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Are you a BMX Bandit? (Now with poll)

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 3:54 pm
by Gemini73
I got chatting to a few drinking buddies the other night at my my local about BMX bikes. What prompted the conversation was one had on a blue and yellow Raleigh Burner T-shirt. On asking about it, it turns out he and a few friends/colleagues are part of an unofficial BMX club, one where they hunt down and re-build/do up old school BMX bikes. He showed me a couple of pics of his Raleigh Burner Mk 2 and an original Skyway his friend owns. As someone who used to own a Raleigh Tuff Burner, (Skyway Wheels), and who was a pretty good BMXer right up until I was around 24 years old (my last bike was a Felt Hypnotic street) I found myself quite liking the idea of joining in this bit of harmless nostalgia.

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What better way of having a mid-life crises than getting my hands on that 80's Mongoose BMX I always wanted and reliving my youth with like minded folk. Certainly got to be a lot better than chasing after skirt half my age! :lol:

So was BMX ever a thing in you life?

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 4:10 pm
by OrangeRKN
No I had a proper bike

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 4:14 pm
by Hexx
OrangeRakoon wrote:No I had a proper bike


Not a nice thing to call your wife.

Edit Oh gooseberry fool that was OR, not Erk (same colour name). Not sure I know him well enough to tease...Sorry!

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 4:17 pm
by NickSCFC
Whatever happened to Raleigh, never see them anymore.

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 4:19 pm
by Gemini73
OrangeRakoon wrote:No I had a proper bike


So you were that kid on your street who's parents would only buy you a "sensible" bike. ;)

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 4:21 pm
by OrangeRKN
Related to the topic, I caught this on world service the other night and it was an interesting listen: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswky4

I haven't watched the film but I would quite like to check it out: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6102104/

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 4:24 pm
by Hexx
Red and White BMX.
I was terrible at it and couldn't do any tricks :(

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 4:27 pm
by 7256930752
NickSCFC wrote:Whatever happened to Raleigh, never see them anymore.

Everyone who rides bike decided they need to spend thousands on replica Tour de France gear.

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 5:20 pm
by Ironhide
NickSCFC wrote:Whatever happened to Raleigh, never see them anymore.


I had one when I was 8, it was one of those with the faux motorcross styling that were popular in the 80's, it had a little LCD speedometer too, which I thought was the coolest thing in the world.

I wish I was still as easily impressed.

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 5:22 pm
by Tsunade
I had a yellow BMX given to me when I was 10 or 11, it had red tires and I'd constantly try to skid it because I liked the marks it left behind.

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 5:31 pm
by Return_of_the_STAR
As i was born in 1982 my first bike was a BMX as that was all the rage, then throughout the 90s the cool kids have mountain bikes so i only ever had mountain bikes after that. What i have noticed over the years was that throughout the 00s BMXs came back into fashion and seemed to be the bike of choice for kids again however over the last few years it appears to have swung heavily back to mountain bikes again.

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 5:42 pm
by Alvin Flummux
I am not, and have never been, the BMX Bandit.

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 6:09 pm
by Ste
Hell yes.

When I was a kid there was a really good BMX course in the nearby park.

I used to spend a lot of time there when I should have been in school!

It eventually got knocked down after older kids starting making bonfires in between the jumps!

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 6:15 pm
by Death's Head
I used to have a Raleigh Commando. Raleigh did 3 bikes that were kind of BMXish at this time, the Boxer (smallest, no gears) The Commando and the Grifter (both with 3 gears and the Grifter being larger). This was the closest I got to a BMX (not sure if these bikes came out before BMX or they were inspired by BMX bikes in the US, I had mine around 1978/79).

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Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 6:30 pm
by Gemini73
I'd like one of these. A Diamondback.

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Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 7:00 pm
by Vermilion
I think i must have been the only kid in school who didn't even have a bike.

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 7:56 pm
by Jenuall
I was going to make a joke about Dave Mirra but just spotted that he commited suicide back in 2016 :shock:

I never owned one but my friend Ian did back when we were in school around 92 - I was well jealous. One time I borrowed it from him and for some reason decided it would be a good idea to spray paint the handlebars a different colour. Not surprisingly he noticed and so cue his dad turning up at our house that night to complain. :dread:

My dad sprayed it back the right colour but he was strawberry floating furious with me! Probably the worst thing I'd done in my little life up to that point! :shifty:

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 8:01 pm
by Lotus
Jenuall wrote:I was going to make a joke about Dave Mirra but just spotted that he commited suicide back in 2016 :shock:

Don't worry, jokes like that are fine - just don't joke about housing.

I had a red BMX as my first bike I believe. :toot:

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 8:40 pm
by Rex Kramer
NickSCFC wrote:Whatever happened to Raleigh, never see them anymore.

They're still in Nottingham but they've massively scaled back their operations. Like most of the brand name bikes now, I think they just rebadge Chinese manufactured stuff.

Their old factory site is now the Nottingham University Jubilee campus.

I had an OG blue burner back in 84/85 and then spent all my pocket money on handle bars or brake upgrades.

Re: Do you or have you ever owned a BMX?

Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 8:55 pm
by Oblomov Boblomov
I was a skater. I didn't even speak to bladers, let alone BMXers :dread:.