Should I restore this "P.K. Ripper"?

After all the talk about bomb-proofing the frame for shipping, and the insurance speak, I decided not to ship the frame.

Prior to that, I was already wrestling (big time) with the idea of handing Mr. UPS or FedEx guy my frame, and then leaving it in the hands of fate. So, because of the all the posts, and my 42 years of bad karma, I just opted to try to get something done locally.

I found an outfit, here in San Antone, that does a lot of polishing work on antiques (brass and copper pieces, chandeliers, etc.), and performance auto pieces (intakes, turbos, superchargers, etc.)

Anyhow, I hired them to get a lot of the larger nicks outta' the frame, and then do some polishing. I also worked on the frame, using the "Blue Magic and Charmin" method, that HOT DAMN! posted.

I wasn't real impressed with their work; They left a lotta' wheel marks on the surface. But, like not being able to find a lotta' the components I originally wanted, that (the quality of their work) is kind of a blessing. As I posted, I don't want the bike to be too perfect, as I want to be able to enjoy riding it.


Anyhow, here it goes...


Before



After



Before



After




Yes, my pics suck. And, to quite a few of you, it probably looks worse than when it started. But, I think it will come-together, nicely.


We'll see...


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Goodie box #1 arrived, today...





I had the option of goin' with the skinwall tires, but chose the blackwalls, instead. I guess I can switch, if I ever burn these up.


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This thread brings back some memories.


I still have scars on my shins from my Hutch beartrap pedals.

One of the places I ordered from had exact duplicates of those pedals...and in black, no less, to match the rest of my components.

However, just before I hit the "Add to Cart" button, I was magically transported to all the times those things put holes in my shins.

Needless to say, the V2.0 P.K. will have plastic pedals (in-between the tires, in the pic)...


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+1...and i just put a pair on the wifeys cruiser for good measure.

Goodie box #2...

I remember we were at our local outlaw bmx track one day (circa 1985)when some kid named Isaac was emulating the rider in the above pic. Upon landing he screamed and we noticed there were bones sticking out of his lower leg.:eek1 Pretty soon an ambulance showed up and carted him away. The next day the cops shut down our riding area... permanently. It was a damn shame because it really was a killer place to ride with whoops, bowls, jumps, a downhill, etc. We had nowhere else to ride BMX in our medium sized town, at least not within riding distance of home, since we all rode there in just a t-shirt and shorts. I think most of us switched over to skate boards at that point.

I have an ex-co-worker still friend who is constantly putting old magazine shots, a collection of his number plates, and bikes that he restores or flips on Facebook. He was a pro BMXer and then worked in the industry and has some cool history and shots.

I have an ex-co-worker still friend who is constantly putting old magazine shots, a collection of his number plates, and bikes that he restores or flips on Facebook. He was a pro BMXer and then worked in the industry and has some cool history and shots.

Just stumbled on this thread, and like others, have memories flooding back...

First, the P.K. Ripper: I always liked the dull look of aluminum, but I think your polished frame will look awesome with the freshly chromed forks. My Mom bought a pallet of parts at a police auction that had a original painted P.K Ripper frame and fork. It was black, and probably the lightest BMX I had felt up until that point. I don't remember much about it, because we sold it to fund the build of my brother's dream bike: a Mongoose with all red components to match the red Z-Rims. The mongoose wasn't all that light, but it was sweet. My brother is still looking for a pair of the Tange nickel plated in-line drop-out forks to re-create that bike.

BMX hang out spots: A few miles from my house in San Jose, CA we had a place called Calabasas. It was a riverbed that got destroyed every winter, so it was always different. There were some pros that practiced there, and we saw some amazing stuff! The first time I had the wind knocked out of me was there. Good times.

My current bike: A few years ago, I bought an all aluminum 24" BMX Group-1 Haro off ebay. It had been neglected, and rode really badly, so I got it for a song. I went through everything, then painted it flat black to be stealthy at night. I keep it in another town at my mother-in-law's house, and use it for re-living my rebellious youth when we stay there. It's super light, and very well made. It even has miniature motorcycle style chain adjusters on the rear drop-outs. I added some Sickle forks for strength (I weigh 200 lbs). I had some custom decals made by a company on the net. The are not original style, but look like they should have been. The one mistake I made applying them was to pace the side stickers to low on the down tube. With the frame lying on its side, they looked good. Once assembled, they look too low.

Thanks for the personal account.

I'm glad you stumbled on the thread, and hope you and others will enjoy it, and continue to post.

I have really enjoyed all the great pics that folks have posted (some really beautiful bikes ). I would love to take a tour of some of your garages.



As for the P.K.,

From the beginning, I accepted the fact that the P.K. would be a "resto-mod". However, because of my shitty decal application skills (and the not-so-great polishing), I also came to realize, today, that the V2.0 P.K. would be what my good friend would call a "20-footer"; It'll look good from about 20 feet, but will not be a perfect "show queen". As I've posted, I'm good with that, as I am looking forward to taking this thing on its first ride, in 28-30 years.


Here are the forks...

Before



After



After-After





And, the dropout savers are back from the powdercoater...

The forks look great!!

REPLATE

REPLATE

NEEDS A SHINE...OR NOT

Gracias.

I tried to apply the decals somewhere between old-school and modern.

Back in the day, the Landing Gear decals were applied at the very top of the fork legs (so that the top letters were somewhat obscured by the beveled edges of the headset, when you would stand near the bike). Nowadays, they seem to apply them closer to that angled edge, near the bottom.


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He must not have read all the way down to the last bullet point of that article.

Skateboarding was cool as well, but being forced out of bikes because there was nowhere to ride just plain out sucks.

You fucking tease, are you going to show us the Tuffs or what?

Great job on the forks. What does something like that cost nowadays?

Thanks. It was right at a Benny ($100).

Despite that, I am really happy with the plating.

I coulda' bought a new set of forks for about $110, stripped the stickers, and re-stickered for a few dollars more. However, then, they wouldn't have been my forks. And, to me, that just wasn't acceptable.


Brand.
New
Tuff IIs...

Is it just the photo, or are those mags a bit charcoal gray?

Those are going to look even better than I thought with blue!

It's just the photo; They're black.

All the components are gonna' be black, too.


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Looking good man.