Champion BMX Cruiser Converted to MTB
- Thread starter Ductape
- Start date
Ductape":1bwd6utf said:
A chrome Champion, posted recently on Vintage BMX:
http://www.vintagebmx.com/community/index.php?showtopic=27049123
(The Champion is quite "mild" - The guy's other projects on VBMX include a series of 5 custom 26 Mongoose repro frames. The latest one he posted includes one-off 26-inch Motomag repros, CNC'd from solid billet! :shock: :shock
I have been fortunate enough to communicate with the original owner and although I had heard many rumors about this specific frame, I was never able to confirm them. Now I can and to say the least, The provenance that comes with this bike is pretty cool. A while back I was frustrated with the project and ready to purge. I am glad I didn't:
Decals, skidplate and light, then I think I am done. Hmmm. one maybe two more years. Needless to say, it's been ridden.
Decals, skidplate and light, then I think I am done. Hmmm. one maybe two more years. Needless to say, it's been ridden.
A few pics of the bike and original owner from the late 70's early 80's. Self portraits, notice how the bike evolves from a BMX Cruiser and gets converted to a Mtn bike with drum brakes and gears:
So the original owner just happens to be Dean Bradley. Photojournalist and Editor for a few relevant magazines back in the day.
If you wonder what he wrote about, this is from CK's website:
Dean Bradley reviewed the Ritchey bike in BMX Plus! (spelling the name wrong consistently), and we took an ad in that issue, February 1980, our first advertising. In the ad, we just called ourselves Mountain Bikes.
This article from a 1981 issue of Action Now, also by Dean Bradley, comes right out and says that there was only one "mountain bike."
http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbikes_company.htm
I won't ramble on too much more but it is pretty cool to confirm with DB this is the same frame.The frame modifications give it away. Dean did share the braze ons were put on by his friend Richard Cunningham who was starting up his company Mantis at the time ( I can't make this stuff up. ) I actually am still putting together a bit of a list of questions for Dean. Don't really want to bother him too much, but he was pretty receptive to talking about the bike so far. And I hope he doesn't mind me pilfering his pictures of the bike from the internet.
Ok, one more self portrait from DB. It doesn't have the Champion in it, but it is just so fkn cool.
Before there was GoPro:
So the original owner just happens to be Dean Bradley. Photojournalist and Editor for a few relevant magazines back in the day.
If you wonder what he wrote about, this is from CK's website:
Dean Bradley reviewed the Ritchey bike in BMX Plus! (spelling the name wrong consistently), and we took an ad in that issue, February 1980, our first advertising. In the ad, we just called ourselves Mountain Bikes.
This article from a 1981 issue of Action Now, also by Dean Bradley, comes right out and says that there was only one "mountain bike."
http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbikes_company.htm
I won't ramble on too much more but it is pretty cool to confirm with DB this is the same frame.The frame modifications give it away. Dean did share the braze ons were put on by his friend Richard Cunningham who was starting up his company Mantis at the time ( I can't make this stuff up. ) I actually am still putting together a bit of a list of questions for Dean. Don't really want to bother him too much, but he was pretty receptive to talking about the bike so far. And I hope he doesn't mind me pilfering his pictures of the bike from the internet.
Ok, one more self portrait from DB. It doesn't have the Champion in it, but it is just so fkn cool.
Before there was GoPro:
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great story and a great bike!
Just want to jump on it and ride it...
Just want to jump on it and ride it...
redfern1950s
Retro Guru
Thias":1yoayf0z said:
+1 brilliant.
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