1992 Auburn Racing BMX Bike

This bike was donated to Bikes For Tykes with a sad story. I'll get into that later, but for now I'll just describe the bike (which was auctioned on eBay as a fundraiser).


Auburn Racing was a high end BMX Bike manufacturer that eventually got gobbled up by GT Bicycles in the early 1990s. Auburn Racing frames were unusual, made of Chromoly steel in the front but with a removable aluminum rear triangle that unbolted near the seat post and near the bottom bracket. It's very hard to find any information about these bikes on the Internet; either they weren't plentiful or they weren't popular. After riding this one, I can't understand either one being true.

Now about this particular bike: it was owned by a man in his late 20s who struggled for years with drugs and alcohol. He was in Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous to get help. Sometimes, when his truck was broken down or he was without a driver's license, this bike was his only means of transportation. He had owned it for years and kept it functional, likely for those times when he would be once again pedaling to work.

One night he was involved in a traffic stop with a local police officer. While the details are sketchy, it is indicated that the man got aggressive towards the officer and then got into a fight with him. Sadly, in the ensuing struggle, he was shot and killed. Investigations determined that the shooting was justified.

The house where he lived was cleared of his belongings by the landlord and included this bike, which at the time included a fairly elaborate tool kit. That kit, along with some parts and other tools, was given to a local community service group who teaches kids how to rebuild their own bikes. I told them the story of the kit and its previous owner, and asked that they use the tools to keep kids from ending up in the same fate. It was a powerful story for them, and elicited a simple "...whoa..." when it was told.

And then the bike itself went to eBay, and got $185 final bid. All proceeds are going to help our shop move from one location to another (a story in itself).

The Old Rusty Bike Tool Kit

Over the years I've seen enough scrappy bikes to fill a warehouse. Some look like they were hit by trucks, but most of them have fallen into disrepair for simple reasons - a cable breaks, a tube explodes, a head set loosens up and fails, a chain breaks, and so on. Some bike mechanics will tell you it's the bike, that the general quality of the components used are sub par and prone to failure. Yes, parts can fail, but I've also seen some of my high-end equipment fail - just not at the same rate as lower end. While it's true that bike parts come in different quality levels, nothing replaces good old fashioned wrench turning to keep your bike in shape.

This is where some folks become traumatized. "I can't work on that thing...look how complicated it is!" What I think most people mean by that comment is, "I can't work on that thing...I don't have the right tools!" Well I'm here to tell you that with some determination and a basic tool kit, about 85% of your simple bike needs can be addressed.

At Bikes For Tykes, we came up with a basic Tool Kit that handled most of the issues on bicycles that came in from donors. It's not all that special, and only has a few unique items that would be considered "bicycle only." Most of the kit can be purchased at Sears, and the bike-specific stuff at bike stores or online shops. Anything you don't see in the following Kit will be at a bike shop in their service department. Local Bike Shops (LBS) are a great help usually. Send me an email if you have any questions about this kit or about bike repair.

The Kit

Box end/open ended wrenches - Nothing beats a good set of wrenches. For our purposes they don't even need to be ones of quality, but standard Craftsman wrenches from Sears also serve us well. The most-used sizes for our purposes are:

1. 6mm - Some smaller accessory hardware
2. 8mm - Brake parts and accessory hardware
3. 9mm - Rear derailleur cable adjustments
4. 10mm - Brake hardware, accessory hardware; a commonly used wrench
5. 12mm - Some stem bolts, some accessory hardware, some brake hardware; not often used, but crucial when needed
6. 13mm - Front axle nuts, stems, seat height adjustment bolts, handlebar adjustments; a commonly used wrench
7. 14mm - Seat hardware, some front axle nuts, some seat height adjustment bolts; a commonly used wrench
8. 15mm - Rear axles nuts, some front axle nuts; a commonly used wrench
9. 17mm - Some axle nuts (heavy duty BMX bikes), other hardware. Not commonly used but worth having when needed. Can be purchased in this size as a "Cone Wrench," a very slim version of an open ended wrench that can fit in tight places.
10. 19mm - Not commonly used, but sometimes needed (often comes in a specially priced pack of metric wrenches at Sears or Harbor Freight)

Channel Locks (adjustable pliers) - Sometimes I refer to this as my WonderTool. I use a pair of channel locks on virtually every project. They are especially useful in servicing one-piece cranks and bearings, because they can grip the crank nut easily. Pliers can also hold the end of a derailleur cable while you adjust the tension. The ones I use are easily twenty years old, and have a slight tweak to them. They serve me well because I know them like the back of my hand.

Big crescent wrench - What can I say? In a pinch, they usually get you out of it.

Cable Cutters - This is a bike-specific tool that is worth every dollar you pay for it. Get one at your local bike shop.

Chain Breaker Tool - Helps you either install new chains or remove old ones. It pushed the pin through one side of the chain link and allows you to separate it.

Metric hex tool or wrench set - Also known as "Allen Wrenches," these are used for everything from accessories to brake hardware to stems and cranks. A bike tool kit is frustrating without them.

Multi-bit screwdriver - Commonly found in hardware stores, these screwdrivers have two Phillips head drivers and two straight blade drivers of different sizes. Used for derailleur adjustments, accessories, brake adjustments.

3/8" drive Ratchet - Mostly used for removing or installing cranks on bikes with a "square taper" bottom bracket. Can also be used in conjunction with any of the metric sized sockets that match the wrenches listed above. The ones that get used the most in my tool kit are:

• 10mm socket
• 13mm socket
• 14mm socket

Pedal Wrench - A vital tool in any kit. There's nothing more gutter-grade than having ride around on a broken plastic pedal. Get the one that has a 15mm opening on one side and 9/16" on the other.

Crank extractor - This is used alongside the ratchet when removing "three-piece" cranks on some bikes. One part of the extractor threads into the spindle hole on the crank arm. Then another part screws into the first part and presses against the spindle so the arm backs out. This tool is worth BMX, Kids, and cheap Mountain Bikes use a "one-piece" crank design that usually only needs a pair of channel locks to loosen.

Red-handled spoke wrench - Spoke wrenches from Park Tool are color coded. The red one - commonly known as "Asian" - is the one I use almost all the time. My black and green ones just sit mostly.

3 Tire levers - Pedro's makes big tire levers - in many colors - out of old melted down pop bottles. They also work great. Get three of them and you'll always be able to get that tire off!

Baby Powder - A cheap container of baby powder is something I have around to sprinkle on the tire tubes before I put them in the tires. This will prevent the tire levers and grabbing and yanking the rubber tube as you are putting the tire back on the rim. The most expensive road bike tubes are powdered; that's where I got the idea to powder down regular tubes. Works great!

Disc Brake Grease - This is the same stuff you would use on wheel bearings when doing a brake job on a car. It's cheap, it puts up with more abuse than a bicycle bearing could ever put out, and it's easy to work with. Disk brake grease is designed to operate up to high temperatures that bikes never attain. Headsets, BMX bottom brackets, seat posts, and wheel bearings can all be slathered in this stuff to keep them rolling nicely.

Tri-Flow - Best darn liquid lubrication available for bicycles.

Regular Hammer - I use a standard issue construction hammer for simple stuff like popping out bearing races.

Old seat post - This works well as a cheap punch for removing bearing races from bottom brackets or head sets. If you destroy it, you're not out a lot of money because...well...it was a crummy seat post. You get the picture.

Brass Hammer - Sometimes it pays to hammer with something that is softer than what you're hammering on. That's where the brass hammer comes in. When a stem is stuck but the stem bolt moves, a swift hit on the bolt with a brass hammer will loosen the stem nine times out of ten.

El Rey de Tres

Bikes For Tykes took on this unique project, for a young man who has mild autism. He is unable to balance on a regular bicycle, and his Mom asked if we had a solution. Well our solution included starting with an old donated Huffy and making it into something that truly doesn't exist anywhere else.

The original bike was donated to our program in 2006, along with some other kids bikes, by a retired man moving out of his home. The Huffy was actually the nicest of the batch, and fit our need for the project. It had character, wasn't particularly valuable, and could be modified without feeling like we were destroying a piece of history.

After stripping it down to the frame and fork we took the parts into Bulldog Powdercoating in Mukilteo WA for a shot of EJ's favorite color - medium blue. We checked the condition of the bottom bracket (crank bearing and races) and the head set. The head set was junk; the bearing race was channeled and nothing rolled smoothly. Historically these are cheap parts, so it didn't surprise me that a head set from the 1960s hadn't survived. The bottom bracket, on the other hand, was fine and cleaned up nicely. Some time during the previous decades a Schwinn chain ring had been swapped onto the bike. It was a bit tweaked but we were able to salvage it by bending the ring back into place.

The trike kit and accessories came from Bicycle Designer in Northern California, which specializes in lowrider bikes and parts. We chose a narrowed ape hanger and blue grips for the front, and a velvet blue banana seat. Even though the colors of blue aren't quite the same, it still looks good. The trike kit bolted together easily, and the bike frame only needed minor modifications. Initially we had intended to use a nicer crank, but the design of the frame didn't allow for any design longer than the one that came with the bike. A replacement head set was purchased, but only portions of it could be used since the head tube was an unusual size and required that I use some of the old parts.

When we handed the bike over to EJ he rode down the street, turned around, and came back. What seemed like an uneventful ride was in fact very important; it was his first bike rider ever and Bikes For Tykes was a part of it. We felt honored!

Rebuilding a 1970 Schwinn Hollywood 24

This was my wife's first bike; she got it when she was 7 years old (it was too big for her then), and she never got rid of it. As long as I've known her the bike had been hanging in the garage. It was always kind of neat seeing it there, and we both knew it was something special even if it wasn't that valuable. Everything on the bike was original, including the dried out tires.

Last year we were cleaning something out of the garage and the Hollywood had to be put out in the driveway. Our oldest son asked me, "Daddy what is that?"

"That was my first bike," his Mother answered chiming in.

"Can you still ride it?"

"I don't know," she said. "I haven't ridden it in 30 years." It had been set aside when she got her first 10-speed.

I pumped up the tires and they still held air. Sherry got on the bike and rode it around the cul de sac for a bit. When she came back to the house she said, "Wow, it rides exactly how I remember it. Wouldn't it be neat if we could fix this up like you do the other bikes?"

How could I refuse? So in secret, while tackling some other bike projects, I started to renovate her old 24" Hollywood for the purpose of riding around the neighborhood with me and the boys. Generally the bike was intact and in strong shape. It disassembled easily; even the fenders cleaned up pretty well. I even removed the integrated kickstand with the Park Tool KS-1 Kickstand Tool. I ordered a box full of new parts from Bicycle Designer, which specializes in lowrider bike parts:

• 140-spoke wheels with coaster brake rear
• Mini-ape handlebar
• Schwinn Krate pedals
• 24x2.125 whitewall tires and tubes
• Chrome seatpost (specific size for Schwinn frames)

From Electra Bikes I ordered:

• Leather Tiki-embossed saddle
• Leather Tiki-embossed grips
• Leather handlebar fringe

The fork dropouts had to be modified slightly, to fit the larger axle that came in the new wheel. Working on each dropout with a metal file made room for it. The headset and bottom bracket were both in great shape, so I packed them both full of hi-temp disc brake grease and put them back together.

The bike's resulting look was far cooler than I had expected. I normally don't like "Varsity Green," but after this bike was put back together the chrome really set off the color nicely. Despite the nicks and faded paint in places, the bike presents well now that everything shines. It really didn't take all that much work to turn this thing from a dud to a stud. And Sherry had a big smile after her first ride.

It was all worth it!

Rat Lincoln (w/Slide Show)

Rat Lincoln was literally saved from the landfill.

The bike itself is a late 1980s Redline ProLine 20, a meat & potatoes BMX bike that was a favorite among racers of the day. Bikes For Tykes stripped it down and rebuilt it for a kid in the foster care system in 2006. The project tested our supply chains, and our skills at rebuilding. Overall the build went well with very few hiccups.

To read more about Rat Lincoln, visit the Bikes For Tykes website.

The $11.00 Bike

Rebuilding a chrome Dyno Freestyle Bike On The Cheap

Some of the bikes we receive as donations at Bikes For Tykes have seen better, more fruitful days; this bike was one of them. It was picked up, along with four other bikes, in a rural part of the region. The bike had been sitting out in the weather and showed it. Covered with surface rust, mud and long grass, it took two days just to dry out the foam in the seat. The tires were rotten, the front tire tube would only hold 5lbs of pressure, the chain and rear cassette were seized up, and the brake lever barely moved. But it did have some redeeming qualities -- Complete Gyro brake assembly (which allows handlebars to turn full-circle without binding the brake cable), straight wheels, straight frame, acceptable seat and grips. Essentially this bike would need a lot of attention but was a good candidate for our work.
And work we did. Here's the list of tasks that brought this bike back to life:

• Removed stickers with box cutter blade.
• Removed sticker adhesive & surface rust with citrus cleaner and 000 Steel Wool.
• Lubed rear brake cable front and back with Tri-Flow.
• Lubed the rear hub to free it up and make it spin.
• Turned chain ring around to show clean backside instead of rusty front side.
• Adjusted, cleaned and repacked crank bearings with HD disc brake grease.
• Replaced one tire tube (used, from our tube inventory) and both tires.
• Adjusted rear brake.
• Total work time: 4 hours

While most of this renovation was elbow grease, we did have to buy some parts:

• Rear Tire (Used) -- $4.00
• Front Tire (New) -- $6.00
• Chain (New Closeout) -- $1.00
• Total Charges: -- $11.00

This bike is a testament to what we do. It was rebuilt for a minimum of money coupled with a lot of effort. Money was spent only where necessary to complete the project, and used parts were installed when possible. The result is a Chromed beauty that can make a kid smile from ear to ear.

Funding is as important as finding the safest parts for the build, and it is possible to be wise with both. While it is not possible to rebuild every bike for only $11.00, this one stands out as a good example of what can happen when everything falls into place. Effort, Funding, and Parts.

By the way, this bike was delivered soon after to a new rider -- free of charge!

Kurt Clark

Originally written December 12th 2003 Edited and updated for this blog