Having stopped racing back in the early 80s, I missed out on a lot of frame development, so just a bit unsure what was good and what was not.

Looking at late 80s into the 90s, but before 1 1/8 & v brakes.

I can only think of the Ripper, surely some one else must have made a great frame, any offers?

Bren

for those years i'd checkout the 'Mid-School' section...i liked ELF's.

Kastans are very nice

Yeah, for that era, Kastans screamed quality. I wish I had a chromoly frame from the early 90s.

nice one, can one of the mods move this into the Mid school section please.

cheers lads, keep 'em coming, any pics?

Bren.

Patterson

Patterson? when did they stop making frames?

mrd made by tim march in the uk.

Speed Unlimited

Patterson stopped in 1986. Brent went on with Boss until they closed in 1999. They are almost the same frame.

Elfs were fantastic.

Old Free agents had the coolest stickers though (the script)

I had one of the first Kastans (Serial # was 7)... That bike was sweet. That is one of the few bikes I wish I had kept...

Brian

I had a Zeronine 85-86, Boss 87-88, Phase II 88 (loved the bike but left the team and stopped riding that frame, Privateer 89-90, and ELF 90-91 during those days, then retired. I liked each of them, but I liked getting a new ride batter, so I would just buy a new one each year. It helped that I worked at a bike shop and got them at cost. Always felt faster on new equipment. Actually most of the time I moved up to a longer frame.

I always liked Badd and Co. Clean, simple design.

Auburn was unique in that their frames had removable back ends. I remember they won the BMXPlus Reader's Choice bike for a number of years in a row.

Matt

Free Agent Limos. The geometry still holds up today.

b.

Limo's have that subtle placement of the seattube slightly back on the BB shell, this made them feel longer than their 21" TT. It does hold up today, and it was waaaayyyy ahead of it's time.

Well I am still using my Auburn and it is a late 80s early 90s model. I like the feel, how it rides, and how it looks. I always looked at the Auburn as being the best bike. Then again I am a light weight person and the only frame I ever broke was my old Skyway TA so that could explain why my Auburn still holds up to this day.

Thats a easy one BOSS

Cyclecraft!

The 87-88 FA limos.

ELF double cross

S&M Holmes

Badd Racing Frames

All of those were great, different from one another frames. I understand Zeronines were fabricated by CycleCraft (another great mid schoo maker) and Boss was Carlo Lucia who fabricated late Patterson's and late Panda's. Privateer was a mythical frame builder to us on the West Coast. I would love to gather some info on Privateer.



yes it does! i know a few guys searching for these . I'm an ELF'n magic man myself but would totally dig a Limo.

86ish Haro group 1 rs1!

I remember in early 90's Mongoose Expert was super popular. All my friends would argue about which Mongoose was the best. I always Stayed out of it. But if they asked me I woud say Robinson and GT Pro series bikes were the best. Then I would get the "sure..... if you could afford one." Which made sense talkin about $400 or more for a 12 year old kid. Lots of News Papers to deliver for bikes like that...

I've always liked the classic Supercross sub stay rear end frames.

I got one of those, after coming off a floppy tri-moly Redline. When you pedal one of those, you know your effort is going to the wheel, and not just torquing around the rear end. I lived in an area where most kids were riding around on Huffys and Murrays that had been floating around the neighborhood for years, so I never got to ride a nice frameset untill, I got my Supercross. Mine's new enough to have the cantis and threadless steering, but the rear triangle was pretty well unchanged, save for the brake mounts. Only real problem is that the dropout spacing is too narrow.

+1

I think if I didnt have this one, I would have been on a Widowmaker, or a CC with dirt legz.

Look at you, slick rig right there!

Post a pic of the Auburn, always liked them.

I was Chris Moeller's roommate in '91-'92, when he ran S&M out of the garage of a one bedroom apartment. I was there one day when Pete Loncarevich came over to get a Holmes with no stickers. Chris and Pete got talking and figured out that all of the top 16 pros at the time (2 gates worth) were riding either an S&M Holmes or Free Agent Limo with their sponsor's stickers on it.

I would like to know more about Privateer I tried to find one to buy back in the day I wanted a limo or the privateer so I got a limo.Would have sworn a FA was a privateer.
Does anyone have the bmxa with Todd Slavik on the cover on a yellow FA??

Them were the days LMAO

Just read my post on the first page and I have since bought a nos early 90s chromoly Kastan and its a beaute!! Technique is another midschool cool that I have a few of...very nice!!

Alot of pros who made it ran Boss. Small market with major talent under the helmet and behind the welder.

Auburns and Robinsons have always been the best bikes for me. No matter how I have them set up they are always comfortable to ride. My #3 choice would be a FA limo.

What year is that? It looks like the same year as my old ELF 20". I'm not sure what year it was because I bought it used and raced it for a couple of years. I sold it in '94 with a set CW sealed hubs laced to Pro Class rims for $150 (let the flogging begin). I still kick myself over that one.

Anything designed by or ridden by the Patterson brothers and pretty much anything welded by Carlo Lucia... Chris Moeller has to get honorable mention...

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

Revcore
Auburn
ELF
Boss
Kastan

I have to say that while the quality of the Kastan was top notch, the geometry was kind of wacky. I still have my '90 cm cruiser (actually raced it for 6 months in '06). No lie, the BB is 13 1/2 inches tall! No one believes me until I pull out the yardstick. The seattube is so short that the stock seatpost made it feel like a roadbike (jammed all the way down) until I cut off like 6 inches off the post.

Ken

I rode a lot of bikes over the years but in my opinion, the best racing frames were built by MCS

4 years later...

TNT

Is that what you ended up with? where's the pic?

I'm not sure why but no one mentioned GHP. I believe they were the first ones to have a 74deg head tube. They were around till 87ish then came back in the 90's for a couple of years and then again in 2005.

Those are the first three race bikes I owned and I loved them all. The Holmes was by far my favorite although the elf looked awesome with the double chain stays. There was just something about rolling around on a bike named after a porn star with a huge...

I really liked my Brackens.

1990 ProXL



Then 1994 ish ProXL



Now on a 1990ish Pro, no pics of that one.

TNT (no.24) in action, complete with stick on face hair...



Had a go with Brackens ProXL... Like an oil tanker.

Elf Double Cross... rear was way too long

Revcore... very nice, but not mine.

Challanger... nice too.

1994 TNT ProXL was bar far the best frame set for me.

My Fong Daddy...



TNTs


Bren

<-------------------------

I think the Kastan is a great frame. I just scored a chrome 20in Kastan with Kastan forks and a set of spin rims for $80.00. It did cost me an additional $100 to have it shipped but well worth it. It also has a set of old skool GT cranks on it. Powerlite also made a great frame back in the early 90's.

For some reason snap beat me too it...
you couldnt beat my MCS.... and most didnt...


MCS
haro
Auburn

+100000000000000

Looking back on it now I was extremely fortunate to have raced when I did. 1989-1993

I raced on a JMC cruiser..
a cyclecraft xlx,
BLOCK
freeagent limo,
SE Assassin
MCS Magnum xl
and a Hawk XL

All of these bikes held up well but I would put the JMC cruiser at the top of the list.