I have ALOT. But probably the ones that stick out most would be waking up the day after the last day of school for summer vacation and meeting up with friends and cruising around town, stopping at the local pool, shopping center, or beverage store to "show-off", lol. Then making our rounds to the local bike shops and checking out all the latest bikes/parts and making a mental "wish-list" of what we wanted to buy when we had enough money. Never even going back home until well after dark. Even then I would bring a couple friends over and we would raid the refrigerator and drop down in front of the tv, pop in RAD, and watch the beginning and end, and then go back outside and ride under the street light in front of the house to practice what we just saw. Then we'd go into the garage and mess with our bikes, everything from stripping them down and re-greasing everything, to polishing them for the next day. We'd usually get to sleep around 4am. And wake up around 1 or 2pm. and start all over. This is basically what went on all summer long for me from 85'-89'...Those were the days!

Yep... those were great times no doubt. Thats when summers used to seem to last forever. I can remember riding with friends to the local shop, which was a good 10 miles away. No wonder we all weighed 120 lbs then. Another funny thing was, our regular parking lot for freestyling was in a chiropractor's place, lol. Convenient.

But yeah, all day, and late night sessions were common. Good times.

Two of my best bmx memories, were seeing GT with Eddie Fiola and Adam Jung in Dover, NJ, and then going to the big AFA comp in Wayne. This was 1987.

Jeff

Pulling a trick for the first time.

Contests.

RL knocking on the door of my parents house.

Woodward, as a camper, then as the flatland instructor.

Riding and hanging out with the hoods.

shows.

homemade videos made from two vcrs.

Man oh man...where would I start....how would I end...I can't even begin....the memories are just too many...it was my entire life from 1985 until 1993...I mean I ate, slept, breathed Freestyle....it was my whole being...BMX Freestyle was like my skin...my blood...
I can not simply type out a few memories...it wouldn't be justified.

That is why I am a member here, and why my work has a Vintage BMX department...why we are a paying sponsor of this site, why I have a 1986 Haro hanging in my garage.....Nothing has ever meant so much to me in the world. I was 12 when I started...and through my teen years, BMX took over...as I got into my twenties and college started....
Then I met my wife, and my love changed..not right away, but my focus started to change...then we had kids...man...what an amazing thing it is being a father...I feel more passion for my family than any BMX memory I have.
BMX will always be a part of who I am, but how do I ever type out a memory...an event??
Not sure It would do it justice....
Trent
www.sportwheels.ca

[ August 24, 2006, 03:07 PM: Message edited by: Radsters ]

Hanging out with friends and learning new tricks...pulling the newest, hardest "trick of the day" first...building shadyazz ramps out in the woods...having all day parties at said ramps...actually getting paid to do tricks on our bicycles...doing impromptu shows at car shows...major jam circles down at Fort Lauderdale's Strip during spring break...200+ people clapping and tossing money in a hat while we did what we loved...
As Jessboogie loves to say- Good Times!

my favorite bmx memories?

all of them.

So many to think of, so few remembered well.

Probably from 1984 to 1992 (round 1, heh) are my favorite times. My house was setup like a mecca for bike riding. I had a double car garage and one door was busted so we built a big quarter right there in front of it. I had a 50' slanted down driveway leading up to it, man could you go fast. The other door would be wide open, full of bikes, parts, pizza boxes, stereo pumped, spilled grease, ball bearings all over the place, rigged tools.

After school, summers, vacations, whenever or whatever we would be hanging out in that garage working on our bikes. Having a swimming pool right outside the back window of the garage was a great incentive to hang out there too.

Once I started focusing on only flatland in 1987 most everyone quit riding but me so I had the place to myself. Was great though, turned the whole inside into a 24/7, 365 day a year, slab of level concrete flatland haven. Best 5 years there, 87 to 92...learned a lot about flatland, about myself, about friends. Got a nice 2 week Woodward experience out of it too, but that whole thing we'll leave for another discussion.

Here I am again, 2006, riding again after 12 years off, full circle. Another great memory begins.

[ August 24, 2006, 09:13 PM: Message edited by: OldTyme90 ]

skipping school to go ride... like none of you did that ...im not the only one... lol

Reading oldfreestylers post brought back alot of memories!!!
I grew up in northern MN, but spent quite a bit of the summers in Minneapolis. My cousins got me into BMX in the early 80's. We'd wake up at 7am and ride until dark, hitting various trails around town. I witnessed some rad riding that I had never seen before (huge 360s over a burning matress in the woods, 25mph sit down wheelie downhill for 200 yards, etc) then stop by the Dairy Queen to get a mister misty way home. We'd stay up to watching Kung Fu Theater until all hours...
When '85 hit, my cousin stopped riding and I visited the city less. But I made a few friends in high school and got them into BMX. In 87, we built a half pipe and mini out in the woods next to my parents. It was heaven. 1000w halogen lights allowed sessions to go until 3am and there were many nights that we spent camped out on the flat bottom. We started skating in '88 and resurfaced the ramp a few times, each time adding more features to the mini like tombstones and elevators.
By '90, we had started college and everyone moved away. We took the bikes, but I soon was the only guy riding a BMX bike on campus. I bummed out big time when GO went away, but I still rode my bike and built up different ones. I'd go out to the ramp on weekends and tweak my kickturns further than ever.
I have tried to top the summers of 1986-90 for almost 20 years. Those were the days my friends!

radsters is right, how can a person possibly type out a memory. My favorite memories are just those of a typical summer day...back in the day. The nice thing is, I have tons of pictures that sum up exactly what my friends and I were doing back then, so I look at them and I'm instantly whisked back to the 80's.

I know, I post these pics all over the place; but, I figured they will help give some context to my memories.

Of course, this was a long time ago, so I might have some things backwards or not exactly right...so sue me.

Wake up, eat some cereal, watch TV...Reading Rainbow was always good for some reason, even though I was 16 or 17, it probably had something to do with LaVar Burton's soothing voice and calm demeanor. We'd all give each other a call somewhere around 10:00AM, discuss what was on Reading Rainbow and decide where to meet.

First, we'd usually hit the ramps out behind my parents house:


Humidity saC (Chris) gets a bit of air while the rest of the gang gawks in awe. You can see ditchweed in the background, green mags, pink frame.


Sometimes we'd flatland & ride the wedge ramp in front of Scott's house:


Scott tweaks one out.


The saC (Chris) taking it to the edge.


Scott's house as seen from the street.


Sometimes we would go jumping/flatlanding at the apartments that Tom lived in, Olympik Village:


Tom, chilling between sessions. I used the ties in the background as a bunnyhop practice area.


Tom jumps out of the Olympik "jump", which was really just some well formed blacktop.


Same jump, just from another angle.


Here, I'm footplanting/boosting out of the Olympik jump. Nothing spectacular, but it sure was fun.

see next post...

Sometimes...actually all the time, we'd eventually head down to the Greenway Co-Op for something to drink and a frozen snickers.


Tom again...with a great view of the gas pumps. Is it just me or are there a lot of GM coupes behind him?


This was by far my favorite trick. Here, I'm performing it in front of some newly built Greenway Co-Op office behind the gas station.


Tom squeaks while I look on.


If it were raining, we'd just ride in my parents basement:




If it was in the middle of summer, we'd usually head back to my house around 1:00PM or so. Sit in the AC and watch HBO or Showtime...Bill Cosby's "Himself", Louie Anderson's "Louie in St. Louie" or "Big trouble in Little China". "Jack Burton.....ME!"

At night we'd hit the local car lot and ride well into the morning hours. We tried to stay away from most of the cars, so you can't see them in the pics.


Denny and Scott pretend like they know how to do Cherrypickers. Actually they were good at them, I just like to give 'em crap.


saC with a pedalpicker.


lol, yeah I'd like to see myself try to fit into those leathers now.


I apologize once more for posting these all again, but it really organizes and emphasizes some of my favorite memories.

Those days were so much fun, every time I look at these pictures the memories come rushing back.

For me it was summer of 88 when me and my friends finished build a half pipe and riding it for the first time. I felt like i had my own enchanted ramp everyone in the neighborhood would be at my house around 8 am and ride it until 8 at night. We'd take a break and ride flat in my street or watch rad, good times.

Great pics STRIKE! Definately tells a story of what 80's freestyle was like. I can really relate to what Radsters wrote. Back in the 80's freestyle was my life. I didn't care about girls or anything like that. All I wanted to do was ride my bike. It didn't matter where I was, all I ever thought about was bikes. And if I wasn't thinking about, or riding bikes, I would read about them in Freestylin, BMX Plus, BMX Action, etc. All my friends and I would talk about is that we would never stop riding. When we got our licenses we would just put our bikes in the trunk and drive to wherever we wanted to ride. But as many of u mentioned, things eventually changed. I think what bothers me the most is that I basically stopped riding because my friends stopped. Even though the scene was dying down at the end of the 80's I still never lost my passion for riding. I'm just glad that I'm still able to relive a little of my youth today, and that there are places like this where we can come and share the memories.

Strike, I can't believe some of the awesome pics you've held on to!

Great post, man! Hope to see you at the BBQ!

Good old school memories? ALL of them!

During summer vacation we would ride all day on my quarterpipe and the neighborhood girls would come over and layout in the sun on the deck on top of the quarterpipe. Talk about motivation to go for some big airs!!!!! After the sun set we would hook up my dad's spot lights so we could ride till midnight (or till we were exhausted). If we wanted to take a break, we would hit the streets. Ahhh, the good old days....ride, Ride, RIDE!!!!!!!