Old School 1980's BMX's

[robinh73]

Joyrider1 said:

keith2.2 said:

in keeping with the theme - Anyone remember BMX Beat?

Loved BMX Beat! Just been watching some on Youtube - feeling proper nostalgic now, great days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMr2UN87LR0

and who can forget BMX Bandits!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNQLXobr5g0

[stepaway]

Got a bit motivated by this thread over the weekend, so dusted off my old GT and cleaned/polished and serviced it today.

8 year old daughter came down to the shed just as I was finishing and took an instant interest to it ‘because it’s shiny!’

Having had zero interest in bikes in the last 8 years this afternoon she asked if we could take it down the park to try, and within 10 minutes she was on it, and has assured me she will have learnt to ride it properly by the end of the Easter holidays

Cheers Pistonheads and the OP, I’ve been trying to get her interested in bikes for years!

[raceboy]

wormus said:

No. Have you seen a middle aged man ride a BMX?

There's no shortage of middle age men on BMX's in the race scene....


There's even dedicated 'old mens' nights at skateparks.




The crashes started to get a bit too big and frequent though, and usually resulting in quite a bit of surgery so now take things a bit more steady and mainly just ride local pump tracks.


And one back from the 90's, my old JMC Shadow race frame used for 'street', it didn't last long, the prices these frames command now I wish I'd popped it in the loft instead of selling it for peanuts.

[Steamer]

Dude!

[jules_s]

LeMansNut said:

I had a Curtis BMX back in the late 80s, near enough like the one in the pic (my Skyway Tuff IIs were blue lol)

I was pretty good back in the day I actually had some design input into that one ^^^^

Funny looking back at that BMX beat vid lol.....I remember everybody moaning (correctly) the course was too small (true) the time was too short (true) and the ramps were st (true)

Ironically Andy Ruffell would have blown them all away and then he had to congratulate them and Neil Ruffell (RIP) could show his bro a thing or two...

[Craikeybaby]

I much prefer the look of these 80's BMXs to modern race BMXs, they just don't look right to me!

stepaway said:

Got a bit motivated by this thread over the weekend, so dusted off my old GT and cleaned/polished and serviced it today.

8 year old daughter came down to the shed just as I was finishing and took an instant interest to it ‘because it’s shiny!’

Having had zero interest in bikes in the last 8 years this afternoon she asked if we could take it down the park to try, and within 10 minutes she was on it, and has assured me she will have learnt to ride it properly by the end of the Easter holidays

Cheers Pistonheads and the OP, I’ve been trying to get her interested in bikes for years!

That is brilliant. I keep wondering if I should get a BMX to ride with my son at the local pump tracks.

[raceboy]

Craikeybaby said:

I much prefer the look of these 80's BMXs to modern race BMXs, they just don't look right to me!
.......I keep wondering if I should get a BMX to ride with my son at the local pump tracks.

There are quite a few retro styled, but with modern geometry bikes available now, these are by far a better option if you actually want to ride them.

This sort of thing...
http://www.alansbmx.com/1649090/products/haro_2017...

[griffter]

Enquired about a PK Ripper with tasty period components for sale locally. Offers based on £2000 . Not saying it isn’t worth it, but wow!

[80sMatchbox]

Ilovejapcrap said:

trails said:

Gareth1974 said:

That you?

Gareth fancy meeting up some time

Thanks to these 2 comments, for the last 5 mins, I've been....

[80sMatchbox]

Ilovejapcrap said:

trails said:

Gareth1974 said:

That you?

Gareth fancy meeting up some time

Thanks to these 2 comments, for the last 5 mins, I've been....

[Randy Winkman]

80sMatchbox said:

Ilovejapcrap said:

trails said:

Gareth1974 said:

That you?

Gareth fancy meeting up some time

Thanks to these 2 comments, for the last 5 mins, I've been....

And pretty good shape for (I assume) 45 years.

[tuffer]

jules_s said:

LeMansNut said:

I had a Curtis BMX back in the late 80s, near enough like the one in the pic (my Skyway Tuff IIs were blue lol)

I was pretty good back in the day I actually had some design input into that one ^^^^

Funny looking back at that BMX beat vid lol.....I remember everybody moaning (correctly) the course was too small (true) the time was too short (true) and the ramps were st (true)

Ironically Andy Ruffell would have blown them all away and then he had to congratulate them and Neil Ruffell (RIP) could show his bro a thing or two...

Jules is being modest, he was sponsored by them. Post a pic on your Q pipe Julien.

[Miserablegit]

I still have my blue and silver Raleigh Ultra Burner. Loved that bike and have the indentations in my shins from the bear trap pedals.

Bought my son a new mongoose last year and thought I’d show him a few basic tricks...
Third bunny hop in and I really went for it. At the top of the jump the handlebars fell forward as I hadn’t tightened them enough...
I fell forwards, tucked my head in so my shoulders took the impact, full roll, bike flies up and then lands on me. This all happened on gravel so I had the added fun of picking that out of the grazes on my arms...
I might not have looked as cool as I thought...

[Candellara]

So, update to the thread.

I found myself an immaculate 1982 Hutch frame that I intend to build up as a bit of fun.

Not a cheap exercise though - as i'm learning now. Looks like build costs will be around £1000 ouch, so I can see why these nicely restored retro bikes are often a couple of £000

Pics to follow

Edited by Candellara on Friday 7th June 15:54

[ben5575]

Haha, glad to see you picked a cheap bike to build up Is it an original or a rerelease?

I think I used the phrase 'highly addictive and expensive' in a previous post, so I did try and warn you...

It's a bit like Lego though, the fun is in the building.

Did you get the forks at the same time?

[Candellara]

ben5575 said:

Haha, glad to see you picked a cheap bike to build up Is it an original or a rerelease?

I think I used the phrase 'highly addictive and expensive' in a previous post, so I did try and warn you...

It's a bit like Lego though, the fun is in the building.

Did you get the forks at the same time?

Early expert racer - 82 frame, USA made pre serial number

I'm going to build it with NOS parts and then swap the parts out as original Hutch parts become available. Could take some time though

I'm not looking to do it to show-bike standards - just a bit of fun.

[ben5575]

Lovely

You do know this is going to cost a lot more than £1,000 don't you?

It'll start off with this one bike. You'll have the NOS bits and you'll replace them as you say, but then you'll have the NOS bits left over which you could and should sell of course, but, well, if I've got this far, I might as well build another bike, you know, just because I have the bits to hand?

Then it's should I build it totally era correct or should I adopt the Singer approach and discreetly fit the best new kit?

Slippery slope

I ended up building up mid school BMX (FBM/S&M) for the above reasons and it was a lot cheaper at generally c.£800 a bike. Except for that powder blue FBM bhin' Camaro I posted a picture of, which had a lot of Chris King/Profile gucci bits on it. I never dared tot up what that cost me.

Enjoy it, it's great fun. I look forward to your build photos

[Candellara]

ben5575 said:

Lovely

You do know this is going to cost a lot more than £1,000 don't you?

It'll start off with this one bike. You'll have the NOS bits and you'll replace them as you say, but then you'll have the NOS bits left over which you could and should sell of course, but, well, if I've got this far, I might as well build another bike, you know, just because I have the bits to hand?

Then it's should I build it totally era correct or should I adopt the Singer approach and discreetly fit the best new kit?

Slippery slope

I ended up building up mid school BMX (FBM/S&M) for the above reasons and it was a lot cheaper at generally c.£800 a bike. Except for that powder blue FBM bhin' Camaro I posted a picture of, which had a lot of Chris King/Profile gucci bits on it. I never dared tot up what that cost me.

Enjoy it, it's great fun. I look forward to your build photos

Yep. Starting to totally get this slippery slope now :-)

So, got the frame & now in the absence of period correct parts :-) have spent £600 so far with AlansBMX in order to get this bike to a point where it's "rolling".

Plans? Yes you are right - i'll build another old school bike from the "parts bin" that I accumulate from replacing with original Hutch parts. On that front, I've only managed to find a Hutch seat clamp (£100) and some Hutch pedals (£200)

All the parts that are going to be fitted initially are more generic BMX parts (Tuff2 wheels etc)

It'll be a bit of fun but the frame is in nice condition considering the age. Chrome is pretty good

Now understand why some of the old school Kuwahara's are upwards of £5000

Edited by Candellara on Friday 7th June 19:27

[jules_s]

tuffer said:

jules_s said:

LeMansNut said:

I had a Curtis BMX back in the late 80s, near enough like the one in the pic (my Skyway Tuff IIs were blue lol)

I was pretty good back in the day I actually had some design input into that one ^^^^

Funny looking back at that BMX beat vid lol.....I remember everybody moaning (correctly) the course was too small (true) the time was too short (true) and the ramps were st (true)

Ironically Andy Ruffell would have blown them all away and then he had to congratulate them and Neil Ruffell (RIP) could show his bro a thing or two...

Jules is being modest, he was sponsored by them. Post a pic on your Q pipe Julien.

Ha ha . Missed that, sadly most pics are now gone

[Candellara]

Just need a parts delivery now. Lots of items arriving next week but any genuine Hutch items all seem to be in the US