[S.Brothers]

What's your 5 year period of choice?

I am a fan of BMX culture. I find much of interest in all eras.

That said, my personal favorite is probably 1979 to 1984.

Those are my favorite bikes, that is the period that is imprinted deeply on my psyche.


Rampar, Mongoose, Diamond Back, Torker, Redline, Kuwahara,Schwinn Stings - These were the brands that you might see on the show room floor of the LBS or at the little pirate track and jumps we built in the vacant lot behind the Valley Federal bank... or even on the bike rack at the Jr. High or leaning (tempting fate) up against the wall of the arcade.

All those brands plus SE, GT, JMC entered the picture in some numbers and were added to the above brands when you went to the local ABA tracks. Didn't see them as completes at the bike shop, but the frame sets were there and people that were a little deeper into it and/or raced at the sanctioned track would have these. There were lots of other brands as well... but these were what I remember seeing in some numbers. BXC as well, because it was the big local bike shop and there were a lot of team riders around.


That was the heart of it for me.


I'm adding this photo, because I remember studying this shot. It takes me back to some very specific summer time moments when I was really beginning to go deep in BMX.



And this pic... it nails it:

[RL Paulie]

1983-87 for me. My junior high-high school years.
I still rode in 88-89, but I let my magazine subscriptions expire. Got my drivers license in 88 and that signaled then end... until the resurrection in 2003.

[Dirty]

I would say 81-86...those were the years I had my Diamond Back Silver Streak and Hutch Pro Racer...Up until I started driving in 86.

[RipVanWinkle]

Dig it all, but 72-77

[Brian Hays]

definitely 80-85 for me.

[lboorse2]

That's easy for me -- 82-87

From those first Silver/Black prism logo'd Diamondbacks to the heyday of freestyle. Just as bikes like Ozones and the 88 Generals were coming about, I started to stop paying much attention to the outside BMX world. I stopped my subscription to Plus! at the end of 87. I still rode very much probably until around 89 or 90, but for some reason, stopped reading the magazines and such. I was out before bash guards were in.

I wholly relate the downslide of BMX in the public conscious to my departure from BMX industry fandom.

[Richard Vogt - bmxmountainbiker]

1976-1981 (the Wonder Years) or 1984-1989 (racing nationals, running tracks and running state organizations) or 1994-1999 (racing nationals with Kovachi Wheels)... hmmmm. Tough choice. I'm glad I've been given the opportunity to make it!

1976-1981 would have to be it for me... the Wonder Years, for sure. BMX still smelled new!



Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

[Cycle24-7]

1976-1982 ARE MY GOLDEN YEARS..FYI

[Curt]

1976 to 1981.

[cwstnsko]

For me it's 1977 to 1982.

I grew up in Montana, so BMX didn't really take off until BMXA hit the newsstands.

By 1983 all the adults were bailing from supporting the track and we only kept it running because of the efforts of the older teenage racers.

[Mark Mc]

Yep, 76-81 or so.

I still remember the excitement of my friend's older brother getting a DG about 1977, and those 6.5" long cranks due to the extra clearance. The bright yellow tuff wheels, the cool finish of all the Ashtubula parts. Truly revolutionary times in bike design as we moved from Stingrays to true dirt bikes.

And then the coolness of Torker and twin top tubes, SE(RI) with aluminum frames, GJS with the new design on head tube gussets - all those things being done trying to build a better bike.

And a lot of excitement when a company actually started to make and deliver a BMX designed product. And then quick change sprockets on rear hubs (Shimano DX), quick release brakes (Shimano and DC) to help you get that wheel on and off quickly between motos.

No more trying to bend a brake lever with a pipe and heat. No more yanking the cranks to change gearing. So many things being introduced during that time.

[I am the owl...]

83-88 was when I was into it heaviest....

[sodbuster]

71 to 75. those were my years for BMX sting ray bliss. not racing but raising hell on every patch of dirt we could find until it got too dark or we got too tired, or just kicked the hell out! We once got kicked off the Dominguez park track in Redondo beach by (we later learned) OZ himself. That same summer we went to the first Yamaha gold cup qualifier at Birmingham high school. 1974 was the last year "The Sodbusters" rode together as a group. by 1975 we had all moved on to other things. three years later in 1977 we reformed as W.A.R.T. (Weez Alright Racing Team.) to take on the SoCal deserts in a class 5-1600 baja bug we had built that summer.

to this day I get all warm and fuzzy over BMX Sting rays and Baja bugs.

Chatsworth park 1974



Indian dunes. 1978.

[TrulyOdd]

sorry, i just can't narrow it down to 5. 75-85 for me.

[Spur]

My favorite 5 year span falls within the "Dead Era" of BMX 89-94, even though that era much longer and I am forced to only pick 5 years.

Found this image on 23mag

[relentlessmx]

81-86. I was into bmx and motocross. I had a 1981 YZ80 and got an 84 Predator for xmas that year. When I wasn't gathering at the local jumps on my Schwinn, I was riding MX at several different fields and trails and attending MX races (my brother raced BITD, so every weekend we were travelling to tracks)It was a great group of years (beyond that 5 year mark) that soon took a backseat to my '78 Z-28 and chicks....

[oldbuzzard]

77-82 for 5 year pick. 75-85 for 10 years.
Here is one of my fav pics i found on the web. I do not remember where i found this pic. But that is what i remember most of the bike shops where like BITD.

Attached thumbnail(s)

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[silverhw]

78-83 for a 5 yr best,but I'd have to say 75 was the single most awesome year for me.I liked it best in the early years because it was so new to me and building a bike early on out of old schwinns and whatever parts you could find was the best.

This post has been edited by silverhw: 02 May 2012 - 09:13 PM

[cward]

79 to 83 for me, but only if I had to narrow it down to 5 years. Those were my best years. Ride my bike all day long looking for anything I could ramp off of, and trying all those cool tricks in BMX Action.

[getset]

I'd have to pick 1979-83. That is a time when I was most into BMX and really like the bikes being manufactured at that time. JMC, SE Racing, Race Inc, Cook Bros., Powerlite, Thruster, GT, Mongoose, Redline, all quickly come to mind from that era and the BMX bikes I've collected reflect that.

I've also been getting more into the earlier 70's stuff now that I've found this site. I could see buying an early 70's Redline squareback if I ever find one at a decent price.

The BMX bikes from the mid-eighties never really appealed to me. I'm always kinda surprised when someone posts up that they've found their "grail", a neon pink 1996 GT performer. Not to dismiss the neon colored GT's, but they just aren't my thing.