Yeah me either. At least all the buyers of fake Arayas out there reduces the competition for us for the real deal. I mean, why would they want to restore a used set or put up with minior imperfections if you can buy some cheap new bright shiny blingy stuff RIGHT NOW!

Stu were you after these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/NOS-IRC-BMX-RACER-80x-...=item2307337706

Kurt, snakebelly flys out tomorrow

Thanks mate, they are on my snipe list, however, they arent the exact tires (I'm really after IRC Z-1's not the 80x)...I'm just about ready to give up on the Z-1's do think I'm gunna find a match!

I reckon these ones will probably go deep though ( probably deeper than my wallet)

Awesome. Thanks reece

After some advice guys. It's sorta like moving out of home. In fact I'm looking for a new home.

Vintage was always the site I'd check first and the place I'd spend most time. Not any more though. I don't know about you guys, but it feels like Vintage is becoming a backwater. Dying even maybe. Mike seems more interested in his other BMX enterprises to bother much with VBMX so I can't see it improving, an awful lot of the older really knowledgeable guys have moved on and the number of posts just aren't happening. When even VBMX won't mail merchandise downunder, then there's something wrong in the state of Denmark.

So it's time to move on I think. I'll still check in here on Vintage - and maybe only on this thread - but can't see myself being too involved in the rest of the site or being a Site Supporter again

When I need a DB fix, I hang out a bit at OS-DB, and I'm a mod and a site supporter there, but my BMX interests are much broader than just DB.

I spend a bit of time on OZ, and there are some really great guys there, but to be honest the "fooking shait Hotfoot GLWS" crowd spoil it for me.

So I'm sorta down to Museum or Society as somewhere to hang.

Museum just seems chockablock full of attitude, mid and new school stuff and the post count is impossible to keep up with. Obviously it is a great place to buy gear though...

So, finally, seems to me BMXSociety is the place to be. I'd love to hear your thoughts - where do you spend most time nowadays?

I couldn't have said it better myself Kurt. As you know I spend a lot of time on Society. I think our like of 70's bikes fits in well and the knowledge on there is unbeatable.
I check on here daily (I gotta keep my post count up!) but the fact they won't ship there stuff down here kills it for me too. Steve on Society doesn't even charge me more for shipping. I have about 6 OS shirts and I'm about to renew so I can get a new shirt.
As for the ozzie sites, well we have to go with the traffic. I like the VOS crowd better but the OZ site is best for finding out whats goin on. I can't stand the it sometimes for the same reasons but our buddies are there too.
Museum, not even in the race.

as Glenn said, I'm a seventies nut so it's society for me too, it seems grungier in a way which I like, been there for the last 5 years. I like the knowledge, the people and the bikes. and Steve is a great bloke too.

I only ever come on this site because of this thread and the people I have met because of this thread. I will always come here. however I hardly ever venture to the main threads.

OZ I scan through for events etc, I find often the topics don't interest me that much.

so it's mainly here and Society.

I find the guys on this list have a great deal in common with me. I just love you guys

Just by the by, any of you fellas looking for Flick Trix? I can get light blue PK, white Redline Proline, black Mongoose and the Mongoose bike shop here (yellow and candy red frames). Freestyle stuff too, but I'm assuming none of you guys want that stuff. (Well maybe James, but he's too busy laying on a beach somewhere suntanning the underside of his willy! )

This is how it has been for me for a while Kurt. I dont like to bore eveyone with the details but since you bought it up...

This just doesnt feel like the place to be anymore and I only come here to check in with you guys really, I seldom look at any other part of this site, Its more of a "well I've been here since 04' so what the hell".

As for the other sites:

BMX society - I dig Steve as he's a really good guy trying to make a great site better but as the old saying goes "you can choose your friends but you cant choose your relatives" and thats what its like over there, A family reunion with a small crowd I really enjoy and the larger community that is hard to fit into. You may think I am way off the mark but thats how a Quicksilver collector feels on a basically all American site and that does NOT reflect the few awesome guys over there.

museum - I hardly go there but to do a reference check. I seldom post there as that site seems to be 10% of the members post up 90% of the nonsense

VOS - I used to visit there but it never took off and seem few and far between with anything happening there.

OZ - well I am a mod there but I have to say in all honesty, I take out of that site what I need to and try to keep away from drama and ignore people that need to be ignored. YOu will never ever get a site where all the members are awesome. I think that site is getting better and I find that the true collectors will be around long after the part timers are gone.

Yeah I hear you Reece. Oz has a lot to offer and there really are some great guys there - plus I get to touch base with you guys. "The Inner Circle" as the regulars on this thread were once described by a wise man! I will continue to be a regular at Oz, but to be honest, I don't think it will ever feel like my "home" site. Not the way Vintage used to I guess.

I know exactly what you guys are saying.
I'm a member on all of them and have been since 05 but this was my home. I don't know what else we can do.

Like some of you have stated, I really only come on here to check out this thread. I rarely check out the main threads. And the for sale section used to be fantastic here. Now, its terrible, and I never check it.

For a very long time (sad to say, but since Bill and Hal moved off), it has felt to me, that it was on the decline. A lot of "veterans" here seemed to have moved away. I started hanging more and more at OS, and spent more and more time there. I dont like the new BMX Society interface (I prefer the old one), but it is just a case of living with it. However, even over there, I've noticed a huge decline in the postings. The Society is still my preferred site.

I check into the museum, but I agree with whats been said. There seems to be a lot of post counters, and the mix of old, new, and mid, makes it hard. And almost every for sale post seems to have "GLWS", "Marked". "Cool parts bro" etc, and that gets pretty tiring.

OZ seemed to be going along well, but to me, it doesn't seem to have much, I dont know how to say it, content, or dynamics. Certainly nothing like the old days of this site, or Society/OS.

I look on RADBMX every now and then, but to be honest, only in the for sale section. The rest of the site seems pretty stagnant.

Maybe it is a sign of the times, at least for me. I have a frameset on the way to me at the moment, and once that is built, I really dont see me chasing anything else, other than a few small trinkets (NOS DX pedals for one bike, Mathauser pads, and Kool Stop round pads, and certain seatclamps, plus a few other small items). Other than that, I am really done, so I guess I will be a bit of a lurker.

It is certainly interesting that a lot of us are experiencing the same thing.

I dont post much, but i feel the same as all of you guys. I been here for a few weeks, used to be 10 pages to read after a break, now i like Kurts tumbleweed blowing thru.

But definatly some great guys ive met. and some great info.

Seems we are attending a funeral...

Your right Brian. Does seem like it sometimes. Maybe after Robertos it will get busy.
I can't see myself building much after the Stroker. My kids will probably start racing again at Maryborough and that will be good enough for me. I like to cruise with the kids. We have fun.

I joined oz out of desperation LOL, have been a member of the museum for 4 years give or take and VOS for a fair while too, i was a member here a paid member about 2 years ago but my login didnt work anymore so i restarted under a new nik....seems to me that things have definately died down alot and from what i can see the museums good for days of our lives crap......Oz is ok i spose for finding stuff you need, VOS is good for me cos i have a few good m8's there, OS i am not a member of yet....and so on...seems theres change in the air, and i for one am interested to see where all this ends.

Hey Bob , I mean Matt the builder. What do you reckon?

Glenn i would love to get to Roberto's, but i dont see it happening anytime soon. Heres hoping.

So i hope this thread goes on, but i feel we will all be riding in black... Feels like "Home" is gone..

Maybe we are getting old.. I like riding with the kid, and like reading posts of that.

and any info or scores, info is gold. Love seeing pix, but anyhoo.

Glad to be still around, coz it was touch n go a few weeks ago. Its weird how i see things now.

I love you guys wherever you post

If it wasn't for you Australia wouldn't have collectors, restorers and the occasional dickhead (me included)


This thread is my little bit of comfort - likeminded fellas talking bikes and common interests that rarely go off track

A pic of a score, a bit of a laugh, a question, a solution - all found in this one thread

Yeah me too guys.
BUT.
Lets all look at the positives.
Im riding my bike every day now.
I spend more time with my spouse, baby and toddler.
Im getting more sleep.
I am less angry....
I trust and rate highly the remaining members on this thread & Ive been lucky enough to meet Christian, Matt, Adam, Warren, Kurt and that Jarvison guy lol.

Its too late to change but something I suggested many years ago in this thread was to try to post in the appropriate forum rather than in this 'Who is from Aust' thread because mixed in all this fun banter is WORLD CLASS old school bmx information. Unfortunately we kept all this info in this thread (20,000 posts pharkme!) which meant most non Aussie members wouldnt see it unless they specifically searched for it. This quality info might just have made the rest of this site a bit more interesting and dragged others up as well. Another by product would have been US members would see there are honest, genuine, informed enthusiasts from Australia and so they might feel happier about sending their items to overseas. Win Win.

ps quick tip. NEVER EVER EVER spray wd40 on chrome. I learnt my lesson the hard way. Rust rust rust!

Give BMX Society a try Kurt. I now spend more time there than here. It's a bit more wild west compared to here, although not as much lately. Plus, Steve is a fair moderator and that is one of the most important things for me. I think his motivation for running the site is for enjoyment rather than making money and perhaps that's the difference.

hey kurt - i guess that the tumbleweed i posted in the tap tap room blew threw here.

i understand what you guys are saying but i sure hope you don't wander too far away...

Dani, we won't because it's part of our daily ritual. Can you find out why we can't get merchandise down here? It's bad enough when an ebayer won't sell to Aussies but we can't even support our site? At least Steve does T's for supporting his site.

Hi Glenn...
Yeh i am the same.. very brief in OZ lately.. sick of the changes
Museum, well i look for 2 seconds, os-bmx is good but slow and very tight nit..
But winter and too much work doesnt help me right now either.. I just cant wait for the Robertos weekend.. Sat goldcoast ride and sunday gathering..

I read here every day without fail but rarely post anymore. Seem to check the for sale sections on all sites that you guys mention and spend more time emailing with my mates/bmx contacts. I do keep off the forums more due to "too many drama's" and the thread post counts they get. Its changed over the years from scores posted getting the most hits to drama's and crap going on for pages when rare finds are lucky to break into the second page. For me its not about giving up or getting out its about "stepping away from the keyboard" and going out to get hands on with what ive loved for my whole life.... 70's and 80's bmx.

I concur, Its all a little stale at the moment..

Buts its a bit like brushing my teeth, i check in every morning and see what i have missed...

Oz in my honest opinion has slipped a tad over the last 4 or 5 months hence me not jumping on as much as i should, the museum i peruse the "for sale" section, its just a hassle dealing with the bell ends that will not ship outside the 48, here i frequently pop in to see what is happening, but 99% is in this thread only.....RAD is good for a browse, i like keeping up to date with the Poms and some of there builds....Society i am relatively new to, enjoying feeling my way around....

B

I'm in deep. Really really deep. Always have been, always will be.

How deep !! LOL..

Yeah - most of it is a mix of laziness, ignorance and bigotry I reckon. With a dose of Rah Rah USA chucked in!

I feel most sorry for the collectors in Hawaii and Alaska - states of America but not part of the "lower 48" so they miss out. Bell ends indeed!

edit: And just to clarify - my passion for BMX is undiminished and not the slightest thought of ever getting out - if anything my love of the bikes, the history and the people in it is greater. Just miss having the online "home" I used to have.

Hey guys, just to get off topic for a sec

I have some Suntour Pedals that are in need of some screws so if you have any lying around let me know and I will give you cash and/or parts!

(will also accept any complete used/stuffed pedals you might have)

The pedals and screws look like this!

I guess there is only so much "OH WOW never seen that before" we can do. with the quallity of bikes this small group of people has there is very little we haven't seen. you'd just need to look at WAZ, matt and martin, holly poop poop poop, I say again, poop.

so then you post a bike and we all go yeah yeah seen that before.......


having said that I always love the "styles" of bikes that are built.

I always come here, as GTHODAD said, I have met so many great blokes on this thread and always look forward to seeing them again.

Adrian H you may want to read this.

http://bmxsociety.com/topic/47904-white-bear-pro-frame-set/

Very interesting points raised by all.

I guess, truth be told I avoided this thread in the very early days as I saw a fair bit of childish behaviour from some members that are no longer members, then I lurked for awhile and things really turned the corner, since then I've meet most of you blokes that frequent this thread weekly if not daily and I can say that 99% of us are on the same page. I've met up with most of my old riding buddies and made some great new mates.

I guess as broke said, and I was saying to some blokes on a ride the other day, my collecting, after 5 odd years has changed. I'm still enthuastic, but I've pretty much owned everything I owned BITD or I wanted to own...so yeah that huge wow factor has demished a little, however my actual love of riding this old stuff has very much increased. After building our little fella his Supermax Crmo and getting him involved I get a thrill out of watching his face every time he hits the track! I'm now back down to 9 bikes which are all my pretty much essential mix if you like, however I find I'm finely tuning them with little detailed parts...Getting grails like my Diamond Back Turbo is kind of like reaching a goal, but once you have that goal, it's like now what? I think what I really enjoy is watching others get there grails and starting to re-connect with riding again.

As for the websites, I see them all quite differently, but they are also part of my daily ritual...I check into BMX Society, Vintage and OZ.

My collecting has changed from having to have everything totally pristene to good condition survivor and only refinishing when totally necessary for preservation. This is kind of why I enjoy the BMX Society so much..Whilst there are some hardcore puristist (and a couple of deadset dicks), the knowledge bank there is astounding. Mostly I find a genuine willingness to help in sharing that wealth knowledge too

The main Old School threads on VintageBMX has lost quite a bit of momentuem in the last year or so, and it seems like amazing builds have been posted up and then they will get 3 of 4 people commenting on them and that's about it...I remember posting up a build in the early days and you would get 7-10 pages of comments. Not that I did it for comments, but it's nice to hear peoples re-collection of what you have built and there own experiences or similar builds..seemed like a much higher level of enthusiam. I'm at a little bit of loss to why this has happened, perhaps the GFC in the states has taken it's toll on such an endulgent hobby and people just don't have the loose change floating around to spend on their hobbies. For me I don't have that much to contribute visually anymore, as I don't purchase much new stuff anymore and being a little time poor with my family, I don't get as many hours to photograph stuff...

OZBMX has been great for meeting local blokes, arrange rides and openned up a bigger market for trading and selling bike stuff locally. I find it mostly great, except for a few of the blow in's that just wander in cause a sh7t storm and then head out...I just don't get involved...

I guess to sum up this long winded pointless rant. I'm nothing but a cheap Old BMX Website site tramp that slides between all the websites and get what I want from each...What I do value is the years of chatting about all things BMX with a bunch of great blokes on this thread...

Phew..I'm starting to get like those old people that just k e e p talking

Actually, thats a good point. I recall a couple of "experts" that hung around here. Thankfully, they no longer do.

I guess our patience paid off in the long run... LOL

'Wow' - some interesting reading here! Old school BMX collecting and it's followers are going to go through changes/phases as any hobby will & does, I think the main thing everyone can do is be truthfull to themselves in what they want out of the hobby, if your losing/lost a bit of interest or have had a change of direction, follow it & see where it leads. It's inevitable and that's life, things change.

For myself it's been a move towards the modern race scene, I just love the vib, the competition and the people - but I wouldn't have got there if I didn't spot a Mongoose Repo bike at the LBS about 5 years back, which got me collecting, which got me back to the track etc. I consider myself a racer first now with a bit of old school stuff in the shed - and that's said with no disrespect to the o/s crowd. My latest venture is racing a modern 20" which is a huge learning curve but I'm looking forward to the challenges ahead. I'm even getting some air nowdays!!

It's still good to lurk around, mainly on OZ & here and see who's upto what but I'm pretty much done 'collecting' I have a couple of old toys and that will do me.

I find it a nice balance.

LOL.. best read on here for weeks..

Very true Matt. Nice to see we are all (still!) pretty much on the same page. Just about to go for an old school cruise with my wife and kids...

I'm hearing everyone here. It's certainly not what it used to be. I used to love logging on and seeing any of the bikes you guys built and appreciated the feedback I received on mine. OZ lost me a while ago for the same reasons, all the fook this and check my hotfoot stuff lost me. That being said, I've got some great friends on there and I'm by no means knocking them.

I guess this is just the hobby evolving away from the sites and more direct contact between collectors. Sure is sad to see this site so quiet these days.

i will ask but before i do, what merchandise specifically are you talking about?

i had to drop from site supporter status for now but i have a pile of cool shirts from steve

The new BMX Action shirts Dani - Mike made a point when he advertised them of saying he wasn't going to be shipping overseas

oh. i don't know anything about that site. i won't go there.

They were advertised on here Dani. Mike has ties with that site and in the ad for the shirts (this site too in fact) he stated they weren't available to OSeas members. It's things like that which become a slap in the face for us aussies (and other countires too).
I mean we do have the biggest thread on this site! LOL

This is it Dani.

http://www.vintagebmx.com/community/index....hl=shirts++bmxa

lol. i have an ad blocker so i don't see the ads.

he bought that site a while back so that is probably why he was selling them here. sorry to hear about the shirts not being available to you guys though. if you are wanting one why don't you pm me or hit me on fb. i would be happy to help get it over there to you.

ah. i missed that one kurt. it does say "at this time" so maybe he might send elsewhere at some point.

WOW he owns that site too??!

What else is he up to?

^^^^^^ LMAO thats gold m8 i am finding it increasingly frustrating with this "will not ship overseas" biz....i see so many great things i'd like to buy but they don't want to send it...damn them.

lol Thats great Reece, love your work.

LOL Reece. This is where Mike explains his whole evil plan to us, while we try and work out how to escape from his giant laser of death!

yeah. i didn't find out until after the fact so i really don't have any idea what else he might be working on. these are the bmx sites he has that i am aware of

bmxactiononline.com
bmxnews.com
bmxnow.com