Giant

Giant made bikes for lots of companies in the '80s. In Australia, the Repco Hotfoot was made by Giant from approximately 1980 to 1985 when they then swapped manufacturers to Merida. While this was going on, Giant imported bikes and sold them to other companies - RoadMaster and the Melbourne Bike Company amongst others - and even sold their own branded version.

Please browse through all of the material I have collected:

If you have any Hotfoot information or photos, please forward them to me and I will add them to the site. I am especially interested in brochures and advertisements as these are most valuable when restoring bikes back to their original glory.

Restorations



Danny Pires: Restoration of an '80 Giant GMX-250

Danny's Giant GMX-250 is a testament that you don't have to rechrome every nut and bolt to build a beautiful bike. This build is about carefully selected colour combinations and refinishing the original parts of the bike.


The Finished Product
Recently, I built a green and gold GMX-250 and I can honestly say the colour combination works great. When I saw the progress photos of this build, I realised that gold parts can go well with any strong colour whether it be green, blue or even a darker colour like burgundy.

Although the gold is a bold colour, Danny has been careful not to let it dominate the colour scheme. He has retained some of the original chrome parts - chainring, seat post clamp, headset and forks - and added black pedals, grips and Duro 20x2.125 knobby tyres which balance the gold parts nicely.

 

 
Δ Top

The Frame
To say that this Giant was a little beat up when Danny got it is a understatement. Danny took the frame back to bare metal, primed it and then got it professionally sprayed in a Mazda metallic blue. The assembled frame and forks look great and are a sign of things to come!

 

 
Δ Top

Gold, gold and more gold!
Danny originally had the gold pieces of the bike powder coated but after a poor job (the powder a dull brown colour and was literally flaking off) he stripped them back and had them sprayed in a gold paint. The end result is a lovely, deep and bright gold.


  

 
Δ Top

Original Parts
This build retains most, if not all, of its original parts - right down to the CatEye reflectors that originally adorned the bike. One of the reflectors was broken and rather than replace it with a different one, Danny repaired it and polished up the original mounting hardware. Once fitted, the repaired crack is almost hidden behind the mounting bolts and is nearly invisible.


  
Δ Top

Comments?

 Anything to say?
Name :
Email :
Comments :
Confirmation:


Extra Info / Links

   OldSchoolMags.com  Have you ever wished that you could go back in time to the late 70's and early 80's when you could walk into a newsagency and see the latest issues of BMX Action, BMX Plus, Super BMX and Freestylin' in the racks as crisp and clean as the day they were printed? If you said yes to any of these questions, this is the site for you ..

   BMX Works  This site has everything you will ever need to restore an old school bmx from loose parts - nuts, bolts and bearings - through to complete brake sets, cranks sets and finishing parts, such as pad sets and decals.

   Madman's BMX Painting Services  Pete's work is second to none. I have two frames painted by him - a Hotfoot Freestyle in white and a Hotfoot 24" Cruiser in Hazard Yellow - and both have come out beautifully. Pete can also handle the stripping of paint and chrome and other prep work.

   Re-Rides  Sydney Australia based BMX restoration and photography. Rebuilding retro BMX bikes from 80's old-school, 90's mid-school and 00's new-school era's.

   SDBMX  SDBMX sells a distinctive range of cast alloy BMX rims that will finish of any old-school, mid-school or even new-school build. Styles include the Blizzard, Cyclone, Hurricane, Tornado and Typhoon.

Blizzard Cyclone Hurricane Tornado Typhoon

   Vintage Mongoose  Anyone who is interested in Mongooses (Mongeese?) has probably already found this site. When I was restoring my Motomag, I found this site invaluable for information and reproductions decals and grips. Warren, who is behind this site, is a local who is passionate - no obsessive - about the Mongoose brand and it shows.