Lagunatic

Great stories! I didn't know CBRs made it as far as Oz. Billy, you are a vault of information - thanks for all the specs and historical evolution of the frame design. We need to start aggregating all your info and create a Cook Bros F.A.Q. 84profile: good luck with your search for the frame. I'm always lurking around eBay and other holes looking for Cook stuff - will let you know if I see any.

Billy, here are a few pictures of my CBR (newly restored). Note the cross tube behind the bottom bracket - when were these added? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

Wow! Awesome restore - great job.

Welcome Billy! Nice to have you posting to the forums. I just finished restoring a Cook Bros bike. The serial number on the frame is #1982, would you happen to know roughly what year is was made or any other info? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the compliments. You are correct about CBR components. My main goal with this project was to rebuild my childhood CBR. It was very rare to see a full CBR bike BITD. My old bike only had CBR f/f, seat post and bars so I am perfectly content with non CBR components on this ride. I would still like some CBR bars but for now the GT are great. I love your red CBR- very nice build. It's funny, I also had checkered (blue) pads on my old bike. Where did you find yours?

Will flip the seat guts around tonight, thanks for the suggestion. The wife doesn't get it. She would have rather spent the money on a furniture or clothes. ;-) The kids however are fighting me to take turns riding it. My son's eyes popped out of his head when I pulled it from the basement this past weekend. BMX bikes these days are almost always painted dark colors with black components so in contrast, the CBR is total old school with bright chrome and blue anodized comp everywhere - very flashy, which the kids think is really cool. In hindsight, I'm definitely glad I kept the original finish. With the bike put together and with the new repro stickers you don't notice the small imperfections in the chrome.

IT'S FINISHED!!! This past weekend I put the finishing touches on my Cook Brothers rebuild. So, many months and $$$ later I have a complete bike... I'm soooo stoked! The last time I rode a BMX was on my original CBR back in the 80s right before I turned 16 and got my DL. It was such a great feeling to ride again, hard to describe. My kids were prodding me to do some tricks so I threw down some bunny hops, kick outs and wheelies... gotta do the OS stuff! My wife just rolls her eyes and doesn't understand the obsession, but at least she is happy I won't be receiving any more packages from eBay auctions! It's been a long road, a road I'm sure many of you have been on before rebuilding your own OS rides. I just want to thank EVERYONE who's helped answer my n00b questions here in this forum. Your the best - couldn't have done it without you. Here are some pictures of my ride. There are a few small things to do, but their pretty minor: 'memory' screws that attach to the frame for the rear hub (unique to CBRs), replace black seat hardware with chrome or paint it blue, blue tires, dust caps for cranks, and ultimately, replace the GT bars with CBR bars. But, for now the bike is done and I couldn't be happier.

I purchased a NOS BMX chain recently. When I took it out of the box and put it on my bike, the chain drooped and seemed to be excessively long. OK, I'm sure all chains get shipped this way and that I just need to remove some links to size it correctly for my BMX bike. Is there a standard number of links for a 20" BMX bike frame? I could start removing sections of the chain but I'd only be guessing. For reference, I have a 44 tooth chain ring (Sugino). Thanks.

OK, I answered my own question. The pedals are SR (Sakae Ringyo) SP150 model pedals. Here is a picture of a pair I found online - not my actual pedals. Should I keep these or get a different pair? I was toying with getting some blue Suntour or Shimano pedals. Whadda ya think???

Thanks. A Sugino neck, NOS grips, repro spindle bolts, MX1000 brakes, and NOS seatpost clamp are being shipped soon. As soon as I have these parts assembled I'll post some more pictures... next week maybe. I couldn't find Phil's grease anywhere but picked up some grease the LBS recommended. Upon closer look at the pedals, it looks like the stamps says "SR" and not "SA"? It's really hard to tell. Didn't get around to pictures yesterday but will post some for sure tonight.

I have a set of SA sp150 pedals that came with the set of old RL cranks I got. I took them completely apart, cleaned the guts, repacked the bearings and then reassembled - they spin around real easy now. They have an aluminum basket. You can see a picture of them in the background of the image I uploaded for my 5/28 post. Will try to upload some better pictures tonight. Interesting thing is that the pedals are only one sided (top). Meaning, you can only put your foot on one side. They are top heavy so they spin upside down when your foot isn't on it. There is a small triangular spike on the pedal that, I imagine, you use to spin the pedal back into it's upright position (similar to how mtn bike pedals with baskets work). Can anyone tell me anything about these pedals? Who made them? Are they any good?

Thank you thank you thank you for the vert-ego.com website address!!!! They sell the spindle bolts separately which is perfect - apparently these bolts are extremely rare. I bought them yesterday and they're being shipped today. With the horrid currency conversion rate I paid a premium for them, but at this point I'm all-in with this restoration and am just glad to have found the last, missing piece to my restoration project. Again, os-bmx.com comes to the rescue!

I picked up a Redline (made by Sugino) Flight 400 series 3-piece crank on eBay. When I got the cranks, the bottom bracket was missing the left-side reverse threaded bolts that keep the bb together. I've been to every bike store and hardware store around me here in the Chicago burbs (Hartley's, Terry's, Morello's, Trek, The Wheel Thing, Ace Hardware, TruValue, Home Depot, and Grainger). No luck. I've been searching eBay and CraigsList for over a month without any success. So, now I'm on an eternal quest to find these missing bolts and am hoping ya'll can help. Does anyone have a set of Redline or Sugino 400 (not the original or 401 series) cranks sitting around unused? Or maybe a spare Sugino bottom bracket? I'm not sure about the TPI count or axle diameter, but I think it's 19mm. I will post some pictures of the bottom bracket tonight. Thanks.

The old CBR decals were pretty well faded and banged up when I got the f/f so I took them off before the acid bath. I've read that the acid wont hurt decals but I have a hard time believing that - although I don't know for sure. Plus, with the frame de-stickered it was easier to polish as I didnt have to be careful around any old stickers.

Making progress... - Oxalic acid bath - Dremel polished rough spots (esp the forks, frame was OK) - Chrome polish (Determined the chrome was in good enough condition, no need to rechrome) - Put on new set of repro CBR stickers (the fork stickers covered most of the oxidation... yeah!) - Packed hub bearings, tracked down cones and axles - New Haro tires and tubes Next up... restore Redline Flight cranks, track down some brakes, stem, and seat