So…BMX! Anyone have one in their garage?

Watching the Olympics now and it looks a lot of fun. I would think it’s a cheap form of biking: no suspension, no droppers, no complex gearing.

Some of those race BMX will be around £6k or so I was told

£1.5k for a speedco pro frame.  So yes cheap just like mountain biking is.

Incredible men’s race just now! Sad that Kye Whyte was injured in the semi’s, but a 1,2,3 finish for the French in the final!!! Wow!

Now come on Beth Shriever!!!

I’ve considered getting one again many times as we have a nice concrete park in town. Before MTB I rode a lot of street and park. I had a Sunday Model C (24″ with more “normal” bmx geometry than a cruiser) for a while and I could never get used to it again after MTB, even a 24″ felt too small and twitchy. I also tried a 20″ Sunday Scout (I think) which was a disaster for me! A DJ bike is probably a better idea for most of us, that new YT Dirtlove AL looks great!

I think it’s something you have to learn when you’re a kid otherwise it’s unlikely to click.

A bit like track cycling.

Good bikes can be £££ – the sort of sums of money that you wonder how the hell that actually works.

But secondhand ones can be amazing value.

I did a fair bit at Manchester – enough to get my accreditation and do a few sessions but it never clicked with me. I’d be freewheeling down the ramp (actually often braking!) and that’s not really the right technique to get you anywhere!

Good fun for an hour’s thrashing around though.

I did part of the Wolf Way a few weeks ago and there’s a BMX track outside Ipswich, so I had a go with a fully loaded gravel bike. It was fun pumping the track, using your body on the berms…very MTB trail centre.

Not sure I get the comments above, pro bikes are expensive shocker… same as people riding rigid retro bikes the same trail centres as 6k carbon bikes

Facebook has hundreds of jump bikes which might be easier to transition to, but just buy something cheap see if it clicks and then if it does spend something decent on what you really wwant if bmx is the way you want to go

A mate does a fair bit. Got some decent silverware with it to boot. Says it’s good family exercise. He went with his kids (also good) and they can all get a decent workout at the same time at their different abilities.

Oddly i rode my BMX for the first time in ages at Edenbrook mini bike park (Fleet hampshire) and it was great fun. I need to ride it more.

Awful machines of terror.

How the top folk make riding something so horrendous look so beautiful is a mystery for 99.9999% of all humans that have ever lived.

Not sure I get the comments above, pro bikes are expensive shocker

Obviously top bikes are not cheap. We had a proper mix at the pumltrylaat year for the world champs quali. Everything from £200 BMX to full racing DJ and BMX bikes. The MTB guys riding DJ bikes did pretty well but just couldn’t understand how the BMX riders got the flat air they did. Both types of riders clearing doubles easily but the MTB guys (Corey Watson and William Brodie) were just so much higher.

Some guys on 24″ wheels with super skinny tyres, it was reckoned on our pumptrack that was the fastest combo.

The power they put out is pretty damn impressive.

I have this Mongoose, it cost £90 from house of Fraser in March, think they’re £150 if you can find one now. They’re light, twitchy and very fast, great fun at the pump track! Probably should have got a Pro XXL with 20” wheels at my height but the cruiser won out, it’s maybe not perfect but is great fun.

you should get a bmx if you want one.

Have now found myself trawling eBay for a Raleigh Burner!

Have now found myself trawling eBay for a Raleigh Burner!

I thought they were shit back in the 80’s when I was obsessed with BMX (pretty much all I lived for) but guess people wanting them is a nostalgia thing.

As for race bike cost you can certainly get a fairly decent one for around £1,000 which would still be considered entry level for road and MTB bikes so they are comparatively cheap.  https://www.skatepro.uk/58-41931.htm?stockcode=02006120121&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADcmQjkveEcKK5kzbNw0Ponsl7oG3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIypD_vIHYhwMV05RQBh18fi5GEAQYCSABEgJxqfD_BwE

The carbon frames are more expensive (i.e. Vision F1 at around £2K) but guess the prices are down to supply and demand with demand being pretty low compared to road and mtb.  So while you could spend £6K I would think you could race competitively on a bike around £1,000 which you couldn’t say so much for road or MTB.

This tickle anyone’s fancy?

https://www.wethepeoplebmx.de/bikes/swamp-master

I started racing BMX earlier this season and I’m really enjoying it, North Regional at Preston tomorrow, but they do have local race series. If you go to Our Sqorz you should be able to find some local evening or wekend series to give it a go. You don’t need an expensive bike, you can pick something up for a reasonable sum. 20″ is pretty hardcore and I wish I went cruiser but hey ho. It’s definitely not about the bike anyway, you need lot’s of practice and lot’s of skill, being able to manual is key, you don’t necessarily need to be able to jump. This isn’t too bad for the price – Haro Pro XL BMX

Getting your head round how motos work takes a bit of getting used to, particularly being in a final on your own!

I found the hardest thing (in your 40’s) are gate starts and balance, I’d reccomend riding flats at first if your used to being clipped in, as every track is unique. Some start ramps can be intimidating (Cumbernauld I’m looking at you!) others less so.

The community is really welcoming, races are quite pricey in comparison to CX but cheaper than MTB. Fill your boots it’s a great sport, however I’ve had more injuries in less than 12 months BMX than I’ve had in over 20 years of MTB, Road and CX!

You WILL need a full face helmet if you haven’t got one, mandatory for racing and a long sleeve top, you’ll also need pads (knee/shin, elbow, body armour/shoulder) if your new to it as you will crash at some point and it hurts! You’ll also need number plates. For local events you can get a with a bit of cardboard but for regionals you’ll need the correct colour coding.

I’ve one, not racing geometry, iny loft. Been trying to give it away for 2 years but noone wants it.

Bmx bikes are fun if a bit sketchy (if you didn’t learn to ride one as a kid – which I didn’t). You can pick something up for playing fine on pump tracks for well under £500 new – if you go secondhand then £200 probably gets you something fine for that.

If you want to race then I’ve seen basic race bikes for £300+ on fb classifieds. I’m no expert though – I’d get along to a local club and get some advice.

That Mongoose above seemed very cheap above – decent enough for pump track fun.

I had a Haro Cruiser for a few year for exactly that purpose – vs mtb it felt crazy fast with schwalbe billy bonkers tyres on it and the quick steering etc.

I sold that and picked up a Privateer DJ101 – it’s still quite fast on a pump track but it’s a bit more stable and feels less likely to dump my 43 yr old behind onto the floor. For £700 ish it’s loads of fun.

I got a Super Burner for my birthday in 1984 from OT Cycles in Darford….a couple of years later I got some Skyways and razor bladed the original gold coating on the frame back to chrome ……40 years on I still have it. I’ve got  happy memories of myself and my friends playing/crashing on our BMX’s .It gave me few handy to have basic skills which I still enjoy using today-main one being able to American bunny hop over the the many trail obstacles around here .

For all of us who can remember the 80s, watching ET’s Kuwaharas and being obsessed by BMX as it shook the playground cycling world here in the UK and made bikes cool, it’s great to see BMX rise up to being in the Olympics.

It’s hard not to think it odd seeing a grown man on a tiny bike though. It’s a bit clowny.
Still want one though.

The Jet race bikes are pretty good value on Source BMX if you wanted a new one to go racing. Similar spec to my Mongoose (rrp about £300) so you’d probably want to replace the freewheel, that’s the only bit on mine that I wouldn’t want to race with because it seems to skip/jump sometimes under pressure. Otherwise they’re ready to go out of the box for a beginner.

Yep, got a knight bike Co, knight goose from 2009.  It’s a thing of beauty but it hangs in the garage gathering dust.  Buggered if I’m going to kill myself now ?

I retired a few years back ?

Still have my redline flight xxxl frame, but the parts have migrated over to my son’s latest bmx.

Racing is nuts and starting at 38 was 30years too late, you are competing with riders with so much skill. I will say it brought on more control on the mtb as learning to ride a twitchy 20inch was a painful but rewarding process of crash crash, less crash, ooh air, crash crash and bollocks that 3helmets in twelve months, I’m a bit shit at this let’s stop ?.

I feel safer mid pack in the quali at the mega.

The community is ace, I spent a few years at north region events and got to know a lot of great people. National events are huge, never rode at them but enjoyed watching my son find his feet at them.

Having ridden BMX a bit in my 20s but switching to MTB when I felt my body was struggling I will say that a decent modern BMX is so much nicer and more forgiving that what we ride 20 years ago. I had a spin on a local lad’s bike (about a year old, crap brakes) and it was so fast and forgiving and just nice to ride compared to previous BMX I’d tried

Love the Tabron video, the height he gets on those 540’s s insane. Would prefer to see vert in the olympics instead of park to be honest.

BMX cheap, it certainly wasn’t even in the mid 80’s. I had a road bike even then, as I was a grown up at 14-16.

Have a WTP hanging up. It’s stying in the garage. I value my joints and health. Son1 was pretty fearless at the skate park, but didn’t take it with him.

Always wanted one since my mum wouldn’t bet me a burner in the 80s,  probably too late now.

Aside, can anyone tell me how in the staircase this guy did this?

My mum bought me one when I was 34…. At least 20 years too late.

It was a good one, too…. We the People. Black frame, silver and blue rims. Looked sexy AF.

Best part of £500…..

Took it to the nearest skate park. Nearly broke myself. Gave it to a mate’s 12 year old.

Aside, can anyone tell me how in the staircase this guy did this?

Magic.

“Aside, can anyone tell me how in the staircase this guy did this?”

Does. Not. Compute.

BMX cheap, it certainly wasn’t even in the mid 80’s

It was a pretty new thing though and a lot of the bikes were imported but agree it seemed really expensive at the time but maybe that was because I was a kid with no money and parents who weren’t that well off.  Just found someone saying that a Harry Leary Turbo (first decent bike that came up in search) was £350 in 1983 which only equates to £1150 today which seems good value to me now?

A Holdsworth Elan road bike was £295 in 1984 which was a fairly nice road bike IIRC

Like most it was a catalogue special that got me into it, Xmas 1982. The bike has long, long gone but like most things cycling; the passion still remains. Old school BMX has a big following with stupid money changing hands for genuine original bikes & parts. I bought a cheap Diamond Back in about 1998 to see if I still had it. I passed it to a nephew & bought a new GT Performer later that year & I still have it now. Its not in great condition though. I picked up some original coaster brake Tuff wheels so at some point I’ll marry the two together & spend the rest of my years staring at it. Its a bit like my 1st gen Niner SIR.9, I’d never sell it.

I follow Logan Martin, the Australian freestyle guy. The stuff they do in a skate park these days defies gravity.!!

Fit Series 22. £450 brand new.

Looks real, feels real, it’s a tiny bit bigger and more comfortable than a 20″. I like it so much that I sold my much more expensive Transition PBJ. This is so much faster and more fun.

I have 2 in the garage…the trusty steed must be best part of 12 years old, 21 inch top tube and short-ish back end which is nice for skateparks, after a few years on the MTB and a child it started seeing more use, after going long and low on the MTB was curious how a longer BMX would feel and picked up a 21.8 inch frame with longer rear end in and then a 3rd bike for the wheels and other parts… 21.8 now nicknames the red rocket gets used for pumptracks, trails and hopefully soon some local racetrack.