[Jaf]

There it is in all it's mild steel glory. Straight out of the Sears 1979 wishbook. Coaster brake AND a caliper. So trick. I must have broken that gooseneck 15 times, drilling tapping and bolting it to (through) the bars to keep it from slipping, having my stepdad weld it lol.

Caught the SE bug when a weekender friend showed up from NJ with a spankin new PK in factory blue and we went riding at the local gravel pits. The contrast of those two bikes (I was allowed to take the PK for an abbreviated spin and few jumps)is still with me today. It weighed approximately 10% of the Free Spirit...

Soon, thanks to my aunt living in L.A., I was wearing a cotton SE jersey and leather ripper gloves while the bike was sporting brown/blue vinyl SE pads, PK Ripper decals, and a brushed on baby blue paintjob. Water-based paint from a can my mom had lying around. No SE dealers up in the stix and no grit in the bank to get one anyhow. But the seed had been planted.

Finally got a Redline Brute to replace the franken-stem and then, after saving up for a year, my MX-II F/F. So these parts mostly went onto the new F/F. I have no idea what happened to that old Sears bike but recently picked up this to clean up and pay tribute to the beginning...still has the coaster brake AND caliper.

[Brian Hays]

Dude. Me too. Sears Free Spirit FS500

[Jaf]

Haha, that's awesome Brian. And that 500 was pretty sweet too, you werent' welding or bolting that stem.

[Myke]

That's an awesome story!

[Spur]

<sub>Awesome, aside from the color, that was my first bmx bike. I think I received mine in 81. Mine was a burgandy/silver/orange combo had a rectangle plate with the number 606. I remember it had a skinny tire up front and a fat in the rear. I thought everyone else was wrong when they had the opposite! Mine didn't have the rear brake though.


I am gonna snag that catalog photo and print it off. Thanks for posting that!</sub>

[Brian Hays]

Ive actually got a complete FS500 now and a replica of mine (the one in my avatar) that Ive never shared with anyone. I need to get pics and scan the pics in the 81 Sears catalog I have and start a thread.

[Dirty]

My first "BMX" was an all flat black Royce Union...they thing weighed a ton!!! It had a cantilever style frame, weak ass forks with a big bolt on brace so they wouldn't bend, motocross style bars, knobby tires, and a banana seat! For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the bike or find pictures of it. I am dying to see a picture of it anywhere!!!

[Jaf]

Thanks guys. Hey Spur, was the bike on the left the one you had? Just found this in a 1980 wishbook, same bike for mine but the other one sounds just like yours. Funny story about the skinny/fat tires. hah

And Brian, here's your FS500 in red/white (bad azzz):

Post up those pics!

Dirty, do you remember where you got that bike?

[Dirty]

I want to say that my parents got it from Gemco. They originally bought a powder blue bike with ape hangar bars, and a fake denim banana seat...they could see the look of disappointment on my face when I woke up on Christmas morning!! haha We took it back and that was the most "bmx" bike they had so that is what I chose. My parents were not about to drop the scratch for a Mongoose, Redline, etc...They just didn't have it.

[Jaf]

Gemco, have to do some research into where they got their bikes. Was that a chain?

And yeah I hear you about the scratch. Even the $103 for that FS was about 3x what my dad was used to paying for a bike for me.

[Brian Hays]

Yes Sir!!!! That is it.

[Dirty]

I'm pretty sure Gemco was a chain...I seem to remember a few of them around here in SoCal...

With regards to money for bikes...my parents had never bought a bike before that. The other one I had was given to me by someone down the street. It was a 16" bike with a fixed gear...no brakes! I guess I was a "hipster on a fixie" before they even existed! hahaha

[nycet3]

As you all probably know, those Free Spirits were made by Murray. My first bmx bike was the red one from the Sears ad, but mine was a Team Murray. I got it in the summer of 79. Actually raced it stock for one season. It barely held together. For Christmas of 1979 I got my first complete Redline. Felt unbelievably solid and compared to the Murray...because it was.

[larsvegas43]

I was just about to say that this is my first bike as well, but mine was a Murray pretty similar to that. I had to ask and beg for a year, when finally my aunt who was married to an American working for the US army in Germany bought me my first BMX at an army surplus for christmas '79. I was stoked but found out too soon that it really was not the super dope bike I thought I had. At least in Germany it was a rarity - no one had a Murray.

[The 26incher]

Gemco Ghetto super store! I had a Huffy Pro Thunder...

[2blader]

Jaf, on 04 April 2012 - 10:47 PM, said:

DSC_0310.JPG

There it is in all it's mild steel glory. Straight out of the Sears 1979 wishbook. Coaster brake AND a caliper. So trick. I must have broken that gooseneck 15 times, drilling tapping and bolting it to (through) the bars to keep it from slipping, having my stepdad weld it lol.

Caught the SE bug when a weekender friend showed up from NJ with a spankin new PK in factory blue and we went riding at the local gravel pits. The contrast of those two bikes (I was allowed to take the PK for an abbreviated spin and few jumps)is still with me today. It weighed approximately 10% of the Free Spirit...

Soon, thanks to my aunt living in L.A., I was wearing a cotton SE jersey and leather ripper gloves while the bike was sporting brown/blue vinyl SE pads, PK Ripper decals, and a brushed on baby blue paintjob. Water-based paint from a can my mom had lying around. No SE dealers up in the stix and no grit in the bank to get one anyhow. But the seed had been planted.

Finally got a Redline Brute to replace the franken-stem and then, after saving up for a year, my MX-II F/F. So these parts mostly went onto the new F/F. I have no idea what happened to that old Sears bike but recently picked up this to clean up and pay tribute to the beginning...still has the coaster brake AND caliper.

bikes_120_copy0_blowup.jpg

OMFG count me in on that as my 1st ummm bmx'er. That was until I got a 'goose.

[Jays24]

My 1st real bmx was a white 79' Goose I'm trying to recreate right now. Still looking for parts but I'll post it when I'm done.

[Spur]

Yes, but it had a paint scheme closer to the bike next to it but in the burgandy/silver/orange. I am so stoked to see these in a catalog. I have the bug to try and find one now. I had that bike for ever, it eventually got spray bombed silver and had a ton of red and checkered Team Cycle bits.

Great thread.

[TrulyOdd]

my first bmx bike was a panda mx 4 "shocker". before this was a schwinn hand-me-down.

[Contender]

I had Western Flyers from Western Auto.

We bent the heck out of them, and the stems were terrible.

Then I got A Rampar!

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