cook brothers racing 26" Bmx Cruzer

Description

1982 cook brothers racing 26" bmx cruiser. I bought the Cook new in 1983 for 0. It was displayed in the front window of The Spoke bike shop on Guadalupe, the drag, in Austin Texas.
It was so expensive, so it only sold when I had to have it, and convinced my sister to borrow her credit card.
The CBR had gold campy hubs and a Campy crankset, thus the remaining gold Suntour headlock. The wheels were replaced in the late '80's with blue Campagnolo bmx hub/Araya 7x with dt stainless spokes. The crank was replaced with a Cook Brothers crank, Suntour 42 tooth sprocket on the original CBR bottom bracket. The pedals are Campagnolo Taurus or Centaur, nearly identical to the Campy bmx pedals that were on it.
In 1985 I moved from Austin to Huntington Beach California, (temporarily as it turns out I could not afford it) and while in Southern California I took the Cook to the Cook Brothers Racing "factory" in Santa Ana ( it was a smallish mid unit in a strip industrial complex and a couple of guys in board shorts) and met Jack Whitmer, to ask if he would repair the box type canti mounts. He was nice, easy to work with, so additionally I requested he install water bottle bosses, top tube cable guides and a fastback seat clamp, as well as a repaint in white imron. This is probably the only Cook that has these. I think he said he was low on decals, thus one fork is bare.
I never liked the slant stem, it was too cramped, so I changed it out for the Dk xl inverted. Years later a friend told me the stem was valuable and he ebayed it for an eye popping 0..
The handlebars are cut Cook Brothers, I think 27", and the crossbar is slightly ovalized and small indent from when I changed the rise myself to a more relaxed wrist angle.
The brakes were originally Mafac Speedy, with dia compe mtb, they are now Campagnolo Euclid cantilevers and levers.
I put a CBR quick release in the fastback seat stay (Jack's definition), though the threads in the barrels are fine and a bolt can be used without the QR.
It has a gold 1/8 izumi chain and I think a Suntour 16t freewheel. The gearing is fine for street cruising, a little tall for trails.
It has a new quilted springer seat on the Revcore microadjust layback seat post. The steerer bearing is a original Tioga bear trap. New Kenda small block 8 tires, new odi grips.
Known issue: The frame developed a small hairline crack on the seat tube between the top tube and the seat stays, it was tig welded and the weld blended, but my touch up job is utilitarian at best.
Honestly, I bought the Cook to ride, never as an investment, but I have other cruisers that I ride and don't have to worry about. This cruiser rides beautifully and everything works.
Thanks.
On Jul-16-21 at 10:15:55 PDT, seller added the following information:
The serial number is #585
On Jul-16-21 at 10:51:46 PDT, seller added the following information:
Another note: I am not 100% sure the seatpost is revcore, I bought it years ago at Trend bike source and seem to recall it was a revcore, please take this into consideration.
On Jul-16-21 at 13:04:42 PDT, seller added the following information:
And another thing:
There was what I thought to be a faint crack in the paint on the right side, and around 20 years ago I did what research I could on what was then the internet and found that Cooks had a tendency to crack there, due to the heat affected zone between the top tube weld and the seat stay weld. (If memory serves me, I think Cook Brothers Racing made an "Austin" cruiser designed by Lynn Smith of Austin Cruzer that addressed this and gusseted this area, in addition to a gusset on the head/top/downtube).
I took the bike to my job at Austin Community College Welding department, where I taught metalsmithing, and had our best inert gas welding instructor Tim Strouse, tig weld the crack. The paint was removed in the weld area, tig welded, blended with rolox and scotchbrite and I subsequently sprayed it with appliance white, on both sides, to keep it from rusting, not at the time restoration, it was my rider.
On Jul-16-21 at 17:00:46 PDT, seller added the following information:
The head decal has that halo appearance due to having a white border, . When it was repainted by Cook Brothers Racing, the old decals were removed, it was sprayed with imron and new decals were applied, the old decals were proper for the white frame because they had a black outline but these newer decals have a white border meant for a darker frame color. I now recall Jack explaining this to me when I went back to pick it up.Thus the washout of cook brothers name on the mid tube as shown in the photo below.
Regarding the weld, if I were to remove the paint in that area you would see bare steel tubing, with no evidence of any work done due to the professional weld and blend quality. The spray paint is not hiding any flaws, its just keeping it from rusting until someone else wants to match the color.
The Cook for me was always meant as my forever rider,not an investment. I had no idea until about 10 years ago how much the old school bmx bikes were selling for, and the value of my bike created a negative effect on wanting to ride it, I became more concerned about it getting ripped off, and instead would ride my Kona humuhunukanua, om flyer or a clunker.
On Jul-17-21 at 12:14:22 PDT, seller added the following information:
The CBR handlebars are cut to 28 1/8" wide, which is my shoulder width, although the odi grips clamp on, so you can make the bars as wide as you dare. The brakes were stock with old style square cantilever bosses, which bent and thus the visit to Cook brothers factory to have them custom mount the superior solid round barrel mounts. Those mounts, water bottle braze ons, top tube cable mounts and fastback seat stay may make this the only 26" Cook with those factory options.