Just a big fan of S&M back in the day. Here's some pics of the "founders". I had a couple of "Crazy Red" Mike Carlson and Greg Scott, just have to find the mags they were in.

S&M's first ad?


"Pepe" Hernandez:


John Paul Rogers:


Mad Dog(my all time favorite BMX pic EVER):



Clymer:




Business card I got with their "catalog"(late 80's?)


Back in the day, to me, no one even came close to being as awesome as they were, especially Dave Clymer. A boy had to have heros.

-Matt

[ May 02, 2005, 10:40 PM: Message edited by: Matt S. ]

I remember when Clymer moved away from here. He took his multi colored hair to Cali to find bigger and better things. Didn't take too long before he moved in w/ the P.O.W.'s and increased his skill level ten fold.

CW, did you know Clymer? I remember I found out that S&M was going to be hitting some of the East Coast tracks as part of a tour...the week AFTER they were already in PA! Totally bummed.

An earlier shot of Dave sporting The Peddaler jersey out of Lansdale, PA:



[ May 01, 2005, 02:17 PM: Message edited by: Matt S. ]

Pedaller Bike Shop Lansdale, PA That's my shop bro!
I knew Joyce and she was the best. My Race Inc. RA-7 was her son's first race bike. It was waiting for Matt under the Christmas tree next to an identical Race Inc. cruiser for mom Joyce was so good to the kids. Mark turned wrenches for her, he was the nicest guy.
Brett Hendricks now owns & runs it. I've known the Hendricks for the 12 or so years that they have been here.
I met Clymer and saw him and JPR ride trails, I doubt if they remember
Nice pics!

here's something a bit unique from the early days of S&M. it's a letter that accompanied a catalog to me at the shop. it's postmarked 1990.

i new clymer bitd , drove him home back to southeast pa. nicest guy you would want to meet , not long after i drove him home from the christmas classic in i think 1992, i heard he went back to cali and got into a mess of trouble , and brett irrgang , drew jenkins , me and lonergan were going to talk to his parents about his problem,and help him get back on track ,i heard he is still living in cali ,installing carpets.....great guy awesome talent

Awesome stuff guys!!! Just by seeing some of the early S&M videos, Clymer always seemed almost quiet, never rowdy or yelling or anything like his image may have portrayed. Of course, that could be all wrong.

Mr. C, that letter is wild. As much of a salesman as it seemed he was, he was smart enough to ask the guys selling his stuff, for advice/information. Very cool.

A few more pics:

Check out S&M's new ad "Since 1987" on their site after seeing this pic:


One of the first write-ups of S&M product(late 90):


Brian Foster's breif S&M career:


UK S&M'er Will Smythe:


First KOD at Bartlett's(Greg Scott?)


My S&M wall in my room back in the day:


-Matt

I have some old Clymer photos around. Also, in the top add notice the Strictly BMX distribution? They used to be upstairs above our bike shop (Wooden Wheels). They had all the cool stuff. Reid used to own Wooden Wheels and then sold it to the Harveys to open up Strictly BMX. I used to love to walk up and down the isles of the warehouse. Stuff you would not believe by the box full.


Jess

First time I saw Clymer was when I was at Woodward for an NBL Nat'l in '86 or so. First thing you noticed was his orange hair. Next, there was a small jump some kids had made that was part of the hill next to a road. Mostly everyone would just hit it normal speed, and jump on top of the road. Clymer hit it full spring clears the road and landed on some embankment on the other side. IDK, I think it was at least 20 feet. IIRC, first time he exploded, get up laughing then goes faster and makes it clean.

Then he's at the pool, jumping off the highest diving board and trying to get as close as possible to the edge of the pool. It looked friggen close - like a foot away.

Next day, while racing, last corner was a set of doubles right in the middle. He's in 3rd or so, hits the lip, clears the hay bales or whatever marking the corner, passes 1st and 2nd, lands and wins. One of the coolest feats I've seen.

That dude definitely made an impression. I need to get one of those old S&M vids to see more action of him.

o yeah, any of you guys have the S&M ad that read: "If you suck please don't buy an S&M". I've never seen the ad but have heard about it a bunch.

Great stories! I envy you guys that actually got to see Clymer and all in action in their prime. A few more pics of DC:








One of the last ads, or even pictures of Clymer that I could remember.


-Matt

i don't think that ad ever ran in any "real" publication - just in dealer info and maybe some underground " 'zines". but since i'm an old-time S&M dealer...here ya go!

BTW donb, I don't remember the "If you suck..." ad, but I do remember reading/hearing about it. In an interview after S&M really started taking off, Mad Dog said " We should change the ad to 'If you DO suck, buy an S&M' "

I think one of the best early ads was the " ABA's # * Team" when S&M got suspended from the ABA and Clymer is sitting there in a Leather coat and hat with shades on. I know I have it around somewhere.


One thing I wish I still had were my S.M.O.G. zines. Man did I look forward to getting those things!

-Matt

EDIT: Mr.C, that is AWESOME. Mind if I put it in my S&M gallery on imagestation.com with credit to you?

[ May 02, 2005, 10:36 PM: Message edited by: Matt S. ]

My all time favorite S&M ad was the BS-20 Neon ad.. That was a classic.... I think it was in one of the early issues of Ride.... Great stuff.

Brian

Hell yeah Mr CB! Many thanks for showing that ad - I've heard about it and always wondered what it looked like. Look's like a punk rock band flyer - cool stuff.

Matt S - love the pics! x-up can was one of my fav tricks to do during '87-88.

matt s...
sure, no problem. it's from a 1991 dealer flyer/catalog.


donb...
yeah, all the early S&M dealer stuff was like that. all bad photocopies and magic marker (LOL).

there is some funny $h!+ in those flyers. i'll post more from time to time. if i did it now, i'd be at my scanner for the next 3 days (LOL).

So here's a question: What's Clymer up to now?

My first S&M was a Dirt Bike in 1990 when I was 16. Now I'm 31 and still ride an S&M, a Trail Frame. Good times. Long live the trails and Clymer.

The POW's will always be remembered. It sure was fun to ride with those back then in So Cal. I talked to Todd Lyons during the Nellis nationals the other week. Sure was a bunch of fun times of riding and hanging out at the house. The best part of the house was them always buying the cheap beer the local grocery stores that read "BEER". I just wish I could still ride like those days.
I was in So Cal last summer and driving down the 22 freeway and was telling my g/f about the crazy guys I use to go ride with. I even drove by Sheep hills and the old jumps on Magnolia next to the power plant. Times sure have changed.
Eric

Somewhere on the internet is an article Moeller wrote about the POW's and Clymer. He got caught up in the things that this forum doesn't like to talk about and fell apart. I think he is currently getting it back together.

One time we were street riding in Philly and found a bank to wall. Clymer did a wallride, shot off the wall over an alley to another building's wall to flat ground. Maniac!

Again, great stories guys. I'd be curious if there is any Moeller/S&M coverage in Joe Kid. Not saying those guys were the only ones that were kind of "anti-factory image" back then, but I think they were a huge influence in the next "phase" of BMX after the late 80's era.

-Matt

BTW, BMXerik59, glad you found the forum

Moeller was asked to be interviewed for Joe Kidd and passed it up. True to his spirit. I told him he needed to be in there, but he beats to his own drummer.

Does anyone know where dave is now

All of you Dave Clymer fans can rest easily. Dave is alive and kicking. He actually just read this whole message board about him. He heard that there was a post about him, so he called me up. I directed him right to it. He really got a kick out of some of the things that you guys have wrote. If you've got more stories to tell, bring 'em on!

Where is Dave now? He's living in Huntington Beach, just about 5 miles from me. But he's about to move to Orange with his girlfriend. He's doing well. He just finished up 3 years of schooling to become a full fledged iron worker. If you know Dave, then you know that this job fits him well.

I run into him on occasion. He's still the same old Clymer. The last time I saw him, we were at a night club in HB. After a while, we were kind of over it so we were about to leave. In typical Clymer fashion, instead of walking out the exit, he scaled the 6-foot wall that surrounded the patio and headed out. Good ol' Clymer. Always doing things his way. Some things never change.

-Lyons

Wildman, the update is MUCH appreciated, as well as your own info(totally blew me away when I saw you posted)

Not only is it great to hear Dave Clymer is doing good, but, seemingly, doesn't have a bad taste in his mouth from his BMX days that we sometimes hear some of our "heros" now do.

When you get a chance, how bout some some info on yourself in the earlier days of S&M(i.e. what you thought of the bikes, what you thought of Moeller and crew, did you know them before "S&M", how long did you "officially" ride for them, if at all, etc.).

Big thanks in advance.

A pic from www.toddlyons.com


Mad Dog on the outside, Todd going for it in the 360 contest on the inside(S&M forks maybe?)


Again, thanks for posting, and a huge thanks for everything you did, and still do, for the sport. I can almost guarentee you had more fans back then then you probably ever imagined. Best of luck with everything in the future.

-Matt

[ May 14, 2005, 06:50 AM: Message edited by: Matt S. ]

Saw Clymer at the S&M bbq about a month back. Looked the same. I wish one of the mags would do a midschool photo history or dig up a bunch of MIA guys from back then for some quick interviews.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=7248035181


Another one of the first S&Mers

I figured this was the appropriate place to post this. It's the actual flag that flew over the P.O.W. house in Westminster back in the day.

If you don't know about the POW's, here's a link to some great stories Moeller wrote back then. Crack open a beer and enjoy...

http://dischord.org/blog/2004/01/25/pow-house/