1988 Muddy Fox Courier 'B52'

[spatuluk]

Re: 1988 Red Muddy Fox Courier oddity

I'll certainly be taking up that offer!

I'm just waiting a bit for funds, and to let SWMBO calm down a bit. I bought quite a lot of bike bits last month, and I think she might snap if she sees any more before I get rid of the boxes and frames that're littering her office.

It probably doesn't help that I'm buying all this stuff, but don't actually have a functioning MTB.. :roll:

 

[andyz]

Re: 1988 Red Muddy Fox Courier oddity

I bought quite a lot of bike bits last month, and I think she might snap if she sees any more before I get rid of the boxes and frames that're littering her office.

Welcome to the club!

 

[swadlinboi]

Re: 1988 Red Muddy Fox Courier oddity

I bought quite a lot of bike bits last month, and I think she might snap if she sees any more before I get rid of the boxes and frames that're littering her office.

Welcome to the club!

yer, im in that club at the mo too, kind of out of space.
Gonna see how this one goes,

 

[spatuluk]

Re: 1988 Red Muddy Fox Courier oddity

3 months later... success!



I finally got a day off while my son wasn't about, so I used the heat gun at full power on the adjustable cup, which produced a satisfying amount of bubbling and smoke. I broke off as much of the cup as possible, then turned the bike over and blasted the pretty much fully exposed bearing casing until I could lift it out.

The bearings were still in place, but apparently it freed the cartridge up just enough, as a couple of whacks with a mallet from the adjustable side pushed the cartridge two thirds of the way out of the drive side. Then I managed to pull it out (with a lot of waggling) using a mole grip.

The cups were still in, but I hacksawed them off. No damage to the threads, as I could easily tell when plastic became steel.



The bottom bracket area is very brown, but I'm not sure if it's actually rust - it seems to be mostly mud! I cleaned it up, applied rust remover, scrubbed it some more, then applied some Kurust. Hopefully that'll keep it happy for a bit!

So now I'm left with this:



And a big box of Exage Mountain bits, that I'll be cleaning up and attaching tonight.

edit: The only part I'm missing for the build is a 6-speed cassette, which I foolishly binned along with the wheels. I suspect I'm going to regret that! :facepalm:

 

[drcarlos]

Re: 1988 Red Muddy Fox Courier oddity

3 months later... success!



I finally got a day off while my son wasn't about, so I used the heat gun at full power on the adjustable cup, which produced a satisfying amount of bubbling and smoke. I broke off as much of the cup as possible, then turned the bike over and blasted the pretty much fully exposed bearing casing until I could lift it out.

The bearings were still in place, but apparently it freed the cartridge up just enough, as a couple of whacks with a mallet from the adjustable side pushed the cartridge two thirds of the way out of the drive side. Then I managed to pull it out (with a lot of waggling) using a mole grip.

The cups were still in, but I hacksawed them off. No damage to the threads, as I could easily tell when plastic became steel.



The bottom bracket area is very brown, but I'm not sure if it's actually rust - it seems to be mostly mud! I cleaned it up, applied rust remover, scrubbed it some more, then applied some Kurust. Hopefully that'll keep it happy for a bit!

So now I'm left with this:



And a big box of Exage Mountain bits, that I'll be cleaning up and attaching tonight.

edit: The only part I'm missing for the build is a 6-speed cassette, which I foolishly binned along with the wheels. I suspect I'm going to regret that! :facepalm:

The cassettes come up fairly regularly and are cheap, in fact have a look for uniglide and there was one on here a couple of weeks ago at around a tenner. Looking good though.

Carl.

 

[spatuluk]

Re: 1988 Red Muddy Fox Courier oddity

I haven't seen a uniglide cassette for less than £20. :s

However, I had a peek at the freehub this morning, and it's got a 32mm(ish) wide uniglide compatible hyperglide body, so I've got a few options.



I didn't get a chance to do anything last night, so I quickly slapped some components on this morning, before legging it to the train station. This is how it looks so far:

 

[drcarlos]

Re: 1988 Red Muddy Fox Courier oddity

That looks really good with the red wall tyres on it.

There is one cassette for sale http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... t=uniglide but it is the rarer wide ratio one, I sold mine for about £12 I think and there was another set of cogs and spacers that went for £8 not long ago.

Carl.

 

[jimo746]

Re: Re:

And as if by magic - here's a B52 that is a clone of my Courier - single bottle mounts, chainstay u-brake and lugged at seat tube!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Retro ... 4ad7974ae5

That's my bike!! Well, it is now. Build thread is linked to in my Signature.
I've been busy buying decent condition Exage Mountain components for it, so have a few spares knocking about if you need anything.

 

[spatuluk]

Re:

Time for a minor update, methinks.

The bike is mostly assembled, and kind've set up. I've been cycling to work on it for the past few days, and aside from some iffy shifting from the knackered rear mech, it seems to be running really well!

Have a pic of it mingling with the BSOs at work:


The front mech's not attached because I plan to treat a gash in the paintwork that was caused by it's clamp. After that, I'm going to clean up and lacquer all the other bits of exposed steel. I'm keeping all the patina!

I'm just waiting for a stem to arrive in the post, before I start snipping cables and trying to get ferules to stay on.

 

[MatBH5]

Re:

I like the look of that, great colour. Glad the wheels went to a good use; the stickers match the colour scheme there.