You are not logged in.
1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
#1 2021-05-12 8:22pm
- mroze1
- Pro Member
- From: -
- Signed up: 2008-09-12
- Posts: 1133
- Offline
1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
-
Last edited by mroze1 (2021-08-09 4:09am)
Offline
#2 2021-05-12 10:04pm
- butlerglc
- Pro Member"Rim Specialist"
- From: Port Angeles, WA
- Signed up: 2009-04-18
- Posts: 4326
- Bikes: 34
- Website Offline
Re: 1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
Living on the west coast up in Washington state.
I didn’t see any quality bmx bikes in our area until 1978.
First ones I remember seeing were webco , panda, DG Eagle, then in 79 , 80 The Mongoose becomes the bike to have ! I do remember my friend getting a Yamaha BMX in 1974 , I remember riding it and thinking it was a tank!
Last edited by butlerglc (2021-05-12 10:04pm)
No more media blasting at this time.
I am always glad to give advice any time!!!
Offline
#3 2021-05-13 4:44am
- BMX3353
- Pro Member
- From: Halfmoon, NY
- Signed up: 2021-01-19
- Posts: 778
- Bikes: 2
- Offline
Re: 1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
There probably was a lag. Not sure if it was 4 years or not though. That seems like a long time. It was a very fast moving/growing industry back then.
Everything started on the west coast. East coast was introduced to products via BMX magazines and what we saw in our local bike shops.
I do remember doing some mail order stuff. We would call a phone number that we probably got from a magazine ad and they would send us their "catalogue" which was a list of parts and prices printed on paper with a phone number. But we had Redline, SE, GT, Mongoose, etc. during those years (79-83).
Last edited by BMX3353 (2021-05-13 4:50am)
Offline
#4 2021-05-13 5:03am
- BMX3353
- Pro Member
- From: Halfmoon, NY
- Signed up: 2021-01-19
- Posts: 778
- Bikes: 2
- Offline
Re: 1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
The early to mid 70's were like the R&D years. A lot of stuff was being made, tested and perfected (on the race tracks). By the late 70s stuff that was considered to be high quality and stood the abuse on the tracks became extremely popular. (SE, Mongoose, GT). A lot of brands (and there were a lot) never gained that popularity. As we can see there are over 8600 GTs listed on this museum today.
Offline
#5 2021-05-13 7:15am
- TrulyOdd
- Pro Member
- From: Los Angeles
- Signed up: 2007-09-19
- Posts: 3882
- Bikes: 14
- For Sale: 4
- Online
Re: 1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
Yep, west coast was running things in the early years. Redline, webco, panda, DG, champion, a&a, Dan gurney, mongoose, g-boy, white lightning, littlejohn, stroker, and the list goes on
I guess you could say Schwinn (Chicago) started it all with the stingray though.
Always looking for anything from...
Star Products BMX, White Bear, Hustler, GJS, Panda, Rebel Racing, Blazer or BXC.
VINYL RECORDS & CASSETTES
I buy, sell, or trade - Have over 50,000+ Hip Hop, Rock, Funk, Soul, Reggae, Jazz, Punk, etc. I’ll even trade records and bmx too.
Online
#6 2021-05-13 8:32am
- paulc
- Centurion Member
- From: PA
- Signed up: 2007-12-12
- Posts: 247
- Offline
Re: 1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
Not sure but think MCS was doing things around 1976 in florida
Offline
#7 2021-05-13 9:21am
- BluWebco
- Expert
- From: NC
- Signed up: 2010-09-23
- Posts: 847
- Bikes: 10
- Offline
Re: 1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
Bought a Webco in 1975 in Ft Lauderdale
Offline
#8 2021-05-13 9:26am
- CHAMPION-26
- Pro Member
- Signed up: 2012-08-13
- Posts: 6903
- Online
Re: 1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
TrulyOdd wrote:
Yep, west coast was running things in the early years. Redline, webco, panda, DG, champion, a&a, Dan gurney, mongoose, g-boy, white lightning, littlejohn, stroker, and the list goes on
I guess you could say Schwinn (Chicago) started it all with the stingray though.
Don't forget the 1st Alluminum BMX Race Frame "way ahead of its time" 1975 AAA Rascal...
God father to the se pk ripper, race inc, cycle pro foiler, and fmf.
Last edited by CHAMPION-26 (2021-05-13 9:32am)
Online
#9 2021-05-13 10:16am
- dav451
- Pro MemberChemtrails
- From: SoCal
- Signed up: 2017-05-14
- Posts: 1139
- Online
Re: 1974ish west coast high quality bikes appeared, 1978 for east coast??
74ish was still pretty early for the good stuff. Mostly parts not completes from the factory. A lot made to interchange with schwinn parts that made them heavy. When the aluminum stuff from Japan started getting added that’s when the big brands reached their full potential.
Han Solo : She'll make point five past lightspeed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've made a lot of special modifications myself.
Online