OldsCOOL

A few of you already know I love bikes of the classic lightweight era having owned and ridden for decades.....but my son who is now 22 is coming to love his vintage BMX. The bike is an '81 P.K. Ripper looptail with Landing Gear forks. It was restored and given to him by a neighbor friend of mine that raced Moto's stadium style for years until his knees gave out. He gave the bike to my son in '98 and told me never ever toss it to the curb or give it away. I didnt have any clue of it's value then and at first glance the blue nylon plastic wheels brought the bike snob out in me. He still loves to ride it around town with his little boy pedalling up behind him.

Pretty cool bike.

toytech

I have a soft spot for vintage BMX cruisers, the grail bikes of my youth were a Champion, or a Hutch. I had a CW cruiser for a while, but the BMX collectors are even crazier than us when it comes to what they will pay if they want something

OldsCOOL

Ah yes, the cruisers

Nice bike.

My son and wife have been offered some silly money on the spot for that aluminum framed looptail. Amazing. It only serves to make him hang onto it longer.

toytech

I am still kinda looking for that Champion Cruiser, I just missed one a while back. The SE reissues are pretty cool too, especially the Big Ripper and Quadrangles

Chris W.

In the early 70s I had a Pat Littlejohn, a Webco, and a Redline. In college had a Mongoose "Koz Kruizer". I really miss the Mongoose....

Cheers,
Chris

Chris_in_Miami

A friend of mine has a new OM Flyer (SE Racing's retro/reissue 26" cruiser.) It's a fun bike for around the neighborhood, but he commutes daily on it!

I've picked up a few old-school BMX bikes at thrift shops & yard sales and I've put some miles on a few of them, but they don't really do anything for me. This is a fairly modern 24" Haro cruiser that I repainted and rode for a while:



This is another 24" cruiser, a Murray x24 with a chrome frame that was spray painted silver when I got it. The chrome underneath was fine... I'll probably get it back together eventually, but it needs a set of rims.



A Rampar R-10 that I found at a thrift shop, Lester mags and a somewhat collectable MCS stem. It's still in the collection also.



I've yet to find any valuable BMX bikes.

mongoosed

I love old school bmx! I have quite a few things, one cruiser a cycle pro bonsai. Just picked up a complete 84 Mongoose Californian only thing missing were the original red tires. Collecting bmx has consumed me, I am either online researching, looking online for deals, or out and about driving aound following leads, constantly stopping and creeping past bikes when I see them. I have approached random people and bought there bikes then gave them a ride to wherever they were going. I find them on the side of the road or on rare occasions I find big scores on craigslist. I love it, only problem is I need more storage and more time in the day!

well biked

I just found this pic of a Mossberg MX on a classic BMX site.



I had one, this photo was taken sometime in 1973. That's me on the bike, my younger sister is sitting on the ground. I was ten or eleven. My wife found this poster the other day in the back of a closet; sorry to post it again, but I'm still excited that she found it, the poster was made by my uncle for me as a Christmas present that year........The Mossberg MX was a great little jumping bike.

sillygolem

A friend gave me a mid-school Haro that he had sitting in his basement for ages. I don't have any real use for it, and I've had a hard time convincing any of my friends with kids that they should have it to start riding.

WNG

My wife picked up a BMX from a garage sale for $1 when the seller said whatever's left you can have for a $1.
Turned out to be a very well made bike. I noted the nice brakes modern bmx's have. Looks just like U brakes on my old mtbs, except for the cable attachment points. Do these modern bmx calipers fit mtb U brake bosses? I want an upgrade to a steel Exage U brake. The fact that they come in a multitude of anodized colors is a bonus.
I appreciate the advice from the BMX experts here.

Chris_in_Miami

WNG - the bosses are the same, but the Suntour roller cam bosses do not have the flat plate at the base for the spring end (like cantilever bosses.) Seethe front fork pic in my frankenbike thread for an example.

Most U-brakes don't need the hole - their spring is on top, and they're tensioned from above. Those will work with either type of boss.

iab

My son's 1981 nickel-plated Mongoose. Araya rims, Redline bars and DiaCompe brake.

Robofunc

I still have my most recent BMX. It's one of these (this isn't mine, just found a photo):



I upgraded the cranks to Sugino GTs not long after buying it. The front wheel is a black 80s Ukai that could use some new spokes. The rear is something I got at the LBS to replace the tacoed stock wheel. I also cut the seat post down so I could slam the seat and cut the bars because they were too wide.

We had some awesome woodsy spots with trails through the palmettos and Brazilian peppers where we'd dig huge dirt jumps and hang out all day, every day--especially in the summer.

jet sanchEz

This just came up on my local CL, it is the BMX bike I had when I was 10 and the seller is asking for $70. I am really tempted, even though it is just a department store bike.

Toeslider

Sellers remorse?

Just sold this today, didn't really want to, but I figured out I had 16 bikes sitting around and this was one of the more marketable BMX'ers:



1999 Schwinn Brian Foster Super Stock 2. Not exactly a classic in the true sense of the word, but one of the last American made Schwinns. COMPLETELY original, down to the tires. Couple scratches here and there from being moved around, but obviously not from riding. I never rode it because it was too well preserved. Just liked the way it looked. Held to my selling price of $150.

The caveat? As the buyer is loading it up, he tells me "I know it's a nice original bike, but my 7 year old is going to ride the snot out of it." I guess I have to give him kudos for getting his kid a decent bike to start out instead of a 100 pound Wal-mart special, but ohhhh....that metallic red paint! The original stickers!

Oh well, time to start hitting the thrift stores for the next score.

realestvin7

Only if they make me money. I feel goofy on them now.

Dylansbob 

Unfortunately, I don't still have the pics on my system. I found a dead mint '85 Schwinn Predator Team "Z" last year. Stripped down and sold off as parts, the bike brought over $300. The big winners were the super clean Dia Compe MX brakeset, 3pc Sugino cranks, and the obligitory Skyway mags. Even some of the old school tires can bring absurd amounts of money.

Italuminium

At first I was like, neh, not interested. Campy never made BMX stuff. Then I LOL'd when I googled Campagnolo BMX and found out they did! Awesome stuff. Now I want a BMX. With that sexy blue anodized group.

that_guy_zach

Sold some NOS tires a while back for close to 200.

toytech

Cinelli made a lugged bmx frame too...

iab

Actually, the CMX was welded and not lugged.

toytech

I could swear I saw a picture of one once, could be fuzzy memory

ftwelder

Lugged (and cracked) Scorpion.


27 514 by barnstormerbikes, on Flickr

My Jalapeno


27 530 by barnstormerbikes, on Flickr



in 1980 I welded 5,000 BMX forks.

Italuminium

I saw a pic of that Cinelli, who would have thought it, a full italian BMX, they appeared to me as bikes either build from gas pipe in Taiwan and ridden by kids or serious, American machines loaded with obscure CNC bits in pretty anodizing. If I have the space and money for a BMX it will be that Cinelli, or one build by Frank

thinktubes 

I owned one of these back in the day:



I was into BMX in the mid-70's when it was an offshoot of motocross racing. I raced in the 80cc class and they would sometimes have bicycle races as well. I would love to come across some of those old DG, FMF, or Redline bikes from that era.