elmore leonard

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...+bmx&FORM=IGRE

TheLibrarian

we the People look like a good bmx company. Not sure if it matters so much for this class as there are a wide variety of small specialized builders who can make a good bmx bike. Anything from a skate shop should be pretty good. WTP Justice looks cool, fairly plain bikes anyway except for the paint jobs or handlebar stem. Diamond back has been a major name in bmx for a long time, mongoose too. many a kid riding around on a plain old mongoose. Even some snazy mongoose or mongeese.

DMC707

I run a 2015 SE OM Flyer on my jaunts to the BMX track and it can handle it --- I like the looks of the Fairdale Taj as well ------- Definitely check out those 2 --

elmore leonard

I googled those. Both were very nice. This one, Fairdale Taj is pretty cool in chromolly chrome. Wonder what it would run?

DMC707

list price on both a Taj and a SE OM for complete bikes is in the $600 neighborhood --- you may be able to beat those prices with some careful online shopping
I think i paid about $450 for my OM through a snowboard/ skiing shop - Pro Board Shop maybe?

a company called Volume makes a bike called the Hessian that is at a bit lower price point, and i have seen GT Interceptor 26's at lower price points too, but you get what you pay for at a certain point

elmore leonard

The Fairdale Taj isn't available in Canada from my searching and the company doesn't sell on line. Plus the Canadian dollar is only worth only 74 cents in the USA. So making my own is probably the better way for me to go. There are lots of used hard tails around my area that I could buy and convert for far less. Getting a good rear wheel, at a decent price is probably going to be the hardest part. Anyone know of a good, reasonably priced, 26" BMX Cruiser rear wheel on line that might be worth purchasing? I think I can find a good used front wheel.

DMC707

Plenty of sellers are selling these bikes to Canada -- i myself have sold a couple of bikes through ebay to my friends up north- Planet BMX will sell you all the bikes you need
To include a cool Fairdale model for 350 US and a SE complete 26" for 450 US

26" BMX - Planet BMX

Since we mentioned the Taj, i am just using it as an example, but with a quick glance i found Subrosa's, the new Skyway cruisers, and others on Canadian ebay

fairdale taj | eBay


I think you've already been down the road of trying to convert a 24" MTB right? -- It doesnt work that well due to rear dropout spacing and style of rear dropouts usually used, - plus top tube length, seat tube angle and style of fork

My suggestion is if you still have a Jones to try to convert one -- instead of going Full Frankenstein, find an early MTB , preferably from one of the old school BMX brands (in this case, mine is a Diamondback, circa 1985 or so ) - leave the gears and leave the bike pretty much as is, but give it some BMX flavor -- and its still usable as a trail bike

Before pic - i found a pair of cherry DiamondBack ATB's for $200


I havent done much with the red one yet , as it is mine and i dont care as much -- but the blue one i tricked out a bit for my wife so she can cruise with me sometimes - didnt take much, just some real BMX cruiser bars (Mongoose KOS style), some beartraps, and some color coordinated BMX tires, grips and pads and she is good to go - i left the soft squishy seat on there because she likes it, but it would look good with a nice blue Kashimax or Elina seat as well

--- No , we're not going to taking it over any 20' double jumps with the ATB fork on there, but thats not really the point of any 26'er anyway



I have less than $300 in it including the cost of the bike and it gets looks and compliments everywhere we go with it

elmore leonard

Those are good looking bikes DMC707. You did a good job. The finished one is good eye candy. What do those Blue tires run? The old tires looked pretty good too. I will watch locally and see what I find. I have a nice Mountain Cat with a good set of Araya 24" wheels in my shed. I think I could do something like you have done with that. (will post pic when I dig it out). I toured the local bike shops yesterday and not one had a cruiser class BMX or any BMX's to speak of.

This one of mine you mentioned is a blast to ride. It really works the upper leg muscles and I have been riding it every day for 25 minutes on a route through my neighborhood.

elmore leonard

Here is the Mountain Cat I'm was thinking of making a BMX Cruiser out of.

DMC707

That looks like it has a nice, slack seat tube angle, so would be as good a start as any Just need a BMX'y stem and bars and you are off to the races

Thanks for the compliment on the Diamondbacks --- the tires i think were around $20 each , but being US dollars, thats probably more like $30 CDN -- i just got 'em from ebay - and i bought everything on the same day so it was hard to keep up with the individual purchases

Thats a nice flashy green , so i'm hoping it turns out well

With an internet handle like Elmore Leonard, i can only assume your a fan of the author? --

Philphine

i'm not a serious bmx-er (or a bmx-er at all really), but i just did this same thing with a gt outpost. i saw it and thought it looked like a big bmx bike, so that's how i built it.


GT Outpost - good home needed | Retrobike

the same bike, but i couldn't find a pic of the one i played with. if you were local (louisville, ky) you could check the bike co-op (fccbikeworks.com). i ended up taking the frame there, then building it up with their parts and they have it for sale, but they haven't updated their for sale section in a while so i couldn't get a pic. probaly to be a more serious bike some parts would need upgrading, but it's a fun bike for wheelies and street holiganism as built.

elmore leonard

I picked this CCM bike up today and will probably take the stem and bars for my Mountain Cat and put another set of bars back on this. I think originally it was a 3 speed with a Banana seat. Here some pics and a link to the original CCM Mustang 1972.

ccm mustang bicycle - Bing images