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forum
BMX
Leeroy Silk made a comment on another thread and asked how many riders on this website ride BMX. I do, so does he and so does Matt Eaton but we're curious how many others do. All three of us do BMX racing and me and Leeroy will be competing at the British BMX Championships next weekend. I ride at the skatepark a bit and so does Matt (Leeroy didn't say) but racing is my main focus.
There is a strong crossover between BMX and MTB riding as well as CX, but MTB in particular and a lot of BMX racers I know also do MTB riding, downhill particularly. Some of us BMXers ride on the road (where I started all those years ago) and at the velodrome too as both can help endurance, while BMX gives riders the sort of explosive power needed for quick starts.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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64 comments
Thanks for the info guys. Like I said earlier it's really just a toe in the water/muck around toy (for now anyhow!)
Great to hear it - I started with a muckabout toy BMX and it sort of went from there
Actually Quillan came 2nd in elite men at the Brits. I said 3rd but that was wrong.
Training tomorrow morning so I'll maybe ride the 20" for a change.
that dyno is a 1995-1998 one
the 1in headset and canti brake not v brake give it away
top of the range bmx's in 94/95 start to appear with 1&1/8th headsets and v brakes
lower end brands carried on using 1in headsets and canti brakes for a few years after this
a quick search and it seems they were made from 96 to 97
http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/dyno/?model=1778
Hard to tell what size of frame that is - I've ridden my son's 20.6 but it's a bit small for an adult. For you it should really be an 21.5 or 22.5. But having spare wheels is a plus. The road tyres will be good for skatepark riding. Note that a lot of tracks have tarmac berms these days too. You can remove the front brake as you don't need that. If you want to check gear ratios, 44:16 is a pretty common choice while a 1 3/4 tyre at the rear and a slightly fatter 2.2 at the front is another popular layout. It's a good place to start for not much outlay.
tyres are as you stated already (skinny rear) but could do with replacing once I've had a play..
not sure how the top tube is measured on bmx's but front of headstock to rear of seat post (along the tube) is ~21"
The top tube is measured from the centre of the heat tube to centre of the seat tube. For £25 you can't go wrong! If it does start feeling a little small you should have hopefully caught the bug and won't feel too stressed about investing in something bigger.
One quick thing to consider, BMX's look tiny compared to other bikes and feel tiny when you sit on them, by all account you shouldn't be able to sit and pedal, having said that when you stand up you shouldn't feel as though your knees are gonna smash your stem when you pedal. Put a BMX next to a mountain bike and you'll notice the bars and cranks are about the same height.
Size wise, I'm 5:10 and have two 21" top tube bikes. For racing I should have a 21.5" but I prefer being slightly compact.
Hope you have a blast!
It might be a 20 1/2 as you measure from the centre of the headstock to the centre of the seat tube. But as a starter bike it's a bargain and the parts will be useful and possibly transferable if you come across a bigger frame. Wide bars are good on a 20" and my S&M slam bars are 30" wide.
I was curious so I did a quick google search. Dyno BMXs were made by an independent CA brand in the 80s but the firm sold out to GT, which continued selling the bikes as a budget priced range. The GT brand then itself became part of Pacific Cycle and the Dyno brand disappeared in 2004. This looks like a later frame as the early ones had a pretty distinctive layout, though I've no idea when it's from. Most likely it's a 90s vintage bike.
Those multi spoke wheels and tyres look good for the skatepark but not so hot for racing.
For the money it's an ideal starter bike and would also probably suit a child aged from about 11-14.
How much did you get that for?
I think you may have got a bargain.
£25 for the bike and then £5 for the spare wheels (spares were spray painted black by the previous owner for that stealth look...)
I figured for that price it was worth a punt although it needs a bit of a strip and clean. Bars are a bit rusty so clearly not ally bars!
The bars are decently wide though.
as n+1 purchases go I'm pretty chuffed at the moment.
Well I stopped at a local bike recycler and got my first bmx for ~25 years...
A bit of a doer upper but I'm chuffed!
(No idea what it really is but its an ally frame and I got a spare set of wheels so I could have the road tyres off them as well)
Thanks for the pointers and I will see how I get on with this and then look further..
new_singlespeed.jpg
Well, turning 45 next week, and still ride BMX when I can. Wouldn't be surprised if I knew most of the Flatlanders you saw, OldRidgeBack. Flatlanders have been the nicest folks I've ridden with in BMX. I've ridden in competition and used to write for an international Flatland site... Ride until you can't, I say!
They came from Norfolk - can't remember now if it was Norwich or Ipswich - one of the wiches anyway.
I wasn't riding that day as we had a lot of newbie riders trying out BMXs on the temporary pump track and me and the coach were getting the kids on bikes and sorting them out with club kit. I did talk with some of the flatlanders while we were sheltering from the rain under our gazebo.
As a man approaching 30 I have decided for my midlife crisis I will take up BMXing, I am looking to form a old man bmx gang with my friend
Ride in 30-39 cruiser and you'll find a lot of like-minded individuals
Mid life crisis! You're not thirty yet. A true mid life crisis means ditching the Mrs. when you turn 50, buying a speed boat and finding a 20yo dial-a-bride.
If this is a mid life crisis you're going through at least aim higher than BMX!
Welcome back to the fold.
It's weird, I woudn't bat an eyelid at a 67-year-old on a road, track or mountain bike, but an OAP on a BMX just sounds strange!
Then I again, I used to train with a guy that took his black belt in kung fu at 73 - he was good too! RIP Mr O.
Leeroy - dunno how the Brits went for you but I think I could've done better. I was terrible in my first moto, tho I was better in the 2nd and 3rd, with the 2nd being particularly good. I was chasing a mate of mine who's normally a lot quicker and I was catching up - if we'd had a 5th straight I think I could've got past!
Two of the guys racing cruiser were in their 60s, one 66 year old from Bradford and a 67 year od from East Anglia!
Mine were a total non starter! I got caught up in constant stop start traffic most of the way down meaning I missed practise and the motos! Kind of pathetic really...
Still the racing looked good, not sure about the first berm exit mind you
What's next on your calendar? We have Midland Club Champs in Sept, then it'll be winter sessions at anywhere inside; Manchester indoor, Creation, Corby etc unless we get some rare dry days.
Sorry to hear that - dunno if you saw the 20" finals but I heard they were good - one of the lads I know (Quillan Isidore) came 3rd in the elite men which was pretty good going I reckon. That comes after another (Tre White) came 3rd in the worlds a few weeks back. That's two world class, champion riders from council estates in S London.
Next on my calendar is the South Champs at the end of Sept at the Mitcham track. I hope to race there but I might have to marshall instead.
I hear what you say about the first berm exit. I tried to do a high low in practice and the best I managed was the middle of the main track. If you're not careful you do ride up the beginning of the pro section. I'm not a fan of that first jump and I've seen a lot of crashes there, some of which have ended in injury. The 3rd straight is tricky but I rather like it.
I actually had Quillan down for the win. Localish track which at Cyclopark is a massive help, plus he's definitely quick enough.
Which area are you from? I'm assuming Peckham...
I ride for Brixton not Peckham, but since we're so close I know a lot of the people there and I know both the old track and the new Burgess Park track very well. I've spoken to Quillan and Tre (and their brothers) over the years though I can't say I know them well. I know Tre's dad, Nigel, who is assistant coach at Peckham quite well and the head coach, CK, is a mate.
Quillan and Tre are both very talented - don't know if you've seen the documentary film 1 Way Up about them yet but it's worth watching out for. It was screened in full on MTV a few weeks back and will be again. When I find out the date, I'll let you know.
I'm about the same height as you and my 20" is a 21 1/2 as well, though I've ridden 22 1/2 frames belonging to various people I know as well and I do wonder if I should've had one of those instead. Since the cruiser's my main BMX, it's not so important though. I did think about entering vets on the 20" this year as you can if you've qualified in cruiser but those guys are fast and my son wasn't competing this year so I hadn't intended to be there on the Sunday - next year maybe.
Morgan - We had some flatlanders down to do a demo here in S London a few weeks back, while we had a small portable pump track alongside borrowed from BC. Interesting watching them - seemed like a good crowd too.
My 20" has S&M slam bars while both my cruiser and my son's 20" have S&M forks - good quality kit and super strong.
Chucking in my two pennies worth... Ride everything. It makes you a better rider all round, and you can switch disciplines if you get burnt out on one, and it's fun! I ride Flatland BMX (which is great for balance and confidence), with a little bit of park and street for good measure. I love racing in all forms, and have raced BMX and CX MTBs. I went out today and did our local SkyRide on my single speed roadie (with lots of BMX bits on it), and was comfortably out riding geared roadies and MTBs.
If I could afford it, I'd ride everything and have the bike to match! Great thread!
Great collection Kev - love those wheels. There were a few retro BMXs being ridden round the paddock at the Brits today, a nice Burner, Skyway and an old Haro that I remember but can't recall the others.
My 20 is late 90s, a GT Speed series, one of the last with a frame made in CA.
cheers
thats no tiger tooth chainring though
they are so rare, me and some friends have been looking for one for years with no luck
its actually a gt buzzsaw fitted backwards
thats my local park, southsea skatepark
Ah, I can see fives holes now, not four. I ordered a 45T Tigertooth ring from Dans comp years ago. Pretty disappointed when instead of receiving a four hole polished ring I got a lathe cut milled three hole ring. Still Tigertooth but not what I wanted
ive been a bmx'er for 20+ years and class myself as a bmx'er who also rides roadbikes rather than a roadie who rides bmx
im mainly a park rider though, never really been into the racing side of bmx
i currently have 8 bmx's in my collection, all are early to mid 90's (my era) plus my new school park bike
my fave brand is S&M Bikes
Kev-s. That's some collection of Chrome you have there! Loving the Challenger, especially with Tigertooth chainwheel, I was after one of them for the longest time back in the 90's.
Which skatepark is that? Can't beat the feeling of a good 'realie'.
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