[nycet3]

I have wanted to own a Powerlite ever since I saw them back in 1979 when I got into racing. Owned Redlines back then, but this is now.
Picked this up tonight. All original finish and decals. Believe it's an '82.
Going to start collecting parts for it.

[bennyt4130]

Nice, Joe! I can see a very cool bike coming from that F&F.

[S.Brothers]

nice, this should be good...

[Larock]

Great bike Joe! I love early Powerlites!

[wagonguy]

[big fire]

that is going to be nice.. have fun wit it joe

[Myke]

Great shape!! Nice find!

[COASTY]

Very cool Joe. I like them a lot too. Should be great.

[chromey]

This is gonna be a great project.
Can't wait to see how you build it up Joe.

[todzilla]

Love the bike shop decal.

[Dirty]

Great start to the next project...Post pics along the way.

[lboorse2]

That head tube logo is iconic in my book. Can't wait to watch this one progress.

[getset]

I've always liked these early Powerlite frames as they remind me of the first BMX bike I built up from a frame and fork circa 1979. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product you come up with.

[Contender]

That is cool. Dig the font on the headtube stickie. Those letters have a bit more bubble to them.

Right after this, just about everybody including Powerlite went no gusset like GT and Redline.

Looking forward to see how it turns out.

[Brian Hays]

Daddy likey

[nycet3]

I too dig the Powerlite graphics. Remember the wheels 'n' things ad with the white Powerlite, the redline and the black Powerlite (Thrasher, I think). Looked at that ad for countless hours.

[Contender]

Yep, that is Howie doing his thing. Selling them with Tuffs, and the like. The chrome era was just about to take off. I am really dig that Powerlite look, thought it was really cool back then. Trivia, VDC jerseys look a lot like Powerlites because VDC made stuff for Powerlite, and Steve Rink and Voris were buddies. They both went with checkered sleeves. Hey it was the 80s, checkers were cool....

[nycet3]

That's such a cool jersey. I did not know of the vdc connection to Powerlite until right afterI bought this frame and did some recon.
Thanks for posting.

[Richard Vogt - bmxmountainbiker]

That thing looks so much like an early 1980s Torker I raced... the major difference being the single top tube. Did Steve Johnson make these early 1980s Powerlite frames or did someone like Voris make them?

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

P.S. A little visit to the University of BMX gave me half the answer: Steve Rink and Steve Johnson had parted ways by the early 1980s and, although the bikes looked very similar (gussets, dropouts, forks and geometry) they weren't made by the same people... Rink was even quoted in Planet X's research paper as saying that Torker used 1" fork legs while Powerlite used 7/8" fork legs.

[Contender]

That part (VDC frame production) I do not know. Speculation, no. I know VDC did fart around with the bars, and had a hand in the CW bar, which snuck out of Powerlite. (I am being vague about the CW bar on purpose.) There is a connection between Powerlite and Torker as both owners were friends. I think Red Baron's twin top tube Peddlepower went over to Torker, and MAX was Powerlite's clothing deal till Torker went out.

.02 and I am really a Nor-Cal guy and not did not know everything happening down south. Some of this stuff I had to piece together, a little bit is from memory.

How the Powerlite logo ended up front and rear on my jerseys is a funny story.

I had a Co sponsor bike shop printed on the rear, and pissed off Steve Rink.

He took care of that, and had my new jerseys printed front and back, as well as Brackens'.

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