Welcome, a place for Old and Mid School BMX and Vintage MTB Parts

Bullseye racing has done it yet again, yes, another generation of their BMX hub.

I’m not sure if I want to embrace this new design or feel sorrow as lots of Old School designs for BMX parts are being hacked in order to make way for new “improved” versions. I am fairly happy that Bullseye is doing the right thing this time around and not making exact copies of the old school design. What happens then is the “new” parts mix so easily with the true old school stuff and it often times becomes very difficult to see the differences. The trained eye can most times tell which is OS, but newer people to the hobby often times get fooled with sellers claiming old school when it’s not. With the new design comes a new price tag. Here it is, generation #?? from Bullseye.

Bought some pedals the other day and was skeptical about what I was going to receive for my roughly $25 purchase. Wow, these are a super nice set of triple sealed bearing MTB or BMX pedals that are fairly light weight and have super smooth bearings. They even had an allen wrench and pedal washers included. Super rad pedals for the money!

The Netflix Stranger Things Mad Max BMX bike by Mongoose is here folks. It was released on June 30, 2019 through retail stores and online. There are very few left at the retail level, but there are some already on E-Bay now! Don’t snooze if you want one, this bike has nearly sold out and it’s not clear yet if or when Netflix and Mongoose might decide to make another batch of these BMX bikes. The Christmas rush will be here soon.

Ok, so the other day I was web surfing on the internet and stumbled upon this Schwinn Predator 24″ BMX Cruiser.

The first thing I thought was wow, that bike is super clean for being at least 30 years old. But then the closer I got and the more I studied the pictures I realized that this bike is not old, it’s a new model. I was thinking “what?”, no way. Yep, Schwinn released a brand new version of the Old School BMX model cruiser. Now this is not going to be one of those reproduction items that you can’t tell from the original. It’s clearly a new model, but looks the part from a far. In my opinion they did a real nice job making it look old school, all the way down to the gumwall tires and rat trap pedals. Is this bike worthy of BMX racing? Hmmm, I’m not so sure about that, possibly. It would be a cool bike to cruise around on though. For the price they are asking it seems like a good deal for a neighborhood cruiser and even worthy of some upgrades ( 3 piece crank? ). Heck, order it and wait a few days for it to arrive and you instantly have yourself a 24″ that almost looks like it belongs in 1983. Minus all the rust dirt and grime! Not to mention getting a new drive train and not having to deal with a restoration.

Lots of goodies on the Paul Component Page!

Vintage MTB parts with a couple mid school BMX items. Powerglide rear derailleur, Motolite V-brake, Paul Lover Levers and other goodies!

How many times have you thought to yourself that Amazon Prime isn’t worth the Steep price? I too was with this mindset until I found out about all the great features Prime has available other than free shipping. Free shipping is great don’t get me wrong but do I really want to pay $100 or more a year for just free shipping. I think not, they’re going to have to give me more than just free shipping to shell out $100+ of my hard-earned money.

So after thinking it over and wondering what my hundred dollars was going to be going towards I figured I would do a little research and get the answers. I’m really glad that I did a little digging to find out what I was going to be getting as I didn’t even realize that Prime provided free digital programming and free music as well. For me that was enough to clinch the deal along with the free shipping more than covered my yearly membership fee of 100 plus dollars.

Check out the Prime page and discover for yourself the many benefits and features.

How do you remove a stuck seatpost?

( frozen BMX Post)

Is that some sort of trick question? There are many factors to consider including frame and post material. Is the seatpost a collectors item and needing to be kept in good condition or can it be scrapped? My favorite method for removing a steel seatpost from a steel frame is heat and time. Time meaning oil the thing up and let it sit for a couple days before doing anything next. It’s always a good idea to remove the bottom bracket and pour some lube in from the bottom.

After letting the oil sit for a few days it’s now time to get medieval on the thing. Yes, you can now break out that ultimate set of tools and get busy! For this step there isn’t a right or wrong way to go about it. Just remember, if you break off the top portion of the post trying to get that frozen little bastard out you are screwed, you will have nothing to clamp onto. Yes, very screwed and will be wishing you took more time. Haste makes waste, don’t ya know.

Next step in this process should be either a bench vise or vise grips. Some people like using a pipe wrench but I would not recommend going that route, as it’s not really enough clamping force to turn a frozen seat post.

( Here is where the disclaimer comes into play: These instructions are from my personal experiences. I am not a trained professional, I am not an instructor. I am merely sharing my thoughts on the subject and you should use your own method so I don’t get blamed. If you injure yourself or others while following these instructions it’s not my fault. Carry on….. )

Before grabbing hold of the seatpost you may need to jam something inside the post so the tubing will not crush. This extra step may be well worth it depending on how frozen the parts are. Start turning the post and see what happens. If it starts turning then you are very lucky and should continue to apply more lube while finishing up the job. If it’s not moving then keep reading.

So now what? The damn thing will not budge and this is getting old quick. Well my friend, you will now need to go buy at least a 6 pack of beer and prepare yourself for possibly some bloody knuckles ( drinking and tools do not mix, probably a bad idea ) . At this stage of the game my go to method would be “borrowing” a hair dryer from my wife and heating up both frame and seatpost. That is if there are not any stickers that need to be salvaged. The heat will make the stickers peel off possibly. After heating it up for a few minutes apply more lube and let it sit for a few hours. Come back after it’s cooled down and re apply heat for another couple minutes. It will be very hot so get some oven mits or welding gloves and try moving the seatpost again. If it starts turning then great, apply more lube until the seatpost is removed. If it doesn’t move then read on.

Ok, at this point you are probably questioning your sanity and the ability to salvage the parts without ruining them. I have bad news for you. You will most likely have to cut or drill out the seatpost. Probably doesn’t matter anyway because the seatpost is already chewed up, right? Were you using some sort of wrench to remove the post? If so before getting super crazy with power tools I would suggest using a bench mounted vise. You can clamp the seatpost in the vise and use the headtube and dropouts for leverage. Way more leverage than a pipe wrench or similar. Give that a try. If it doesn’t work then keep reading.

We have now come to the realization that drastic measures are needed. What I usually do is make a cut down the center of the seatpost with a hacksaw blade. This is super tedious and time consuming unless you have a sawsall. Once the full slot has been cut in the seatpost you can now pinch the post together ( smash it ) and it should loosen right up. It it doesn’t loosen up then the post will most likely have to be drilled out. It’s always worth trying a little more heat, lube and letting it sit for a while longer before getting out the drill.

Thanks for reading my rant!