Originally Posted by cbrstar

There's some decent Hi-tens out there. You usually see Hi-Ten in freestyle bikes because they can actually take much more of a beating then 4130 CroMo, and Aluminum. For example 4130 is half the weight, but is more brittle and can snap.

With racing what counts is the rider. You can have the lightest, and most expensive bike but if you're slow then guess what you're going to loose. With Roadbike racing it's a endurance test so you feel the weight difference dramatically. With BMX it's a short sprint!

The best story I can give is my friend...He was unusually fit, and he could keep up with cars doing 50km/hr easily, with his hi-ten BMX that he found at the dump. We would go around and find guys with their uber high end Bianchi's, then diss them, and then bet them $20 he could beat them in a race over 3-4 blocks. It was like taking Candy from a baby, he never lost. Because in a quick sprint it's rider first, so the advantages/disadvantages of the bike dissolve quickly.

TL;DR: What we BMX'ers all did BITD. Was slowly upgrade all the junk parts on our bikes one bit at a time as we could afford them. Eventually you build up a great set of parts like wheels etc, and by then you know what you want when you upgrade the Frame & Fork.
We all started somewhere man! It's better to start of riding the heck out of something, then being some poser with a expensive bike he doesn't ride.