# Any former BMX/Freestyle/Streestyle riders out there?



## quazimofo (Dec 17, 2014)

Hey everyone. My first post. Im 43 and just got back into some mountain bike riding with the purchase of a new full suspension ride, a CUBE Sting 120. I also have a 26" hardtail CORRATEC Freeride XT. However I was flipping through some youtube channels, and came across something that reminded me of my youth, which was a video called "Mongoose, know your roots". I started riding BMX when I was about 11, a few years later got into freestyle flatland competitively, and then street style then life took over and I got out of the sport all together for some time.anyone who has a history of any type of BMX or freestyle should watch that video it'll bring back great memories with some great names that you probably forgot.:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## 53119 (Nov 7, 2008)

here here! still ridin my ghp 20! grew up on eddy king and stu thompsen! torkers, a roger decoster goose and PKs!
have seen that mongoose video. it was awesome. i think groms get cheated if they don't ride bmx as their first real bikes. bmxican cuz it's good for ya!


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## quazimofo (Dec 17, 2014)

that is fantastic man. I was actually just reminiscing with one of my old buddies I used to freestyle with, talking about videos on YouTube. Yeah man I had it all GT Pro performers dyno comps a mongoose and all my buddies had Kuwaharas and PK Rippers Diamond Backs Redlines and such. it really is true that is in your blood because I'm old I work all the time I have young children and I still wanna ride all the time it never leave you it just evolve into something that is more accepted I guess I tried jumping on a 20 inch flat land bike and I dwarff it.


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## 53119 (Nov 7, 2008)

never too old! i got my kiddo in his first race at our local track at age 4. he's 11 now and doesn't race anymore but we still go ride together around the neighborhood and at a local pumptrack. bmx helps you crossover to moto and mtb so well that you can't get the skills surgically removed once you get em! they stick! learning to pump, jump or wheelie is huge for mtb. check out plussizebmx's olderguyswhoride section!


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## quazimofo (Dec 17, 2014)

very nice! I have a couple of young children that I'm looking forward to getting into the sport either BMX or mountain biking. You're right you never lose those skills entirely. I will definitely check out that section thanks for the info


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

53119 said:


> never too old! i got my kiddo in his first race at our local track at age 4. he's 11 now and doesn't race anymore but we still go ride together around the neighborhood and at a local pumptrack. bmx helps you crossover to moto and mtb so well that you can't get the skills surgically removed once you get em! they stick! learning to pump, jump or wheelie is huge for mtb. check out plussizebmx's olderguyswhoride section!


I'm in the exact same place with my 10 yo son. Used to race when he was 5-6-7, put we found we had more fun just going riding. I was never much of a BMXer when I was younger, really got into riding mountain bikes around 1990, when I was 23. Finally bought a decent 20" to follow the boy around a couple years ago and I have a bunch of fun with it, and it definitely teaches you some bikehandling. Not to mention I've got a ton of good 'dad' perks out of it - I've got a partner that'll ride pretty much anywhere or anytime and loves road trips, and also functions as a built-in hall pass w/ the Mrs. She's on board with treating riding bikes as a 'real' sport, so instead of feeding the mosquitoes at the local ball fields for a bunch of hours every week, we're pretty much obliged to go ride or build something on a regular basis. At least that's my story.

Anyway - here's something some of the old BMX guys from my neck of the woods put together a little while back. Lots of them still ride, either BMX or MTB or both.

:thumbsup:


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## PoorInRichfield (Nov 24, 2014)

I turned 40 this year and noticed that the bikes I used to ride as a kid are now selling for thousands on eBay (if they're in good shape). Makes me wish I had kept my Redline RL-20II.

I've also learned that flatland freestyle is almost completely dead. "Freestyle" these days implies street riding and ramp riding, not flatland.

As part of an apparent mid-life crisis, I purchases a modern day flatland freestyle bike (KHE 0.f) this year just to see if I could still do some of the flatland tricks I did as a kid. That was a mistake  Not only are today's true flatland bikes radically different than the GTs, Haros, and Redlines of the 80's, my brain didn't forget how to do the tricks but my body did!

It's amazing how stinkin' heavy those bikes are/were. After riding sub 20 lbs road bikes for the past few decades, riding a 30+ lbs 20" bike seems like riding a cement truck. My KHE is relatively light by BMX bike standards, but still in the mid 20 lbs range.

Anywho, I'm now over my desire to try and relive my past and now I need to figure-out how to get rid of a fairly expensive, barely used flatland bike that no one cares about.


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## 80Pro-Line (Dec 3, 2014)

I'm 47 and was a BMX die hard. Raced NBA/NBL all over Central Jersey, built a quarter pipe, rode the streets, trails, frozen ponds, etc. Good times! Here's my trusty Redline Pro-Line that I still have.









Here is a shot from the early '80s of me and my brother at our Howell, NJ home track.



Summer before last when I went back up to visit I surprised my brother by bringing the Redline along. We went back to the track and recreated the shot. His son is out there tearing up that very track these days.



I'm excited to be back on two wheels with the new Haro 29er. Feel like a kid again.


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## quazimofo (Dec 17, 2014)

Holy cow. Those before and after pics are amazing. And tbose plate stickers bring back major memories. Like Jive grips? Haha Im so happy I had grown up during a time when all that evolved and took off. Mainly the rolling tricks days. Im 43 and still check out bank to walls wherever I go. It never leaves you.


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## quazimofo (Dec 17, 2014)

I saw a stu thompson for sale on ebay lol. I was like 11 when that thing came out


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## 80Pro-Line (Dec 3, 2014)

Stu was the man! The John Force of BMX.


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## quazimofo (Dec 17, 2014)

Yeah man...Joe Kid on a Stingray. Best documentary ever. If that flick doesnt get you back on 2 wheels nothing will.


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## t135 (Jul 11, 2011)

80Pro-Line said:


> I'm 47 and was a BMX die hard. Raced NBA/NBL all over Central Jersey, built a quarter pipe, rode the streets, trails, frozen ponds, etc. Good times! Here's my trusty Redline Pro-Line that I still have.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That bike brings back memories...that number plate too, classic! Wish they still made them like that. I miss my mongoose with snakebelly gum wall tires, Oakley III grips and tuff wheels.


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## t135 (Jul 11, 2011)

Stu Thomson and Tinker Juarez! Bob Haro when he just made number plates!


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## OddTrickStar (Aug 22, 2014)

Yes! Freestyle in the blood. I still have my Trick Star. Like it so much, I bought and built up a Kappa Starsky in 2003. I can still get rad at 43 too. The skills play well with mountain biking.

We had a whole group of us from racers to freestylers to jumpers to crazy nuts. I would not trade it for anything else.


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## Hurricane Jeff (Jan 1, 2006)

I started bmx riding back in 1973, around the same time, or shortly after I saw " On any Sunday". Back then they really didnt have much, if any organized racing locally, pretty much that came around a couple of years later, in which I did really well.
My bmx morphed into motocross, then in 1982, I read a article in Motocross Action about the top riders using mountain bikes to train. I bought my first mountain bike shortly after, I got so hooked on mountain biking, that I sold my last moto in 1985, been riding, racing mtbs, road, some bmx and now cyclocross, ever since, even got into the bike business back in 1995.


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## quazimofo (Dec 17, 2014)

this is awesome I feel so lucky to grow up in the era and time that I grew up in when most of it evolved and now use some of the same skills for mtb.


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## 80Pro-Line (Dec 3, 2014)

Here are a few more blasts from my past.

January, 1984. My brother and I messing around in the street. Here we were both sporting our indestructible ACS Z-rims here; DuPont Zytel plastic. You could fold 'em like a pretzel and they'd snap right back! Oftentimes with a broken spoke or two though. 



July, 1984 the BMX Action Magazine Trick team came to the LBS for a show.











My brother and I wound up getting captured in the newspaper coverage. I'm the one seated in the middle with my hands on my legs. I was wearing my favorite shirt that had a colorized version of the Bob Haro drawing I have in my avatar.



December, 1985. The annual Iron Man Classic race at Howell, NJ. They still do this and my nephew kicked some butt this year.

I can still hear the starter...

*"Rider's ready! Wheels against the gate!"*



:thumbsup: *Fun stuff!*


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## OddTrickStar (Aug 22, 2014)

I've seen some of those pics before and your story rings familiar. Would we have met in Sicklerville at a vintagebmx gathering several years back?


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## 80Pro-Line (Dec 3, 2014)

I've never attended a vintagebmx event but some years ago I did put my bike pics on BMXmuseum.com (1979 Redline Proline - BMXmuseum.com). Maybe you saw it there? Not sure why it's listed as a '79 though.


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## OutCole'd (Dec 11, 2014)

Very cool thread. Brings back the old days. Used to race in the late 70's. Damn i'm old. Raced in So Cal, Valley youth center, Canyon Country, Azusa, Devonshire Downs, all those tracks. 

Wish I kept a few of the old bikes, that's for sure.


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## Cary (Dec 29, 2003)

BMX raced in the early 80's, was an expert class racer. Bought a 24" BMX bike a couple of years ago, the broke my foot a few months later in a non bike accident. I can ride mountain bikes fine, but the BMX bike just killed my foot after that. Every landing hurt. I can't tell you how fun it was to ride done pools and the BMX track those few times. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## bald dirt bag (Feb 9, 2014)

Still got my Thruster Tri Power, Powerlight and GT performer. I currently ride my S&M Black bike, Standard 125r, FBM custom I am building up now, Standard 24" Park Bike and S&M red white nd blue Speedwagon ( still building).


First race was spring 1979 on my Powerlight Superlight.


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## Chippertheripper (Sep 10, 2014)

Great thread. 
I too am a washed up never-was. 
Rode and raced all through the years, and still own a pretty dialed 20". It's been a couple years since I really rode it proper (I brought it to ray's in Cleveland a few years in a row), but I pedal it down the street to the beach, to the liquor store, and around the hood with my daughter. 
What amazes me still, after all these years, are mtbers that never rode bmx, how inept they often are with obstacles in the trail. The fittest guys in the region that studder and hiccup at logs and rocks and that go around stuff that's just easier to go over most often. 
It still blows me away that everybody that rides a mtb didn't ride bmx as a youth. 
(Not to sound obtuse, I hope)


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## bald dirt bag (Feb 9, 2014)

Chippertheripper said:


> Great thread.
> I too am a washed up never-was.
> Rode and raced all through the years, and still own a pretty dialed 20". It's been a couple years since I really rode it proper (I brought it to ray's in Cleveland a few years in a row), but I pedal it down the street to the beach, to the liquor store, and around the hood with my daughter.
> What amazes me still, after all these years, are mtbers that never rode bmx, how inept they often are with obstacles in the trail. The fittest guys in the region that studder and hiccup at logs and rocks and that go around stuff that's just easier to go over most often.
> ...


I guess we never grow up, our toys just get more expensive LOL.


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## quazimofo (Dec 17, 2014)

Like i said im 43, 3 kids later and to this day, I still stop and stare at bank to walls. Its always going to be in me. Started with a Huffy Stu Thompson, then a Dyno Compe, 2 GT Pro Performers, and an 88 Haro Master. Rode flatland that emerged in to street style, and Kevin Brown from PA was my idol. He defined what rolling tricks became. Guy was ahead of his time. Not because im an old coot but im NOT a fan of this decades brakeless seat slammed everything off the front wheel stuff. To me personally, pulling a rollaide into a deathtruck into a backyard or something else is what I miss. Fluidness.


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## quazimofo (Dec 17, 2014)

I remember though my childhood friend picked up a Mongoose Supergoose back when I was like 12 or something and it was the equivalent of someone today pulling up in your driveway with an Enzo Ferrari. Kind of like my buddys Trick Star or SE Quadangle. And unlike myself, to this day they still have them. Jealous.


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## bald dirt bag (Feb 9, 2014)

quazimofo said:


> Like i said im 43, 3 kids later and to this day, I still stop and stare at bank to walls. Its always going to be in me. Started with a Huffy Stu Thompson, then a Dyno Compe, 2 GT Pro Performers, and an 88 Haro Master. Rode flatland that emerged in to street style, and Kevin Brown from PA was my idol. He defined what rolling tricks became. Guy was ahead of his time. Not because im an old coot but im NOT a fan of this decades brakeless seat slammed everything off the front wheel stuff. To me personally, pulling a rollaide into a deathtruck into a backyard or
> something else is what I miss. Fluidness.


Unfortunately I have nice bikes but my fluid ness has gathered in my knees LOL.


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## Rogueldr (Jul 30, 2007)

Hell Yeah!!! Braddock BMX in North Bergen NJ. Haro Group 1A. Heroes- Mike King (Haro), Billy Griggs (Redline), Brian Lopes (Elf), Eric Carter (Schwinn).


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## chefmiguel (Dec 22, 2007)

Me too, I stop by and visit the shop in Howell to see the vintage BMX bikes above. I started out with a Redline 600a that jump started my love of all things 2 wheels. Built up my dream Trickstar with paper route money, rode every day it seems. Eventually got some help from General Bicycles and a Fred Blood Pro, that one I would love to find again. Bought my first MTB because my girlfriend at the time wanted to do the 5 boro bike tour . the rest has been on26" wheels or bigger.


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## bucksaw87 (Jun 18, 2007)

I just bought a fix-er-up BMX bike that's become my new obsession. It's something I've always wanted to explore, after seeing a guy in my college's MTB group doing some flatland freestyle in an empty parking lot.


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

you guys would like bmxmuseum.

i think it's cool to see the blending of the bmx and mtb worlds. you guys should definitely check out one of the mountain resort bike parks (Downhill / Freeride) if you haven't already.

in the 80's/90's, this would have been consider bmx 'street' style riding:









and "bmx" style ramps and jump tricks are now the central part of Slopestyle. rad! i took this pic at Colorado Freeride Festival, which is every July/August in Winter Park. 









MTB flatland
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWy1vxPJbQw

24" bmx flatland:
24? Flatland | cruiser revolution









yours truly, with my old flatland tricks and 24"s  
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQA2E71iWUE


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## Jon Richard (Dec 20, 2011)

Taking me back to where the passion for 2 wheels started!

I went in search of a Hutch pro racer just to collect and was blown away at the prices they command. If I would have keep the ones I had...


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## Dion (Oct 22, 2009)

*This is me.*


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## 80Pro-Line (Dec 3, 2014)

cmc4130 said:


> you guys would like bmxmuseum.


:thumbsup: I frequent the museum.


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## chefmiguel (Dec 22, 2007)

oops


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## t135 (Jul 11, 2011)

80Pro-Line said:


> I'm 47 and was a BMX die hard. Raced NBA/NBL all over Central Jersey, built a quarter pipe, rode the streets, trails, frozen ponds, etc. Good times! Here's my trusty Redline Pro-Line that I still have.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Killer photos, love that number plate, always wanted one. Wish I still had my mongoose that I got in Palm desert as a kid. Those chrome moly wheels, man i rode that thing to death.


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