BMX? Any old farts around here with scars and good memories?

[themadscientist]

I'm an 80's kid and like a lot of those kids I spent a lot of time on my bike. I was turning into a porky kid and spending more time in the saddle brought me back from the brink and I was in pretty good shape there in my teens heading into my young adult life. I slacked off in my thirties and as I head back into the gym and an attempt at reentering an active life I remember fondly all my exploits on my Japanese import weird brand bike.



I'm told Kabuki was the stateside name they sold Bridgestone bikes under, at least BMX bikes. The welds were hideous, but they held. By the time I "put away childish things" I had replaced every part but the frame and fork. My love of blue was as evident then as it is now with my WR blue BRZ.

While I was in the Corps I bought an Auburn CR20. I dug the two piece frame for no reason design and the purple was sexy. (not mine, I never took pictures of mine)



It was the only thing I shipped when I PCSed to Japan and I rode the hell out of it. I replaced the wheels with my old standby, Z rims. By then ACS had moved away from those, but I contacted them and scores some NOS stuff they still had laying around. All they had was black. I sold it eventually and that was very dumb.


When the bug finally got me and I started looking at getting back on a bike I tried a "grown up bike;" I bought me a nice Specialized fixie with a flip flop hub.



Yeah, that's just not me. I tried really hard to adjust to a road bike, but after a while I started to try to ride the way I used to. I took a tight corner like I had knobbies and some sidewall to work with. Result, split my head open and broke my finger on the brake lever. Perhaps "break" lever would be a better spelling. There is now a chip in that knuckle and that finger is never going to be right again. After all the crazy shit I did as a kid that was really irritating to jack myself up trying such a pedestrian move.

Yeah, screw that noise. I did find a guy who was looking for a bike just like that and really seemed to be a guy who appreciated the bike so it was win-win when I sold it. I like that he's enjoying it because I never did and it wasn't the bike's fault.

Alright. Call it a mid-life crisis, call it getting back to my roots, hell, call it just a plain accident waiting to happen, but I wanted my 20 inch back! Now, I actually still have my Kabuki as well as an old Mongoose I picked up at a yardsale back in the day for like $20, but those are "vintage" now with irreplaceable parts and I am bigger and heavier and would likely snap those in half so I need a new bike.

Back then there were such an explosion of color in parts and so many companies trying new and innovative things. Nowadays bikes are so dark, dull and boring a lot like the kids that ride them. They look EMO. I hate that shit. Many of the companies I knew are gone now and the ones that are still around or have sprung up are boring and repetitive. Profile has the big box of crayons still for a lot of their parts which is great, but great Pistol Pete's Ghost, the prices!

SE came back and started making throwback looptail Rippers and Quads, albeit made in China.

The PK Ripper was my dream bike when I was a kid. I wanted to get one, but an original one would be too rare to beat on like I want to. I met SE in the middle and gave the Chi-Com Ripper a try. I wanted a baby blue one, but settled on a metalwrap dipped coating.



The wrap is not my favorite, but it's still kind of cool looking.



Bottle opener under the seat, too.



After riding it and listening to the spoked wheels creak under my 200+ pounds I looked up another old standby and Skyway still makes those mags. I scored a pink set for S&Gs, but went with a black set to use. I still am not fon'd of the dark colors, but they look right on the bike.

So far I just tool around the neighborhood from time to time. I am a lazy shit and I'm struggling to break out of this rut. Right now my focus is going to the gym regularly and I've been sticking with it. I would like to get to a place where I ride a lot again, even if it's just a half hour a day. I think I can get some of my cardiovascular back and feel better to where I want and can ride a lot. It's a work in progress.

MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hA2poNIKdY"]old men bmx - YouTube[/ame]

[Tcoat]

My bike was the predecessor to the BMX . It was orange and I had modded the banana seat to sit lower, added a huge sissy bar , covered it with stickers and put huge back tire and small front one on it.

Shit, I just realized I was a ricer back in 1970!

[themadscientist]

Nice bow tie, T.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by themadscientist

Nice bow tie, T.

[tobin]

This is my collection: http://bmxmuseum.com/user/40232

Some are riders, some not. I'm always keeping an eye out for them wherever I go. I definitely agree that the newer bikes all look the same...boring. If you're looking for a new bike with old school flair, Hutch (under new ownership) is making bikes again. Pricey, but nice.

[Atticus808]

@Anthony

[themadscientist]

Originally Posted by tobin

This is my collection: http://bmxmuseum.com/user/40232

Some are riders, some not. I'm always keeping an eye out for them wherever I go. I definitely agree that the newer bikes all look the same...boring. If you're looking for a new bike with old school flair, Hutch (under new ownership) is making bikes again. Pricey, but nice.

Oh, snap, gotta check that out. Those were the bling bikes back in the day. If they are pricey because they are made in America, ok. I'll take mine in 24k gold plated.



Holding out for pink, but I see the candy colors are in!
http://hutchbmx.com/store/index.php?...ndex&cPath=1_6




I see Elf is back too. Looks made to order so expensive, but definitely American made. http://www.elfbicycle.com/

[roddy]

I grew up in the city and was always on my bikes as a kid. I bought a pair of Mountain bikes for the wife and I about 15 years ago, but never really got into the big ungainly things. I missed the light weight and tossability of a 20 incher, so I bought this Haro...much better.


Edit: @tobin Nice collection. A friend of mine had a GT Performer back in the day...always liked that bike.

[53Driver]

Man, this is so ironic. I've really been thinking of getting one of these again myself lately. I was a poor kid so never had the money for nice things when I was young, maybe I'll splurge now that I'm older and can afford it!

[Special_K]

I'm not an 80's kid (born in 90), but I fondly remember my bmx days. Thank god I missed the new wave parenting of always being withing 50ft of their kids. I used to tear around SoCal with my buddies all day. Building jumps, hitting them too fast, eating shit, rinse & repeat.

My favorite bike was my aluminum Gary Fisher. That unfortunately got stolen from my school.

I replaced that with my Specialized 415 BMX. That thing was a heavy beast compared to my light Gary Fisher, but it had pegs (HELL YEA) and could take all the abuse I threw it without a problem.



It ended up sitting in my parents garage until my Jr. year in college when I took it back to school with me so I could hit this new bowl/pool that had been put it. This bowl was a freaking monster! It was a U shape with one end of the U being a 6ft drop in, the other end being a 14 footer. Needless to say, my buddies and I wrecked a lot for the first few days, but soon we got right back into rhythm and were tricking and transitioning just like the old days. Thank god I learned the importance of helmets though because landing is muuuch more painful than when I was 12.

Right now my bmx is collecting dust with a busted chain and two flats. But this thread is getting me all nostalgic, maybe I'll bring it back out and get her singing pretty again.

[BoxRZ_86]

I had an S&M NG Dirtbike for a long time. still have it in my parents basement lol I have a Eastern Ace of Spades now that I haven't ridden that in years.

[Dave-ROR]

Man..

Before I bought way too many cars I used to have way too many bikes. I still have a Fit Co BMX and a Gary Fisher MTB.

Back in the day though I had an assortment of Diamondback, Redline, Futura, Schwinn, Skyway, GT/Dyno, Mongoose and Haro.

I really regret ever selling my euro bb GT BMX race bike and my Haros. Dumped the mongooses after breaking a frame on a 10-12' drop off. The skyway was a good flatland bike and I used the diamondback and redlines for racing and general jumping also.

Damn good times.

[AznBRZer]

No love for woodpushers and fruitbooters?

[themadscientist]

Skyway is still making frames and mags.
http://planetbmx.com/shop/skyway-t/a-framesets.html

Kuwahara is a bit nostalgic as well these days.
http://www.kuwaharausa.com/ke-01-anniversary.html

But for me, a Kuwi has to be pink.


Looks like Haro has a little nostalgia as well.

http://www.harobikes.com/history/