Now I don't think I am a restoration perfectionist, but there's always something to do on a VMX bike. I'm talking about after the rebuild, once you have started racing them.
The initial few rides consists of a lot of picking up pieces from what has fallen off. They vibrate and shake much more than the modern stuff - so stuff comes loose far more often.
Then, once you start racing, there's the setup phase. Controls, cable routing, brake adjustment and so on. Some more stuff will fall off in this phase.
Just when things settle down - your creative side takes over. What if I change this, or bush that, or maybe run double sealed bearings here. Suddenly you have a whole new list of things to work on.
Now its the end of the season, there's crash damage, worn sprocket and chain, rounded knobbies and so on. Some more work to do.
Passion is out of the window now - we're talking lunacy here, because now we make it even harder by adding a 2nd or 3rd bike to the racing stable. This is where is becomes dangerous, because you can easily end up doing more wrenching than riding.
When this happens - you have to take a break from the obsession. Go ride, visit a buddy building a bike, go for another, page through a VMX magazine, go ride again. Now you are pumped up - head into the garage and show the spanners who's BOSS.
Notes from the field:
- Target the easiest fixes first - that way you have something to ride at a moments notice.
- Then target the oldest bikes first - you can always ride up a class if your GP weapon isn't ready.
- Only tackle 1 rebuild at a time.
- Strip and assess everything before you place your first parts order. Nothing worse than paying shipping twice, 3 times, surely not 4 times Sir ?
- Keep your old spares as samples - you never know when you will need them again.
- Box everything, don't mix your RM and KTM spares
- Make sure you are having fun. Go ride if you aren't.
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