The 24" Cruiser? Options

[DeLuxxBmxMidWest]

Does the name Kevin Harlow ring a bell?

I have a video of him racing a 26" Powerlite at Vineland in 1980. He probably wasn't at any East Coast nationals and didn't get much magazine coverage on a 24" DG BITD. I mean he was not at the NBL 82 Grands or stuff like that.

Kos Wins Vineland

OM swoops Harlow on a Powerlite right in front of my camera.

[DeLuxxBmxMidWest]

I thought Torker came out with a 24" before 1980???

I got a Torker 24 when it first came out. It was probably early Spring 82. At Indy of the winter of 81/82 just about everybody was still on 26" cruisers as far as I can tell. I mean 24" bikes existed before that, but people weren't racing them. RRS was the first one at races in late 81 that got attention.

[Richard Vogt - b...]

Kevin Harlow didn't race too much east coast... The only race I really remember him attending in the early 1980s was the Powder Springs national in Georgia... Does anyone else know if DG raced any other NBL or east coast nationals?

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

[Jason Chang]

I think in Cali you would see more since many of the factory's were there and they were testing. Also to see top factory riders at the local track had to have made a lot of noise while on secret one off prototypes. I think then news would spread eastward. All the 26 cruiser racers probably felt comfortable and waited to race against a 24 to see which is better. If you have built up your full race 26, the idea of now having to buy a new frame and wheels could be expensive for the average racer. So I bet many stuck with the 26 as long as they could even after the 24's showed up. I still remember Toby debuting the Hutch 24, it was big news. Does anyone remember that at first cruisers were not accepted by all, many felt it was not true BMX. The first cruisers were beach type with BMX parts on it. Almost like starting over again in the 20 inch, with the Schwinn Scrambler type frame. Those days were so much fun, seeing innovations that today are common.

Changstar

[Richard Vogt - b...]

Larry,

That video of you racing in Middletown, Maryland reminds me of a trip I made in 1976 to race the grand opening of a track in Knoxville, Tennessee. The track was basically a downhill, very fast, modified U. Long first straight downhill really fast with 4 or 5 jumps and drops, one big turn (berm) and a kink or chicane with some whoops in it and then two or three jumps to the finish line doing about 35 or 40 mph.

Hard packed red clay, very, very fast... 36 lb. Mongooses with Motomags racing FMFs and DGs that weighed 15 lbs. less. Totally flying with tons of momentum slipping and sliding through the one and only real turn. I slid out in one of my motos and dropped down on my right kneecap and still have a scar to this day where I tore through my blue jeans and ground all the skin off! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

[Ken Pliska]

These were on the original reply but when the old hosting site crashed, many were lost. This DG Cruiser (serial number 60) is from 1981. We did run them on the national circuit on the west coast in 1981 and 1982.

(IMG:http://www.bmxhosting.com/is.php?i=999&img=Pliska_Darcy_19.jpg)

(IMG:http://www.bmxhosting.com/is.php?i=998&img=Pliska_Graves_J.jpg)

(IMG:http://www.bmxhosting.com/is.php?i=668&img=Number_One_Para.jpg)

DG 24" cruiser? ridden by who? I can't even name one DG factory cruiser rider on the national circuit in 81-82.

Joe Claveau and perhaps somebody else was riding that RRS 24" cruiser that got attention in BMXA with the rotating BB chain tensioner thing. By Spring 82 most people at nationals had 24" cruisers. Not everybody though. On Mark Lopez's video there's a guy at the 82 NBL grands taking moto wins beating Jamie Tedesco in the youngest cruiser class on a 26" class. My brother got 2nd in 14-15 cruiser in 82 at Lawrenceville on a 26" Torker, beating a lot of 24" Hutch cruisers.

In 1980 I won the Maryland state championships on a JC Higgins 26" cruiser frame I found in the woods near my house. The amazing thing is I jumped it a lot and never broke the frame.

I personally have very fond memories of 26" cruisers, and there are lots of pics of 26" cruisers here.

[DeLuxxBmxMidWest]

Larry,

That video of you racing in Middletown, Maryland reminds me of a trip I made in 1976 to race the grand opening of a track in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Larry is my brother. I posted and revised my other auld skool BMX youtube vids, so view this and click on the video response and you can cycle through all of them.

Auld Skool Western Maryland BMX video

I also have a bunch of auld skool BMX pics on Facebook under Bob VonMoss

[ripper185]

Nice GHP there man - still got it?


I think everyone would agree the Mongoose Two Four really set the 24" scene off - it was the bike that went to the masses and it rode well.

After that you have the SE Floval Flyer, GT 24, Hutch XL24 as the early top performers.

Everybody pretty much made a 24" in 83 although a few of the big players left 24"s off the list for a while - most notably Diamond Back who didn't really hit with a 24" until 85.

Yeah still got it. It's my brothers , unfortunately it's been painted silver and purple and looks terrible.I'll try to put some pics up soon.

[Klein]

I loved 24" cruisers......

I first raced a 24" RRS back in '82 (11 expert).

This shot is from Alpenrose Dairy, clearing the camel back.

I sold it when I finally started to grow and then raced a 24" JMC.

Thankfully it still safely hang's in my garage.

 Klein_RRS.jpg ( 194.55K ) Number of downloads: 47

I loved 24" cruisers......

I first raced a 24" RRS back in '82 (11 expert).

This shot is from Alpenrose Dairy, clearing the camel back.

I sold it when I finally started to grow and then raced a 24" JMC.

Thankfully it still safely hang's in my garage.

 Klein_RRS.jpg ( 194.55K ) Number of downloads: 47

The JMC that is.........

Attached File(s)

 Klein_RRS.jpg ( 194.55K ) Number of downloads: 20

 

[Jason Chang]

Now that I think about it, there was a lack of tires for the 24, so I feel that slowed the growth. Comp III had a 26 tire but took a while to make a 24. once the 24 was available the end of the 26 was here to stay.

Changstar

[ripper185]

Me on my GHP 24" cruiser in '84. White wheels came of a wheel chair(IMG:http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx187/ripper185/MALSPICS3.jpg?t=1246439247)

Same bike over 20 years later (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)
 Bike_shed_012.jpg ( 146.05K ) Number of downloads: 54

 Bikes_002.jpg ( 126.41K ) Number of downloads: 51

[oc dave]

I owned a 81 GT 24'' for a while and now a good friend has it.I remember 82 being the year for 24'' in my area. Hey Ken who else was factory DG on cruisers in 81 82? also got any idea when they shut the doors?

[blikum]

Here's some RRS 24 info. Unfortunately I don't have the date of the ad.

(IMG:http://idisk.mac.com/blikum1/Public/bike/rrs_ad.jpg)
(IMG:http://idisk.mac.com/blikum1/Public/bike/rrs_BMX_Plus1.jpg)
(IMG:http://idisk.mac.com/blikum1/Public/bike/rrs_BMX_Plus2.jpg)
(IMG:http://idisk.mac.com/blikum1/Public/bike/rrs_BMX_Plus3.jpg)
(IMG:http://idisk.mac.com/blikum1/Public/bike/rrs_BMX_Plus4.jpg)

And here's a gratuitous shot of mine...

(IMG:http://idisk.mac.com/blikum1/Public/bike/rrs1.jpg)

[ripper185]

My brothers GHP 24" he's owned it since the mid 80's. He's restoring it back to its original colour. Just needs some decals.
(IMG:http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx187/ripper185/GHP_cruiserwhite.jpg?t=1257582197)
(IMG:http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx187/ripper185/cruiser.jpg?t=1257582266)
(IMG:http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx187/ripper185/Malracing.jpg?t=1257582326)

The last pic is my brother racing it last weekend at a Retro Race meeting in Sydney.