Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,520
Likes: 12
From: Colorado Springs, CO
Bikes: 1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo (frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame), 1974 Peugeot UO-8
This is really a funny thread. I’m guessing you’d need to be in your late 30’s to early 40’s right now to really have been of an age where you would have cared about BMX or MTB at the beginning unless maybe you lived in California. Any older and you probably would have ridden a “10-speed” and thought the new stuff was weird. I can remember I paid $175 for my Bottecchia in 1974 and that was considered a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a bicycle (so our parents thought) but I rode that thing for 22 years and would still be riding it if I hadn't got hit by a truck. A few years later in the late 70's, my buddy's little brother got a new bike for Christmas or his B-day or something. It was a BMX bike, the first one I ever saw. It was this really cool shade of red and all of the components were gold anodized alloy. It cost $450!!! We were amazed. $450 for a bicycle! For a 12 year old! I guess he was the favored son, my friend only had a Schwinn Varsity 
The funny thing is, I seriously doubt that he's still riding that today.
__________________
1959 Bottecchia Milano-Sanremo(frame), 1966 Bottecchia Professional (frame), 1971 Bottecchia Professional (frame),
1973 Bottecchia Gran Turismo, 1974 Bottecchia Special, 1977 Bottecchia Special (frame),
1974 Peugeot UO-8, 1988 Panasonic PT-3500, 2002 Bianchi Veloce, 2004 Bianchi Pista