history repeats itself...no really it does...seriously
 

ive been doing a bit of research. im thinking about building up a single speed 'city' mtb set up or a 24 inch(or is it 26 inch?) cruiser frame. upon looking up stuff for inspiration i came across bmxmuseum.com and the stuff on it REALLY reminds of the stuff on FGG. the "san francisco treatment" is not unlike the stuff the kids in the 80's were doing to bmx bikes. check it out:


matching rims, bar grips, seat, top tube protector, stem protector, etc etc. both styles of bike only have one speed. track bikes also have open or track ends like bmx bikes....makes me wonder if some of us are still kids(hell yes).

the green haro is totally tits by the way. i would ride it without much hesitation.

little bikes rock!! a friend of mine had one at a party the other night, i wound up towing another friend on a skateboard through crowds of drunk people...who miraculously stepped out of our way and apologized. it was like some parallel dimension where the craziest drunk idiot has the right of way. it must have been the bike, they knew the bike rocked too.

Two (actually three) options here: 24" wheeled BMX cruisers aren't too common, but you can find them in shops. 26" wheeled BMX cruisers are exceedingly rare, but you can find them online. SS MTB's are a little more common, but online is still your best bet.

Good observation on the aestetic trends. I am still following my 80's style of bikes, bolting on whatever it takes to make the thing roll...

I need to track down another set of 24" wheels - I've found another keiki, but it's missing the wheels.

well....when im thinking of building it up im considering making the bike a response to the sf style of things. not matching blinging everything but a little consistency throughout. plus i think it would be cheaper to make it happen.....no one is paying attention to it as much so i might be able to score some decent parts here and there for not too much. thanks for the advice tho!

Your just now noticing that? why do you think 80s campy BMX cranks are so popular with the SF crowd? I kinda figured the people who started the trend had BMX bikes like that when they were kids. I'm probably wrong tho. Most o' these youngsters are probably to young to have ridden in the 80s :p

hey kludge.. small mtn bike frames are your friend.. and cheap! you end up with something like this..

http://www.slabco.com/stuff/carillocruiser.jpg

(sorry to repost a bike...its kinda lame of me)

ow! thats fucckken sick! uh huh. now the ideas are coming together!

here's an idea for ya: 24x 3.7 inch (fat ass!) tires come out pretty close to the same outside dimensions as 26 x 1.5" if you use a MTB frame with disk brakes you should be able to easily use 24 inchers with ****** tires. beyyer yet fix it, and then you only gota worry about a front brake. then you just need a dsik compatible fork and front hub, and you can use any frame you want with a fixed hub. Of course if it's gor vertical drops you'll need an eno hub, but there are lots of SS MTB frames out there with track forks, and that's also the style of dropouts most BMX bikes have, so it would fit with the giant MTB theme.

One more thing, I'm pretty sure I've seen an old MTB rear hub with a button to switch between fixed and freewheeling. Anybody know what hub I'm thinking of?

eno hubs are for *******

I think a left crank arm would fit better... anyway... how'd you do yours? Magic gear combo?

ah.. that took me a while to get.. i shouldnt talk..that particular bike is still being "figured out" but between different gears adn half links.. i think i might have it working.. an eno hub would def. be easier.. but ive gotten plenty of bikes rolling without one

Pretty sure that, red schwinn banana seat bike aside, this was my first ride.
http://bmxmuseum.com/image/96_3_lg.jpg

Oh man. That's a sweet motomag. I'd take that in a heartbeat. Toughest frame ever made. I remember landing huge airs on a borrowed Mongoose (didn't want to crack the Hutch) without the slightest worry of cracking that frame. Even in the late eighties, that frame still got respect. Outdated, heavy, but tough as hell. Back in the late eighties, when that particular bike was obsolete by ten years, the best of the best made a point of kicking ass on a BMX course on those. They would seek out old gusseted mongooses. Of course, they would modify them with araya 7x's, redline flights, long reach stem and better forks. But the frame stayed the same. The best riders I ever had the pleasure of being beat by on a track were on motomags. There was this cult attitude then of beating everybody that came your way while riding an old mongoose. Almost anyone could win on a Hutch Prostar, JMC or Profile. But on a Mongoose? Well, if they did, they were bad ass. And the things never broke or even coughed in the heat of battle. Never have I seen one of those break. Ever. Mongoose re-released a bunch of those last year. They sold rather quick.

Oh, and as some have noticed, track bikes are a natural progression from BMX. Especially brakeless riding. It's road riding with a slightly extreme twist. I nice way to wind down from the frame and bone breaking part of our lives. For some of us, the mediocrity of regular road riding just won't do. Especially with the ever more frequent just-add-water, weekend warrior kooks one sees on the usual trek, trek or trek these days. We ex-BMX guys do not like complexity. Some of us even avoided the whole mountain bike thing because of the inherent complexity of the equipment. Heck, I raced BMX brakeless for years in order to become better at finding holes during races. So for me, and I am sure for many others as well, track bikes are the natural progression. And if it isn't, like for some of the younger guys or others who were not fortunate to race BMX during the final days of unprotected sex, drugs and racing under their influence, they are doing things to their rides which are amazingly similar to what old BMX riders would do. It's all about simplicity, the purity of look, etc... Something that binds all of us fixed gear trackheads together.

Damn you.

i used to ride flatland on a Hoffman EP fixed and it definitely got me thinking about riding a road frame fixed.

I rode a 24" wheeled, singlespeed mountain bike (fully suspended!) my shopfiend buddy custom built for his son, then gave to me. Rode it in the streets like a madman, earned respect from the fixed gear riders who suggested that I trade up to track bikes for efficency. Best move I ever made.

When it doesn't work out for me, I'll keep you in mind.

I'm thinking 24x1" slicks and bullhorns, so far.

..just to keep you stewing, here's what an almost-stock keiki looks like :
http://entirely-adequate.com/images/.../keikifull.jpg

that's an awful lot like something i've been thinking about doing.

Lemme know... I'm seriously thinking about one of those 26" wheeled Volume cruisers.

m.

My LBS has the Anniversary model of that Mongoose. Its a reproduction, and doesn't have the motomags.

ok...now thats SERIOUSLY what i want it to look like. but with a disc front. semi slick tires. and im thinking fixed gear.
sickness. the toe clips are a nice addition too.

It might be hard to track down a 24" fork set up for disc mounting - is this an aesthetic thing? For most riding, a good v-brake or canti setup should be all you need. For tires, it's really hard to beat the 24x2" big apples, although I'm also pretty seriously tempted by the 24" kenda k-rads.

The next one I build up is probably going to be fixed gear.