Yeah. It'd probably involve shock absorbers and the drum brake from a Schwinn Orange Crate.

[mcoine]

Go on ebay and find a NOS set of nice old school hubs and build a set of wheels. Personally, I think you should keep the bike completely old school, and buy a new bike if you want a modern one.

[dragon76]

keep the bike completely old school, and buy a new bike if you want a modern one.

yeah i used to think that way too, then after a while i just needed some "hybridizing". the new handlebars and stem are the only things that truly look modern on it, and i really hated the old ones. everything else still looks pretty oldschool. i'm thinking about the wheels now because i don't like the way the tires are seated in the "lipless" rims - there's no clinching action between the insides of the rim and the tire's bead.

[mcoine]

what make and year bike are you talking about anyway?

[dragon76]

funny thing ... the bike is 22 years old, and about 23 years ago i scraped off all the decals, so i have no idea what make it is. if i have some spare time, i'll post some pics of it and maybe we can try and figure out what it is. someone has guessed that it's a mongoose becuase the original rims had holes drilled in it for lightness, but the frame really doesn't look like a mongoose to me ...

[mcoine]

loop tail? I know the rims, not sure if only mongoose used them. post some pics.

[Brian]

funny thing ... the bike is 22 years old, and about 23 years ago i scraped off all the decals,

Do you have a time machine?

[ettsn]

I was thinking the same thing, Exp.

-Paul

[dragon76]

alrite here's the pix. check out the metal work by the head tube and the dropouts. cranks are sugino gt 44t 165mm. freewheel is a shimano 333 18t. so far the best guess is still a mongoose supergoose cuz of teh drilled rims, and loop tail - altho i think mongoose wasn't the only ones to do loop tails ...

any guesses?

anyway, what i'd like to do is put on some all black wheels with sealed bearing hubs. it will really help to make the oldschool chrome standout, and as well will give me some more solid wheels to land on. i've done more research and the rear hub sizes haven't changed - old and new are 110mm. it's only the front that's my issue, but i will probably be replacing the cone nuts with 2.5mm thinner ones to go from 100mm modern to 95mm oldschool. i may look into replacing the BB/cranks with a sealed bearing one as well. with that i should be able to bunny hop all day, while showing off the oldschool chrome frame against the all black components.

i measured the top tube (C-C), and it looks like 18". were all bmx frames 18" TT back then, or were there smaller and larger ones as well? anyone know?

cheers.

[Brian]

Set the white balance on your camera to incandescent.