Any BMX'rs on the Forum?

[thetroy]

I never did it seriously, but lived on my bikes until I got a driver's license. I had a Mongoose Expert Comp for racing and jumps and a Redline RL640 for freestyle shit - those were the days when I was in good shape! (even though it was only like 7-8 years ago for me)

[BYeh1]

Old School BMX

Started racing BMX for my local bike shop in Miami (The Place for Wheels) in 1981/2, did the local circuit, then my bike got stolen and never replaced it...

2 years ago got the urge to rebuild that bike, after 3 months hunting for NOS (new old stock) parts on E-Bay and other websites, was able to put this together (with the help of a hardcore OS BMXer in NorCal):

PK Ripper Looptail frame (had it stripped and powder-coated)
Landing Gear Forks (stripped & PC'd)
SE Racing handlebars
Suntour VX cranks
KKT Lightning Pedals
Araya 7X alloy rims
Suntour hubs
Tuf-Neck stem
Dia-Compe MX-1000 brakes
Kashimax Aero seat
Suntour seat post clamp
Oakley grips

[Firebird V]

I sold an old school looptail Ripper about a year ago. I still have a few old school Supergoose and Mongoose Team frames around. The Supergoose is a full bike all old school like it came from the bike shop back in the day.

I used to race back in the early 80's. I was born in 69 so when I was riding BMX was in it's most popular years IMO. Everyone rode. It was cool to see everyone in the trails or at the track with the best built bikes.

i had a friend that had a full track with a gate and a Quarter Pipe in his back yard and we used to rip it up back there every chance we had.

BMX Plus was in my mailbox every month for years. I would long for the day it would show up and then read it over and over again.

All the lockers in school would be plastered on the inside with all our favorite riders... Those were good times!

Great thread!

[Bengal65]

Firebird, were you in NJ then? I grew up in Hillsborough. It was a farming community back in the 60's and we had tracks everywhere. Although, are racing was unorganzied and on bikes like Schwinn Stingrays, Huffy's and Sears Roebuck. Cool stuff. There is a resergence of old schooler's out there, just like any other enthusiast pastime.
As you know BMX racing is pretty intense and forces me to set goals for fitness. It forces me to work out and stay in shape and since Motocross is pretty much in my past, I need a goal to keep in shape. The bicycles are just plain fun.
I just figured out this weekend how to balance in the gate. Not bad for this 53 year old.

[yard dawg]

anyone who has vintage parts should look to sell them on ebay now. I saw an original pair of hutch grips going at over $700. I also saw a complete hutch bike selling at $6500. The vintage parts market is crazy.

[10secondLX]

Man you guys are bringing back some good memories. I used to race BMX up until I got my drivers license and the bikes slowly faded away. I made it up to 17 and over expert and had thought about bumping to pro, but that never ended up happening. I pretty much raced 20" and could have been considered a gear whore back then..LOL. I have had MANY different frame and fork sets including Hutch, JMC, GHP, GT, Proline, Skyway, Torker, Patterson, Boss, SE racing, Race inc, Elf (24' cruiser) etc.... Araya rims, ASC Z rims, graphite Skyway tuff wheels w/the gold hubs (remember those?) and Redline Flight cranks w/ Hutch bear traps were a favorite combination, just don't slip a pedal wearing shorts..Ouch! Names like Stu Thompson, Harry Leary, the Patterson brothers, Darrel Young, Greg Hill all were a daily topic of discussion between my friends. We had a local guy named Denny Owens who we used to ride with at the local jump/mini track location who was factory sponsored by Kuwahara and had been in many of the BMX rags on a regular basis. Unfortunately, he died in a car crash years ago while driving a pretty scary Chevelle his Dad built for him. Currently I have a mountain bike and will ride with the wife and kid around town or at the local forest preserve, but it's not the same. Funny, but I can still ride a pretty good wheelie for quite a distance as the local kids on thier BMX bikes just kinda sit and watch, then get the "hey mister do it again" request. Man that makes me feel old.

[Firebird V]

Firebird, were you in NJ then? I grew up in Hillsborough. It was a farming community back in the 60's and we had tracks everywhere. Although, are racing was unorganzied and on bikes like Schwinn Stingrays, Huffy's and Sears Roebuck. Cool stuff. There is a resergence of old schooler's out there, just like any other enthusiast pastime.
As you know BMX racing is pretty intense and forces me to set goals for fitness. It forces me to work out and stay in shape and since Motocross is pretty much in my past, I need a goal to keep in shape. The bicycles are just plain fun.
I just figured out this weekend how to balance in the gate. Not bad for this 53 year old.

Yep. I grew up in Ramsey.

There was a track in Oakland NJ we used to frequent. It closed down in the late 80's early 90's.

Old school parts have been selling for megabucks on ebay for a long time now and will continue as the rebirth of BMX continues.

I have two sets of motomags, some frames and a bunch of cool old school parts and they are in awesome shape (one set NOS) and I have kicked around selling them but I cant. lol.


I got into Mountain bikes for a while and got hurt bad so i stopped riding a few years back.
Every once in a while I will ride a wheelie on my kids BMX or the Supergoose or a mountain bike (or my Yamaha dirt bike) and my kids and there friends go nuts.

I wish I could still ride but past injuries (and a wife and kids) make it tough.

Funny thing is I sold my last bmx racing bike back in the very late 80's to fund an electric guitar.

[Bengal65]

All interesting stories. Well, I'm 53 and banged up from Motocross all these years and I'm out there. (past the kid years now) Understandably family and other obligations take your time up. Wish me luck I'm pretty good at balancing in the gate now, but I need my "wind". Some of the older guy's are going out to the track and going one footed on starts and pedaling around the track very slowly just to get out there. At the ABA races they are still getting points towards State and Regional championships. Pretty neat! I've got road and mountain bikes, but this racing on a Cruiser really has my interest.
I can't wait to see what new interests pop up after the Olympic games!

[Firebird V]

Good luck man! Be Safe!

[DocNrock]

Cool thread. I used to race many years ago. I rode a Kuwahara. This was around the time that Pete Loncarevich had just gone pro.

[Ez74]

i have a 26" SE OM Flyer that I bought last year and i also have a Haro Sport Reissue of my favorite freestyle bike from back in the day. It sucks getting old but at least we don't have to grow up

[El_Kabong]

I was checking BMX prices on eBay just the other day and was shocked at what the cream of the crop of the lat 70s and early 80s was getting.

[Bengal65]

Doc, the big "K's" are out there on the circuit and doing quite well. Pretty neat!

Ez, I'll bet that OM Flyer is nice. The ABA pretty much limits the largest
wheel nowadays to 24", but I'd like the 26" for some local races. Classic!

El Kabong, Yes, like any enthusiast interest, those vintage BMX parts and bikes are expensive. In a similar story, I bought 2 Schwinn Stingray Krates, one's a Lemon Peeler, the other an Orange Krate. Both are 1970 (October and December build dates respectively) I'm restoring the Lemon to "new" condition. The Orange was just cleaned up as the paint was pretty nice. With spares and restoration parts, I have some serious coin in them. I wanted one badly as a kid, but the parents said no. Too expensive and they were in 1970. They were $95 Today, one in nice shape is 10 times that price! They were fun to ride, as I had a friend that had a Pea Picker. They are just as fun now to ride as they were back then.

[TommyD]

Any BMX'rs on the Forum?

> One of my closest friends has an old Robinson race bike with Crupi pedals and hubs,Alex rims,and Redline Flight cranks. He's turned down offers of 1000 bucks locally. His other bike is an orange DK General Lee.

I loaned a friend 50 bucks a few days ago and as collateral,I'm holding his bike. It's an SE Quadangle Killer,Landing Gear forks,Alex freestyle rims with GT hubs,Hoffman bars and a DK stem,and some cheap seat. The cranks are Supercross Strongarms. There are NO brakes.

I had a Hutch Pro Raider and eventually a Trick Star as a kid. My last childhood bike was a PK Ripper. I won a bike in a raffle a few years back,and sold it last year,a loaded-out Redline John Purse race bike. That was the lightest BMX bike I've ever encountered.

I was pretty proficient on one as a kid,and even early on in adulthood.

The last time I got on a bike and tried to really do anything however,I found myself probably 20 feet above blacktop thanks to a skateboard launch ramp,and remember thinking to myself "If I don't land this,it's gonna HURT". The bike was a Diamondback geared towards dirt-jumping. Tommy D.