old skool, mid skool, new skool
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radbmx will be a better place but its basically
old upto early 90s
mid from roughly 92 . the dark years of bmx when you could know everyone who rode in the country by first name
mid to modern is a vague area , round about early 2000s when bikes started getting lighter and jeans tighter
however you can only race an old bmx if its an inch steerer and caliper brake regardless of year but taking a new bike liberating it of its mounts and using reducing cups to make it inch would be frowned upon
if you have a wander over to radbmx you will more likely get into an argument about dry bumming than what year your bike fell into
old upto early 90s
mid from roughly 92 . the dark years of bmx when you could know everyone who rode in the country by first name
mid to modern is a vague area , round about early 2000s when bikes started getting lighter and jeans tighter
however you can only race an old bmx if its an inch steerer and caliper brake regardless of year but taking a new bike liberating it of its mounts and using reducing cups to make it inch would be frowned upon
if you have a wander over to radbmx you will more likely get into an argument about dry bumming than what year your bike fell into
reanimation
Retrobike Rider
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Perry is right IMO
Its always been clear for me cos I grew up with it all.
I was 7-8 YO when BMX fever was everywhere around 1985. Christmas must have, I'm now kinda old so that makes it old skool.
Age 16 1992/3 I tried to get into the new wave of BMX's which were actually still quite primative ,apparently it never went away, but there was a surge. the bikes beefed up and got into a new vibe loads great products and tricks. and now ya got all new stuff and insannia tricks that are 5 times as awesome and impossible at they were 15yrs ago. arrgh i feel old (and undertalented) TBH i don't take it all too seriously I just know what fits where as per perrys explanation.
Its always been clear for me cos I grew up with it all.
I was 7-8 YO when BMX fever was everywhere around 1985. Christmas must have, I'm now kinda old so that makes it old skool.
Age 16 1992/3 I tried to get into the new wave of BMX's which were actually still quite primative ,apparently it never went away, but there was a surge. the bikes beefed up and got into a new vibe loads great products and tricks. and now ya got all new stuff and insannia tricks that are 5 times as awesome and impossible at they were 15yrs ago. arrgh i feel old (and undertalented)
TBH i don't take it all too seriously I just know what fits where as per perrys explanation.i would say it was still pretty dead upto about 93 when companies like standard and s&m made it into the anti fashion that came as a backlash to all the neon and flashyness of the 80s . upto then it was only the truly dedicated that kept riding regardless of the lack of any parts at all , let alone decent ones at the very start of the 90s after all the major media and sponsorship dropped it as a fad in the 80s .
it was due to the dedicated few pushing it on and often off that drew people who didnt want to conform to the mainstream into it as a lifestyle and it was very much about being an outcast through the middle of the 90s . with the added interest the small companys could maintain it as a side to typical cycling as it grew in popularity breeding better and better riders . subsequently equipment improved due to the added revenue but because the riders were very much doing it for themselves there was a mentality to overbuild the parts that broke . because there has been a steady influx of popularity its hard to determine where mid ended and new began whereas old to mid is a clear end of 80s popularity and start again once bikes began to get stronger due to rider imput
so if we estimate due to the bikes evolution its roughly when the people coming into it as they grew older at the start of the 2000s who never knew of the problems of component failure decided that a 40lb bike isnt too cool so would use lighter parts , giving companys a new outlet to manufacture better stuff as the demand for it grew . chainrings got smaller , parts more refined , seat tubes shorter
this is of course considering bmx as a closed entity from the world which it isnt . people ride bikes and people are influenced by the changing world around them both socially and philosophically . for instance a rider today wouldnt look anything like the baggy clothed rider of the 90s or have the same views on the world around them
it was due to the dedicated few pushing it on and often off that drew people who didnt want to conform to the mainstream into it as a lifestyle and it was very much about being an outcast through the middle of the 90s . with the added interest the small companys could maintain it as a side to typical cycling as it grew in popularity breeding better and better riders . subsequently equipment improved due to the added revenue but because the riders were very much doing it for themselves there was a mentality to overbuild the parts that broke . because there has been a steady influx of popularity its hard to determine where mid ended and new began whereas old to mid is a clear end of 80s popularity and start again once bikes began to get stronger due to rider imput
so if we estimate due to the bikes evolution its roughly when the people coming into it as they grew older at the start of the 2000s who never knew of the problems of component failure decided that a 40lb bike isnt too cool so would use lighter parts , giving companys a new outlet to manufacture better stuff as the demand for it grew . chainrings got smaller , parts more refined , seat tubes shorter
this is of course considering bmx as a closed entity from the world which it isnt . people ride bikes and people are influenced by the changing world around them both socially and philosophically . for instance a rider today wouldnt look anything like the baggy clothed rider of the 90s or have the same views on the world around them
reanimation
Retrobike Rider
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Wow, Good answer chap!
Still got my baggies, dangerous to walk in!
Well the back shop owner (The Hair Team) in Hebden bridge told us BMX was 'coming back', that must have been about 92, at the time it seemed hard to believe, I was thinking "well I'm not sure if to believe him, but I sure hope they do" being a bit of a retro fan even age 14/15 whatever I was. Not long after that 'Cycle Gear' in Halifax Had a disjoined window of the shop devoted to some BMX's, GT's and Dyno's and Redline possibly Mongoose or similar. It was all a bit 'Waynes World'! They were very 80's looking really skinny classic double diamond frames or platform freestyler type with Gyro, calliper brakes, skinny tubes and seatposts, chrome, and some had 90's textured paint jobs. My mate and I had been through a couple old skool BMX's during our MTBing, nowt special, I had an Ammaco freestyler, but when cash flow allowed it 93 We bought a new redline and a dyno, entry level clunkers.
It was easy to bend axles and skinny dropouts so I remember these getting customised and gussets being chucked in and stuff as Perry mentions. My mate got a beefed up GT from a specialist shop pre modded. It was a beast. The leading companies were building these features in IIRC and upto like 2000 (i was out of it by then) beefy and heavy was the way, the bikes seemed to get simpler and less brakes! Its really surprised me with recent research. It is about lower weight again, with the tricks these guys are busting out these days it makes sense that they need a no nonsense performance bike like other atheletes.
Still got my baggies, dangerous to walk in!
Well the back shop owner (The Hair Team) in Hebden bridge told us BMX was 'coming back', that must have been about 92, at the time it seemed hard to believe, I was thinking "well I'm not sure if to believe him, but I sure hope they do" being a bit of a retro fan even age 14/15 whatever I was.
Not long after that 'Cycle Gear' in Halifax Had a disjoined window of the shop devoted to some BMX's, GT's and Dyno's and Redline possibly Mongoose or similar. It was all a bit 'Waynes World'! They were very 80's looking really skinny classic double diamond frames or platform freestyler type with Gyro, calliper brakes, skinny tubes and seatposts, chrome, and some had 90's textured paint jobs. My mate and I had been through a couple old skool BMX's during our MTBing, nowt special, I had an Ammaco freestyler, but when cash flow allowed it 93 We bought a new redline and a dyno, entry level clunkers. It was easy to bend axles and skinny dropouts so I remember these getting customised and gussets being chucked in and stuff as Perry mentions. My mate got a beefed up GT from a specialist shop pre modded. It was a beast. The leading companies were building these features in IIRC and upto like 2000 (i was out of it by then) beefy and heavy was the way, the bikes seemed to get simpler and less brakes! Its really surprised me with recent research. It is about lower weight again, with the tricks these guys are busting out these days it makes sense that they need a no nonsense performance bike like other atheletes.
yeah . it was tough back then . if a tube got a dent the rider would seek out a frame with thicker tubing . if a dropout bent , go thicker . flared headtube , go thicker
i remember the 2hip pork a mate had weighed in at 10lbs , it had a 5mm thick headtube and the downtube pierced it so cracks were impossible . his dropout was looking worse for wear from grinding so we put the frame in a vice to bend it back but the both of us together couldnt make it budge . broke the vice in the end
i remember the 2hip pork a mate had weighed in at 10lbs , it had a 5mm thick headtube and the downtube pierced it so cracks were impossible . his dropout was looking worse for wear from grinding so we put the frame in a vice to bend it back but the both of us together couldnt make it budge . broke the vice in the end
Neil G
Old School Grand Master
perry":39hwuv13 said:yeah . it was tough back then . if a tube got a dent the rider would seek out a frame with thicker tubing . if a dropout bent , go thicker . flared headtube , go thicker
i remember the 2hip pork a mate had weighed in at 10lbs , it had a 5mm thick headtube and the downtube pierced it so cracks were impossible . his dropout was looking worse for wear from grinding so we put the frame in a vice to bend it back but the both of us together couldnt make it budge . broke the vice in the end
lol 2hips were f**king tanks weren't they....along with the S&M Warpig of course!
For me 'old school' is probably anything up to the early 90s, then mid up to 2000 when things started getting light, 80s trends/colours started being brought back again and riders started wearing women's jeans!
