It works awesome, after blowing 2 chains from unround front sprockets (tight loose tight issue) I thought I would give it a try. This thing keeps a nice smooth even tension on the chain, not to tight & not to loose. I thought it was gimmicky at first but now feel that it is an awesome component that helps a ton. I haven't blown a chain while riding since. You can also also adjust the spring tension based on your preference. I hope this info helps and take care.

The Condo date has been set. More details to follow

photo's????

I don't have time to post a crapload of photos

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE 1980 to 1983 GALLERY

Someone feel free to post from there on to here

Anyone remember when Dave Christiansen snapped all of his spider bolts on the gate at the St. Paul Civic Center? I don't recall the year, but I remember he was riding for Tahoe at the time. Jerry you probably remember.

It was the winter of 1983-84 at the Roy Wilkens Aud. That was the moment he gained official cool status in my eyes. I would have said legend, but now that he's kind of a washed up has been, I'm not gonna go that far.

That was awesome!!!! Got anymore? j/k.

I like the black n white shots from the Dez Moinez state fair grounds plex races... I hit almost all of those. Thanks again for the shots.






Gosh, he had my attention long before broken chainting bolts

HERE IS THE LINK TO 1984 - 1985 So Brad can shut his piehole a while

Man, there are some great photo's in his collection.

Great action shots, I like this one!

Maybe this is a bad time to post these Riverside BMX photos with Quigleys awesome shots... but here they are anyway!

Gee thanks Mark!

Sean, nice pics. Are these all 82? How bout the bulldozers? are they bringing or take'n it away? LMAO!

On a National level bmx in 84, maybe 85 looked pretty awesome. I see those and just think about how much I missed an now I'm sad

Yeah, those Austin shots are great!!!!! In that first one, 2 of the 4 guys on that gate or from Waseca. I would love to see that first jump at Austin again. That little bump then the downhill, right into the corner. That seen alot of action....

This is the best I can do. Bad Austin Daily Herald shot of Me, Rob Tracy and Mr Mikey Swank in 1982.

Thanks Dan 4 the great pictures

Me racing 4 SE

Mark , Can you post the 2 small pictures bigger. THX

I remember that day! *^%$##@!!! I think Troy ended up winning that main? I was icing up my crotch! After that I kept my bike in my room, right brother KOP? Note the “To The Max” Torker® poster, I loved that poster as a kid, still got it in my shed! Gary, just show up for the Condo©!! You would have made the main at Grands this year! Next year I want to see you in the main at Grands!! Ok, back to the rollers…….

For some reason I remember that Austin first dip, a little steeper.. I remember one time, I lost control right before it,, and went flying all the way down, and I think my handlebar went into my thigh.. It swelled up like a softball was under there. I was scared. This was like a ballon,,,, after a doc apt.. it went down slowly, aftter awhile.. That sucked.. It was sure fun riding that track before and after the race..
And one of the races there was a thunderstorm.. I remember they still ran the races.. Man, the last few corners had over a foot of water on the track.. MAn,, hard to believe...

Scott, that PK is freaking awesome...!

I still have McNeal's #1 plate/stem pad from this race w his autograph still intact, among other things!

Just found this site & want to thank you guys for putting up all this great info/pics.

Raced down in IA/IL (IA City, Cedar Rapids, Moline,etc.) , but occasionally ventured up to MN &WI when I could. I see names on here that I thought I would never see again! Good to see the RONDO Classic pics too.

Still racing in California, just different wheels. Can't part with the last BMX bike though...

Cheers!

Check out John Sandbox in the first picture, first Rondo Classic with Gary E on the gate, 50z plate is John.

I do believe that the 455 guy in the 1st picture is the Corbin kid you were refering to that had a Tahoe frame of yours. Also the 109 is Phil Felt, 86 Darin Olien, and #5 is Pat Smith. I enjoyed racing at that track, especially trying to triple the woops in the 2nd straight. If memory serves me we were racing there the weekend when Apold quit, I remember someone, maybe Terry Cords saying Apold quit he's done, and everyone kind of being shocked.

[quote name='B. Apold' date='Dec 9 2008, 07:47 AM' post='671553']
I recall a place refered to the "U" trail's. I didn't ride allot during my time on LA or southern CA, but I think I know what your talking about. Interesting about BMX plus though. I never made it out past the foothills area to visit Azuza etc.. I was a magnet to the beach and went there every chance I got, which about every other day/night. Topanga, SMB, Malibu, then down further to Laguna/new Port... great times, lots of volleyball and beer. It was a no worry time.


The "U" - Palmdale Ca. This is where I moved to from IA. Very good times with Bartlett, Harrison, Chipres, Carter, etc. I believe it is no more. Spike Jonze shooting tests for BMX Plus also memorable. Wonder what Spike is up to these days

I found these today while digging for something I didn't find. Just as well, I scanned these beauties, did some quick color adjustment on them and cropped them to fit your monitor. Click to make them bigger.

You'll probably be to busy laughing to read any story I might write for these shots - so I'll get back to it later. Enjoy, be nice. These two pictures tell volumes about all the people in the pics.

Holy buttpops batman! Is that Englby, Butternooty, Limpke and Robin Towsley in there? Sheely, Vangen (on the right?), Benjman(?) as well?

Wow - thanks Dan! You were a fixture on the scene, these pictures are amazing.

Some of my favorites:

You know who that BMX master is next to the #12 bike don't you Shawn?????

John, Don't you remember Dan used to take me everywhere??? 15 years of non-stop fun! We'll of course other than the broken leg, hip, kneecap, elbow, ankle, wrist, thumb.....

Welcome Gary!

I always dug those NowSport pants (half 'n' half colors). Very cool! Much better than the 1979-80 Rydjor bmx team "SE" unfluenced joisey's......Eeeeeek!

#12 ?
#7 Nik
#3 Nate
#2 Robin
#5 TL
#0 Lil"Butterbuddy
#7 E-bee
#10 Sheely
#222 Vangen

Yesssss, Welcome Gary!!!

#222 ?

Hey Brad-that pic of the bulldozers at the Riverside BMX track is actually the building of the "NEW" track. My Dad, Larry Miland and Floyd Felt can be seen by the 'dozer. Alot of Austin area guys dont realize just how much Floyd Felt did for the Austin BMX races in the early mid eighties. Especially once the diehards like Dan and PAt from Rydjor ,and then later when my folks left as well. Floyd wrangled up ALOT of free services for building that track both the 1st and second track at Riverside. Donated bulldozers, donated electrician services to put in lights, donated tar paving services for the starting hill,donated memorial stone(rumors it still exists at the Park and Rec storage garage!?) the list goes on and on. He persuaded these businesses to donate time for kids like Jerry Lewis on the telethon. People mostly remember his loud brash style but his heart is all gold.

Oh agree totally, Floyd did do allot for the bmx in Austin. Once Pat and Dan decided to back away some your Dad (god bless him) Mom, Robert Lynde and the 5 of us (John, Sean, Shan, Robby and myself) spent countless hours. Floyd was the beginning of the new comer's to the sport and it was my exit...yours too, but he did step up no question. Someone was saying Phil had scored like 10 bikes from the day and raced a different bike at each track...something like that. P

Is that Rex in the Schwinn duds? Maybe Conley or Bill Fold to the right of him??

O' and welcome flyiniowan! Name?



Yes that would be me.

Yea - nice pic Gary, it says "ya, I'm pretty fast - got some nice trophys to prove it."

Brad - where did you get that picture of Mike Vangen? #12 in the Now pics is Peter Westlin (the biggest, baddest 12x in the Midwest), the rest are Nick Kragness, Nathan Benjamin, Robin Housley, Troy Lembke, Rob Butterfield (Lindstrom), Mike Englebee, myself, and Mike Vangen.

That was the first week of June 1983, Richfield, Now Bikes appreciation day - I had been working quite some time to put that team together.

We had just got our uniforms, we had our custom helmets from Randy Herget at Tigre, and the Now Sports guys arranged a photographer to come out to make the shoot. I was only there for about a half hour, as my Mother scheduled my graduation party the same day - so I had to run back home to meet friends and relatives.

That team went on to completely dominate that summer - taking 90% of the team trophies that summer all over the Midwest. I'm not sure of the circumstances, but I don't think Troy stayed on the team much longer than a month after the photo.

So why 3 guys in the same class on the same team? (Butter/TL/SS)?

Cool uni's though.... Shoot, by Summer 83 I was team white long sleeved T shirt and Troy Lembke jeans. At that point I was sick of the wannabe Factory Support GT team and Rydjor wasn't doing as much either. I was Factory W.F. Apold

Anyone remember some of the Iowa bike teams?

Des Moines bike? (green/white uni's)

Bike World (Blue and white unit's) from Des Moines?

Karcity Big wheels?

Warren bmx team ( the trucking company) I think they had the two black twins on that team.

I was trying to remember why Troy came on the team, I think Mike and Rob had some sway with me on that - but not that unusual to have a lot of fast riders (Tremco/Rondo for example - where there was Dave, Steve, Mark, Mike V. and Troy). I had been doing more freestyle, so that could have had something to do with it - but I had a bad crash in the spring of '83 and ended up getting back into racing.

Mercado: I remember that Quigs brought you to the races, but I didn't realize it started so early and lasted so many years. Or that you traveled to SO MANY other states.

Nor did I realize that Quigs shot pix of it all. Literally, of it ALL!

I've said it before (I think on page 36 of this thread), that I drank WAY TOO MUCH Rondo back in the day, lit way too many farts in hotel rooms, dropped too many room service plates down the gap in the elevator door, borrowed more than my share of hotel room towels, wore the same helmet through too many crashes and went to one too many Loverboy concerts with Sheely to remember what happened on a daily basis 27 years ago.

Welcome, Gary. It's good to have you here.

I guess we weren't the only fans ...

[quote name='Mark Conley' date='Dec 15 2008, 08:04 AM' post='675972']
O' and welcome flyiniowan! Name?




Sorry. Patrick Briggs. Or just Pat. Raced IA/IL mostly from 80-88, moved to CA & raced until 91 Grands.

The names i'm hearing are bringing it all back. I recognized a few of you from north of us. I recall getting the better of Sandberg at Marion IA for my first double points expert win around '81?!

Some of the teams from IA/IL were Kar City (top of the list! Hejdas, Condron, Emerson, Franklin, Parsons )Driscoll, Bike & Hike (Lawan, Coopman, etc.) Tenderfoot (Moliterno) ...
It's too early in the a.m. to remember this. I too, will have to learn how to upload pics, if I have any left. The GF is pretty savvy for that.

Good reading you guys! Keep it up.

9 guys on the gate from the same team!! WOW, that's stacked

Pat, We would have been in the same class as John. Can you remember any other Iowa names?? Issacson is the only guy I can recall

Brad

Wow guys. Amazing images to say the least. I am back to the grind which means not as much time to day dream. I had a couple days of fun on VBMX which did not go un-noticed by the family. Nosy Nates.

Any way, keep em' coming. You all looked so funny BITD. It is now all coming back.

Why I did not hang out with ya'll in the first place. Clearly these images show who was cool BITD and who was not.

And then there was TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL, COOL. That is Church of The Fonz cool mates.

Issacson was Des Moines if I recall.

The Burlinton guys were McCullogh, Chenoweth bros, Bruce Jeschke (i found a BMX page of his with some great pics of IA City, moto sheets, 7 Ponds,etc) The Quad City guys were Barry Ream, Moliterno, Freemans (they ran the Davenport track early 80's when you wouldn't get home before midnight on weekdays. 75 motos maybe?) Lawan obviously( I just tracked him down through a friend. He's in Las Vegas ) Sooo many more that I can't think of that deserve mentioning. As I go through this site some more, it will come back...

I still can't wrap my brain around those early Cedar Rapids/ Marion, Rock Island Armory pics from 80-83. WOW. & the pic with Coppernol!! That guy did everything for our scene.

And what school did you come from?

Butterfield- You really doing/did track? I read that post. pretty impressive if so. I race road/track out here now. See LaBerge on almost a weekly basis. His kids are doing well, although i thought he would take them the BMX route first. They like the road having grown up around it watching dad race.

What are you talking about? Troy has the Fonz thing going - looks tough in that Now uni.

If you check that pic of the Now team on the gate, there's a whole story going on there - I don't know why the photog couldn't wait until we were ready (or we couldn't get ready) but here's what was going on...

Vangen, the consummate Pro (he was a pro skateboarder when he was 13 or so), he's just getting ready "let's get this over with" ... oblivious to Troy and Rob, who are cutting it up - I'm trying to tell Troy to make some room, that we don't need to "be on the gate", but that we all need to be on the gate (so I'm trying to squeeze in). Nate is the only one who understood what I was trying to do - so he's just posing for the camera, he was stoked about the team.

You'll notice Troy wanted to be in the middle of the shots - ya, Troy liked to get under people's skin - he was just ignoring any direction I gave, or ignoring me for that matter. This was supposed to be my big day - it took a lot of work to get that team together, but my Mom had already botched that a bit by scheduling my graduation party - so I was passive to the games.

Rob is doing all kinds of weird stuff (you'll notice he has one hand off the bar) going for the full ready-to-sprint gate pose, so Mike E. just follows along and stages as well, giggling at Rob and Troy (which only encourages them more) ... Robin is ready, Nick is trying to help me get things straightened out, and Pete W. is quietly doing his thing (which he did on the track as well).

I think everyone was just excited, new unis, those pimp helmets, everyone was happy about the new team, and adolescent giddyness. I was pissed that I had to leave, just wanted to get the photos as pro as possible and get moving - but it was like herding cats - so the pics speak for themselves. A moment captured.

Yes. Local Insurance salesman Steve Redelsberger introduced me to road and track cycling in 1992. I race mostly road but hit the track (velodrome) a couple times each year for big races. If you race on the road and you are ok at it, the track is a snap. I raced from 1992-2000 on the road and track and in 2003 and 2004 I made a brief come back and raced track only. Sprint only. I did nothing longer than 2 laps for 2 years. The track is 250 Meters.

That is the Gold Uniform. The Saturn kit was something.

Moving on:

What School Brad? What School?

I'll tell you what School.

Right after this message.

They looked alot like the white/blue BJ's uni's.... Which one came first? I'm foggy....