BMX - 1976 Mossberg MX very early BMX with truss rod forks

1976 Mossberg MX very early BMX with truss rod forks
Check out this rare find. From what I can tell this was one of the first bikes to be built strong enough for BMX and not just a muscle bike with knobbies.
I haven't been able to find any photos of another one with these truss rod forks. Well, I found an article online, but now I can't locate it.
Beefy wheels and spokes. I think the chrome will clean up well. The black paint is in great shape except for some scratcehd up forks.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac348/kingfish254/Mossberg/WP_000159.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac348/kingfish254/Mossberg/WP_000158.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac348/kingfish254/Mossberg/WP_000160.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac348/kingfish254/Mossberg/WP_000161.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac348/kingfish254/Mossberg/WP_000162.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac348/kingfish254/Mossberg/WP_000164.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac348/kingfish254/Mossberg/WP_000163.jpg

From the book; Mossberg More gun for the money.
"in early 1973, Mossberg purchased the stock of the HP Snyder company of Little Falls,NY. " At the time we bought Snyder, they mostly made bikes for DP Harris under the "Rollfast" name, as well as contracts for Montgomery Ward. Shortly thereafter, we started selling them to Western Auto, Sears, and other distributors we had contracts with for the firearms and other products. Mossberg marketed their bicycles under their own brand rather than Snyder. Most of these bikes were sold to the contract market, and were therefore never stamped with the Mossberg name, but those sold to the smaller accounts did carry the Mossberg logo on the frame-a distinctive crest sheild in red,yellow,and blue with armored helmet above the shield and full Mossberg name below the emblem. Around 1976, Mossberg lost their big contracts with DP Harris and Wards, and closed the bike business."

I found the article. It is from the Oswego Shopper May 5, 1976 and it is titled "Boys and girls go for 'rough rider' biking"
http://www.fultonhistory.com/Process%20 … 200426.pdf
In it there is a couple of paragraphs on teh Mossberg MX
New Model MX
Preparing a bicycle for motocross means replacing some of the factory supplied parts with heavier duty parts to take the extra punishment dished out byy the track and the rider.
One bicycle manufacturer, O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc., makes a bike that is already set up for Motocross. It is called the Mossberg MX and has heavy-duty fork, rims and spokes. It also has a special Motocross handlebar stem and handlebars.

Here is a photo of the article:
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac348/kingfish254/Mossberg/Mossberg76Article.jpg

Here is the Mossberg Photo in the article.
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac348/kingfish254/Mossberg/Mossberg76Article-Copy.jpg

Here's a Mossberg MX I found on a classic BMX site, this one just has the conventional fork:

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp226/wellbiked/322_493658.jpg

I got a Mossberg MX in 1973, when I was ten or eleven years old. They were hot little bikes. And I agree, they were ahead of their time. Kids needed a bike that would hold up to jumping better than a banana seat bike, and the Mossberg MX did that very well. Evel Knievel was incredibly popular at the time, and everybody wanted to set up ramps and JUMP. Here's a pic from 1973 of me on my Mossberg MX, I posted it in the og thread earlier:

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp226/wellbiked/DSC03176.jpg

I was a muscle bike kid of teh late 60s. The closest I came to a BMX was a cantilever banana seat bike with apes that I would jump. The weld of one of the cantilver broke at the seattube eventually. Also the apes would always move forward when you landed, so many times I went head over heals over the bars.

Also the apes would always move forward when you landed, so many times I went head over heals over the bars.

I can tell you that the weak point on the Mossberg MX was the quill part of the stem (the part just above the steerer tube). The handlebar clamp assembly was incredibly beefy for its time, but you could bend the quill if you got too crazy. I knew a kid who was injured pretty badly when we set up a very high ramp and he landed wrong. His stem was bent badly, had to be replaced.

I may be selling this Mossberg. Does anyone have any idea on the value of one of these?

I will entertain any offers on my Mossberg.
Just shoot me a PM.