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So here's the deal.  This is a long story so bear with me.  I fell in love with BMX in 82, and I absolutely had to, had to, HAD TO have a Redline.  Every other word out of my mouth at the time was "Redline".  My parents weren't rich, so the best they could do at the time was a 5 yr old Redline MX-II that they found in a classified ad in the paper.  It was already kinda beat, the nickel was faded as was the anno on most of the parts.  The parts themselves were mostly up to date at the time, and the frame was wearing at least its 3rd set of decals.  That was the bike that cemented BMX into my psyche.  I was a fickle bitch though, and for Xmas the next year my parents managed to scrape up enough money for a PL-20 Carrera 2.  The 77 was shelved, and I sold it while I was in high school.

A few years ago I decided that since I was into the hobby of restoring bikes, for my next project I would do the 77.  I can still remember every part that it had on it when I walked out onto the front porch and saw it for the first time.  Since the bike wasn't new when I got it, I was gonna have to do a survivor build with it.  After all, I wasn't trying to build a bike that came in a catalog, or an idealized version of what the bike was.  I was trying to replicate the bike that was on my porch in 82, which was used.

At the Spring Fling a short time later, I was hanging out in Charlie Brown's back yard and telling our friend Bill (silverhw) about my plans for the project.  He said he really liked the idea and for me to let him know if he could help.

So Bill and Charlie go up to Brian P's for Summer Slam that year, and when they get back, Bill calls me.  The conversation went something like this:

Bill:  I got something for you.
Me:  Watchu got for me? (thinking a T-shirt or something)
Bill:  It seems to be a 78 Redline.
Me:  Okay, you Peaked my interest.  How much you want for it?
Bill:  No, dude.  It's YOURS!  I got it for you.
Me:  I don't know what to say.  What do I even do with that?
Bill:  The only thing I could have asked is that you appreciate it, and I can tell by your voice that you already do.  By the way, what kind of bars did you say you were gonna use?
Me:  Chrome Redline V bars.
Bill:  I have a pair of those.  You can have them, too.  The chrome is kinda beat, but they're yours.

So here's what my man Bill delivered to my undeserving hands.



The only problem was, the frame that Bill hooked me up with was painted and I had to have a nickel, preferably faded nickel.  I flirted with many ideas.  I was gonna have Lou paint it a platinum color to approximate the color of nickel, Then I was gonna polish the raw chromoly and have the frame powdered matte clear over the raw chromo, then I was gonna send it to Revcore to have them nickel plate it.

Jeff Haney said he was really excited about it 'cause they hadn't done nickel yet, and he couldn't wait to see how it turned out.  So I save up my pennies in preparation for nickel plate.  No sooner had I saved up the $500 I needed for the nickel plate than I stumbled upon a survivor nickel plated 77 MX-II frameset for precisely that amount.  Hmmmmm.  What to do? 

As nice as fresh nickel would be, the bike I had BITD didn't have fresh nickel.  To replicate that look after getting the nickel done, I'd have to leave it outside chained to a tree for 5 years.  So I could spend 500 on gorgeous nickel plate (which isn't what I wanted), or spend 500 on exactly the frameset I wanted.  It took me 30 seconds to call dibs. 

Here are the two framsets together.



Being that I had a very specific list of parts to gather, and the condition of the parts was also rather specific (remember they couldn't be too nice, or too beat up), it took quite some time to find everything.  I have a few friends to thank for their assistance and generosity in helping with this build.

Of course there's Bill (silverhw), who hooked me up with the original frame and bars.
Juan (BMX_Addicts) who hooked me up with the Brute stem.
Then there's Charlie Brown, who built the wheels for me.
Sean (Seansoclean) who gave me a great deal on the cranks and brakes.
Scott (JD44DS) for hooking me up with the tires.
Jeff Haney for the killer deal on the grips.

Thank you all, fellas.  Much love for you.

Here's the frameset with the new decals on.  I know they aren't the right ones, but my bike BITD didn't have bubble font decals.  Deal with it, purist nazis!



More to come...