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Old School BMX....


Rip76

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I don't know if this is the place to put this, but I know we had this topic on the other board.

I wouldn't say it's a hobby of mine now, but it was when I was a kid.   

My first bicycle was a 1980 Team Murray, that my mom bought from White's Auto in Texas City.  (Pictured here)

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I rode that for about 2 years, and then my I got an '82 Mongoose.  Just like this one.  (I had yellow Mongoose pads)

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After that, I was getting a little more serious about racing and the Mongoose was freaking heavy.  So I moved on to my dream bike.

It was a 1983 Hutch Expert Racer.  Black with gold hardware.  Freaking bad ass!  (All the chrome parts were gold)

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I raced for a bike shop in TC for about 6 months with that bike.  (Friendswood Track, Texas City Track, Brazosport, etc).

Went in the house one day to get a glass of water.  3 minutes, max.  Damn thing was gone.  My mom was freaking pissed.

Fast forward to the summer of 1984.  Freestyle was moving in on the racing.  So I got one of these.

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1984 Redline RL-20 Prostyler.  

I liked this bike a lot, but not like the Hutch.  Rode this for a couple of years, then got a Chevy S-10.    A little tail in the truck and you don't ride bikes anymore. 

Fast forward to 2000/2001, I just got the itch to get another BMX and bought this off of Ebay.  I need to get some Comp 3 tires with the gumwall sides.  Can't stand the all black tire.

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I just wanted to have another Hutch.  I don't ride it much.

Bought this the other day for some exercise.  I love the way it rides.  Much easier than a 20".

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What are some bikes that you had or wanted as a kid?

For me, a Patterson was always a bike I thought was bad ass.  You just didn't see too many of them.

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That OM Flyer looks sweeeet! I had a Murray X20 growing up, but the PK Ripper was my dream bike. Loved the Hutches, too. I don't know if you Facebook, but I follow a group on there called Unbelievable Grails BMX. It's a bunch of dudes who hit up swap meets, pawn shops, etc and buy 80s-90s era BMX bikes and restore them. Some of those guys have sick collections. 

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I had a Mongoose BMX bike in the late 70’s, seems like it had the black spoke wheels like the Redline in the above picture. No telling how many wooden ramps we built for jumping stuff. Could ride a wheelie on those bikes for days.

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I had a Hutch and loved that bike (my buddies raced at the Brazosport track and I hung out as McDowell's all the time in LJ but my mother wouldn't let me race).  It got stolen so I got a Robinson which I liked but not like that Hutch.  I'd love to get a couple (one for me and one for my boy).  Is Ebay the best place to look?  Any other places you all know of?

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Man I love those Hutch's.  I had a Pro Racer that I somehow convinced my dad to buy me even though I didn't race.  But I rode it everywhere and we had little tracks back on the banks of the bayou, what we'd probably call a pump track these days.

In a really really stupid move, I sold it after college when I was low on funds.  I still kick myself to this day for doing that.  What an idiot.

Before that I had a Mongoose.  I don't remember the model but it had those big heavy ass mag wheels on it.  That bike was a tank.  Looked similar to this:

f1c69a1b3ba9a33a18e8cc58243afc75.jpg

 

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2 hours ago, Gale Snoats said:

I had a Hutch and loved that bike (my buddies raced at the Brazosport track and I hung out as McDowell's all the time in LJ but my mother wouldn't let me race).  It got stolen so I got a Robinson which I liked but not like that Hutch.  I'd love to get a couple (one for me and one for my boy).  Is Ebay the best place to look?  Any other places you all know of?

Yes,

eBay and BMX Museum.

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Yes!  A thread about one of my hobbies!  I currently have 3 old school BMX bikes that I've built in the last 8 years.  They hang on the wall in my computer room at home.  When I was a kid I got a 1981 Schwinn Scrambler 36/36.  Then when the freestyle craze hit, I got a 1985 GT Performer.   

Anyway, here's the 3 I currently have....

1st one is a 1984 GT Pro

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2nd one is a 1983 Mongoose Californian

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And the 3rd is a 1980 Schwinn Mini Scrambler

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I love building bikes.  Besides these old school BMX bikes, I have 3 mountain bikes.  A 1994 Klein Fervor,  a Specialized Stumpjumper hardtail and I am building a Trek Top Fuel 9.9 right now.  I'm just waiting on a Thomson seat post and a chain I ordered in Wednesday and that bike will be complete.  

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I hated every one of you when I was a kid. 

We were poor and I rode Huffys, usually used.  Fast forward to adulthood and I maybe I'm compensating or something but I won't think twice about spending a few grand on a nice bike.  Got a fucking fleet in my garage now.  Only one BMX though and its a We The People that my kids jump our little homemade ramp on.  Mostly we mountain bike now.  But they're minds were blown when I showed them I could still do a footjam tailwhip at 45 years old.  

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1 hour ago, Your Mom said:

I hated every one of you when I was a kid. 

We were poor and I rode Huffys, usually used.  Fast forward to adulthood and I maybe I'm compensating or something but I won't think twice about spending a few grand on a nice bike.  Got a fucking fleet in my garage now.  Only one BMX though and its a We The People that my kids jump our little homemade ramp on.  Mostly we mountain bike now.  But they're minds were blown when I showed them I could still do a footjam tailwhip at 45 years old.  

I got up at 3am on Sunday to deliver papers....in addition to the daily set in the PM ...   so yeah, I didn't have the Hutch, Skyline, or Harry Larry Turbo I wanted but I got the fuck off that heavy ass Ross.  The bike shop i raced for only wanted me to air the fuck out of the first jump... they didn't care if I finished.   it was kinda a match made in heaven.   My Asshole friend was riding sew-ups and finishing first, but I was always on the promo photos.  /csb

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2 hours ago, yoshi said:

Yes!  A thread about one of my hobbies!  I currently have 3 old school BMX bikes that I've built in the last 8 years.  They hang on the wall in my computer room at home.  When I was a kid I got a 1981 Schwinn Scrambler 36/36.  Then when the freestyle craze hit, I got a 1985 GT Performer.   

Anyway, here's the 3 I currently have....

1st one is a 1984 GT Pro

1zye86.jpg

2lkpfuh.jpg

2nd one is a 1983 Mongoose Californian

2e0pmj8.jpg

2hp4v8g.jpg

And the 3rd is a 1980 Schwinn Mini Scrambler

sblkbn.jpg

2ccoz1k.jpg

 

That Mongoose is clean.

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2 hours ago, Your Mom said:

I hated every one of you when I was a kid. 

We were poor and I rode Huffys, usually used.  Fast forward to adulthood and I maybe I'm compensating or something but I won't think twice about spending a few grand on a nice bike.  Got a fucking fleet in my garage now.  Only one BMX though and its a We The People that my kids jump our little homemade ramp on.  Mostly we mountain bike now.  But they're minds were blown when I showed them I could still do a footjam tailwhip at 45 years old.  

Oh we didn’t have any cash.

Luckily mom always got a good tax return.

😊

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1 hour ago, Rip76 said:

That Mongoose is clean.

Thanks.   The chrome on the frame and fork is pretty close to perfect.  It's the original finish.  Whoever owned it in the past must not have really rode it much and then stuck it in the attic for 20 years.   Got a really good deal on the frame and fork and then bought all other parts over time separately. 

The 1984 GT Pro frame had been rechromed before I bought it.   Looks OK, but you can see some blemishes in the job.   I wouldn't have been happy with it if I was the one who took it to the chromer.   I got a pretty good deal on it after the fact so I can deal with the defects.  

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14 hours ago, Gale Snoats said:

I had a Hutch and loved that bike (my buddies raced at the Brazosport track and I hung out as McDowell's all the time in LJ but my mother wouldn't let me race).  It got stolen so I got a Robinson which I liked but not like that Hutch.  I'd love to get a couple (one for me and one for my boy).  Is Ebay the best place to look?  Any other places you all know of?

McDowell's...holy crap.  I grew up in Lake Jackson and had not thought about that place in forever.

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I rocked a Huffy Challenger similar to this for a while.  That thing was always falling apart, and my bike wrenching skills played no small part in that.  My friends were always saying my Challenger should have been the one to blow up instead of the Shuttle version.  That was one of 4 or 5 cheap BMX bikes I had, most of which my dad bought for about $10 at the annual police auction of unclaimed recovered stolen bikes or at a garage sale. 

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  • 3 years later...
  • 5 months later...
On 3/29/2019 at 10:50 PM, ScottS said:

McDowell's...holy crap.  I grew up in Lake Jackson and had not thought about that place in forever.

Had a bunch of friends that raced at that track out by the dump.  Best I ever had was a chrome Dyno, from McDowell's.  Talk about heavy, the mongooses my friends had were feathers in comparison.  I still remember the exact moment I got it.  Digging up those deep memories.  Good thread. 

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Holy shit this takes me back.  Our youngest is starting to pedal bike a few weeks back.  And I'm showing both girls pictures of me on my old BMX bikes.  1980 & 1984 Mongoose.  And they're cracking up at the color schemes.  Orange & Yellow and the next one that chromely mainframe deal.  And outta the blue, my mom is coming down to visit for first communion and she finds the blue/white checkered vans style pads I had for the bigger one.  Took me back to a totally different time 40 years ago.  Holy shit.  The miles we put on those bikes.  We would literally ride them from home to the Western Springs metra and ride into Chicago and back again and use them to get around town.  Then after school make snow ramps and leave 'em out in the summer sun to bake.  When they needed air, walk 'em down to White Hen pantry to use the free pump ad get some candy while you were there.  Like some of y'all said, the miles and memories we put on those BMX's           Rubber will never smell so great again.  

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Texas BMX Roundup is coming up here in a couple of weeks.  Bike show/swap will be at Capitol City BMX in Pflugerville on Sunday, June 4th if you want to check out old school builds or buy vintage parts.  Usually some old school legends there - met Woody Itson there in 2021 and the whole SE Team came in 2019.

FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057108054177
IG: https://www.instagram.com/texasbmxroundup/

 

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