Vintage BMX Show

[2wheel_lee]

This last Saturday, I decided to go hang out at the vintagebmx.com show at El Dorado park In Long Beach. I was amazed at how many people and bikes were there on display. I overheard a conversation between the person who put it on and the authorities, and they had a permit for about 300 people, but over 600 people showed up!

A lot of famous old-school BMXers were there and signing autographs, and there were a lot of old parts and bikes available for sale.

I wish I could have taken more pictures - especially of the 1937 all-aluminum beach cruiser - but my camera battery died.

You'd be amazed at what some of these bikes are valued at. A good friend of mine from back in the day was displaying his recently built Nomura cruiser (shown below). He bought the frame in essentially junk form for $500. The frame had been hacked up with derailleur cable guides welded on, the rear dropouts hacked up, and a crack around the seatpost area. He spent another $500 just having the frame restored. He says that he could easily get $5k for the bike. WOW!!!

This could be an inspiration of where vintage mountain bike shows could go.

[Justin]

i SOOO wish i knew about this. brings back SOOO many good memories. I need to go to the Y this weekend

[Jordansrealm]

memories...

[2wheel_lee]

I got a chance to throw a leg over this dual steering bike. Quite a wild ride! No DH on that for me!

I sure miss my old Webco.

[TrojanInsomniac]

are those two redlines RL-20's......the freestyle bike? I wish my parents wouldn't had given all my BMX bikes away.....think they threw away a couple of sets of Skyway Mags too

Whoa.........that gold Hutch (Trickstar?) looks sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[2wheel_lee]

Yes, those two RL20s are the freestyle bikes.

That gold Trick Star was a rebuild of Woody Itson's bike shown on the cover of June 1986 BMX Action (the same one that I'm in). Woody practically gave this bike away back in the day.

[2wheel_lee]

I had a VDC 16" pit bike (a baby version of the VDC shown below with the black Skyway mags). I just recently found out that there were only 25 of them made. That complete bike would be valued at over $4000. Sick! I have no idea where that thing went! DAMN!

[TrojanInsomniac]

Lee - thanks for posting the pics! Seeing those pics makes me want to go and look for a PK Riper! At the time, I was too poor and had to settle for a Huffy Thunder w. the cheap gold finish that chipped off the bars.

[Marshall Willanholly]

Thanks for all the pics, Lee. I wish I could have attended. All those old bikes bring back some good memories. I love seeing the Stroker II. I had a yellow one that was my first BMX bike.

[COLEKO]

Originally Posted by TrojanInsomniac

Lee - thanks for posting the pics! Seeing those pics makes me want to go and look for a PK Riper! At the time, I was too poor and had to settle for a Huffy Thunder w. the cheap gold finish that chipped off the bars.

SE still makes the Ripper if you want a new one.
http://www.sebikes.com/2008/bike-detail.asp?id=26

[Fired Yo Momma]

Real coool Lee I wish you would have posted this up I would have been all over it!!! Wow really seeing that gold trickster and that Redline RL some thonhg brings back some old memories. I remember that Redline was the best money could an every kid wanted it. Seeing those Redline cranks and Peregrine wheels were the shiat back in the day. Who was that doing the reverse bar stand and the surfer in the pictures? Oh and another thing remebering those Motomags were so dang heavy. Real cool Lee

[ODB]

Who wants to go halvesies on that sidehack? It would be awesome on the Loop.

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by TrojanInsomniac

Lee - thanks for posting the pics! Seeing those pics makes me want to go and look for a PK Riper! At the time, I was too poor and had to settle for a Huffy Thunder w. the cheap gold finish that chipped off the bars.

As mentioned above, you can get a new version of the PK. They're pretty nice. An old loop-tail PK in good condition will often fetch $2k for the frame alone.

Originally Posted by Marshall Willanholly

Thanks for all the pics, Lee. I wish I could have attended. All those old bikes bring back some good memories. I love seeing the Stroker II. I had a yellow one that was my first BMX bike.

The Stroker shown is actually a cruiser! I think back in the day, they only made them in 20" models. That Stroker II is a true custom, I think.

Originally Posted by ODB

Who wants to go halvesies on that sidehack? It would be awesome on the Loop.

That side hack shown (actually a 24) won best side hack. If I recall correctly, that was the first one of those made. BTW, there are a number of "hack" vendors out there these days. They've also recently been racing them at some events. Those guys are nuts.

Originally Posted by Fired Yo Momma

Real coool Lee I wish you would have posted this up I would have been all over it!!! Wow really seeing that gold trickster and that Redline RL some thonhg brings back some old memories. I remember that Redline was the best money could an every kid wanted it. Seeing those Redline cranks and Peregrine wheels were the shiat back in the day. Who was that doing the reverse bar stand and the surfer in the pictures? Oh and another thing remebering those Motomags were so dang heavy. Real cool Lee

I don't know who the guy was who was standing backwards on the bars, but the guy standing forward is Eddie Fiola. Eddie is also the one bunnyhopping Rick, from Rick's Bicycles from BITD, and Scot Breithaupt, who originally founded SE Racing, and often considered the father of BMX racing.

Sorry that I didn't initially post the event. I forgot about it until Friday night.

[Fired Yo Momma]

Eddie Fiola = the King of Vert!!!!! I grew up with posters in my room of that dood.

Hey did you see any CWs their?

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by Fired Yo Momma

Hey did you see any CWs their?

There were several CW Phaze 1 bikes there. I didn't get any photos, because my camera was already dead. There were also some very nice Cook Bros cruisers...so much stuff....the pictures I took barely cover all the cool stuff there.