Vintage BMX heads- I need your help.

Ok, here's the situation. Have a kid on the way. Because i'm OCD as hell and need to plan in advance, I already know what the kids first bike is going to be..... only I don't. Here's my dilemma-

I wanna say this was 1986-87-88 somewhere in there... I knew a kid in my neighborhood that had a pink bike. SWEET pink bike. I wanna say it was a Diamondback, which points me to a Strike Zone Mike Dominguez- like so. The only problem is, the seat doesn't seem right in my memory..... the seat on this kids bike was white, and it had a roller in the back of it, maybe for flatlanding? I dinno. It could also be a GT Performer- Sort of like that, only with the "Dominguez" pink on it. The GT seems more right, because I remember the bike at one point having spoked wheels, and the white tires. I also seem to remember it having hubcaps like so. The real question is, precisely what the hell am I looking for? I'm POSITIVE this was a floor stock bike, because I remember seeing one in the local bike store window identical to it, so it wasn't a 1 off build. Any ideas?

Those bikes are super-rad. I'd love to have either of them...

Seems a little big for a first bike, though. Don't kids usually start learning to ride with a teeny little 16"-wheel bike?

EDIT: Dangit, I'm doing that dumb Internet thing where I didn't answer the asked question and started in on some detail... I apologize.

That is just sweet, and hubcaps? even sweeter! I'm still trying to find my old school bike....

ransom wrote: Those bikes are super-rad. I'd love to have either of them... Seems a little big for a first bike, though. Don't kids usually start learning to ride with a teeny little 16"-wheel bike? EDIT: Dangit, I'm doing that dumb Internet thing where I didn't answer the asked question and started in on some detail... I apologize.

They usually do, but I don't anticipate having him be small enough for a 16" for long, especially considering how quickly I grew. I was on a 20" Huffy of some sort by the time I was 5.... More to the point, I want to be able to at least replicate a bike I never had, and give him something cooler than the run of the mill Haro from the bike store. Not that there's anything wrong with those, but my goal in life is to mess with other parents, and what better way to put my kid on a pink bike that's old enough to qualify as antique!

Back in 1986-'87, I think everyone offered a pink bike. Heck, even Hutch offered a few shades of pink. Was it a Schwinn Predator Yo?

And yes, my old MCS is hanging in the attic. One day I'm going to open a BMX museum--or at least a reading room.

The bike you thought was cool when you were a kid was likely not the same on your dad did when he was little. Jus' sayin'. If you want to build it for yourself, well that's a whole 'nother thing, but I wouldn't expect your kid to go ga-ga over it. He will have his eye on something else entirely, they always do.

I guess the toughest part for me is- Who ever offered a saddle with a roller in the back? It was a white saddle, all plastic, the roller was 2-3" wide, and maybe an inch in diameter...... that's the part that bugs me the most. I have no problems cloning a dominguez, or a performer, or a sigma if that's what it was.... but the saddle is bothering the hell out of me.

Did it come with the roller seat, or did he add it? I remember those seats (yeah, it was for flatlandy riding-the-bike-upside-down type stuff), but there were so many things that could be added after the fact that may not have come on the bike from the factory...

Roller saddle: http://velospace.org/node/30154

I wanna say it came with the bike. The Predator Yo! saddle looks right tho, so we're moving in the right direction. Time to go look at Predators and see if that was the bike.

Wow. Now I miss my Redline 390. Thanks guys.

I had the pink Strike Zone. Wish I still did!

The "hub caps" were/are called moon discs. They did absolutely nothing besides shatter when you land after catching air off some sweet jumps.

And to the victor goes????

What we have here is a 1987 Schwinn Predator Freeform Z. Had the Uni caps on it, had to have had a Predator Yo! saddle added, or else the bike shop built it that way. See the blue bike in the pic? That's the bike, only it was pink. I have been able to verify that the Predator Freeform was available in pink, and actually available as the Z- the EX and the Pro- I'm sure it was the Z- because it for SURE was not the pro with all the extra stuff on the back, and i'm fairly certain it was not an EX with the lower cross-bar next to the sprocket. Everything else matches though. (Well the sprocket itself doesn't because the one that was on the "memory" bike was a full face white). SWEET.

Also pretty sure I still need a Dominguez and a Pro Performer.

4cylndrfury wrote: The "hub caps" were/are called moon discs. They did absolutely nothing besides shatter when you land after catching air off some sweet jumps.

Not true. They also made a distinctive noise that alerted the group that I rode with that some dork on a sigma was heading toward us, giving us time to flee.

I had a Yo Rock-n-roll seat on my purple dyno around 86 or 87.

The only one I remember coming with the roller seat was the Schwinn.

good god that's a lot of pink.........

this thread is so SWEET!

EastCoastMojo wrote: The bike you thought was cool when you were a kid was likely not the same on your dad did when he was little. Jus' sayin'. If you want to build it for yourself, well that's a whole 'nother thing, but I wouldn't expect your kid to go ga-ga over it. He will have his eye on something else entirely, they always do.

yup, I mean you teach them and they'll respect and love the old school bikes, as I did and do but like me, I like to ride my 07 model Redline a little more, but like you said they'll most likely like something else, aka the newer bikes.

BTW has anyone priced vintage BMX/Freestyle bikes lately? I mean quality ones from the 80's? CW, Hutch, California made GT Pro Performers..ect?

Shockingly expensive. Over a grand for complete bikes.

Yep, I have. I almost cried when I saw clean Dominguezes going for 750$. It's insane. Thankfully, Predators seem plentiful and cheap, though that saddle alone is gonna set me back 200$.

I miss my Diamondback Viper. Heaviest BMX known to man. But that only helped it catch some serious air. Which in turn led broken spokes. So I got sweet mags. Then to me bending the cranks. Which lead to the stupid mountain bike I hated.

HunterJP wrote: I miss my Diamondback Viper. Heaviest BMX known to man. But that only helped it catch some serious air. Which in turn led broken spokes. So I got sweet mags. Then to me bending the cranks. Which lead to the stupid mountain bike I hated.

I'm with ya. my last REAL BMX bike was a 1994 Dyno Compe- it was the (apparently) rare Purple Rain color. MINTY. I sold it for 150$ back in probably 1997... damn I would kill to have that thing right now. Had the layback seatpost, 4 piece GT Kneesavers, the whole bit. Heavy as hell, best bike ever.

Just found this frame. Only $100. Guess my old fav isn't everyone else's. LOL.

haha good score!

For what it's worth, there's actually some BMX stuff in my next column. My friend also raced pro, and I recently got one of his old frames.