John Wells and Pete Harrigan on the first Champions at Oakdale, probably late 75, maybe early 76. They both rode for Silver Shield Bike Shop, Oakland.

Hey guys, just my 2 cents worth. Do not take Mr Spike too seriously. He gets overly defensive about his time spent in the 70s. He is from Northern California and you know how those people are.

He may be from the BMX dinosaur age but he is not the voice of all the dinosaurs.

Hopefully if you rode a bike as a kid, or are still riding now, hopefully you feel that you got as wild and as rad as anyone ever got on a bike. If it made you feel good, that's all that matters. You don't have to defend yourself to anyone.

I was a absolute NOBODY, repeat, N O B O D Y, in BMX so I have absolutely no right to take myself seriously at all, I just happen to have a bunch of pictures. I'm just MESSING around with the 80's guys and now everybody thinks I'm an A-hole for it. Ya know what, the hell with this........I'm done, I don't think this is the place for me.

Spike great pictures.

I apologize for my profanity. I thought the site would blank it out... The sarcasm about a $30k factory ride and lack of understanding of the the whole "Hutch" thing I'll stick with.

The NS V. OS track debate is really old. I was a nobody, but always had an opinion that I was happy to share. God Bless those who made the transition. I never did and wish I would have.

The thing about dishing it out is you gotta be able to take a little of it too. Now stop being a baby Spike and post some more pictures.

No, there is a bit more to this than what was said here, I can take it like with the best but I just don't think this is the place for someone like me...and I had tons of photos to go.

Please don't stop because of what I said. I certainly didn't mean any disrespect to you. The pictures are great, Spike. Keep em comin'

Someone call the "whambulance". Spike you are eating this up! You know it and you love it.

This is the Spike's show and tell. It is your show. Don't let nobody tell you different.

Come on Spike, show all these eager beavers what you got. You owe it to them and to me, especially after you busted up my berms! LOL

Here's a freaking cookie. I'll give you a hug later

Now post some more of those cool pictures...

Pleeeeease post more! Very rare would be the post that I enjoy more than this! I can imagine myself there....and at the time I would have given anything to have been!

Please keep 'em coming!

Spike, this is the best thread in years! Your gung-ho attitude brings it home. A couple of you guys are getting worked up over this dude's enthusiasm and charisma--that says something about your own. I could look at these pics endlessly. This is what BMX is about. If a track opened up this weekend that resembled any of these, I would be the first one in line to sign up.

bring back flat turns!

Seriously people, what would be the point in ripping Spike as he sets out to educate us on how gnarly the 70's were? He has the pics to prove it. So shut up and enjoy what he has to tell us, and enjoy his treasure trove of 70's BMX shots. These pics are priceless. Who wants to see them? I know I do...post more please!

i quite enjoyed those pics. please post more.

Great thread!, brings back what the roots of BMX was BITD, these were the times I most remember as a kid, even though I continued to ride through the early 80's, please more pics!

Old School Cali Style

Paul, is that the lower gate at Saddleback?

Great shots.

I think I have some old pics laying around...

I rode/ride track, ramp and street in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s, was and still am a nobody - they are all as tough as each other, and I'm only 38, so let's stop the whining, and see some more real old skool stuff please

Merritt College late 1975

Spike, I want some of your photos to do some paintings if that's cool - they're beautiful - check out my work

JJ


www.jasonjonesart.com

Good to see you're posting again. I was about to send you some sarcastic *** letter..

Claremont (Now Kearny Mesa) track 1976



Canoga kids



Stormin Norman

sorry to rub but, a freaking cookie....thats funny!

This era and these photos are the best, then again, I think 70's photos of anything look cool, good old Kodak 110 film.

Spike has always spread the look how we did it better back then pretty thick though...thats his time, perhaps he just has nothing to compare. I like it all...except them damn aero seat bikes

"look how we did it better back then".....I NEVER said better EVER....

Guys please keep posting the pics!!! I'm a serious insomniac a long way from home for way too long and this is the best medicine I've found!!! I think it is sooooo cool that Spike (and others) has these photos and is willing to put any effort into sharing them. Thanks!

I think to me what makes the '70s bikes and tracks so cool is that they did not yet have big budgets and engineering departments behind them and not so much was thought out. Everything was still "homegrown" and a kid with a good idea could make a tangible difference by modifying their own bike. To me, like a 67 Vette vs a 2007. The 2007 is a superior car in almost every way....I'll take two 67's please. I feel the same way about "most" music, electronics, watches and on and on.
(ok....maybe a poor analogy...I just want Spike and everyone else to keep posting this type of pics!)

I "would" like to see more of the parts and bikes ID'd. I've only been collecting for two years and I personally was never aware of some of the old dinosaur bike companies. So I'm a little weak on the "era correct" parts for some of my projects.

Thank you Spike!!! Keep 'em coming. Check out that awesome Peddlepower sign...that would be a helluva collectable to have now, wouldn't it!

Reilley, your pics are great too...love that shot at Claremont. Classic - everyone catching air to a flat (OK, slightly downhill) landing...

John Wells at the Santa Clara Indoor Championships in late 1975 on one of THE very first Champions, this was it first race. He won.

I know exactly where Spike is coming from. Because I never really fit in with the status quo I have been lucky enough to have been a part of the early days of BMX(although I didn't start organized racing until March of 75 I have photos daing back to the early 70s), I have been skating since about 74, I was part of the early Tahoe snowboard scene in the mid 80s, and having been born in 1962 to a father who was a pro dirttracker I was around scrambles before the term motocross was widely known. I've also done quite a few other sports where I came into an already developed sport, and even though I had fun doing every one of them there is no comparison to being around a complete revolution. I tried to describe it to my wife one time and she just looked at me with a blank stare, yet every person who was there knows exactly what I'm talking about. BMX in the late 70s and 80s was still a pretty magical time but the first dad who yelled at his kid when he didn't win or changed his gear every moto although the kid didn't ask for it changed things forever. The early freestyle guys probably know the same feeling because they started something new, the small group that kept things alive in the early 90s do also.

Spike is just enthusiastic because he was there and knows what it was like, he has dug up a ton of photos that may never have seen the light of day, and because of him I got to hang out at Roseville with my first BMX hero and his rusty Champion complete with Cal Cup 1N plate.

If you don't like his enthusiasm don't click on his posts.

"No...actually YOU should lighten up, I'm only messin' around"

Please use one of those yellow guys to the left or a LOL next time. It didn't read like a joke, more like a slam.


"Cheez – Many of us old guys look back with fond memories. I would far prefer riding a rocky track than the sterile tracks of today. Maybe you are the anomaly that at 44 can ride a NS track consistently and fast."

I have many fond memories too, and thanks to Rielley1 I a frame to build my favorite race bike from 76. "anormaly" no that would be guys like Stu that can come throw down with the best of them after years of lay-off. Me and fast are two words that don't normally go together, back in the 70s and 80s shure but now not likely, just for fun, and to blow off a little steam now

"bring back flat turns!"

I'll second that, it would put an end to clips

Last race at Merritt College sometime in 1976, at least that's what's on the back of this photo.

Me and John Wells(I think) at WSA, May 1975.

Jump contest at Merritt College 1975. Note the busted out web on the rear Motomag.

Meddling Kid, if you think there is a pic of mine worth your art work by all means go for it.

Cheez, please don't tell me how I should reply, my reply was as ya read it....for sure not a slam though...

Rubber band start at Merritt, Terry Barker next to me and Brent Patterson in the white helmet w/duckbill on a Champion. There has to be about a dozen guys on the line.

Looks like somebody was pretty proud to be a recent graduate!

The Blue Angels ain't got nothing on Dave Scott(I think) Moto Pro and John Wells, Silver Shield on his A&A at McClaren Park, San Francisco, sometime in 1975.

John Wells and the 'Ol Man Scott B. at Saddleback in May of 75.


Don't know who this is but he's stylin'....Saddleback, May 1975

Spike,

I've raced in '76, '86, and '96 and every one of those races was difficult in its own way. Gnarly local downhills, bridges, mud holes, sand traps, water jumps (and other obstacles dreamed up by deranged track operators), groomed national tracks, and flat indoor tracks with wooden jumps demanded different skills in order to get to the finish line first.

I love the old pics. They take me back to a place in time when I was 16 and life on my bike was simple and good. Thanks for posting them. Please keep 'em coming...

Richard Vogt
bmxmountainbiker

Our first track on Oahu. Built on an old landfill at Kewalo Basin. This was from the first race that the pros from the mainland came down to Hawaii to race - I think in 1977. Thats me on the wooden jump on my mongoose shorty.

Hope you all dont mind. (Early) 70's BMX was all I knew. Done by time I got my Lic. (79) Here are a few of my 70's bikes:
The Kawi


Schwinn

CYC

Bumping because there's lots of new guys lately and it would be a shame for them to miss the pics in this thread!

This thread is so great, thanks for the incredible pics! Its like being a kid again....the jumping contest pictures take me back to 6yrs old watching from the crowd after a sunday race! , and then all week long drawing lines on the on the ground with sticks and trying to go further each jump.... Love those old tracks. This sport is called Bicycle MOTOCROSS. and to me the old tracks are motocross. Ruts, bad lines everywhere, dust and dirt and the need for a knobby tire, drop offs, really long tracks, all that great stuff. Yes this sport has changed and the new riders have loads of skill, dont get me wrong, but its really not like good old nasty motocross anymore. I think with the super smooth tracks, paved turns, clips, smooth tires, and such its more like an odd mix of cyclocross and Supermoto., but not really outdoor motocross. So to me its still a great family sport, but its really lost a lot of its original intent, and that was to do "MOTOCROSS" on bicycles. Anyhow great pics love to see more.

Hey guys ...great photos. I thought the Jumping ones were so spot on.I need to participate with some of the old vegas photos from that era.
How many people drilled out their plates,used Agressors as front tires,heated up their bars to bend the ends down, or could only find motorcycle grips and filled the throttle side with tape.Popped the reflectors off your KKT's or had rubberband starts with a water hole on the track(besides Corona).5 motos with total points with 11 riders per moto.............AHHHHH the memories.Makes me proud to see where it has gone.
Tracer

A little 70's Minnesota bmx.


Mark Conley



Dave Christensen and Mark Conley


Brad Apold lay'n it down. Ouch!



This was from the first ever bmx race in Minnesota in 75



Another 1975 MN race... Insane drop off into a coal pit. LOL

Tracer Finn??!! #&^%*?? This site rocks! Tracer - please post some of your shots!!!

Drilled plates! Still have mine from my 1st race

Geez...looks a little crazy!!!

Nice pics guys!

It was an active coal storage bin for the Railroad behind. Actual the bmx track was built around the bike shop on the lot next to the shop. It went up to the coal bin, down and then it ran down the the Red Owl Grocery store and back (same path) LOL! then hard right behind the bike shop.. Its just funny to think about because it was like an enduro course path..