BMX stuff

Cleaning out my garage, I found the frame of one of my old Mongoose BMX bikes. Old. With the gusset at the front. No paint on the frame, and no rust, so it must be some kind of chromemoly or something. Think I could make this workable for cheap? I have no parts, other than the frame. No wheels crank chain neck bars forks bearings, no nothing. Could this be a cheap fun nostalgia project? Any sites that sell old stuff cheap?

thanks, Joey

i like looking a Dan's Pro Comp, have tons of stuff. I doubt it will be cheap, but im sure you can source some 3 piece cranks and S&M Slam bars for your old whip! I'm looking to get back into it now...

If it's really old, it's probably too small. A lot of those old bikes are smaller than we remember. You can still build it up, but depending on the vintage that top tube might be a bit on the short side.

Sounds like you have a late 70's or early 80's Motomag or Supergoose. These were Chro-Moly with chrome plating. These will and do rust as it is still steel but it sounds like you either took good care of it or got very lucky.

DSW is right as if you want to ride it it will be very small. IIRC the top tube on these things were in the 17.5 to 18" (current pro xl frames are 21"+) range. The steering is also raked out pretty good and will steer really slow compared to modern geometry.

If you want to build it up and you want parts in as good as shape as the frame it won't be cheap. Your going to have to go back farther than the days of Slam bars. We're talking Tuf-Neck, Tange, and Ashtabula parts.

Some good resources are:

http://www.vintagebmx.com/community/

http://bmxmuseum.com/

Those forums are always crawling with guys looking to sell and trade. of course there is eBay too.

Post some pics up!

Hotlinked 'cuz that's how I roll.

I remember running the forward rake on my old BXM'es.... man those were the days.

Marty! wrote: Hotlinked 'cuz that's how I roll.

I always liked blue Tuffs. A kid in our neighborhood had a black Mongoose with blue Tuffs. I always liked that look.

I have some graphite Tuffs upstairs. One day I'll finish that bike.

Take a pic and post it up. I have a 1983 Supergoose hanging in my dad's shed. It's actually my sister's (she rode BMX back then for a local team) but I used to ride it too. That bike was and still is awesome. We let her son ride it last year, and without even dusting it off, it still rode really nice.

Tifosi2k2 wrote: My mother sold my Haro at a garage sale for $25 I've been looking for an exact copy ever since. So if anyone finds an '87 Haro FSX, Red and Black, with white Skyway mags for sale.... give me a shout.

Just to give you some motivation.

In reply to Marty!:

I must have gotten lucky... I remember this thing sat outside with no paint and no parts mounted for at least a summer. No rust! Definitely lucky. It's also not a bright chrome either. I'd like to find some mid-nineties era parts, as that's when I was fooling with this stuff. Mostly used hand me down parts, and the frame I have no idea where it came from. Probably one of my cousins. It was ancient when I got it, now....

Joey

I also think the wheels I had were called araya sun rims? Does that make sense?

Joey

joey48442 wrote: I also think the wheels I had were called araya sun rims? Does that make sense? Joey

Araya and Sun both made rims. Back in the day, the cool kids ran the Araya 7X. I have Sun BRF rims on my DK. Never had a problem with them.

David S. Wallens wrote:

joey48442 wrote: I also think the wheels I had were called araya sun rims? Does that make sense? Joey

Araya and Sun both made rims. Back in the day, the cool kids ran the Araya 7X. I have Sun BRF rims on my DK. Never had a problem with them.

Ah. Well, I remember they said araya on them, and they were anodized gold in color.

Joey

So you are saying my Sears FS500 was crap?

HLFYP

(It was the damned thing weighed like 900lbs)

It may have weighed 900 lbs, but its still floating.

Joey

David S. Wallens wrote:

joey48442 wrote: I also think the wheels I had were called araya sun rims? Does that make sense? Joey

Araya and Sun both made rims. Back in the day, the cool kids ran the Araya 7X. I have Sun BRF rims on my DK. Never had a problem with them.

Sun BFR. That's what I put on my DK as well when I tacoed a stock rim.

I wish I still had my SE Racing "P.K. Ripper", it's the one bike I should have never parted with

Who else remembers these old school BMX days?

YouTube video - Scot Breithaupt,Perry Kramer,Stu Thomsen,Toby Henderson.....wmv

YouTube video - Stompin Stu - The story of BMX legend Stu Thomsen

David S. Wallens wrote:

joey48442 wrote: I also think the wheels I had were called araya sun rims? Does that make sense? Joey

Araya and Sun both made rims. Back in the day, the cool kids ran the Araya 7X. I have Sun BRF rims on my DK. Never had a problem with them.

You mean sun BFR (big berkleying rims)...style points for a DK...extra style points if it has "made in 'merikuh" stamped into it. I had a General Lee and also a Legacy (which I won in a Huffy throwing contest against a DK sponsored racer at a DK open house in Franklin Oh. His toss planted the bike firmly in the mud because he tossed it in a flat spin and the pedals and bars caught the turf and stuck solid. My toss went end over end and I got a good 10 feet from the bonce as the bikes weight came down on the front wheel, and the fork had just enough spring left in it to propel the thing forward before it collapsed...good times)

PK rippers were sweet rides for sure, but were short as hell, so once you turned 11, you had to get a Standard bicycle motocross or a S&M Holmes. My buddy once committed insurance fraud by selling his Kastan ultralite for $300 and then telling his folks it was stolen so it would end up being covered by insurance...I currently own a Premium Products Pro frame (Haro's high-end gear) and a bunch of random parts I built up over the years. I still ride a bit and am looking for a killer deal on a pair of light weight cromo forks with dropouts that can handle pegs.

Mine is a General Lee cruiser. I don't know if it's made in America or not. It was so cheap that if it was, I'm impressed. Added a front brake, pegs, replaced the stock bars with some Haro Nyquist because I hate how short cruiser bars are, and replaced the aforementioned tacoed rim. Other than that, it's as it arrived from Dans comp. With the tall bars, it rides (and even looks) like a big 20" instead of a cruiser. That was the goal.

David S. Wallens wrote: If it's really old, it's probably too small. A lot of those old bikes are smaller than we remember. You can still build it up, but depending on the vintage that top tube might be a bit on the short side.

+1. A few years ago, I cleaned up my old '82 Predator so that I could ride it again... man, that bike is small... So instead, I picked up a used newer bike (complete) and added some upgrades (Profile cranks & DX wheels). Rides much, much nicer for somebody 5' 10".

For those who want to relive their youth, SE Racing is still around and you can buy a PK Ripper or Quadangle with newer/better modern geometry. They are dangerously cheap.

4cylndrfury wrote: PK rippers were sweet rides for sure, but were short as hell, so once you turned 11, you had to get a Standard bicycle motocross or a S&M Holmes.

The PK Ripper was my last BMX bike, yeah, they were short and I was at least 6-foot tall in the 8th grade (1977-78) when I built it, I ran one of those tall solid alum. seat post that curved back just so I wasn't hovering over the bars when I sat down.

This was just about the time that the builders and shops here in the San Francisco Bay Area, Marin specifically, were taking road bikes and cruzer frames and building the first generation Mountain Bikes out of them. I road that wave because of my size and competed in some of the first non-sanctioned Mountain Bike races through the East Bay hills east of Berkeley and Oakland, this was in 1979-82.

Dave, 24" BMX freestyle bikes are loads of fun. I had a buddy (seen below top left) with a nyquist 24 and it rode great. I didnt like the look of the low bars, but tall ones make them ride a little funny to me - but thats literally getting off a 20" and right onto the cruiser, so everything feels funny at that point. I nearly bought a 24" bike but decided I dont ride my 20" enough as it is, let alone buy another niche bike I wont ride but twice a year.

Unfortunately if its the DKGL24 = arrived by boat, but its sill cool and DK is an Ohio company, so good work!

for fun, here is a hotlink of me on my Legacy at the Fairfield Ohio Joyce Park concrete sk8park doing a downside footplant in the 6' bowl:

4cylndrfury wrote: style points for a DK...extra style points if it has "made in 'merikuh" stamped into it.

Yep, made right here. It's a ProXL that I built up for my 30th birthday. I guess it's no longer brand-new.

4cylndrfury wrote: Dave, 24" BMX freestyle bikes are loads of fun. I had a buddy (seen below top left) with a nyquist 24 and it rode great. I didnt like the look of the low bars, but tall ones make them ride a little funny to me - but thats literally getting off a 20" and right onto the cruiser, so everything feels funny at that point. I nearly bought a 24" bike but decided I dont ride my 20" enough as it is, let alone buy another niche bike I wont ride but twice a year. Unfortunately if its the DKGL24 = arrived by boat, but its sill cool and DK is an Ohio company, so good work! for fun, here is a hotlink of me on my Legacy at the Fairfield Ohio Joyce Park concrete sk8park doing a downside footplant in the 6' bowl:

We've got a skate park up the street. I'm going to go be the old fat guy riding the 24 at the park some time. I just have to figure out a time when I'm OK with being scuffed, scraped, bruised, and potentially in need of surgery. I was a lot less cautious before I tore my shoulder cartilage last year doing bunny hops.

DILYSI Dave wrote: We've got a skate park up the street. I'm going to go be the old fat guy riding the 24 at the park some time. I just have to figure out a time when I'm OK with being scuffed, scraped, bruised, and potentially in need of surgery. I was a lot less cautious before I tore my shoulder cartilage last year doing bunny hops.

We have one up the street, too, and they're actually redoing part of it. You should come down. We can ride together. That way you won't be the only old fat guy there. I'll even bring my Floval Flyer.