This project goes a few years back - to when I first visited Vancouver BC in 2007. As a skater I was keen to visit PD's Hot Shop home to the legendary Skull Skates, one of the original and best skateboard companies. While there I saw a range of bicycles for sale and though I noticed the 26" Cruiser immediately I wasn't so taken with it that I had to have one. At this stage I had owned a GT BMX Cruiser 24" for a dozen years or more and I had barely ridden it of late. So I left PD's with a new deck - but as time passed and I once more visited Vancouver in 2009, I began to think I should have a Skull Skates Cruiser. So in 2010 when I saw on their website a new batch were on their way I set in motion a plan to purchase a frame & forks.
Now Skull Skates do not ship outside of North America, and so I had my Vancouver buddy Mike collect the F&F's from the store and after a bit of a struggle we found shipping at an acceptable rate - around a £100. 2 months later I am down at the Parcel Force office collecting my package and forking out for duty. I have never begun a bike project from scratch like this and I didn't realise how expensive it was about to get.
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00015 by stllsman
The next 6 months were spent assembling the parts I thought I was going to need. The Takagi Tourney cranks were bought late at night on ebay from South Korea.
They came within a week and were good value at about £90. I ordered the GT Mohawk Hubs from the USA and once agin I was stung for shiping and duty, ouch! The Brooks saddle was purchased from a retro bike member and the other parts - a mixture of the old, new & NOS were gathered from ebay. A seat clamp, a seat post, a head set & a stem were all in the old skool bmx one inch size - so there were a few mistaken purchases along the way - but I got there eventually. At my local wheel builders Wheel Craft, the mechanics suggested DMR Wonder Cups as a solution to the old style American BB as the one I had purchased was like horrid. The Wonder Cups allow the fitting of a modern BB and the result was wonderful. At the same time the legend that is Big Al was busy on my wheels and as per usual the quality was fantastic.
The last pieces of the jigsaw were bars and brakes and here I'm afraid I ran out of cash for the shiney things I wanted - a compromise had to be reached and a budget v brake and lever were ordered from SJS, I had wanted Pauls, and a generic set of modern low rise bars were were ordered from a BMX retailer - I had wanted either Knight or L&S but shipping from the USA was not an option. And the last purchase were the Kenda Small Block 8's - narrow enough for the frame and light too. Picture heavy content to follow.
But here is a link to PD's bike museum where you can see the origins of this bicycle.
http://www.skullskates.com/history/on-l ... le-museum/
Now Skull Skates do not ship outside of North America, and so I had my Vancouver buddy Mike collect the F&F's from the store and after a bit of a struggle we found shipping at an acceptable rate - around a £100. 2 months later I am down at the Parcel Force office collecting my package and forking out for duty. I have never begun a bike project from scratch like this and I didn't realise how expensive it was about to get.
00015 by stllsman
The next 6 months were spent assembling the parts I thought I was going to need. The Takagi Tourney cranks were bought late at night on ebay from South Korea.
They came within a week and were good value at about £90. I ordered the GT Mohawk Hubs from the USA and once agin I was stung for shiping and duty, ouch! The Brooks saddle was purchased from a retro bike member and the other parts - a mixture of the old, new & NOS were gathered from ebay. A seat clamp, a seat post, a head set & a stem were all in the old skool bmx one inch size - so there were a few mistaken purchases along the way - but I got there eventually. At my local wheel builders Wheel Craft, the mechanics suggested DMR Wonder Cups as a solution to the old style American BB as the one I had purchased was like horrid. The Wonder Cups allow the fitting of a modern BB and the result was wonderful. At the same time the legend that is Big Al was busy on my wheels and as per usual the quality was fantastic.
The last pieces of the jigsaw were bars and brakes and here I'm afraid I ran out of cash for the shiney things I wanted - a compromise had to be reached and a budget v brake and lever were ordered from SJS, I had wanted Pauls, and a generic set of modern low rise bars were were ordered from a BMX retailer - I had wanted either Knight or L&S but shipping from the USA was not an option. And the last purchase were the Kenda Small Block 8's - narrow enough for the frame and light too. Picture heavy content to follow.
But here is a link to PD's bike museum where you can see the origins of this bicycle.
http://www.skullskates.com/history/on-l ... le-museum/
