Huffy Pro Lightning

Yep, I had this one. I believe I got in at Christmas 1983. It is the least expensive of the Huffy Pro Lightning line.

Interesting choice for them to go with the aero shaped tubing for the seat tube and seat post. I can't remember if the seat in the pic was the original seat.

The rims had a U shaped cross section, similar to the rims that came on the black and gold version which was one level up from this one. Check out that high flange hub on the front wheel.

The downward slanted gooseneck makes me lol!

Over the course of owning it I upgraded some of the parts. I'm pretty sure that I broke the cranks but not in the way you may think. I broke the small stud that sticks into the sprocket on the drive side. Huffy, in what I am sure was a cost cutting measure, did not use cranks where this part was cast at the same time as the crank, they welded one on. I use the term welded very loosely. It broke off and I was still able to pedal enough to get home, but if I tried to get into it hard the sprocket would just slip lol.

Believe it or not I had a lot of fun on this bike. On a personal level this bike meant a lot to me because my mom got it for me even though she had dealt with some issues that left her hospitalized for the fourth quarter of the year. Even in her state of ill health at that time she managed to set aside enough money for me to have this for Xmas. Thanks Mom, I'll never for get your kindness and thoughtfulness.

Tracer Finn Boosting a One Hander

The caption says one handed 360 degree aerials but I don't think that is what Tracer Finn is doing in this picture. Regardless that photo is great because it shows a unique angle and direction of travel. He is absolutely boosting it for a jump from this particular era. More and more I am liking the classic era of BMX these days when it really was about imitating what was happening in actual Motocross. Sooner or later I'll do a Bob Hannah appreciation post and hopefully find a bunch of pics of BMX riders doing "Hannah's"

Lego Mountain Bike Babe

This Lego Mountainbiker MiniFig is a girl right? I think the lips are girl lips, but the long hair could go either way. I dig the aggressive eyebrows lol.

Montgomery Ward - Open Road BMX Shaped Object

Just remembering this "Open Road" BMX bike sold by Montgomery Ward. It was a fall day and my dad took me to Golden Ring Mall to see a movie. I'm not 100% sure but I want to say it was "Hangar 18" which was about the government covering up a collision that the Space Shuttle had with an alien spacecraft or something. If I remember correctly later in life I'd get flashbacks of the parallels between Hangar 18 and the Roswell UFO crash tale, in particular the Blue Room, which was supposedly the room where the aliens were kept, and was later memorialized by the sound system called The Orb. All of this is very loose as far a memories go.

Anyway, back to the bike. Before the movie we took a stroll through the MonkeyWards and went to the bike section. Dad knew I was going to ask for a bike for Christmas becayse I -always- asked for a bike, so I guess he figured he would get ahead of the game, and let me pick out the exact one I wanted. This was not the exact one I wanted. This one is:

Unfortunately this was out of our price range. In fact at this point in my life I had never even been to a real bike shop and seen a Redline in real life. But on this particular day it didn't matter, I was stoked that I at least got to pick out the exact bike I wanted from the row of stingray clones and ten speeds. This was the only thing even close to what I needed. Boy was I happy when he walked up to the counter and put it on lay-away!

The next few months were torture, waiting for Christmas day and my new ride. Soon enough the day came and I couldn't wait to take out my new bike and check out the other new bikes that all the neighborhood kids had gotten. Whether mine was nicer or not I was sure I was the only one with this model.

Overall, I had a blast on this bike, thrashing the bejeezus out of it until some point about mid summer when I cracked the rear Lester Allow Mag. This was an interesting failure...the bike would still roll, but it made a noise that said "when this thing finally fails completely, you are gonna end up bloody and hurt. I listened to that message and soon enough traded something or other for some spoked wheels from Crazy Gary, the neighborhood tinkerer and electronic genius.

Ended up getting a bit more lifespan out of it and of course as it grew closer to Christmas I started thinking about what I was going to replace it with, so it soon faded into oblivion like a zillion bikes before and after. Now that I'm, older it is very easy to see that this thing was most likely made in the same factory as the Huffy Pro Thunder series. Open Road, you were not the best bike I the world but I'm fond of the times we had together.

2020 Olympics Tokyo Cycling, BMX & Skateboarding Mascots!

Ladies and gentlemen, here are your 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics Cycling, Mountain Biking, BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle mascots!

BMX RACING

BMX FREESTYLE

ROAD CYCLING

TRACK CYCLING

MOUNTAIN BIKING

SKATEBOARDING

How freakin' awesome are these? I love them. Share this post!

Just an Awesome Vintage BMX Photo

Wish I could explain what some of these vintage photos do to me. It's more than just bike memories. They take me back to being a kid in general. Full of hope for the future, I really thought that I would eventually move to SoCal and be involved in the BMX industry. Things didn't really turn out that way but that's okay. I still like to feel the nostalgia for that time period when I can. The person in this pic is not me, but I've done lots of powerslides, has lots of tuff wheel mags, and ridden loads of shoes so long that the sides blew out.

Getting Microscopic with Vintage Buff, Duke and 944

What a rad photo! Let's take a moment and examine it a bit closer.
Making the leap is one of my personal childhood heroes Mike Buff, who we all know and love from the Bicycle Motocross Action Trick Team. There is no way to positively ID if he is riding his trademark white PK Ripper in this shot, but he often ran Baby Blue Landing Gear forks with the PH frame, and obvs whatever forks he is running here are white, so who knows. I don't see any fork standers so I don't think he had switched to riding a Hutch Trick Star when this photo was taken. Another timestamp for this pic is that the bike clearly does not have the Potts Modification as the front brake cable is clearly visible. He is roosting a pretty good launch to be landing on flat ground though. Almost certain that those are white ACS Z-rims he is running. 

The car is obvs a Porsche 944. Not much to say about that except that one of the riders I grew up with had one when we were in high school and I always thought t was a pretty sweet ride. 

The person leaning against the car is Dana Duke, who was at the time sort of the Flavor Flav of the BMX and Motocross scene from what I remember. I'm pretty sure he was an announcer for lots of BMX trick shows, and also heavily involved in the motorcycle motocross scene. But if I remember correctly he was much more than just an announcer and did all kinds of things to help promote and generate hype for both BMX and Motocross. Unfortunately he is also remembered as being the driver in a car/train accident than killed three passengers that were with him at the time, all of them heavy hitters in the motocross scene. Last I heard The Duke is still alive and shows up at events from time to time sporting some rad vintage Oakley gear. Not sure if he is actually doing any announcing or is affiliated with marketing of hype generating though. If you know of any up to date news post in the comments. 

Hollywood Miranda

One of the most iconic images ever published in BMX Action. Photo by Bob Osborn