My vintage plate collection (includes a crit):

I know of a place (out of business shop owner) that I scored lots and lots of things about 3 years ago. He closed his shop in 1989 but i knew the owner and tracked him down.

Anyways, I left some stuff behind which included at least 15 CRit plates. They are all NOS in the plastic. Maybe I should go back and get them sometime along with some other stuff I left.

Here's a couple that I did take:

Out of the gate Slipped a peddle!

First Turn... Go Fast... Go Wide... Carve Hard!

Back in the lead!

QUOTE (Galen Starlin @ Apr 28 2005, 06:38 PM)
Check out this great pic of Craig on MCS. This is from NBL '87 Orlando, Florida.

http://www.digistash.com/data/e36286b94d3c...3876_p69044.jpg

Wow!

I haven't seen that picture in a long time!

Craig was/is such a class act and it was such a pleasure to sponsor him with Crit Plates.

As a business owner and a manufacturer/designer of a product that other people used and liked it was always an incredible feeling when you saw someone using your product either it be someone who purchased my plates at a shop or a rider that I sponsored.

And as an ex rider/racer myself I use to run Crit Plate in the same manner full out and to win!

To look up at the starting gate of each moto and to see how many Crit Plates versus other plates that were on the other bikes or how many pictures of riders using my plates in the magazines each month was just as thrilling and competitive as racing was. I mean the battles that Owen of Zeronine and myself had were amazing!

And that shot of Craig was one of those kick a$$ wins that Crit Plate had! and till this day seeing that shot how well it showed off my plate and the Interchangeable decals and numbers was/is one of my favorites!

Dr. Smooth was always cool to hang around with and was always a gentleman and represented my company with the upmost respect that a sponsor could have asked of a rider... A class act all the way!

And it was great to see him recently on TV hosting Ancient Ink on the History Channel

http://www.history.com/shows.do?episodeId=...p;action=detail

Craig, If you still check out these posts I would love to here from you...

Mike

mikerodrigues1@mac.com

1978-1981 The Original buddies from my hood.

Myself (I wish I still had my 1980 Scott Clark model Robinson that I bought from Dale Fraza at OSR)

David Porreca (David is the friend that got me into bmx and riding... he had a schwinn scrambler with motomags and he could ride a wheely for miles. (David still has his 1980 Eddy King replica Torker in mint condition) (David was real good Top 5 in NEBA in his age group)

Lee Timpani (Lee was tall and goofy footed but a solid racer)

Danny Morgan (Danny is the one who hand drew my Crit factory Team logo with the bubbles)

Timmy Pelitier (Timmy lost interest in racing by '81... Come to find out when Crit Plate grew and I started to injection mold my plates in 1985 Timmy's dad worked at the injection molding company as a machinist)


1982 Crit Plate /GT Factory Team:

Myself (RI)
Curtis Bland (RI) (Curtis was my first ever full factory rider, Curt was a fearless and awesome rider)
Ernie Briggs (RI) (Ernie raced only cruiser first on 26" then on the new 24" GT's He was big and unbeatable!)
Bobby Costa (RI)
Matt Stewart (RI)
Ray Broccoli (RI)
John Sheehan (MA)
Mike Hundorf (NJ)

John Crews (When he was off Redline and riding independent, He was my first ever big name rider to ever use a Crit Plate)
There is a picture of John in the ABA newspaper 1981-'82? he is 2nd or 3rd it is from a national in California.

1983 Crit Plate Factory Team (All White Uniforms)

Myself (RI)
Curtis Bland (RI)
Bobby Costa (RI)
John Sheehan (MA)
Robbie Lincourt (RI)
Rob Carr (CT)
Ricky Legualt (RI)
Matt Kazinski (RI)

1984-86 (New Black, White and Baby Blue uniforms)

Myself (RI)
Curtis Bland (RI)
Rob Lincourt (RI) (Rob went on to race for Columbia Bicycles and then Eagle Snacks and National Number 1)
Ricky Legualt (RI)
Mike Savage (CT)
Cathy Tedesco (MA)
Derrick Johnson (MA)
Brian Moore (MA)
Mike Crazy Train Crehan (MA) (Mike went on to race for Titan, MCS, and WP Racing) and Yes Number 1) (Bill Prince you thief)
Jimmy Leach (NY)

1987-1988

Myself (RI)
Curtis Bland (RI)
Mike Savage (CT)
Stevie Moden (CT)
Leslie Carter
Todd Mitchell (TX)
Todd Corbit (CA) 1 National


1992

Mike Savage (CT) (BMXA cover boy...Mike is still racing world wide 30+ years non stop 30+ world/national/regional number 1's)
Shawn Deprete (RI) (Shawn is still racing he moved out to Cali and is racing for Team Bazzarro)
Ted Graf (RI)
Cort Marsden (RI)
Greg Souza (RI)
Done Houle (RI)
Heath Robinson (RI)
Dave Bedford (RI)
Jay Greene (RI)
Joe Badesa (RI) (Moved to Florida in '93... He just started racing again and is partners in http://www.richlaundry.com/index.html)


I know I am missing a bunch of riders and sorry for the memory lapse.


Crit Plate Employees

1983-1985
Ricky Legualt (If you have a Crit Plate State Plate from 1983-1986 most likely Ricky put the decal onto the plate. Heat treating the plate over my moms kitchen stove then using a White cotton sock to hand rub the decals onto the plastic blanks)
Him and I used to have races putting plate decals on... we had many sleepless nights cranking out plates.

1985
Richard Hanson (Richard is and was one burly, warped dude and totally awesome. (Since the early days we used to punch holes in the velcro fasteners for the nuts and bolts to go thru... Rich used to hold a hole punch in each hand and punch velcro until his hands bled.)

1986-1988
Greg Sousa (Greg was and still is to this day totally amped on life! Great upbeat attitude and was always willing to help out!
If you were into freestyle in the early 80's you may know Greg and his other two buddies Fred McDonald and Kevin Robinson who had a little known freestyle association called "ERA" and was buddies with Ron Stebin)

1986-1995
Stacy DiCola (Stacy is my little cuz, she used to come over after doing her homework and help me assemble and package the plates... Stacy became my 2nd in command and later on in the early '90's she helped run my Dirt Factory Bike Shop along with Town Hall BMX)

My Wife Karen (Thanks to Bob Tedesco and the financial ruin he put us thru now despises BMX!)

Mike Bring back the Crit plate, like the Mini or Cruiser plates they would look great on todays bikes,

Hey Jsea73,

New Crit Plates are in the works... It will be a little while before I release them...

They will be a modern day version of the originals with clean graphics that you can read from a distance, Not like the plates of today were they all look the same and you do not know who makes them or who is sponsoring the rider.

And don't get me started on uniforms...

There will be a section on my website (When I build it) to also purchase Old School New Stock (Original stuff I have from all models years going back as far as 1982... Including state plates.

Everybody here at Vintage and on BMXA Online will be the first to know and the first to be able to purchase.

Thanks for asking!

Mike Rodrigues

Here are a few from BITD:

Thanks Stuart!

And I am glad you liked the box of goodies I sent you this summer.

Mike

Ok Mike I'm going to post a few pics of the coolest Crit Plates of them All,,,,

ha. i still have a few of these in a box somewhere. i'll have to break them out and take a few pics.

Bump this up for Mike and all the cool Crit plates,,

I traveled 5213 miles to get my Crit plate. Waaay back in 86 I traveled out to race some races in Ohio(Marietta and Akron) for Blue Max. Rupe told me to go ask for a plate, it may have been from you. I thought who in the world in Ohio would give me the light of day. Upon asking I was told "Sure, here you go" I was so stoked. Gotta thank you or whoever it was that gave it to me.

Years later Mike Savage came to Hawaii for a race(ABA Gold Cup qualifier), we made friends quickly and battled all weekend. We split wins, I got cruiser and he got 20 inch. We also started jumping for the crowd, Mike asked if I would do a Leary with him, I was honored, and somewhere somebody has a pic of us side by side doing the Savage snap. I had long heard about Mike, so to keep up with him and do the jumping with him is a special memory I value very much. If you see him tell him I said hi.

Jason Chang/Factory Blue Max

Hey Mike!

I can't believe that I missed your post... Sorry about that.

I remember making those plates for Linda Dorsey (RIP) she was the CA NBL State Commissioner and a big supporter of Crit Plate and myself. I was real proud of making those plates for CA knowing that so many who's who of riders were going to be getting one of my plates.

Mike

Mike,

It's great to see this thread about your plates. I remember running them and being co-sponsored by you while on GT, it was never easy explaining to Richard Long and Gary Turner that I wasn't going to be running the Dyno plate who was a major sponsor for us. I think we reached an agreement that I could run your plate while racing ABA and the Dyno had to be on at all ABA races.

You mentioned awhile back about Bob Tedesco and financial ruin. What happened? I can only assume you were supplying national plates to the NBL and you never got paid? Sorry for intruding but you posted it up.

Hi Deanna,

I'll post up on your question about Bob T later on tonight.

Mike

here are my crit plates (BITD) seems like yesterday

new at this here they are

here's my crit plates. some came right from the man himself. thanks mike.

I have to take a pic of mine and post.

You sure busy with different designs back in the day.


Mike

Hey Mike,

How have you been?

That a great collection of Crit Plates It looks like are far back at least to '85ish.
I see a couple of one-offs in there as well which only factory sponsored riders had.

What teams did you ride for BITD when I sponsored you... I think it was Whitman's and possible DK wasn't it?

Mike

Mike,
These are actually my children Mike and Tiffany's plates they stored them in my basement so I unboxed them for the photo. Good memory, They rode for DK and Whitmans! There are some really cool ones and a special "Hutch Nationals" panel that looks like a plate at the top of the photo. You made several of the Ohio State award plates for us when I was commissioner. I always enjoyed your very clean and attractive plates. Thanks for all you did then and thanks for the memories this thread brought back. Best wishes for the future.

Mike

Mike Rodrigues! You had a really good thing going with your plates. They still are the standard!
I worked my first employable job w/ Mike Savage in CT. As you can imagine, I had a bunch of your plates for my 20 and 24" racers. Wrote an e-mail to John Ker at MBAction magazine for the magazine, and he remembered me from working at the shoppe with Mike! Asked how he was and to give him contact info. This was well over a year ago.
Good to see you!

Would love to hear this story...............

Ken

Bump

OK Mike, here's another plate photo for you.



Mike

Tiffany seems to be riding a Hutch while riding for DK. This must be from the early years of factory DK just prior to frame production. I hope she has a DK stem and riser on that Hutch. Maybe some DK hubs also? I'll have to pull out some of my Crit plates also. They were ubiquitous in the 80s.

Exactly right! A Hutch all decked out in early DK parts prior to DK frame production. The Crit plate really finished the whole race package.

Mike

Hey Mike, this is Chris Miller. I don't know if you remember me, but I came and stayed at your place in RI, BITD, with Bill Prince. I was 16X or something at the time, so 1985?

I still remember that trip well. It was the first time I had traveled out of the SE and my first time flying to a race. It was also my first trip without any parents who knew us around. Man did we get into mischief!

You picked us up at Logan in your beater car and we drove back to RI. On the way, Bill opened the door of your car and started knocking over orange pylons: thump!, thump!, thump! It was hysterical for me, being a pretty tame kid. On the way to a race in CT or MA you hit a deer at night and scared the crap out of us! We had a BBQ at your folks' place and your brother or somebody, who was an interstate trucker, pulls out cherry bombs, which were illegal in Florida. We blew up a BBQ grill, and then blew up in the air a manhole cover in town which set off all the alarms on the block. We ran and laughed our asses off!

Do you remember any of that?

I thought Crit plates were made by a guy i raced with bitd named eric williams out maryland? Eric's dad was making them at his house.

Nope mikes always been the man ,im sure he gave away in sponsorship as much if not more then he sold bitd .
Wish i still had a orange whitmans one .

Mike, but look what state it's from. Slow kids in Cali could dominate in other states. Good looking plate and very cool that all of you guys have managed to hold on to them.

Mike S. told me this exact story, had to be 87 or 88. Thats when Spike Jones came to CT for the 'Local Thrashin' of 'SunnySide'.
It ended up being true that places got leveled after being in BMXA....

Hi Chris,

Of course I remember you I remember all of my riders that I have ever sponsored with Crit Plate.

I remember about 6 months before that weekend I received a resume from Bill Prince about his team called WP Racing from Florida asking for cosponsorship of Crit Plates.

I was very impressed by Bill's presentation and team booklet he had made up with all of the WP riders pictures and bios and all the info on his program.

And I remember how good of a rider you were and how you held your own that weekend at two of the Northeast's bigger NBL nationals. I believe it was Whip City in West-field MA on Saturday and Guilford CT On Sunday (I loved that track withe the Red clay the bridge and all) I actually sponsored that national with Crit Plate.

I'm a little fuzzy on the details but I will give-it a try... You mentioned us hitting a deer on your visit... Actually it was a fox and it was about 4:30AM Saturday morning, I was driving (my Beater car) Bill was sleeping in the passengers seat and you were sleeping in the back seat. We were on Rt 146 just out of Providence just passing Lincoln Woods (Local fresh water beach and state park) we were in the high speed lane of the highway and I was doing about 75 when this fox ran out right in front of my car (I don't know were he was going because there was a Jersey barrier separating the two sides of the highway) and I just shredded him under the car... There was no stopping to see if he made it do to the sound of the shred... Ugh... Yuk!
Both of you jumped up out of your sleep and your skin so fast when that happened I do not think you guys ever went back to sleep and we were only 10 minutes in to a two hour drive up to the Westfield Ma national.

I also remember making Custom WP's Orange and Blue Crit Plates and special Crit Factory Team stickers (The one with the street tag design w/bubbles) color combinations for each of the teams and riders I sponsored for that national weekend (Kenny Amen of Blue Max, Acme Chains Team, Columbia Factory Team...)

Yes, We had a great time and Yes we did laugh or a$$ of all weekend with all of the antics...

It was also good to hear in your PM that you and your young family are doing well... It sounds like you went from one awesome life experience in BMX and now in your adult life the worldly experiences in your professional life as well.

It is great to hear from you!

Mike

Nope! and if he was... he was making a plate that looked like a Crit Plate... There was one guy associated with I think the Desjardens (SP) and they had a bike shop and all.
Cathy Tedesco who rode for me BITD (NOT RELATED TO BOB TEDESCO IN ANY WAY) and I were talking about that this past summer at the ABA East Coast National. She remembers her friend who she raced against and I cosponsored with Crit Plates would always ask Cathy all sorts of questions about how I made the plates... Totally Hacksville and low class of a thing to do!)
I think they were called Rip Plates or something like that. (Rip Off Plates!!!!)

Always was and always will be made in Rhode Island... Even when I moved Crit down to Florida in the the late '80's for 6 months the plates were still injection molded in RI and I would drive back up and then back down with a truck full when I needed more.

Mike

Mike how is everything? Dennis Neubauer here. I remember riding your plates as far back as 1985. Both New York and Connecticut gave out your plates for state back then as well as NBL national plates. Growing up racing in the northeast, you HAD to ride a Crit Plate to be cool. I remember you giving my brother Al and i a few plates at the Trumble war of the stars before we were ever on a team. And we always had some good battles back then too. You, Savage and Waterberry. I laughed a while ago when i read in Bicycles Today that the new UGP plates were the fisrt reversable plates. I will dig out my collection of Crit Plates and post them tommorrow.

Hi Dennis,

I thought I was the only one who saw that about UGP... You know if Ronnie was still involved he would never do that...
I remember when he made his first plate and we were at I think it was the Sarasota National (the same race that Steve Smith lost his finger at) and we just came out of the van... We were with Bill Price and Ronnie came up to him to show him his new plate and Bill's like yah whatever... But Ronnie had the pulse of what was going to change in the sport and he did a great job... The new guys who bought it suck!

Thats why I'm bringing back this year Crit REVERSIBLE Number Plates The Original since 1980!

And yes, back in '84-'85 it was just starting to ramp up for me with Crit Plate and having the Neubauer brothers riding my plates was an honor... Thank You!

Hey, You haven't heard anything about Jimmy Leach have you, He rode for my factory team for a while and I would love to hear from him.

Mike

I found my old Crit today! I plan to start rocking that bad boy. Still has my Urchins sticker and my custom splatter job.

Take a picture of that bad boy and post it up!

Mike

I'll try to get it done on Monday

Mike, I havent heard too much about Jimmy Leach in a long time. I think Steven Gerardi might know where he is. Steven and his wife run an NBL track on the west coast of Florida. As for Ronnie, yeah he did a great job in the south, like you did up north. Crit was always on the cutting edge. I gave Ed Ferri of Coloredteffs.com a bunch of leftover Crit Plates State Plates i had. Hit him up for him to post pics, if he's not too busy with the new Flux Capasitor he just installed in the Delorian.

Thanks Dennis!

heres my story..
my team made me a custom... with my nbl number and my state number... but i hadnt won my state yet.. parents and kids were upset.. but i left it and won the number 1 anyhow...

Front


back


it was goood times

MCS Factory Crit Plate

Nice intentionally upside-down number one! That's my Crehan. Haha! What's up Mike? Let's meet up when I get back to FL in April, a'right?

Will do bud, I was talking to Bill the other day, were planning on hanging out and having a few beers. Let me know when your in town so we can hook up.

Bump.

Hey Mike, what about the NBL/BT story?

BTW Still have my Florida Crit plates!

Ken

Hi Ken,

It is nice to hear that you still have your Florida Crit Plates... I thought the one with the flamingos came out so cool.
BITD we weren't using computers and graphics programs like everybody does today. Most of the artwork was done by hand and films had to me made for the screen printing process. For each color of the design and that was done by hand as well using a masking film called Rubylith and every element of the design was hand cut with an Xacto knife... It was quite the process back then.

As far as the NBL and the BT story and what happened is actually part of a chain of events that took place starting in 1989 and ending in 1994 with NBL and Bob Tedesco's part in all of it came in the later part of that time frame and really was death kill of Crit Plate and myself from bmx.

There are a lot of personal demons that are associated with all of what had happened in that time frame of my BMX life and has been haunting me for years... and are tough to discuss...

I know I keep putting out there comments about things that have happened in the past and not giving the full story... In time it will come...

I hope everybody will understand...

Mike Rodrigues
Crit Reversible Number Plates