Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

OK. Decals done. What a pig.

The old ones came off very easily with a hair dryer. Problem is the adhesive is like nails ffs. I tried alcohol, and it didn't work. I ended up literally taking off the paint. Then I tried mineral spirits, which worked very very slowly. In the end I used a green scuff pad (I know, shoot me) with the spirit. It took me an hour and a half. When done I buffed it out.

First though the brake fix.



Holy moly Ti is light. That shank nut weighs less than the washers lol.

New decals.



1992 "Drippy"



Crank set up looking resplendent.



The seat clamp never arrived. I contacted him and he is sending another. However, this morning I went outside and opened up the leccy meter panel and it was in there FFS. I will fess later and pay him the £3.80 or whatever it was. Will fit that in a bit. Got the pad set on sale for a tenner, which shall protect ma balls. And my legs, from catching those metal cable holders.

Edit. Bottle cage is off. The bolt that goes through the clamp mech scraped the paint down to the metal grr.

I need to get a rivnut tool and install proper mounts tbh.

 

From a point of zero knowledge and as a road racer, that looks a lot like a mix of road and BMX parts - what would you use this setup for? It doesn't look like it'll take the beating I assume BMXing dishes out to components. Is it more of a cruiser?

 

Yup. A very fast, very light cruiser.

Back in the late 70s before BMX became really big people would take road racing bikes and replace the bars. In my area they were called "track bikes" though that means something completely different now. I suppose the modern equivalent would be a "gravel bike". I suppose the closest thing you could buy at the time was the Raleigh Bomber.

It came as a PK Ripper fixed gear. With these weird dropped bars. Given I am an ex BMX rider my knees and shoulder are now ruined. So I can't ride leant over like that, nor do I like it.

It happened very strangely TBH. I had a SE Ripper which is a cut back version of the PK Ripper. It got stolen, and the only bike they could find for the payout price for sale in the UK at the time was a Mike Buff LTD ed that was on sale for a grand. Now my ex wanted me to choose the money, but she was a greedy cow and I know for a fact I would not have ever seen that money again. So I took the bike. Problem is I am also a fat old git (about 15 stone) and it had a warning sticker on it about weight. I've not got a history of being nice to bikes either, so instead of riding it I waited until the ex was gone and sold it. That same day I randomly searched Ebay for PK Ripper (not even sure why) and the orange bike was on there, new in the box from 2009 for £320 delivered from Germany.

So I got it.

PK Ripper is probably the most famous BMX of all time. It was Perry Kramer's signature race bike in the late 70s. They began to bastardise that in the early 2000s and came up with the Big Ripper (29") Fat Ripper (Stupid fat tyre tank of a bike) and so on.

I didn't really expect to fall in love with it tbh, but from the moment I got on it it took me back to being small and riding a 20" BMX. I then realised how fast it was. A 7 mile ride I do along a coastal cycle path used to take me about 2 hours on a 20". Now? jesus, I can do it four times in the same amount of time. Its ability to cover ground is amazing.

I guess the kid finally done grew up. It only took 40 years

 

Ha! Nice. I'm going to re-read that info and edit this response. Nice background though from someone who's obviously been there! Bear with me, I'm sure I'll have questions!

(PS. I'm also going to ask my Mum what my red and yellow Raleigh was called. Is it likely to have been a Chopper??)

 

Oi Vault.. use petrol on a rag or wd40 or white spirt it takes sticker glue off in seconds. petrol/white spirit ideally... the clean it properly afterwards with soapy water and a towel. won't damage the paint.

old school trick debadging cars/bmxs/mtb's... thank me later babes

 

No. It was a Burner. It just came to me out of the blue:



Even the same tread pattern.

Enjoyed your blurb about the bike - reminds me that no matter how much you know, there's always room for learning. Why is this PK so fast (remember I ride road with many cogs on the bum end, so this is all different to me) and why was it so famous? From an uninitiated view, I thought all one-plate bikes were fairly similar, just depended how many teeth you had. It seems funny that an SE is "cut back" - I thought BMXs were about as cut back as you could get, barring carbon/Ti!

 

Snake belly. The tyres that is. Those are snake belly

Those hunks of heavy steel are now worth over a grand. Thing is, they were pretty toss then and they haven't improved with time. I think it's just because that is what most kids got. My brother got one, stolen a week later.

The reason the PK is so famous is basically because it was one of the first hand made alu frames. It also uses the floval tubing.

Up until that point BMX still hadn't really taken off. The PK was originally called the DB-IV. It was launched in 1977. If you think that you got that Burner about 4-5 years later? yeah, it was wildly ahead of its time. It also weighed about 1/4 of the Burner and thus was the best frame for BMX racing. Perry Kramer was one of the very first sponsored factory riders, hence why the bike is so fondly remembered.

BTW you know how I said that Burner was worth over a grand now? well an early PK is worth about £3000. For the frame only.

I guess the reason why I think my "track bike" thing is so fast is probably because until 2017 I rode BMX my entire life (so until I was 43). So I suppose when you get on a big bike like that its ability to cover ground is staggering compared to a 20".

 

It's my boy's third birthday soon and he's been given a bicycle (with pedals!) which I'm trying to get up to scratch. It seems generally sound but I'd like two fresh inner tubes to avoid disappointments, and advice as to whether those gouged rims need to be replaced?

It's an Islabike CNOC 14.

The tyres are marked 38-254 (14x1.5), can someone link me to a couple of decent quality inner tubes, ideally with cranked valves as accessing them inside these tiny spoked rims is a pain.

 

I'm a roadie so can't advise on sizes, but Continental are good for tubes and tyres (although possibly at the upper end for a three-year-old). Wiggle are good for service, have a great catalogue and a one year return policy although not always the cheapest. Chain Reaction have also been good for me in the past.

I'd also suggest some Skabs for on-road repairs, a pocketable offset pump with flexible head to make getting to the valves easier when out and about (if I'm understanding your comment correctly re: access) and the main thing - not going overboard on all this as he's three and will grow out of it incredibly quickly. To which point, although it is difficult to garner too much from the pic, it doesn't look as if I'd be worrying about those rims unless he's going to be doing some downhill time trialling. You'll be trading this bike in before you know it, especially with Winter approaching and the downtime that tends to bring.

Of course, that's just my opinion and experience and I'm sure others will be able to add or disagree!

 

https://www.islabikes.co.uk/collections/spares/products/inner-tube-14x1-30

Islabikes sell tubes to fit each of their models on their website. They'll be fine quality. For offset valves I'm not sure that's a thing for bicycle tubes, I've never seen them done on purpose.

 

I hadn't even considered looking at the manufacturer, or that they'd be competitive!

Yes, that's a valid point, cheers. His last bike didn't have brakes either so it will probably be a while before he thinks to use them

 

Tooobes, £4 each from decathlon with cranked valves, never had problems with their tubes to be fair

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/14-in...9-bent-schrader-valve/_/R-p-327438?mc=8600591

Just be aware theres a recall on that bike too

https://www.islabikes.co.uk/pages/cnoc-safety-notice-issued-07-09-2018

Brake track with the line is very normal its to aid the exit of water under braking

 

There is nothing wrong with that rim, the black gouge is a wear indicator, when it’s gone you’ve worn the rim down and need to replace it

 

Finally a BMX I 'get'



https://www.bikebound.com/2022/09/14/ninja-cub/

 

https://www.raleigh.co.uk/gb/en/tuff-burner/

Who knew ... I do know I want one.

 

I did. They are sold out already.

 

Anyone in their mid 40's would push their granny down the stairs for one of these... Although i have enough toys i cant help but think how cool it would be to be creeping about on one of these again , oh the days of wheeling 1/2 a mile down the Warden Bay road . Ill keep an eye out! Ive not wanted a BMX since forever and having a couple of Burners as a kid ... Ooof.

 

Well I am in my mid 40s and I would push one of these into a lake. They're crap. Awful geometry, almost impossible to ride as an adult without Chicago bars. I'm not into this retro stuff at all. All of my bikes are from the mid to late 90s, with the two I ride being brand new.

These were never good, serious BMX bikes. They were £90 tat made by some drunk bloke on a Friday afternoon. In fact, all of the good riders I grew up with used them as a rite of passage by snapping them at the bottom bracket jumping, at which point their parents would take them seriously and buy them a proper bike.

I have no great memories riding BMX in that timeframe. And TBH? even if I did I would not want one trying to go back to my childhood. Mostly because my childhood was bloody awful, but also because I have made sure to have a happy enough life not to want to go back to those times any way.

My first BMX was utter gash. Totally atrocious, because it was all my mother could afford the year after my dad died. It continually came loose, broke, bent, and was terribly heavy.

My best years riding were during the 90s. As a full grown adult. I don't collect for memories though, I collect just because I like the designs and etc.



Have almost finished that. The last of the tweaks I want to do are waiting for me whenever I can be arsed. Sure, the colours are not for every one but most of my bikes are black etc. I just wanted to have a bit of fun. Parts wise however? that's a £2500 bike. Not done the maths yet but I reckon it came in well below a grand. Most of it is made in the USA, by the best companies in the business. That will be my second rider, as my other has a longer TT and does not have a freecoaster nor bars that tall.

 

I just looked at all the pictures on the website. You're right, absolute crap, the finishing on the cranks is especially bad...

 

It's a cash grab. All of these retro releases are. They just end up on a wall in a man cave for years then end up back on eBay.