BMX - Getting back in the fold -Should I keep my old bike?

First of all I want to apologize for asking a question that I'm sure you're all tired of answering.

Here we go.

I'm 23 and finishing up my last year at college. Lately I've been noticing alot of fancy shmancy fixed gear bikes rolling around campus and this got me thinking about bikes nonstop. Then I remembered my beloved bmx bike that I got when I was 13, which I loved and adored and promptly forgot about as soon as I got my driver's license. I dusted off the old thing and rode it around and now I'm hooked again.

For reference, the bike I have is a 1999 Redline FS 860. Now, I knew nothing about bikes when I got it and I still know very little to this day. I think I just got the thing because it looked really sweet and my mom couldn't say no. Anyhow, I did a bit of research and it seems that my bike is a bit outdated. It's heavy as hell and for some reason it has two tubes on top while every other bike I see has just one. There is a gyro thingy that allows the handlebars to spin around and the thing has 4 fatty pegs. Now I can guess what these are for but I have very little interest in doing twirly things on my bike. I think my body would protest too much.

I guess I should get to my point.

All I want to do is learn to hop over stuff and zoom around over dirt, street, gravel, whatever. Nothing serious. I just want a sturdy bike that I can ride for fun and exercise. Now, should I just strip all the unnecessary bits from my Redline and call it good or should I buy a brand spanking new bike? I'd imagine that my Redline's frame is sturdy enough to handle my terrible attempts at bunny hopping, since it's so damned heavy and all. But at the same time I'm beginning to think that weight would work against my dream of hopping over a pits of fire and brimstone.

What do you guys think? I'm leaning towards buying a new bike just because I like buying things, but at the same time I really like this old Redline. It seems a shame to let it go to waste.

How much money do you have to spend on either the new bike or fixing up the old one?

Right now, maybe 200ish. I get paid in a week though, and I got a decent summer job lined up so I don't mind sinking extra money into a nice bike over time.

In essence, I have a million dollars. Just not up front.

Well i am not exactly experienced with BMX but i love mtb and road biking and i would say that it depends. What i would do if i would be in your shoes, i would make the redline ridable which should not cost so much and then just ride it. Then if you still like the idea of BMX then after maybe 3 or so weeks you should have enought money to buy something that is a good bike and you will enjoy it becasue is not going to be so heavy. But first i would just ride the redline and make sure that when you get the new BMX you not are going to ride it for 2 weeks and then throw it in the corner of the room and never ride it again. Just maker sure you dont waste the money!

Yeah, wise words evul. I tend to spend money on frivolous things. I guess I'll just wait and pad my bank account before I go all out. That couldn't hurt

Also, here are some pics to give you guys an idea of what I'm working with.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v195/drantholumias/IMAGE_096.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v195/drantholumias/IMAGE_094.jpg

All these parts are ten years old and have been sitting in my garage. I should probably get new brake and a chain at the very least, yeah? Also I see alot of the other bikes on these pages have really low seats. As pictured above, that's as low as mine goes. Are low seats just for style or is there some function behind them?

All these parts are ten years old and have been sitting in my garage. I should probably get new brake and a chain at the very least, yeah? Also I see alot of the other bikes on these pages have really low seats. As pictured above, that's as low as mine goes. Are low seats just for style or is there some function behind them?

That's a decent bike for a while. Its comparable to what I rode in the 90's. I wouldnt get new brakes, those look like 990's. Might need new pads and some triflow on the cables

See what parts you end up breaking and youll have a good idea on the type of stuff and style to buy. I religiously watch sites like flatlandfuel for the parts blowouts. They have frames and bars for cheap there all the time

The low seat CAN serve a function for people doing certain types of tricks, but the vast majority just slam their seats down because in many ways BMX has gotten so far away from its roots of individuality to an insane amount of tredny conformity that you might be in fear of not wearing the day's official sock type and color. Its getting ridiculous

I'd remove the non-needed parts (pegs, kickstand, etc) and ride the crap outta that bike...

In other words, that's a sweet bike, ride it!

Thanks foogindan (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=162033) for those nice words

Yes indeed that is a nice bike!

Take off the front brakes, kick stand, and pegs. That might shed a few pounds. I bet those pegs weigh about 5 by themselves. Haha. But do like evul9 said and if you actually do like to ride around again, invest some money into a more modern bike.

Dont take off the front brakes, the weight savings isnt worth the multitude of tricks you'll lose. Might want some more modern pegs, 9/16" holes with adapters for yor 3/8" axles (for now). If you snap and/or bend them go to 9/16 and you already have the pegs for it after a bit of die grinding or filing on your dropouts

I highly doubt he will be doing any front brake tricks starting out. and you can use your foot for all of them anyway. it will shed a fair bit of weight.

I highly doubt he will be doing any front brake tricks starting out. and you can use your foot for all of them anyway. it will shed a fair bit of weight.

Let me see you do a no foot nosepick without brakes

Front brake tricks like endos and rockwalks are great for beginners, and losing 9 oz or so just doesnt seem worth it

Who does endo's and rockwalks on a bmx, thats a trials or mountain bike trick, just do foot jams on ramps.

Who does endo's and rockwalks on a bmx, thats a trials or mountain bike trick, just do foot jams on ramps.

Have you ever seen anyone ride a bmx bike?

Why ask such a stupid question? Its not the 70's or 80's anymore i haven't seen anyone do an endo or a rock walk on a bmx, in at least 5 years! No brakes FTW!

flatland excluded...

Yeah, I really don't think he's going to be doing no footed nosepicks yet. So I really don't think he needs to worry about them.

Well then, by all means apply limitations to yourself to save 9 oz

Take off two pegs too

Push your seat all the way down so you can't pedal

Wear girl pants

Shop only at Official Trendy (tm) stores for your clothes

Be sure to get approval from the official cool guy in your area before doing or learning any tricks that might be "Not cool bro"

Whoa guys. Let's all chillaxinate.

I swung by the local bike shop today and poked around for awhile. The salesguy let me mess with a few of the modern bikes they have and now I never want to touch my old Redline ever again. My bike must weight 50ish lbs because the new bikes I picked up felt like feathers and the salesguy said they weighed in at 30-35 lbs each. I was amazed. The shop is also having a sale next week so I'll probably stop in and see how long I can resist the temptation to windmill slam my credit card onto every counter in sight. I'm going to be poor forever.

Thanks for all the help guys.

What kind of bikes does he carry?

And pipeline, I'm just saying, he doesn't really need the front brakes at this point. He won't get any useful benefits from them so why leave them on. And not everybody wears girl pants or slams their seat all the way.

From what I could tell they carry mostly DK, Mirraco, Redline and Specialized. I saw a few DK and Mirraco bikes that caught my eye and were fairly cheap. I'm guessing they will hit 250ish when the owner starts going around marking stuff for sale.

For some reason I didn't really want a Specialized bmx. When I think of that brand I just see pricey road/mountain bikes. I dunno, maybe I'm biased by brand. Other than that I have no real preference. All the bikes I saw looked and felt so much nicer than my current bike. It seems impossible to buy a bad bike, but I could just be naive.

Wear girl pants

Well I'm not gonna wear boy pants.

foogindan (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=162033) Just make sure you don't waste money!

I'm biased against companies like Specialized too, except for GT. But hit up the DK or Mirraco. If they have a 6-Pack or Helio, get it and have a ball. The Mirraco Icon Moto isn't a bad bike and it's somewhat cheap.

Funny you mention that. I just got home from the bike shop and they had an '08 DK 6-pack in this gross baby blue. I asked a bit about it and they said they could send an orange 6-pack over from another store. It should be there in a few days. Does $250 sound fair for that kinda thing? It's marked down because it's an '08.

Yeah that's a good deal. But they didn't make 6-Packs in orange. There was only that blue and a black one. That was an 8-Pack. I'm 99.9% sure about this. If it's an 8-Pack, $250 isn't a good deal.

I searched a bit an i found this: http://www.amazon.com/DK-Pack-2008-Complete-Bike/dp/B001M4LWNC As i can see it its a great deal!!!!!!

Hmm. Maybe I'll just get the blue one and repaint it.

Also all these X-packs are confusing. I'm guessing 4-packs would be the nicest models in that series, right? They had those too but they were like approaching $500.

Edit. The DK site shows 6-packs in orange. Maybe the '09s had orange but not the '08s?

Correct. The 4-Pack is the highest quality one. But I would just be safe and go with the blue one and paint it something other color. I actually kind of like the color though.

Ha. I'm so lazy. I like to think that I'd take the time to paint it but I'd probably just stare at it until I made myself like the color. That's easier and cheaper too. Blue it is then.

Do it man. Have fun with it.

I haven't even seen the shade of blue but do it anyway.

If it was a colour that wouldn't sell, they wouldn't've made them that colour -- so even if you're a bit hesitant someone must think they're cool.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u277/minichamp31/DK6-Pack.jpg

That's the shade of blue. It's not too bad.

They did make it in orange too, ive seen one.

Did they really? I've never seen one. Even on their website last year there was only black and blue ones.

http://www.advancetraders.com.au/images/products/prod1287.jpg

Wow. They do. What year is it?

08

Hmmm. That's weird.

Sweet. I guess I'll snag the orange one but I might end up painting the thing regardless. We'll see.

Should I be asking about painting tips here or in another thread? Perhaps the bike mechanics thread?

Sweet. I guess I'll snag the orange one but I might end up painting the thing regardless. We'll see.

Should I be asking about painting tips here or in another thread? Perhaps the bike mechanics thread?

Theres a pretty awesome paint thread on here!