1988 Muddy Fox Aluminium - build thread

Was lucky enough to bag this rarity from Ebay. Was told that the rear derailleur needed replacing, but turns out the cable was screwed and the rear wheel had a 5 tooth cog on so indexing was not happening.
The guy who was selling it seemed to be a bit of a trader of bikes and dont think it was his from BITD.

In the 1988 Brochure she is shown as a Laser, but between the photoshoot and when finally released into production, the colour scheme and name changed.


Here she is as she came once I got her home:


A couple of shots with her family (with rack removed):






Some close ups:
















(Shimano Brakes instead of Dia-Compe)






I sorted the rear cog out and put on some Muddy Fox tyres and saddle and took her for a blast, impatience is my virtue.


Then last night decided to break her down ready for a resto. Was going to simply break down, clean, service and rebuild as a survivor. But due to its rarity and condition am going to do a full resto.
Discovered she has had a bit of a neglected life, the cranks were stuck, the rear dropouts are filthy, there is some pitting under the paint and its flaking in places, the forks have a fair amount of rust pitting and the stem is stuck fast (left it soaking overnight, so will try again later).

Here are the box of parts:


...and the stripped frame and forks:








Welding is nice:


Bit more flakey paint:


Not sure what this was for? A chain guard?


So that's where im up to so far. The easy bit!

Very nice collection of Foxes in your den

I'd have never seen the aluminium model before and looks like a quality machine , I'm liking the Suntour Shimano mix of parts.

The yellow explorer is very nice esp with with the disc my dad had one in gate size and had an amazing pearl finish.

Yeah, watching this…I saw this on the 'bay as well, I've never seen an aluminium MF of this era before

The little peg near the dropout is a chain hanger by the way...

Nice start Jim

It's interesting to see the similarities and differences to my Alu Team one, just a year later.

Lounging on the virtual sofa....
And

1st of all, nice collection.

2nd of all, YOU HAVE A WHEEL DISC! I keep hoping one will turn up. Everyone has a Unicorn, mine is a wheel disc for my Pathfinder

Not sure what this was for? A chain guard?

Click to expand...

It's a chain hanger, you hook the chain over it when you take the wheel out, stops the chain marking or leaving oil on the chain stay. They were common on road frames but pretty pointless on MTBs where you would generally have a chain stay protector anyway.

thanks guys, that make sense. Ironically the chain kept getting caught on on when removing the wheel, so it works

Loving your taste in bikes!!!
almost bid on this. its actually the only one i have ever seen. were they that rare?
steve

Don't know if they were that rare BITD but it's the first one I've seen. So at the moment it's pretty rare. There are probably plenty out there to be discovered.

I'll have to do some research on numbers sold.

Great collection and great scan thanks for sharing....