Project: Mongoose

[slaveofconvention]

Ok so it's in NO way computer related, but what the hell :p

My 13 year old son, Jack, is a BMX fan and has mentioned, on a couple of occasions, he'd like to
1) Paint his bike
2) Have a bike at my house. (He lives with his mother and is with me 3 days each fortnight)
3) Learn more about fixing bikes.

I asked him if he'd be interested in totally revamping a bike from scratch with me. I used to make 80% of my spending money when I was his age fixing bikes for other people so he's EASILY old enough to know what he's doing...

He said yes so here we go.....

The victim.. A Mongoose Pro Stylist which is substantially older than Jack!! (I can't precisely date it, but I reckon, its probably about 20-25 years old)

The bike has, undeniably, seen better days lol.

And the co-conspirator (who's a little shy because I tried to take a pic of him in overalls and it didn't look "cool" - bloody kids!)

Keep you all posted - this will probably get updated weekly as it is something we're going to do together so will have to wait till he's here wednesday nights and alternate friday/saturdays.

[msmrx57]

Nice project. Glad to see a solid old piece get brought back to life. I'll be watching this.

[slaveofconvention]

We did some math... It's going to cost roughly 1.5x the cost of a new bike to do this properly.....

And we're still doing it lol

[slaveofconvention]

And so begins the teardown - can't make an omlette without breaking some eggs and all that....

Starting to lose some parts...

The handlebar clamp will need stripping, painting and new bolts

The handlebar grips didn't survive - had to cut them off

The seatpost clamp will need stripping, painting and a new bolt

Handlebars - again, paintstripper and fresh colour

Jack wants to buy and fit a smaller sprocket so not sure about this - i'll probably refurb it anyway and we can test it before buying something new - assuming we can even find something that'll fit - this ISN'T a new bike, after all

Crank arms will be cleaned up, pedals replaced. The days of big spiked blocks of metal for pedals are long gone - I have a collection of 20 year old dents on my shins to show this is a GOOD idea (if I can get the pedals out - no luck yet....)

The wheels need a good clean and polish - the tyres seem to be in good shape

We're TRYING to keep this tidy and organised - I say trying because neither of us are naturally tidy people lol

And on to the vandalism....

Paintstripper!!!!

MORE paintstripper - first coating didn't get that much off...

A good wash down - any trace of the paintstripper on the parts when its paint time will cause huge problems...

Ready for a good sanding - two treatments with paintstripper didn't quite get rid of every bit of paint. Nothing a little 180 grit won't fix...

Erm, ditto....

That's as far as we got last weekend. I may see if I can spend some time on the bike this weekend on the fiddly bits which will utterly bore Jack, so it's ready to push on a little next week. There are a few small dents in the frame and forks so there may be a little filler work to do...

[billygoat333]

sweet. I love bike renovation projects. I helped my dad restore one of my grandpa's old beach cruisers (Schwinn, probably from the 60s or 70s, not sure on the date) was a lot of fun. will be watching this!

[slaveofconvention]

Put paintstripper on the clamps last night - didn't touch the paint. I'm guessing it must be powdercoated but it really doesn't look like it. More sanding and grinding coming up lol

[jiggiwiddit]

Put paintstripper on the clamps last night - didn't touch the paint. I'm guessing it must be powdercoated but it really doesn't look like it. More sanding and grinding coming up lol

YAY for nitromors
Have you got a hot air gun? might not make it flake off but it'll be hot enough to remove with a soft scraper and wont clog the abrasives so much

[slaveofconvention]

YAY for nitromors
Have you got a hot air gun? might not make it flake off but it'll be hot enough to remove with a soft scraper and wont clog the abrasives so much

Somewhere yeah lol - but I also have an air-powered sander which I'm pretty confident will kick it's butt, paint, powdercoat or anodised - it's toast!!! :p

Well it will be if I remember to bring some sanding disks home from work.

As for clogging - that's less of an issue than most realise, if you use a really good quality sanding disk. The ones I use do clog, don't get me wrong, but you just wash them and they're good as new in seconds....

IDN if he'll read this but I hooked Xcom up with some materials from where I work and he was amazed at how long the stuff lasts.... He'll vouch for the gear!

[slaveofconvention]

Mini-update. When I'm working on this alone, I'm going to try to stick to the boring or slightly scary parts which will either worry or bore my son. Tonight was bearing removal and cleaning time - yay....

Lots of round parts - hope I can remember how they go back together.... This was my first ever crank disassembly...

And the all important middle bit :p

Crank bearings - couple of these missing - think a new set is in order. If it wasn't, it would be now as I probably damaged them getting them out - righty tighty lefty loosey dammit!

Nice empty crank housing

Nice empty fork housing

That's all folks but maybe some more tomorrow - Jack will be with me and no guitar lesson this week so no excuses - especially not if the weather is anything like it was today!

[slaveofconvention]

Just a small update, but it took a long time lol....

Using a combination of a 3" air sander with 320Grit disks (way too fine - was burning through them stupidly quickly), hand sanding with 180grit and a wire wheel attached to a drill, got the frame and forks to this point....

Frame and forks in bare metal

There are two small dents on the frame. Neither of them are anywhere near big enough to compromise the strength of the frame to a significant degree. Gotta do something about those....

Bonda FEW Fine stopper

Took a small amount of the FEW and added a tiny drop of the hardener. Last time I used this, on the car bonnet (hood to you yank types) it went hard way too quickly so I used a lot less hardener. I may well have gone too far the wrong way but it WILL harden - just might take a while....

Small amount of filler, and even smaller amount of hardener

Well mixed and then applied to the two dented areas.

Dents filled

If the weather holds out tomorrow (which apparently it should) I'll hopefully get these repairs sanded down smooth, and then the etch primer applied. The etch has to be overpainted after 2 hours minimum and within 24 maximum, so IF the etch goes on tomorrow, the hi-build primer will also have to go on the same day....

See what tomorrow brings eh?

EDIT: Yeah - I went too far the other way - this stuff should be touch-dry in about 15 mins - after 3 hours it was still utterly soft so I scraped it out and re-did it with more hardener this time - fingers crossed.... X