The decision is made. I am going with the black Ukai rims and black Sunshine hubs.
Tag Archives: fuji bmx
1980 Feather Professional BMX Part 2
I’ve got the majority of the parts laid out with a few decisions to make along the way.
One of the very distinct parts on the Fuji Feather Professional BMX bikes is the Tange Meriter headset. These are semi-sealed and were a very high-end part in the mid and late 1970’s.
When acquiring a Tange Meriter headset one of the most often damaged parts is the top-nut. I must have 10 headsets and probably 5 good top-nuts, 2 bad top-nuts, and 1 unusable. If you ever find these top-nuts at a swap, buy them!
Another very distinct part to the Feather Professional BMX is the curved Ishiwata fork.
1980 Feather Professional Black
Bar Keepers Friend really works!
I had heard about oxalic acid and its power to remove rust from bicycle as well as many metal parts. In my research I also found out the active ingredient in Bar Keepers Friend is oxalic acid. It just so happens that I had just received a rather rusty Fuji Feather Professional Ishiwata BMX fork and have a bottle of Bar Keepers Friend under the kitchen sink.
So, here’s what I did. I got a large plastic bin I had purchased at Costco some time ago. I put one cup of Bar Keepers Friend in the bin and then filled it with hot water until the fork was completely covered. I carried the bin outside to let it sit for a few hours. Before walking away, I couldn’t help but pull the fork out to see if any thing was happening. Sure enough, with the wipe of my finger rust was already coming off! I was looking forward to the result!
3 hours later I began to lightly scrub away the rust with a Scotch Brite blue non-scratch sponge. Below are the results.
Nitto B701 and B702 BMX handlebars
It’s taken years to finally find an official picture of the Nitto B702 bars listed as the stock part on the Feather Professionals from 1980 on. But finally, here they are! I found these in the 1980 Japan’s Bicycle Guide catalog which is a goldmine of vintage Japanese bicycle parts.
The B702 handlebars, with the distinct concave crossbar, look very similar if not identical to the aluminum WIN branded handlebars that seem to be more common to find. Next task is to pick up a set of the WIN handlebars and see if the stated measurements match.