Here's a look at a couple of the Slingshots I use to have in the 'ol stable. Both are long gone but I still have the pix to look back on.

The first one I built up as a complete. It was Slingshot frame, fork, and bars(Very rare).


The second is a frame and fork that I traded for a sidehack set-up several years ago. i found them both in one shop. The shop owner had a 24" also but i didn't have the funds to swing them all at the time.


[ January 29, 2006, 07:28 PM: Message edited by: Thumperpilot ]

Bump....

there is one on the bay right now for like $400 i think.

Yep I saw that one. It looks to be a 24". Pretty rare stuff.

[ January 29, 2006, 11:02 PM: Message edited by: Thumperpilot ]

Those are pretty cool bikes Shannon. We had quite a few people riding them here through the 80's. I'm not sure if it was because Slingshot was a local company here in Michigan or because Jamson Hendler was at his prime riding for them and raced locally.

Forget about the Slingshot frames, where did you find forks with rear facing dropouts?!

They're the special race geometry fork for quicker sterring. LOL.... Actaully, the fram wouldn't stand still for a picture so I turned the forks around and it stayed just fine.

I think they were big in MI because they were local company.
Those were spooky to ride... but I still wanted one

Cool bikes - built by great guys.
We used to hang out at the old factory downtown late nights ...but that was late 80s and they were working on MTBs


recent find

another thread about them

Cool, thanks for the ifo okeja!

Hey Deanna, You just helped me remember the name, Jamson Hendler. I have been announcing USCF bicyle races here in Elkhart for several years, Jamson has raced here and won several times. I enjoyed interviewing him and asking him about the BMX days. Thanks. WM

I saw that one on eBay. I remember Sling Shot mountain bikes from my early mountain biking days in the 80s. Didn't know they made BMX bikes. Cool looking, but I would think it would be a strange ride for BMX.

Wildman,
How is Jamson doing and what has he been up to? I haven't seen him since we were kids.

Please let me know!

Wildman,
Do you remember Jeff Starbuck? He was a Slingshot rider back in day @ Buds bmx.

Deanna, It has probably been a couple years since I talked to him, and it was only a winners interview. I can tell you one thing about him that had not changed, He was still incredibly fast. WM

BMXMR, Hey, It has been a long time and I am getting kinda senile. I remember alot of people, but i'm not sure about Jeff Starbuck, it does sound a little familier though. WM

From Sept. 1984 BMX Plus

So how did it ride? I remember them but never saw one in person. Would so cool if someone raced a nat on one.

Changstar

Deanna
Jamson is in Michigan. He's doing well & has a couple kids of his own.
Last time we talked about serious life stuff - he was attending GVSU working toward being Physical Therapist with some kind of Doctorate so he can concentrate on sports medicine.
Still rides but not so much racing. Finally saw the light and bought himself a vintage Jeep last summer


.


Jason
They ride different.
You can push the front left but the back still keeps going right.
Crank hard and the BB flexes - much.
Crank hard in a classic power wheelie manuver and it is kinda like a dance.
Difficult to speed jump, or manual as the kids call it, due to the stretching wheelbase thing.
Takes getting used to.

[ February 01, 2006, 08:49 AM: Message edited by: okeja ]

There was a guy that raced a Slingshot cruiser in Ft Wayne at the indoor Colesium races BITD. It was way scary watching that bike go up and over a wooden tabletop at full speed. I dont know if the guy was anyone mentioned on here, but he was pretty fast on it.

Nobody wanted to be close to him because it looked like that bike was gonna come apart when he was on the gas. The guy never had a lick of problems with it though.

RC

Oh yeah, Hi John (Wildman), good to see ya still lurking around a bit.

RC

Hey Rich, How are you, Yeah, since I am not making calls any more, I have more time for important things like VBMX. Will I see you at Wabash this summer? Hey BMXmania racer, just curious, are you Jeff Starbuck? If you are, jog my memory a little. WM

I have a 20" Squaretubed Slingshot, anyone else ever seen one like that?
I have magazine test articale on Slingshot frames in one of my old mags, I remember it saying the fiberglass? piece was a a direct part from a corvette suspension.

Yeah, corvette leafspring is what I was told, yes, fiberglass. The square ones were the first ones, round is way more common.

okeja,
Thanks for the update, I have often wondered how Jamson was doing and what became of him. If you do see him again please tell him I said hi. Direct him to this site as I'm sure he would have a great time reading the different threads.

John, I dont have a motorcycle anymore, and going to the track and not racing just about kills me. Everytime I do, I want to buy another bike. Actually, the urge for a MX bike is getting stronger, and I dont even have to be at the track....LOL

I probably will just because that is really the only weekend I get to see all my old MX buddies. Hopefully the weather is better this year.

I am not sure if you have heard. But Hobart, IN is having a big BMX race on the 11th. If ya want to check out a cool track with some great racing, maybe you should come out. ya might even run into some other old schoolers from your Bud's BMX days.

BMXManiaracer is Jeff Kohler also.

Cya bud,

RC

Scott, I would love to see what all you have. I have only really met you today, and already you have a set of Clemtwins and a Slingshot.

If you started back in the 90's, I bet you have all kinds of cool stuff.

RC

Hey Kohler I remember Starbuck. I always liked his dad announcing at Elkhart.

I think maybe the guy on the cruiser at the Coliseum may have been Ted Ruys. He was a long time Slingshot guy and still races the Michigan state series.

Slingshot is still in business and still makes bikes in Michigan. They have a road team. Not sure about the mtn. stuff.

After his SE days, Brent Walk was the first big name on a Slingshot (Team Manager) back then he was the man here in Michigan. He used to win the Pro money at just about every race we went to for a few years straight. Back then there was Pro money at big local races all over the midwest.

I was on the team back in the 80's with Brent and Jeff Starbuck and a really big fast kid named Mark from Benton Harbor who I cant remember his last name.

I dont remember if Jamson ever actually rode BMX for Slingshot he had a factory Schwinn deal back then but he went on to race Mountain bikes for them. He and his brother Brant are both still in Grand Rapids and racing road bikes, cyclocross and MTB. Both still very fast. Brant won the Norba downhill national championship in about 1992 when he was a junior.

I still have my Slingshot cruiser, raced it up till 1993 then retired it to my basement. Those bikes were great once you got used to them. I'll never get rid of mine.

I guess that was me back at the cement racing in Fort Wayne. I used to go there all the time. I miss cement racing believe it or not.
I dont think it was because of the Slingshot that people were scared to get close to me though. I think its because I'm one of those tall squirelly dutch guys.

Hey Ted, good to see you here. The Mark from Benton Harbor was Mark Veil I think?

Keep us all posted on the progress of BMX back in Grand Rapids.

Brent and you are certainly the Slingshot experts!

Take care, hopefully we'll see you in the summer.

Brian Clark

Hey Brian, Do you remember a guy named John Kiernan announcing at Bud's? It would have been WAy back in the day, like late 70's.

That is who Wildman is. He was a pioneer in Northern Indiana BMX, and is a great guy.

RC

I started going to Bud's in 81 or 82.

I remember winning a shirt the first time I went there and the announcer had me up there talking before he would give me the shirt.

Not sure who it was but sure had me rattled!

Bud's was the hot spot for midwest bmx bitd....pro class at local races,10 man gates, not much of that these days. I think my first year racing there was around 1981...we had a ton of tracks near by, Edwardsburg, Benton Harbor,Michigan City,Plainwell all within an hour of home. Now I'm an hour away from any track. Did anyone race the ABA national at the fairgrounds in South Bend in 1983? I still have a trophy from that, it was a great track and a pretty big rider turnout too. As for Slingshot, I did see some of the MTB stuff on display at the Iceman(www.iceman.com) race 2 years ago. Wildman, as RC said I'm not Starbuck. You may remember my younger brother Matt(the Michigan Madman) Kohler, he went undefeated for about 2 years(9&10ex class) @ Bud's.... until he was beat by Wendy Edman?
For the gold and the glory
Jeff Kohler

Thanks, Jeff for the kind words. Hey Rich, Hobart race on the 11th of what? I don't know if any of you guys remember, but Brent Walk used to be a regular at Buds. He is a great guy, you GR folks should try to get him to get on the site. WM

Wildman
I kinda remember you from way back at Elkhart, I was a 16 Novice moto filler.
I was telling Brent about this site a couple of weeks ago when I saw him. He was interested but i dont know if he's been here yet? He is promoting snowmobile snowcross races this time of year and waay busy.
I told him alot of his old SE buddies are here. Being fairly new to this site I gotta admit I really dig reading posts from this crowd. Brings back a lot of good memories.

Hey Brian
I was wondering who actually knew who I was and how to spell my name. Thanks dude

Brian

Your right it was Mark Viel, he was a very big and very fast kid at like 13. Your BMX memory bank is awesome dude.
Heres a pop quiz for ya, what was Jeff Starbucks dads name? Its a unique one...

Sorry John, the 11th of Feb. Here is the link from the racing section that announces the race, plus all the fatmouthing (half the fun of racing anymore).

Here is the website for Hobart.

www.steelwheelsbmx.com

It has more info, plus a map.

RC

I don't remember his name. I only remember calling him Mr. Starbuck. I can still hear his voice though.

tedr,
Jamson rode for Slingshot before he got the Schwinn deal. I believe he won the worlds in Whistler on a Slingshot and was picked up by Schwinn right after the race. I could have the sponsors in the wrong order but I know he rode for Slingshot at some time in his career.

Jim Wahl will remember (He's a member here). I have memories of Jamson at Jim's parents track Challenge BMX at the Michigan/Ohio border off of US23. He was on Slingshot during that time and I believe raced Jim.

Getting a bit off subject, I remember the name Brent Walk, I may have been to young at the time to remember the actual person. I have many memories of Brian Barlow and Chris Jeffries as a kid. Might have been because my home track was Bogie Downs and Waterford.

Deanna
I think maybe Jamson was on Slingshot then when Dave Spotts was? Maybe like 83 or 84? Probably right before Brent took over as Team manager. I had one of my injury induced off seasons around that time and was out of the picture for a while. I remember Brian & Chris, both very fast. Brian was an exceptionally cool guy.

Brian
Mr Starbuck was a Cop and his first name was Hack, neat guy, great sense of humor.

I remember Dave Spotts, haven't heard that name in years. I think your right though seems that Jamson was on the team with him. I just remember him winning a very big race against Mikey King and Darwin Griffin and being picked up by Schwinn. Him and I were pretty good friends through the years.

Hey tedr, What is your name?

Jamson won the Worlds in Whistler riding for Schwinn. Hi Mr. RUYS!

Hey Ted! Glad to see you posting on here. Fastest slingshot rider I ever knew.

Wildman
My name is Ted Ruys (old moto filler from Michigan)

Hi Todd, sorry dude but Seattle is gonna spank your Steelers!

James "Popeye" Mertens the guy that has been smoking me on an RRS cruiser since the 80's. You Rock dude.
.

Hey Ted, about moto fillers. I guess being an announcer, I talked more about the trophy gatherers than the moto fillers. I must tell you that If i had to do it all over again, I wouldn't do it unless I felt that the moto fillers(your word) were not getting all of the positives that the others were getting. I guess that I remember the TG's names better, but I will never forget the great times that we ALL had. WM

Oh man it is so great to see a website that I can reconnect with all of my old friends. Ted thanks for directing me to this site. Todd, Wildman, Jim Wahl and especially Deanna, it is so great to read your posts. Those were such great days. I would not trade those days for anything. I think alot of us grew up together out on tour and ashamed to say tearing up rental cars. Deanna did you ever have to pay for the Lincoln that we all stickered up with Hutch stickers? I still occasinally see Guy Stevenson when I go to Boulder. He still has the titanium arm compliments of Richard Fleming at ABA Grands. Man, any of you that want to get in touch you should definately drop me a line at jamsonhendler@hotmail.com Wildman I will be back at the Great Race this year and looking to finally complete my quest to win both races in the same weekend. The crit is great and the last year I did it I lapped the field and won but the next day got dropped in the road race trying to fight the wind. Good to hear you all are doing good. Todd, I need to get out to see you soon. Does everyone know how much old school stuff you have at Breakaway? Just a hint for thoe looking for old school BMX stuff. Peace all. Jamson. p.s. Deanna drop me a line. I would love to talk to you again.

Oh yeah a couple more things. Deanna I have a copy of the 85 Worlds on Nickelodeon. It is from start to finish. It has a couple of realy great races. The best besides my win was you throwing a body block on 5 of the 8 girls in the main. Let me know and I can send you a copy. Also, on the topic of SlingShot, I am going back to my roots and have a new SlingShot cyclo-cross bike. It is a full all tube bike with no cables. It is a great ride. The frame and carbon fork weigh only 2.6 lbs. As far as the company goes, it is no owned by a really hard working Scott "scooter" Templar. Check out there website slingshotbikes.com All you local guys support your local bike builders. Later, Jamson

"Hi Todd, sorry dude but Seattle is gonna spank your Steelers!" HEY, I thought we were friends! lol. How can the Steelers lose when Roethlisberger will be named the MVP?