1995 BLIZZARD upate

This is my baby. I LOVE this bike.

I bought the frame new in 1995, the last 16” Blizzard frame to come out Canada that year apparently. It’s been through a lot of changes since then (even sat in my Dad’s loft for a few years) and until recently the front mech was the only part left from the first build.

Now as y’all can see that’s disappeared too.
I filed about 1mm off one side of the rear axle to get that oh-so-smooth untensioned look – works a treat too. Has a 14t cog and a 32t chainring (many thanks to Drapoon for donating the once-purple chainring)

The rest of the parts are green-themed to go with the original seat clamp and decals. As with many other single-speeds on here, it’s built with a mixture of odds and ends I’ve had laying around with some ebay bargains thrown in for good measure.

I guess it’s mostly ‘retro’, which is purely accidental really, I built it up like this originally just to try out the SS thing, and boy do I like it!
This bike takes me right back (yep, it’s a while ago we’re talking about here) to those endless summer holidays when my beaten-up bmx was my ticket to freedom and scraped knees...

Very nice! But just one question - why did you fit a 44cm Project 2 to a 1995 frame?

Nice one, I can see why you love this bike. And some favourites of mine too: Older RF cranks, SDG, Shorty.

How do you get along with the 32/14, does it see offroad duty?

Enjoy!!

Very very nice can I ask where you got the chainring bolts from and what type of headset that is?

Anthony":166b2td2 said:

Very nice! But just one question - why did you fit a 44cm Project 2 to a 1995 frame?

Click to expand...

Ummm...
They were cheap and I'm a bit clueless on this, what fork length would be better?

IbocProSX":1or743xc said:

How do you get along with the 32/14, does it see offroad duty?

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At first I worked it out to be 32/16 using this: http://eehouse.org/fixin/formfmu.php
But in practice the 14 (and a bit of axle filing) worked better.

To be honest it doesn't see much offroad action, I mostly use it for racing around town, jumping steps, etc. It's really a grown-up(!) bmx for having lots of fun on!

Cheers!

kaiser":191qzjit said:

Very very nice can I ask where you got the chainring bolts from and what type of headset that is?

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Thanks!!

I think I bought the bolts from an ebay (USA) store, I had to file them down though to fit the single chainring.

The headset is a Ringle Slamma Jamma – if only it worked as good as it looked!! :?

beepbeep":32vjms8u said:

Anthony":32vjms8u said:

Very nice! But just one question - why did you fit a 44cm Project 2 to a 1995 frame?

Click to expand...

Ummm...
They were cheap and I'm a bit clueless on this, what fork length would be better?

Click to expand...

For that superb frame, you need the classic 41cm triple-butted flavour - i.e., without the extension below the crown race - that's the length that a 95 frame will have been designed for and will give you sharper steering. The size 16 only had a 70.5 degree head angle in the first place, so an extra 3cm on the length of the fork will take that below 69, which is really quite slack. I'll bet you'd like it better with the right length fork.

That looks great . Always fancied a Blizzard and recently have been tempted to start a new retro jumpy project too - Shorties and Sharkbites . . . mmmmmm

Thanks for the fork tips Anthony

I was aware there was an even longer P2 (the 'tuning fork' model as I've heard them called) but didn't realise there was this shorter version too.

...back to ebay I guess......