I owned 2 diamondbacks before owning the Sting and wow was I surprised at the difference in build quality, feel and balance. True, the Schwinn is a clydesdale but it's such a fun bike to ride. Not Redline fun, but c'mon, there are few things in life that good. :)
35 years have past, and I can still tell you what all my friends rode back then. I'm watching this saying "oh, that was Bobby's bike, that was Paul's, Tony had that one!" lol
Yep, cool, and great comment. Travis: Diamondback Tracy and Shane: Torker Shane's Brother: Schwinn Steve: GT Bart: Race Inc. Corey: Predator Dugan: Predator Myself: Haro Kent: GT Jeff: Roger Decoster James: Redline Chad: Race Inc. Thought I could remember more. The 80's shouldn't have passed.....
a bike shop was near by, and boy this guy was a saint, every day i rubbed my nose on the windows with these cool bmx in there. as soon as he opened after school i was there getting on his nerves. he always was nice to me. man now i wanna wright a thank you letter))))
Glad my CW made the list but it is very hard to understand how Race inc. Profile Cook Bros. Diamond Back DG Raleigh etc. did not even make it on the list
Or what about BOSS out of Oakland ca. I had a 79 DG with I think arraya skinny race rims I hated it cuz I couldn’t jus put air in the tires had 2 have a special stem to pump up tires.
I think the Race inc should've made the list. I had 2 of em. They were great bikes except for the fact that the seat tube and the lower tubing behind the front sprocket often cracked. The 2nd one I had had a larger teardrop tube and the frame was a little larger/longer. I never broke that frame.
Man Robinson frames and forks were works of art. My favorite of the ones I had was the Torker 280X . I’ve had my 24” Dyno cruiser since 1996. Still ride.
I do, almost no one remembers that band. Even though they did a lot of cover songs Ronnie James Dio kicked ass. Better than later years in Rainbow, Sabbath, or his solo work in the 80's IMO. \M/ RIP DIO!
Todd Cramton the ELF was and still is one of my favourite bikes so amazing especially when it came out. Omg. My bro just restored one all original looks and rides brand new. All chrome with the Blue elf stickers and he has Redline Cranks on I believe just beautiful.
I want an old skool 80s ELF bmx so bad! Im 43 yrs old and remember them fondly. I was inches from having one back then. I was a GT bike AND team FANATIC , and chose gt upgrades as i grew, over grabbing the elf and hutch bikes that were being sold down the street from me. Hutch was a tad higher in the price range i was working with, obtainable but again i chose the gt upgrades every 2 yrs or so. I rode daily in our lil crew of ratty, radtag lookin punk asF bmx nerds hahhahaha. We grew up in the northern forests on the jersey/pennsylvania pocono mt/deleware river range. When i stayed at grammas in jers, there were 2 siiiick, underrated bike shops within bike rides distance. Between those 2 places, along with BMX PLUS issues, i stared at hutch and elf bikes alot. Like i said, stayed crazy loyal to GT, which i would say i wouldnt trade for the world if i did my youth all over again, but i kinda wish i would have stayed with my GT MACH ONE THEN GT PRO SERIES, kept those 2 and bought the hutch/elf bikes to have had an eclectic stable as opposed to all GT's as i grew every inch hahHa. I grew up more in the pennsy area, but we were so close to NY and jersey. Back then, jersey was a huge bmx hub, believe it or not. We had tracks all over the place... flemington, egg harbor, so sooooo many top places to watch/ride in the nbl, aba etc etc tournaments etc... plus pennsylvania had two crazy bmx camp spots that still exist today (woodward etc). Our lil gang rode together daily... me with my GT(s), larry with his CW, Eli with his Redline, mikey payne with his Mongoose Californian and 'Goose Expert, snorbush with his pk ripper (lucky dude), plus my cousin whom i rode with seperarely (cuz he lived further away, didnt know my best pals, and could be kind of a bully jerk anyway hahaha... love ya cuz)... he was a highly placed expert class racer from jersey named travis smith, he rode Schwinn Predators ... but our gang rode more for the back street and crazy dirt tracks in the woods that were made by generations of riders back then. A place we called The Canal in the poconos area (literally was carved into a gnarly dirt track down in the ravine of an old, dried up, overgrown boat canal! Had to drop into the track from an above hill we called the Whip cuz ya had to drop in so fast and hit a huge jump right out the gate (we literally had carvings and spray lines that showed the highest air we got off that frist jump, which led you down into the flat land of the canal, that turned into such a great racing track). We were rival "gangs" vs the dirtbike/motorcycle/atv guys cuz we were teenagers wit non-engine bmx! But i gotta thank those motorcycle racing dudes cuz they were the ones that carved out that track with their dirtbikes, shovels, weed whackers, etc etc over the years from the late 70s, into the 80s, and we took over in those 80s.... our crazy haired, wild eyed crew would sneak away from the fams, ride for miles down to town, stop at the local bagelsmith, grab some cream cheese bagels, an APPLE SLICE SODA (who remembers apple slice?! I have like 2 friends that remember thaf soda cuz it only existed for a summer or 2! It was amazing), and our newest issues of bmx plus (RADICAL RICK BRO!) + X-men, New Warriors, Batman comic books, sit outside the bagel shop, eating, drinkin, readin, and making fun of one another... then cruised down to the forest line of the canal track, tie up hammoks, tents etc, make campfires to cook our beloved RAMEN NOODLEs or fish if we had some, hang out till we dozed off a few hrs in the late hrs, wake up, wait for the dirtbike kids to leave the track, spend HOURS of jumping, racing the THE CANAL TRACK, then slowly ride back along the railroad ties in the sun. Since we each lied to our fams that we all slept over each others houses, we would report back to the different houses hahahaha, then head home! Repeat. Hahaha i sure hardly anyone read this whole comment but if you did, its prolly cuz you have the same massive nostalgia for the bmx and youth days. I still love the bmx bikes, and i still keep my eyes out for different old skool bikes to pop up on ebay or facebook sites! Since the commentor asked whom remembers Elf bikes.... the reason for my rant oriniginally hahahaha... ELF is one of the top choices i look for till this day. Elf, Hutch, CW, PK Ripper, Redline, Diamond Back, and of course, my beloved GT.
@@leeving7251 hahahajahaj not the same ELF but do you ever get points from me for this bada*s coralation lol. Rainbow, Earth (Sabbaths original demo and name), Pentagram etc... all siiiick old school rock and freakin roll!
Am I the only one here who had and or even remembers the Stroker! Heavy yes, but super strong and them square tubes were so unique! Mine was blue with black mags. It got stolen. Never got over it still to this day. Right now I'm building a Redline for my son and a Haro for me. Can't wait to ride them together. Cheers my BMX brethren!
I remeber stroker bike..my friend had a yellow one ..the bike was a tank but was one of the first true bmx..never saw it crack but hard to wheelie..heavy rims too
I had a Stroker II, painted black with Tange forks and a pair of black Tuff Wheel ones. I was the only kid around that wasn't constantly cracking frames and breaking things.
born in 1970 first bmx was 1981 chrome standard chrome mongoose red star rims with a few red alloy parts I adored it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Born in 64. Started racing in 79 and still doing it today at 56 years old and still on a 20" First real race bike was a Cycle Pro Foiler and Im now on a full carbon Super Cross.
I had a Kuwahara. Traded it for some stuff back in like ‘85. Sold it about 10 years ago to someone in England for $300. I bet it would go for more today. I can’t believe the prices of these bikes now!!
It's insane. I bought my fully chromed 1980 Schwinn Predator (the only year Chicago made them) for $175 about two years ago. And now I get offered A LOT more than that for it.
@@PinstripeJim hell yes it does!! Great to hear, I sold all but one bmx that 8 had collected over the years before I moved to Ontario. The last one is in storage back in the UK. I regret not bringing
Yeah, I thought he should've included Free Agent on the list. I remember a couple of guys growing up who had Free Agents, and they were super lightweight! They always had an upper echelon reputation amongst the BMX kids in my neighborhood in Fort Worth.
Specialized? This ain't best 90's bikes.Its OLD SCHOOL..That's 70's thru mid to late 80's at best...He did leave out DG..And in my opinion and if you look at collectable pricing the JMC's far outweigh the value of Redlines that were waaaay more mass produced..This must just be best 15, but not in order..OBVIOUSLY..Schwinn in the top 5! Wtf?
Had competition and cook bros. blue forks , mongoose cracked in half from ,to much jumping ramps and hard trails we would ride near cashman field ,were AAA 51s use to play aviators is the new team in summerlin west las Vegas we use to race in the desert across from old silver nugget it's all filled in now with theaters and school with apts. Filling the other half miss nature's playground back in the day 70s and early 80s.,😔👍💪✌️🤙🙏🖖😊
Redline? We all had our favourite. Mine is the Haro Group 1 RS1. It was not the best bike, but suited my style, when I look at it now I can see there where a lot better bikes out there
@@Carlos-nq7up that was a thing of beauty for sure. The welding alone was stunning. Personally, a little too short for me, but I loved looking at it. The Hutch Pro was a Rolls Royce too. Did you have a Ripper then?
REDLINE #1 !!! I am beginning an mx-II restoration project soon. I had one when I was a kid. It was the most prized possession of my life. I lost it in a move from Florida to Cincinnati in high school. I can't wait to bring one back to life!
Absolutely love this piece of BMX nostalgia.I got into BMX at the start of the 1980s,and had several bikes.A Diamond Back Silver Streak,a Raleigh Tuff Burner,a Mongoose Supergoose and finally a GHP(Greg Hill Products).Today I have built a 24”.A 2005 White Bubba Harris Redline frame,SE Landing Gear forks,Oakley F1 grips,Skyway 24” wheels,Shimano DX pedals,180 Profile flight crank,S&M seat,Chris King sealed headset,Thomson F50 stem,Comp III tyres.I went as old school as I could.The most popular BMX bike I remember when I was growing up was the PK RIPPER.SO many people had that bike,especially freestylers and street riders.I would have loved the Mongoose Pro Class.I thought that was a classic,and I hope Mongoose rerelease it,especially after they rereleased the Supergoose and California a year or so back.I couldn’t believe that the Diamond Back ‘Harry Leary’ Turbo didn’t make the list.That was a class bike.This list really needed to be the 50 greatest BMX bikes of all time,as there were too many great bikes missing from this list.
I don't agree with this list either, but... It's not listing Schwinn, it's The Sting - Nothing else like it before or since. Arguably THE premier frame BMX during it's era, as made by Schwinn's Paramount group for '79-81. Sure, BMX Products/Mongoose trounced Schwinn overall. They both sold out however.
I was a BMX kid back in the early to mid 80s. My bike progression through those years: Mongoose Motomag (weighed 100lbs), Redline and finally a Race Inc. Looking back, the Redline was far and away my favorite.
I went modified POS Huffy (was a tank), Schwinn Predator Team Z (Z-Rims), then a Hutch and all the parts personally chosen by me. I'm almost 50 now and I could probably tell you every component I had on that god damn thing down to the spoke nipples. lol
This takes me back, i gave up bmx in 1984 but i was fortunate enough to own a Team Murray, Kuwahara KZ1, Torker, Haro Freestyler, Redline, GT, PK Ripper and my all time favourite the Skyway TA, the Skyway TA was the only bmx frame that i had that i never managed to crack, and i can't forget the Bottema Skatepark Forks and the lovely Redline 401 Flight cranks!
trollmanrs I had an mxII also.....i sold ot for gas money when I got my first car.......15 years later , I put my feelers out for a good bmx bike for my gfs boys..... low and behold.....my old mxII showed up.....I held on to it for several years......A friend pf mine was a frame collector and I knew what it would mean to him to add this one to his collection, so I gave ot to him....he was suffering from lung cancer....he cleaned it up....meticulously.......and still has it......that bike was panty dropper......
My first bike was a diamondback then a redline and last a hutch pro racer. They not only forgot diamondback but also Race Inc. The Race Inc. aluminum 6061 T6 frame was the top of the line bike frame. The reason you probably aren't familiar and not on the list is because they were rare and expensive!
I did also.... Check out the vintage value now! Amazing. Raced mine through 16 exp. Won three nationals in Washington state.... Good times! Lake Havasu ☀️ AZ
Great bikes! I had a Mongoose in the 70's, then a Race, Inc and a Robinson, which I broke on the double jump at the track in Bremerton, WA, about 1984? Finished the race, kinda flexy when the seat tubes not attached to the BB.
Great video, I remember lots of those bikes. I had Kuahara,but my Diamond back Turbo crushed it. It should be on this list hands down. Never was a fan of Tuff weel rims, looked cool but heavy. I did like recline.
Very cool! I had about half of those, but none came even close to the JMC.. The best race geometry (steep head tube, higher BB, integrated seat clamp, stuff BB on gate starts
Ahhh yes! JMC at #2. Personally, I think it should be #1, but Redlines were hot too. I used to race a JMC back in 1981/1982. It was my favorite bike ever back then. When it was stolen from in front of a Sav-On Drugstore in my home town of Diamond Bar, CA I was crushed. Ended up racing a Torker after that. Good, but just not the same. Thanks for the throwback. I miss those early days of BMX.
I knew a kid growing up whose social status got a big boost when everybody saw the Torker he got that Christmas. I had a Schwinn Thrasher, that made me the low man on the totem pole. Just bought myself a Big Ripper for my 45th birthday, and my sister-in-law just ordered a Quadangle 29 for my brother as a present for his retirement from the army. Cheers
I had 2 Hutch Pro Racers in '83 and '84 The first was a chrome one that got stolen. The second was black and I loved that bike. Man I wish I still had that bike! But what they are asking for just frame/forks is insane!
Thomas Farrell I’m from Saint Louis mo...and the top 5 back in Day in Stl was Quadangle,Hutch,P.K. Ripper,Redline,and kuwahara ...I’m 46 years old if that helps narrow what “Back in the Day” Means.
FMF was the predecessor to Race inc. But neither made the list. My FMF had Speedo forks, cooks bros hubs and crank hanger bearings. Later I put dura-ace cranks on it. Amazing bike at 14 lbs.
@@jacksondaniels8169 Yeah I never used them when it was wet out, I lived in Virginia and alot of the parking lots of the grocery stores, mini malls, and gas stations had this shiny black surry coat on them and I'd sneak up behind somebody and lock up the rear brake and those tires would make this screech like a car trying to skid to a stop,. So if some old person was glaring at me or somebody made some smart comment when I was riding by(or I wanted a pretty girl to turn her head)I would scare the hell out of them doing that and I got to have a little laugh at their expense . My parents wondered why I went thu a set of those tires every summer!!!!😄🚴♂️💨
I’m from Saint Louis mo...and the top 5 back in Day in Stl was Quadangle,Hutch,P.K. Ripper,Redline,and kuwahara ...I’m 46 years old if that helps narrow what “Back in the Day” Means.
Only redline that had a chance at number one was the PL20 with the 5 inch headtube and a set of flight cranks with a phil wood chainring. Nice uni seat though.
Edgibson you sir have top notch taste. Nailed it. The PL20 to me was the ultimate race bike. Awesome. I had the Torker 280X, also a long frame and very fast
Cool. You forget how many bike brands there were back in the day. In the 80s I had a Redline 102 b with Skyway Tuff 2 blue mags, KKT pedals, snake belly tires, Uni seat and California Lite checker booed pads lol!!! As a kid, the ones who owned Hutch, Torkker and PK Rippers were the RELLY cool ones!! My 7 yr old is racing BMX now and has a Redline.
haha, I had a Raleigh Burner back in '84. I painted it white and put some white mag wheels and Skyway decals on it to make it look like the Skyway bike in this video.
I was surprised on the CW racing bike you didnt feature their trademark "lightning bolt" frame...that frame and those beefy large handlebars is what gave CW an identity all its own. Also...you had a Dyno Dtour on here but no GT Pro Performer? tsk, tsk
With the reissuing of the GT Pro Performer, I'm hoping that a few other model GT's are gonna be reissued in the next few years. Those DYNO's also had a few old/mid school models that need to be back on the streets again.
The first bike looks exactly like my 85 Dyno Compe, but I had the 5-point straight star mags. My Dyno is now ALL white, grips, seat, chain, everything.
I had a Supergoose back in 1982 and that bike was better than all of these. I remember the most popular bikes being Hutch and Redline. But my 100% chromoly Supergoose being superior to those! Lighter, tougher & faster!!
Hutch should be #1 of course, Diamond Back Harry Leary Turbo belongs on this list, NO Dyno, Schwinn PREDATOR should have replaced the Sting, and haro better than Mongoose? LOL NO... I was so lucky to have grown up with this era of bikes, having had a Team Murray X20R (best cheap bike ever for a kid on the street) Mongoose Supergoose, PK Ripper, Haro Freestyler mk I, Kuwahara Lazer Lite, Hutch Hollywood, Pro Racer, and finally a Hutch Pro Star. Quality control issues notwithstanding, Hutch was so far beyond EVERYTHING else that they might as well have been from another planet entirely. . .
@@woodystorey yeah, the Sting was better than the Predator. Predator was great for the price, but not the flagship. It was a tad heavy. But very nice, nonetheless.
Oh Dear, I noted that there was no Diamond back and commented, then read the comments below. Classic Man Flaw, didn't read the instructions. I remember "loaning" by bro's Diamond Back and loved. Got a reasonably good condition GT Pro Performer Chrome 92ish. Excellent vid =)
I had a Mongoose, PK, Kuwahara, a bunch of quadangles, a Patterson 24”, a Mike Dominguez prototype, a Red Line Pro Styler, and a Mongoose decade. I still have the Pro Styler with Flight cranks. That was the only bike I didn’t break.
kartoon88 miranda dyno is second generation. Gt torker kuwahara Robinson SE redline. Those were all the originals. Cook brothers the holy grail. Then hutch. Redline PL 20.
i have a pair of forks from a hutch trick star...they have the thick drop outs but no pegs welded on....i got it when it first came out...just wondering what they are worth
I still got 2 Thruster Vanishing Points. Miss my RL-20II and the last one I owned was a GT Aggressor with the bash plate under the sprocket. Ahh the memories...
I had an 82 Thruster Vanishing Point. Got it off a buddy who built it brand new and about 4 moths later changed his mined , he wanted a Thruster Tri-Power so he sold it to me for 250 bucks it had Suntour 3pc racing cranks , Sunshine hubs laced to Araya rims. The bike was insanely light , everybody here in the N East had DB’s , Mongoose , PK Rippers & Hutch and after trying my Vanishing Point most sold their bikes to build a Thruster. Miss that bike , it was stolen ( my sophomore yr ) about a yr & half after I brought it ( Hutch frame & fork sets were made by Thruster up till the early - mid 80’s )
Try finding a 24" JMC Darrel Young.Last one I saw on EBay went for $15,000 Yeah FIFTEEN GRAND.The only person U know who has several, is Darrel...a longtime friend here in Portland,OR and former competitor at the old Alpenrose Dairy & RIverside tracks, now both long gone...RIP Old school ABA tracks with triples
My childhood just flashed in front of my eyes. Good times.
I still have my 86 GT Performer. Fantastic condition... Just sits on display in my garage. Always loved that bike
wheres the diamond back
David Paulmert excTly
David Paulmert no place on the list for an overweight diamond back although Schwann made the lists
David Paulmert I've got a DB pit bike! Had it since the 80's! Also have a new PK Ripper Elite and a 2000's Quadangle right now
Right, no Diamondback F1 makes list invalid
I owned 2 diamondbacks before owning the Sting and wow was I surprised at the difference in build quality, feel and balance. True, the Schwinn is a clydesdale but it's such a fun bike to ride. Not Redline fun, but c'mon, there are few things in life that good. :)
35 years have past, and I can still tell you what all my friends rode back then. I'm watching this saying "oh, that was Bobby's bike, that was Paul's, Tony had that one!" lol
Yep, cool, and great comment.
Travis: Diamondback
Tracy and Shane: Torker
Shane's Brother: Schwinn
Steve: GT
Bart: Race Inc.
Corey: Predator
Dugan: Predator
Myself: Haro
Kent: GT
Jeff: Roger Decoster
James: Redline
Chad: Race Inc.
Thought I could remember more. The 80's shouldn't have passed.....
I can't relate I was thinking about my old BMX buddies and which bikes they had too.
a bike shop was near by, and boy this guy was a saint, every day i rubbed my nose on the windows with these cool bmx in there. as soon as he opened after school i was there getting on his nerves. he always was nice to me. man now i wanna wright a thank you letter))))
Glad my CW made the list but it is very hard to understand how
Race inc.
Profile
Cook Bros.
Diamond Back
DG
Raleigh etc. did not even make it on the list
Island Boy I am glad someone else knows their bikes!
Island Boy Dude.. Cw should be #3
Or what about BOSS out of Oakland ca. I had a 79 DG with I think arraya skinny race rims I hated it cuz I couldn’t jus put air in the tires had 2 have a special stem to pump up tires.
Diamond Back and Cook bros. def belong. I could've bumped a few out for those to get in.
I think the Race inc should've made the list. I had 2 of em. They were great bikes except for the fact that the seat tube and the lower tubing behind the front sprocket often cracked. The 2nd one I had had a larger teardrop tube and the frame was a little larger/longer. I never broke that frame.
where's the ROBINSON
I didn't see Patterson either.....and no SE
U r blind its #13
Man Robinson frames and forks were works of art. My favorite of the ones I had was the Torker 280X . I’ve had my 24” Dyno cruiser since 1996. Still ride.
I had a Robinson sst in 93 loved it
@@michaelparker6240 Yes sir had a Robinson Pro. I swear back in my days having a good BMX bike was like owning a Ferrari or something.
who remembers the elf
I do, almost no one remembers that band. Even though they did a lot of cover songs Ronnie James Dio kicked ass. Better than later years in Rainbow, Sabbath, or his solo work in the 80's IMO. \M/ RIP DIO!
Todd Cramton the ELF was and still is one of my favourite bikes so amazing especially when it came out. Omg. My bro just restored one all original looks and rides brand new. All chrome with the Blue elf stickers and he has Redline Cranks on I believe just beautiful.
Extra light frame
I want an old skool 80s ELF bmx so bad! Im 43 yrs old and remember them fondly. I was inches from having one back then. I was a GT bike AND team FANATIC , and chose gt upgrades as i grew, over grabbing the elf and hutch bikes that were being sold down the street from me. Hutch was a tad higher in the price range i was working with, obtainable but again i chose the gt upgrades every 2 yrs or so. I rode daily in our lil crew of ratty, radtag lookin punk asF bmx nerds hahhahaha. We grew up in the northern forests on the jersey/pennsylvania pocono mt/deleware river range. When i stayed at grammas in jers, there were 2 siiiick, underrated bike shops within bike rides distance. Between those 2 places, along with BMX PLUS issues, i stared at hutch and elf bikes alot. Like i said, stayed crazy loyal to GT, which i would say i wouldnt trade for the world if i did my youth all over again, but i kinda wish i would have stayed with my GT MACH ONE THEN GT PRO SERIES, kept those 2 and bought the hutch/elf bikes to have had an eclectic stable as opposed to all GT's as i grew every inch hahHa. I grew up more in the pennsy area, but we were so close to NY and jersey. Back then, jersey was a huge bmx hub, believe it or not. We had tracks all over the place... flemington, egg harbor, so sooooo many top places to watch/ride in the nbl, aba etc etc tournaments etc... plus pennsylvania had two crazy bmx camp spots that still exist today (woodward etc). Our lil gang rode together daily... me with my GT(s), larry with his CW, Eli with his Redline, mikey payne with his Mongoose Californian and 'Goose Expert, snorbush with his pk ripper (lucky dude), plus my cousin whom i rode with seperarely (cuz he lived further away, didnt know my best pals, and could be kind of a bully jerk anyway hahaha... love ya cuz)... he was a highly placed expert class racer from jersey named travis smith, he rode Schwinn Predators ... but our gang rode more for the back street and crazy dirt tracks in the woods that were made by generations of riders back then. A place we called The Canal in the poconos area (literally was carved into a gnarly dirt track down in the ravine of an old, dried up, overgrown boat canal! Had to drop into the track from an above hill we called the Whip cuz ya had to drop in so fast and hit a huge jump right out the gate (we literally had carvings and spray lines that showed the highest air we got off that frist jump, which led you down into the flat land of the canal, that turned into such a great racing track). We were rival "gangs" vs the dirtbike/motorcycle/atv guys cuz we were teenagers wit non-engine bmx! But i gotta thank those motorcycle racing dudes cuz they were the ones that carved out that track with their dirtbikes, shovels, weed whackers, etc etc over the years from the late 70s, into the 80s, and we took over in those 80s.... our crazy haired, wild eyed crew would sneak away from the fams, ride for miles down to town, stop at the local bagelsmith, grab some cream cheese bagels, an APPLE SLICE SODA (who remembers apple slice?! I have like 2 friends that remember thaf soda cuz it only existed for a summer or 2! It was amazing), and our newest issues of bmx plus (RADICAL RICK BRO!) + X-men, New Warriors, Batman comic books, sit outside the bagel shop, eating, drinkin, readin, and making fun of one another... then cruised down to the forest line of the canal track, tie up hammoks, tents etc, make campfires to cook our beloved RAMEN NOODLEs or fish if we had some, hang out till we dozed off a few hrs in the late hrs, wake up, wait for the dirtbike kids to leave the track, spend HOURS of jumping, racing the THE CANAL TRACK, then slowly ride back along the railroad ties in the sun. Since we each lied to our fams that we all slept over each others houses, we would report back to the different houses hahahaha, then head home! Repeat.
Hahaha i sure hardly anyone read this whole comment but if you did, its prolly cuz you have the same massive nostalgia for the bmx and youth days. I still love the bmx bikes, and i still keep my eyes out for different old skool bikes to pop up on ebay or facebook sites! Since the commentor asked whom remembers Elf bikes.... the reason for my rant oriniginally hahahaha... ELF is one of the top choices i look for till this day. Elf, Hutch, CW, PK Ripper, Redline, Diamond Back, and of course, my beloved GT.
@@leeving7251 hahahajahaj not the same ELF but do you ever get points from me for this bada*s coralation lol. Rainbow, Earth (Sabbaths original demo and name), Pentagram etc... all siiiick old school rock and freakin roll!
Am I the only one here who had and or even remembers the Stroker! Heavy yes, but super strong and them square tubes were so unique! Mine was blue with black mags. It got stolen. Never got over it still to this day. Right now I'm building a Redline for my son and a Haro for me. Can't wait to ride them together. Cheers my BMX brethren!
Tiffany I got a Stroker for you. Haha jk! Stroker's are RAD!!!!
I remember striker I was in 7thgrade around1977. Friend had a yellow one...yes it was a tank...but first cool box styled frame.
I remeber stroker bike..my friend had a yellow one ..the bike was a tank but was one of the first true bmx..never saw it crack but hard to wheelie..heavy rims too
Yup I had a Stroker. My dad got me a 78 frame and we built it from there in 1980. I had a red frame. All my trim was yellow. Wish I still had it.
I had a Stroker II, painted black with Tange forks and a pair of black Tuff Wheel ones. I was the only kid around that wasn't constantly cracking frames and breaking things.
I know right whoever put this list together wasn't an 80's kid that's for sure...lol. the quad was way ahead of it's time.
I think you need a full top 40. Just too many missing :)
Raleigh Burner, Powerlite!
Born in 72 I had Red line, diamondback , DG , PK Ripper,
Laguna , Silver Fox , Mongoose , and Hutch wow havnt thought of those days, in a minute.
born in 1970 first bmx was 1981 chrome standard chrome mongoose red star rims with a few red alloy parts I adored it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PK Ripper
Ron Branum just for a minute?
Wow you must have had some paper route....
Born in 64. Started racing in 79 and still doing it today at 56 years old and still on a 20" First real race bike was a Cycle Pro Foiler and Im now on a full carbon Super Cross.
What Millennial came up with this list?
I had a Kuwahara. Traded it for some stuff back in like ‘85. Sold it about 10 years ago to someone in England for $300. I bet it would go for more today. I can’t believe the prices of these bikes now!!
It's insane. I bought my fully chromed 1980 Schwinn Predator (the only year Chicago made them) for $175 about two years ago. And now I get offered A LOT more than that for it.
Had an '88 Hutch, then moved up to 24" Robinson and GT's around 1992. Still have my 1993 Free Agent 24"
Do you, or did you race them?
@@rob4433 Just on the streets and around town....if that counts. LOL!
@@PinstripeJim hell yes it does!! Great to hear, I sold all but one bmx that 8 had collected over the years before I moved to Ontario. The last one is in storage back in the UK. I regret not bringing
@@rob4433 Bought a new SE Racing 27.5 PK Ripper at the beginning of the pandemic and I still ride. Hardly touch my mountain bikes now.
Yeah, I thought he should've included Free Agent on the list. I remember a couple of guys growing up who had Free Agents, and they were super lightweight! They always had an upper echelon reputation amongst the BMX kids in my neighborhood in Fort Worth.
Diamondback,specialized,AMX,falcon,powerlite,Robinson??? All good brands
Specialized? This ain't best 90's bikes.Its OLD SCHOOL..That's 70's thru mid to late 80's at best...He did leave out DG..And in my opinion and if you look at collectable pricing the JMC's far outweigh the value of Redlines that were waaaay more mass produced..This must just be best 15, but not in order..OBVIOUSLY..Schwinn in the top 5! Wtf?
what about the dpfirebird freestyles for the money one of the best bikes you could buy .
Robinson and Cook Bros with Snake Bellies on Z-Rims yo!
R Lee totally rad man
Had competition and cook bros. blue forks , mongoose cracked in half from ,to much jumping ramps and hard trails we would ride near cashman field ,were AAA 51s use to play aviators is the new team in summerlin west las Vegas we use to race in the desert across from old silver nugget it's all filled in now with theaters and school with apts. Filling the other half miss nature's playground back in the day 70s and early 80s.,😔👍💪✌️🤙🙏🖖😊
Flexed a set of Z-rims so much it ripped the spokes outta the hub🤔
I had a JMC Darrell Young with all the trick components, what a bike, wish I still had it.
When I was a kid Mongoose and Redline were THE bikes to have but I always thought of the Redline as the Rolls Royce of BMX.
Redline? We all had our favourite. Mine is the Haro Group 1 RS1. It was not the best bike, but suited my style, when I look at it now I can see there where a lot better bikes out there
@@rob4433 In my neighborhood PK Ripper was seen as the Rolls Royce of BMX Bikes!
@@Carlos-nq7up that was a thing of beauty for sure. The welding alone was stunning. Personally, a little too short for me, but I loved looking at it. The Hutch Pro was a Rolls Royce too. Did you have a Ripper then?
@@rob4433 No. I had an MCS Spider, but there was one kid in our neighborhood who did own one. All, or most of the other guys had Mongoose bikes.
REDLINE #1 !!! I am beginning an mx-II restoration project soon. I had one when I was a kid. It was the most prized possession of my life. I lost it in a move from Florida to Cincinnati in high school. I can't wait to bring one back to life!
how did you lose it???
Absolutely love this piece of BMX nostalgia.I got into BMX at the start of the 1980s,and had several bikes.A Diamond Back Silver Streak,a Raleigh Tuff Burner,a Mongoose Supergoose and finally a GHP(Greg Hill Products).Today I have built a 24”.A 2005 White Bubba Harris Redline frame,SE Landing Gear forks,Oakley F1 grips,Skyway 24” wheels,Shimano DX pedals,180 Profile flight crank,S&M seat,Chris King sealed headset,Thomson F50 stem,Comp III tyres.I went as old school as I could.The most popular BMX bike I remember when I was growing up was the PK RIPPER.SO many people had that bike,especially freestylers and street riders.I would have loved the Mongoose Pro Class.I thought that was a classic,and I hope Mongoose rerelease it,especially after they rereleased the Supergoose and California a year or so back.I couldn’t believe that the Diamond Back ‘Harry Leary’ Turbo didn’t make the list.That was a class bike.This list really needed to be the 50 greatest BMX bikes of all time,as there were too many great bikes missing from this list.
How could you put Schwinn in front of Mongoose?
jamers333 😂😂😂
I don't agree with this list either, but... It's not listing Schwinn, it's The Sting - Nothing else like it before or since. Arguably THE premier frame BMX during it's era, as made by Schwinn's Paramount group for '79-81. Sure, BMX Products/Mongoose trounced Schwinn overall. They both sold out however.
It was the shit back then. That bike was incredible.
I was a BMX kid back in the early to mid 80s. My bike progression through those years: Mongoose Motomag (weighed 100lbs), Redline and finally a Race Inc. Looking back, the Redline was far and away my favorite.
I went modified POS Huffy (was a tank), Schwinn Predator Team Z (Z-Rims), then a Hutch and all the parts personally chosen by me. I'm almost 50 now and I could probably tell you every component I had on that god damn thing down to the spoke nipples. lol
man I loved my Hutch#1 but I always wanted a PK Ripper or Quadangle bad! JMC Racing was on my list also
no quadangle or diamondback ?
yes db was a nice bike.
Should of had a DB Turbo for sure.
This takes me back, i gave up bmx in 1984 but i was fortunate enough to own a Team Murray, Kuwahara KZ1, Torker, Haro Freestyler, Redline, GT, PK Ripper and my all time favourite the Skyway TA, the Skyway TA was the only bmx frame that i had that i never managed to crack, and i can't forget the Bottema Skatepark Forks and the lovely Redline 401 Flight cranks!
Atmosphusion no way you cracked a GT with full 4130.
That was the only frame I broke too. Skyway TA on the chainstay near bottom bracket. My favorite bike was Hutch TJ edition !!
Still remember my 1st BMX bike a Murray X20r. The #8 was my Torker and really the one I still remember the most.
In the early 90s the top were 1. GT 2. Dyno 3. Mongoose 4. Diamondback Its like having s luxury car when youre a kid
I still got a Redline MX11, same as I had 37 years ago !!
trollmanrs I had an mxII also.....i sold ot for gas money when I got my first car.......15 years later , I put my feelers out for a good bmx bike for my gfs boys..... low and behold.....my old mxII showed up.....I held on to it for several years......A friend pf mine was a frame collector and I knew what it would mean to him to add this one to his collection, so I gave ot to him....he was suffering from lung cancer....he cleaned it up....meticulously.......and still has it......that bike was panty dropper......
I have an original Mongoose with the moto mags rims, down to the original tires and everything.else.
My first bike was a diamondback then a redline and last a hutch pro racer. They not only forgot diamondback but also Race Inc. The Race Inc. aluminum 6061 T6 frame was the top of the line bike frame. The reason you probably aren't familiar and not on the list is because they were rare and expensive!
i had one
I still have my Race inc. 1980 red anodized.
Agree with the Hutch ! I had a pro star
Chris Me too.
Hutch were bullet proof solid
I did also.... Check out the vintage value now! Amazing.
Raced mine through 16 exp.
Won three nationals in Washington state.... Good times!
Lake Havasu ☀️ AZ
A better vanished time when bikes were beautiful.
Diamondback Turbo? DB Silver streak was popular. Boss?
@Dark Coven Viper was the POS model.
oh cmon, no Free Agent? no Elf? no Robinson? they dominated everything!
no diamondback??
Great bikes! I had a Mongoose in the 70's, then a Race, Inc and a Robinson, which I broke on the double jump at the track in Bremerton, WA, about 1984? Finished the race, kinda flexy when the seat tubes not attached to the BB.
Great video, I remember lots of those bikes. I had Kuahara,but my Diamond back Turbo crushed it. It should be on this list hands down. Never was a fan of Tuff weel rims, looked cool but heavy. I did like recline.
Good memories! My family was middle class, but I was one of the only kids in my state to have a PK, and then a Patterson. I feel lucky now.
Cheers!
Very cool! I had about half of those, but none came even close to the JMC.. The best race geometry (steep head tube, higher BB, integrated seat clamp, stuff BB on gate starts
Thanks for the share back down memory lane yee haw miss them good old nature days.,👍👍👍💪💪✌️✌️🙏🙏🤙🤙😊😊🖖🖖😎😎
bunch of pre-85 era with no Diamondback ,but an 87 Dyno ?
Exactly
The PK ripper was my favorite! I had that same exact bike when I was 16
The first 3 bikes were freestyle. Supergoose rules all. That thruster is incredible very rare!!!
Ahhh yes! JMC at #2. Personally, I think it should be #1, but Redlines were hot too. I used to race a JMC back in 1981/1982. It was my favorite bike ever back then. When it was stolen from in front of a Sav-On Drugstore in my home town of Diamond Bar, CA I was crushed. Ended up racing a Torker after that. Good, but just not the same. Thanks for the throwback. I miss those early days of BMX.
I had the Torker 280X Some bastard stole it off my front porch. Lol
LOL!! that was me ;)
I knew a kid growing up whose social status got a big boost when everybody saw the Torker he got that Christmas. I had a Schwinn Thrasher, that made me the low man on the totem pole. Just bought myself a Big Ripper for my 45th birthday, and my sister-in-law just ordered a Quadangle 29 for my brother as a present for his retirement from the army. Cheers
The Torker's were big where I lived because we had Tracy and his brother that were sponsored by Torker in our small town.
I couldn't leave my Race.Incorporated alone for 5 minutes on front of the stop-and-go
Redline in a heart beat!
Then JMC is the Oxygen....
The RL20II
Thanks for this, I haven’t heard of a couple of these bikes surprisingly but the Diamondback could be listed as well ❤
gt was a damn good bike,, also hutch and diamond back
I had the Haro freestyler and a Skyway TA in chrome, good times.
race Inc??
Had one, awesome bike. Landing gear forks, sealed bearing everything. Mathhauwser break pads, you name it. Loved it.....Them were the days.....
Firebird freestyler,white,blue skyways,whitewall tyres,blue mushroom grips,white cw handlebars,blue tuffneck stem,blue flight crank,blue uni saddle,blue smx1000s breaks
hutch #1 all the way.
I had 2 Hutch Pro Racers in '83 and '84 The first was a chrome one that got stolen. The second was black and I loved that bike. Man I wish I still had that bike! But what they are asking for just frame/forks is insane!
want mine back also! hutch pro racer chrome#1, hutch forks, bullseye head set#1,, redline flight cranks#1,bullseye bottom bracket#1,hutch bear trap pedles#1!!!!,Z rims bullseye hubs#1,IRC tires,CW bars,tuffneck neck#1,uni-seat or mx seat with laidback post,tuffneck seat clamp or cw seat clamp, shimano quick release bakes with graphite pads with Terry cable and 2 finger brake. Perfect!
EddieErion929 pro star yes Hutch was king
Thomas Farrell I’m from Saint Louis mo...and the top 5 back in Day in Stl was Quadangle,Hutch,P.K. Ripper,Redline,and kuwahara ...I’m 46 years old if that helps narrow what “Back in the Day” Means.
th-cam.com/video/lFpSxManDHM/w-d-xo.html I found this team comp
FMF was the predecessor to Race inc. But neither made the list. My FMF had Speedo forks, cooks bros hubs and crank hanger bearings. Later I put dura-ace cranks on it. Amazing bike at 14 lbs.
You forgot so many great bmx;s man! ;)
Who remembers the comp pool tires that were completely bald except for little wear holes in them?
Skeeter McSwagger
I had a set and they sucked on damp pavement. I still have faint scars on my knees after losing grip and hitting the pavement.
@@jacksondaniels8169 Yeah I never used them when it was wet out, I lived in Virginia and alot of the parking lots of the grocery stores, mini malls, and gas stations had this shiny black surry coat on them and I'd sneak up behind somebody and lock up the rear brake and those tires would make this screech like a car trying to skid to a stop,.
So if some old person was glaring at me or somebody made some smart comment when I was riding by(or I wanted a pretty girl to turn her head)I would scare the hell out of them doing that and I got to have a little laugh at their expense .
My parents wondered why I went thu a set of those tires every summer!!!!😄🚴♂️💨
PK Ripper was top dog where I come from.
Heaven ass tank
Always felt it was a bit too short for me
I’m from Saint Louis mo...and the top 5 back in Day in Stl was Quadangle,Hutch,P.K. Ripper,Redline,and kuwahara ...I’m 46 years old if that helps narrow what “Back in the Day” Means.
Wasn't the Dyno bike a freestyle bike, not a BMX bike? What are the criteria for the ratings?
JanSolo right you are. Late 80s footpeg garbage. I
Have a 1980 GT LONG in my garage
This has to be top 10 best bmx bikes. Real nice.
Only redline that had a chance at number one was the PL20 with the 5 inch headtube and a set of flight cranks with a phil wood chainring.
Nice uni seat though.
Edgibson you sir have top notch taste. Nailed it. The PL20 to me was the ultimate race bike. Awesome. I had the Torker 280X, also a long frame and very fast
Cool. You forget how many bike brands there were back in the day. In the 80s I had a Redline 102 b with Skyway Tuff 2 blue mags, KKT pedals, snake belly tires, Uni seat and California Lite checker booed pads lol!!! As a kid, the ones who owned Hutch, Torkker and PK Rippers were the RELLY cool ones!! My 7 yr old is racing BMX now and has a Redline.
Freestyle bikes are not BMX bikes. You forgot Diamond Back.
i have a old school mongoses
KING TROLL amen!
Pfft...Millennial. No distinction between bmx and freestyle in the 70’s and 80’s.
@@CJ-dy8lb I'm 48. Hardly a millennial. And I still have my Harry Leary Turbo. We raced. Not stupid street and ramp tricks.
This is a great vid man. I had the jmc which i used to race in th NBMXA was great days as a kid. these bikes are awsome. cheers for the vid.
raligh burner!!!! that was the big ting in the UK through the 80's gotta ge it props! man I miss me burner.... "god damn what a bummer"
Hahaha I bought a raleigh mag burner 2 days ago, going to collect it now
haha, I had a Raleigh Burner back in '84. I painted it white and put some white mag wheels and Skyway decals on it to make it look like the Skyway bike in this video.
BUD CAPITAL ; In 1980 My first Bmx bike was a Raleigh Rampar, I bought the frame for like 12$ that bike was a tank, loved it.
Do you remember the Raleigh Ruff Rider 1978.....
Awesome video. Glad to see The Sting in the top 10! It's beauty has been unrecognized by many, in my opinion. Thanks for posting.
zero respect for you! no Robinson, really???🤔😕
Jmc Black shadow With the oval down tube
I knew the guy that wielded every frame for jmc. I'm still trying to get one.
I was surprised on the CW racing bike you didnt feature their trademark "lightning bolt" frame...that frame and those beefy large handlebars is what gave CW an identity all its own.
Also...you had a Dyno Dtour on here but no GT Pro Performer? tsk, tsk
Had a 1978-79 cycle pro Foiler, Red and Gold. Got stolen. Still heart broken 45 years later. My favorite bike ever, still searching for one.
Diamond Back Viper has got to be in there.
I had the Assault....I miss that bike...
How do you put a redline ahead of a pk ripper??? Please explain! The frame alone on the ripper is almost a grand to this day
1.GT
2.GT
3.GT
4.GT
5.GT
Etc.
With the reissuing of the GT Pro Performer, I'm hoping that a few other model GT's are gonna be reissued in the next few years. Those DYNO's also had a few old/mid school models that need to be back on the streets again.
I raced from 1978 to 2016! Still got my Factory GT jacket from 82!!! ONLY BIKE I EVER RACED!!! GT#1❤
Webco was an early bmx diamond framed bike as well.DG,FMF,JMC,STROKER. Phil Wood hubs
i still have my '82 "PK RIPPER", best bike ever made..
Have you still got it, seven years after this comment?????
The first bike looks exactly like my 85 Dyno Compe, but I had the 5-point straight star mags. My Dyno is now ALL white, grips, seat, chain, everything.
Are these supposed to be in order? Mongoose better than a Haro freestyler? No way.
yeah mongoose are crap sorry to anyone who has 1 don't mean to affend we all love what we love RIGHT
Daniel ....it’s about BMX bikes,....the Haro is a freestyle bike.....BMX and freestyle are totally different...
Haro, to begin with is better then mongoose or Schwinn. Should be in the top three.
@@clarkstone-bear7742 haro and Dino heavy tank shitter bikes
Nice, I remember those days. I still have my 1979 Redline MX-II same as the #1 on the video.
Hutch #1
I had a Supergoose back in 1982 and that bike was better than all of these. I remember the most popular bikes being Hutch and Redline. But my 100% chromoly Supergoose being superior to those! Lighter, tougher & faster!!
Joey Eyes just sold my 1981 supergoose got $2500
Hutch should be #1 of course, Diamond Back Harry Leary Turbo belongs on this list, NO Dyno, Schwinn PREDATOR should have replaced the Sting, and haro better than Mongoose? LOL NO... I was so lucky to have grown up with this era of bikes, having had a Team Murray X20R (best cheap bike ever for a kid on the street) Mongoose Supergoose, PK Ripper, Haro Freestyler mk I, Kuwahara Lazer Lite, Hutch Hollywood, Pro Racer, and finally a Hutch Pro Star. Quality control issues notwithstanding, Hutch was so far beyond EVERYTHING else that they might as well have been from another planet entirely. . .
Hutch#1 redline flight cranks and hutch bear trap pedals will never be matched
Predator were sad, the 79-82 brazed Stings we’re far better...Way ahead of their time, still see a few being raced even today...
@@woodystorey yeah, the Sting was better than the Predator. Predator was great for the price, but not the flagship. It was a tad heavy. But very nice, nonetheless.
I could just cry, how this brings back memories😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Mongoose and Diamond back were 2 other great bikes.
teamextreme1780 Mongoose was listed.
Oh Dear, I noted that there was no Diamond back and commented, then read the comments below. Classic Man Flaw, didn't read the instructions. I remember "loaning" by bro's Diamond Back and loved. Got a reasonably good condition GT Pro Performer Chrome 92ish. Excellent vid =)
Where the hell is Cook Bros.? And how about the names of the bikes featured?
Great vid.
That Hutch looks just like my old one.
For that reason it should have been #1.
I got a cw "z" frame complete bike
I had a Mongoose, PK, Kuwahara, a bunch of quadangles, a Patterson 24”, a Mike Dominguez prototype, a Red Line Pro Styler, and a Mongoose decade.
I still have the Pro Styler with Flight cranks. That was the only bike I didn’t break.
Hutch is #1 dude...
Scott Wagner Great bike. But Scott, Hutch couldn't touch a VDC. Some VDCs we're made by Hutch. But the Pro Star man... Phew! 🤘🤘
Scott Wagner yes I had a a Pro star. Wish to God I still had it, hell I'll settle for a Pro Raider.
Hutch would have been my #2 ...just behind JMC,followed by CW and the dude forgot DG's!
I agree with most of those, but where's the Cook Bros, Malvern Star, Puch, Race Inc, Quadangle, Elf, Titan, Roger Decoaster, DB ???
Someone call a vet that Mongoose is sick!!!
I’m 53 and still dream that Santa will bring me an PK ripper !
Team hotfoot best ever😘
Had a 1982 and a 1983 Harry Larry Turbo diamond back to me the cleanest bike of all times had APKA hutch But loved all of those old school bikes
Dyno !!! all day.
kartoon88 miranda dyno is second generation. Gt torker kuwahara Robinson SE redline. Those were all the originals. Cook brothers the holy grail. Then hutch. Redline PL 20.
What would the best made and most expensive ones?
Huffy? lol
Hey better yet team Jag..haha
Fantastic video thanks for that!
Forgot Scorpion. I still have one from around 1984. Love it.
i have a pair of forks from a hutch trick star...they have the thick drop outs but no pegs welded on....i got it when it first came out...just wondering what they are worth
I still got 2 Thruster Vanishing Points. Miss my RL-20II and the last one I owned was a GT Aggressor with the bash plate under the sprocket. Ahh the memories...
I had an 82 Thruster Vanishing Point. Got it off a buddy who built it brand new and about 4 moths later changed his mined , he wanted a Thruster Tri-Power so he sold it to me for 250 bucks it had Suntour 3pc racing cranks , Sunshine hubs laced to Araya rims. The bike was insanely light , everybody here in the N East had DB’s , Mongoose , PK Rippers & Hutch and after trying my Vanishing Point most sold their bikes to build a Thruster. Miss that bike , it was stolen ( my sophomore yr ) about a yr & half after I brought it ( Hutch frame & fork sets were made by Thruster up till the early - mid 80’s )
thanks for posting. this brought back memories. would have liked to see Diamond Back. the JMC mini was a great find.
Try finding a 24" JMC Darrel Young.Last one I saw on EBay went for $15,000
Yeah FIFTEEN GRAND.The only person U know who has several, is Darrel...a longtime friend here in Portland,OR and former competitor at the old Alpenrose Dairy & RIverside tracks, now both long gone...RIP Old school ABA tracks with triples