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What does BMX signify to you?

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Gnarlyscoots:
I have searched for a similar thread and have come up with none so sorry if it has been done before  :-[

I have been asked recently by a few people 'why am I moving toward Mid school bikes?' so thought I would start this thread to explain what BMX means to me and find out how other members feel too.

BMX to me is all about the memories and how it makes me feel when I ride one. Just looking through the parts on other members builds and what I have on mine, brings memories of mates long gone, and sadly past, and how we used to hang out and ride back when BMX was the biggest thing to happen in our childhoods. I love my remaining old school builds and have acquired the main bike I had as a kid, replica sadly, the one I longed after for so many years, and have put together a few that have taken my fancy that I know would have back then too.

For me though, old school has reached a point where I no longer enjoy building them, for many reasons, money not being one, and these are a few of them.

I have found over the past few years of being on here and other sites that the parts availability is getting scarce due to people holding onto these parts they would have easily given up, as they knew if they needed it again, it would be easy to come by. Massive price hikes in parts, I feel, have made people hold onto to these items too, along with scarcity. I don't blame them. I wouldn't want to sell, say, an MX900 caliper that I bought 4 years ago for £10, as buying one now will cost you on average of £65 - £85. Good for the seller but not so good for the buyer.

As parts become harder to source and people want 'the best' items on their bikes, they have become nasty and even bitter towards others to get that said item, even going behind closed doors offering more money to attain it. Is this BMX, really  ???  Too many 'live off the profits of old school BMX' people are now in the hobby. Many have seen certain members on here come and go due to this process with them being reluctant to even shift on their selling prices, to maximise profit. They would rather hold the stock  :uglystupid2: 

I was recently duped by a member on here into buying something that was completely useless but he felt was perfectly fit for use. Not once has he offered to refund my money and accept the items back and still, to this day, denies doing anything wrong even though he failed to disclose the issue with the said items, that he would have known about them. As a side note in reference to this seller, look out for re-chromed Hutch headlock and Redline flights being sold as minty or NOS on Ebay guys  :daumenhoch:

So, taking all this on board, I have decided that building any 'new' old school builds is not really the avenue I want to pursue anymore. This takes me onto Mid school. A different ball game all together. There is no fighting over parts, no bitchiness as to who should have this or that and parts are still quite readily available.

Now, I'm not moving into Mid school, just putting together a frame I really liked the look off that I picked up for the grand sum of £60 shipped from the US  :coolsmiley:  Like many of you, I guess, I thought Mid school was about heavy, cumbersome beasts that were built to withstand a nuclear blast but, well, they are clearly not as this Kastan is really light and beautiful to look at. I didn't want to stay in the comfort zone of 'old meets mid' like many with their Haro Bashguard builds etc, so opted for a Mid 90's build and, to be really honest with you, I am thoroughly enjoying reading, researching and learning about this era, with some great members on here willing to guide me in the right direction  :4_17_5:

So, basically, I will continue to ride and update my Old school collection with different parts but without the hassle that goes with building a complete.

Thanks for your time reading this and please add your feelings on the subject,

Terry  :)

crazycraig:
For me it's transport for kids . No more no less

griff:
Terry if someone has burned you and it's unresolved put it in the messer's thread

I love the look of that Kastan and think it will turn into a fine bike - pity, those kastan bars I picked up at MK12 would have looked a treat on it if I hadn't swapped them already for some NS ones

fischflo:
Traitor!  :LolLolLolLol:

Nah, as much as you love the building, it's probably the smartest thing you can do, especially as the bikes you're about to build will, in a way, be considered "OS", too, in future. ;)
->http://www.radbmx.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,167111.msg1677035.html#msg1677035

oldschoolace:
I think you are probably echoing the thoughts of many on here Terry. I for one got back into it initially for the nostalgia and feeling i used to get as a kid. The sad part of it is the more you immerse yourself in the hobby the weaker that feeling becomes as you get caught up in bidding wars, slagging matches and my personal bug bear - over restoration.

I was watching the Tom Hanks film Big the other day and he was bombing round on a bmx with his mate enjoying the first whiff of freedom as a kid. Every time they stopped the bikes were dropped unceremoniously in a heap just as we all did bitd. Sounds daft but i quite like that and its one of the reasons my decade will never get the full resto treatment. I want that feeling when i ride  :daumenhoch:

I think low end and survivors is the direction i am destined for, at least for the short term. I never saw the likes of vectors and vdc's bitd and i have no emotional connection to them. Burners, grifters and catalogue specials were all we had and thats where the memories lie   :daumenhoch:

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