The Retro Bike Thread (Burners, Choppers, Grifters etc...)

[Robstyley]

After a **** load of google searches, picking my Mums brain and delving into the deepest recesses of my memory I've finally found out what my first BMX was. I worked out I must have got my Striker for Christmas in 1980. I then worked out after chatting to the old dear I must have got the BMX for my birthday in 82. I had no idea what make or model it was but from that I did loads of different searches and eventually stumbled upon this image! This is definitely it, it was a 1982 Tensor Magnum exactly like this one:

I am proper chuffed to find out what it was and get a picture of it. Thanks Sublevel for putting up the thread. I am now thinking about trying to find one or at least the frame and main parts and trying to build one up.

 

[SublevelStudios]

If that's his head he needs to bic that ****! I think that's his knee man.. :lol:

Haha! Yep, it's my knee

Rob, that's great mate. Nice to see you found the actual bike you had, I'm sure you'll be able to track down a bike, or at least a frame to rebuild. Try looking on FB for some Old School BMX groups, that's how I landed my Burner.

Happy days

 

[SublevelStudios]

Andy Ruffell. Didn't he ride a white Burner ?. Possibly the Andy Ruffel model. Had a tiny bit of blue red and yellow at the front. Could be wrong...

Andy Ruffell is correct and this was the bike he rode, a Team Burner, these sell for big $'s:

 

[spoons]

Great that you managed to track down your bike Andy - modern bmxes just look wrong in comparison :lol:

 

[SublevelStudios]

modern bmxes just look wrong in comparison :lol:

So it's not just me that thinks that then?! :lol:

 

[Grant]

Cool... if you had one of them BITD you were one lucky Mofo. The year all those things were hitting the streets I got a brand new grifter that I'd been ogling in catalogues for what felt like forever... I'd never seen a BMX in the catalogues... So Christmas morning 1982 i wake up to a new baby blue Grifter. I was over the moon for about an hour. :lol: We were quite poor, just me and my mum back them. So she was likely going to be paying the catalogue up for the next age for my new Grifter looking back now. :|

Anyway I remember looking out my sitting room window Christmas morning and some kids rode past on their new BMX's, I remember thinking how cool they looked with the mag wheels and no mudguards. So I said to her mum look at those, I then stupidly said some thing to the tune of I wish Santa had got me one of those. Well no sooner than I'd finished me sentence she totally flipped out...

I had to ride that grifter till like 86 or 87. I was then lucky enough to get a mustang. Black and white one. For that 4 long years on the Grifter I was like the uncoolest kid on the block with my big heavy blue tank and grip shift handbars lol. F--King hated that thing. :mrgreen:

 

[SublevelStudios]

Cool... if you had one of them BITD you were one lucky Mofo. The year all those things were hitting the streets I got a brand new grifter that I'd been ogling in catalogues for what felt like forever... I'd never seen a BMX in the catalogues... So Christmas morning 1982 i wake up to a new baby blue Grifter. I was over the moon for about an hour. :lol: We were quite poor, just me and my mum back them. So she was likely going to be paying the catalogue up for the next age for my new Grifter looking back now. :|

Anyway I remember looking out my sitting room window Christmas morning and some kids rode past on their new BMX's, I remember thinking how cool they looked with the mag wheels and no mudguards. So I said to her mum look at those, I then stupidly said some thing to the tune of I wish Santa had got me one of those. Well no sooner than I'd finished me sentence she totally flipped out...

I had to ride that grifter till like 86 or 87. I was then lucky enough to get a mustang. Black and white one. For that 4 long years on the Grifter I was like the uncoolest kid on the block with my big heavy blue tank and grip shift handbars lol. F--King hated that thing. :mrgreen:

That reminds me so much of my best mate at the time, we all had BMX's and he had this weird Motocross looking bike, never seen one like it since, black and yellow with dreadful looking handlebars and a little oval numberplate - it weighed more than a Grifter too so imagine that. He really had a tough time on that bike, which is why he was rarely out on it, there was no way he could keep up on it, do the jumps like us or look part of the gang - kids are cruel but I guess it's all part of growing up.

 

[spoons]

Really feel for you Grant. Kids are real bastards, a few presents I was ungrateful for too. Would really piss me off if my kids did it

just found these old pics - I'm at the back on the right with the blue tyre of my Pro Star sticking out

My two mates with their Redlines at the front

Got a photo from the local press of me on my Grifter when Wycombe wasps started - just have to find it...

 

[spoons]

a tough bike to find a photo of - mine didn't have mags

 

[Robstyley]

That bike looks well cool.. love the chrome frame with all the blue. I really fancy getting an old skool BMX now. If I can't find my one I might just build an authentic early 80's looking one. Got a few retro skateboards, might as well add a BMX!

 

[Grant]

Spoons cracking pics man... I should add that I pimped my Grifter out as much as I could trying to fit in with the cool kids lol. New mushroom handle grips. Removed the stand. Put one of those cross bar pads on but without the foam padding underneath coz the f--king Grifters top bar was like a scaffolding tube. Last but no least the clothes peg and card or make it sound like a motorbike. Any self respecting kid did that right lol ?. 8)

Also, I remember those motocross looking bikes in the early 80s when I was spying up the Grifters. I remember red and black ones too. Not very functional but look cool as f--k before the BMXs hit the scene.

Would love to own a vintage BMX but they cost a fortune.

 

[SublevelStudios]

Would love to own a vintage BMX but they cost a fortune.

Like vintage SW stuff, they're out there mate. You can pick up a decent one for under £100 depending on what you're looking for, then you're free to customise it. I spent £200 (so far!) on mine, which, thinking about the enjoyment I've had out of it in just the past couple of weeks is well worth the cash

I sense a SWFUK BMX Squadron being formed...

 

[spoons]

I sense a SWFUK BMX Squadron being formed...

40 something BMX bandits!

Do you think Nicole Kidman would be up for it :lol:

 

[SAVORY100]

Just been chatting with Mark about vintage BMX bikes and thought i'd post up a couple of pictures to show mine and bump this post back up

First pic is me on mine back in the day with my Nan:

Here's my survivor / Barn find. Same make and model, bit of cleaning, decals need replacing and I'm going to change the grips over to the same ones I upgraded to as a kid, other than that, the few chips an scratches can stay:

 

[SublevelStudios]

Rare survivor in that condition Steve, you don't see many red and white ones about either.

 

[Russ J]

Andy Ruffell. Didn't he ride a white Burner ?. Possibly the Andy Ruffel model. Had a tiny bit of blue red and yellow at the front. Could be wrong...

Andy Ruffell is correct and this was the bike he rode, a Team Burner, these sell for big $'s:

Sorry to drag an old thread up but from 2007 to 2012 I were very heavily into the BMX scene (mainly the Raleigh Burner which has been mentioned a few times in this thread)...

The bike above is called a 'Team Aero Pro' Burner (I no the owner of that particular bike that's in that photo and i've seen that bike in the flesh) and yes Andy Ruffell did ride one for Raleigh BITD but not for that long (about a year if I remember rightly)...Andy did ride for the Mongoose team before that....When Raleigh released the 'Andy Ruffell team replica' bike,this wasn't a 'proper' high spec top end Aero Pro btw but just a replica of his Team bike that was more affordable to the general public...Know Andy got £1 in royalties for every replica that was sold by Raleigh (this was part of the sponsership he had with Raleigh at the time).....Going back to his Mongoose days,he used to race whats called a 'Mongoose Pro Class' BMX which was a real high end BMX but with Andy he has very high end 'up grades' fitted to his race bike that wasn't on the standard (but still high end) Pro Class model...

Know this particular race bike of his 'disappeared' in time and the correct whereabouts of it was a long forgotten topic until a few years back......Andy's original bike turned up not in the best of condition but never the less his original bike turned up (this was big news in the world of any Mongoose fan)...A mate of mine managed to get the job of restoring it for Andy (the bike was found by his Raleigh team mate and good mate even today Craig Schofield,who was the BMX world champion race rider in 1985 at Whistler In Canada)....

Craig knew of the mate of mine through himself approaching him to restore his 1985 Worlds Champion Team Aero Pro some 6-7 years ago so he knew he would be up for the challange in restoring Andy's Mongoose Pro Class....

Here's a little tit bit for you as well...Andy Ruffell was crap at 'wheelies' (that came straight from the man himself when I talked to him in 2010)

Thats a bit of history for anyone who has any interest in retro BMX weather it being the humble Raleigh Burner or high end generic BMX ie...Skyway TA,Diamond Backs,Mongoose etc...

Here's another little bit of BMX gossip for you all......Gary Barlow (Take That fame) has a MK1 Supertuff fully restored by my mate and the saddle thats on it I restored that part of the bike.....Also if you google 'Robbie Williams BMX' in Google Images he is sat on a 'Hutch Trick Star' BMX (a very high end generic BMX) with his wife in her wedding dress on the right hand side,my mate sourced that BMX for Robbie and presented it to him at a Robbie concert (not quiet sure which concert it was)...This is how the Gary Barlow restore came about.....

I have restored various Raleigh Burners myself since 2007 with my first being the Supertuff MK1.....all of the bikes were rechromed,repainted,re annodized etc...to showroom condition,fresher that they were when they rolled off the factory line....

here's my collection....sadly i've sold majority of them with the exception of the MK2 Supertuff.....Blue/Chrome Firebird Freestyler.....Black/White Firebird Freestyler.....Chrome/White MK2 Aero Pro Burner....

MK 1 Supertuff...

MK 1 'Red Burner'...

MK 1 Burner GS (this was a 'catalogue' model but still regognised as an 'official Burner')

MK 1 Extra Burner (this was Raleighs attempt at a cheaper alternative to the officlai 'ET Kuwahara' look...The Kuwahara was the bike Elliot rode in the film)

MK 1 Superburner...

MK 2 Ultra Burner...

MK 2 Supertuff Burner...

MK 2 SuperBurner...

MK 2 Night Burner...

MK 2 Ultra Custom (This bike is a full on MK 2 model but dressed up in the Silver/Blue of the MK 1 Ultra Silver/Blue...Raleigh only released the MK 2 Ultra model in the Black/Gold colour scheme basically because the MK 1 Black/Gold Ultra sold better than the Silver/Blue Ultra so when the MK 2 was designed they just went with the most popular colour scheme of Black/Gols which is a shame really because I think that the Silver/Blue on a MK 2 looks great...Its something Raleigh 'should have done but never did'...

MK 2 custom Aero Pro (I have this bike signed by Andy Ruffell and Craig
Schofield)...

Signed by Andy and Craig...

Andy...

Craig...

Me with Andy and Craig (three fat gets in a row :lol: )

Custom DP Firebird Freestyler (these two bikes were originally only manufactured as a Frame & Fork set rather than a full bike set up...They were made by a company called 'DP Racing' which were in Warrington.Soon the company had to move to bigger premises which was in North Wales and they had a name change to 'DP Industries'...the 'DP' was just the owners initials (Dave Park)

Black/white Firebird Freestyler...

And my last bike I built in 2012

My Blue/Chrome Firebird Freestyler...

Sorry for the lengthy thread but I were really passionate about retro BMX and tbh I still am but i've built all the models I wanted to and I were running out of space :lol:

Russ...

 

[Lom]

Love this thread! Had a Raleigh Boxer as a nipper followed by a red Grifter. Have fantastic memories of childhood summers on that Grifter. Then got an Ironhorse Dirt Burner but that got nicked after a few months; just looked at some pictures of that bike - looks pretty hideous now tbh! But it was on that bike that I started doing a couple of tricks and jumps but more importantly racing. Inherited a couple of hundred quid around that time and managed to get the rest together with the help of Mum and Dad to get myself a Harry Leary Turbo and raced the nuts off it! Great times - funny, only saw that bike on Father's Day when I visited the folks; still there in the spare bedroom looking fantastic... Would like to ride it again - ought to lose a few stone first!!

 

[spoons]

Do it Martin! I'm constantly amazed at how little your folks got rid of :lol:

Really intersting information Russ and some fantastic bikes. I really need a BMX now

 

[Russ J]

Love this thread! Had a Raleigh Boxer as a nipper followed by a red Grifter. Have fantastic memories of childhood summers on that Grifter. Then got an Ironhorse Dirt Burner but that got nicked after a few months; just looked at some pictures of that bike - looks pretty hideous now tbh! But it was on that bike that I started doing a couple of tricks and jumps but more importantly racing. Inherited a couple of hundred quid around that time and managed to get the rest together with the help of Mum and Dad to get myself a Harry Leary Turbo and raced the nuts off it! Great times - funny, only saw that bike on Father's Day when I visited the folks; still there in the spare bedroom looking fantastic... Would like to ride it again - ought to lose a few stone first!!

A Harry Leary Turbo.....very nice top end Diamondback and it's great that your folks still have it 8)

I wish I still had my childhood bikes (had a Burner GS first then a MK 2 Supertuff,but sadly those are long gone ...this is why I had to restore these 2 models when I got back onto the BMX scene.....

Don't let your parents get rid if the Harry Leary Martin,it's a real top end model that's worth a lot of money even in the condition that it is in ....

 

[x-pack]

A 2008 Anniversary Mag Burner. Clean enough but I always like to customise my bikes a bit so I stripped and cleaned from top to bottom. Touched the frame up where required, polished and waxed the **** out of it, oil and greased it. New white wall tyres, removed the hideous green and orange decals and went for just black, new layback seatpost and pedals and job done:

Has anyone else got a 'retro' ride or have memories of their bikes from the 70's and 80's? Pics would be even better!

The bike looks great but there's one thing that's been bothering me..
How the hell did you get the back of your head in the second photo? :lol: :lol:

It's one of Mark's balls :lol: But that's a lovely BMX.


I had a Team Murray then a Raleigh Vectar. The Vectar was mental. Looked a bit like white Street Hawk with buttons that made sounds. Not sure what else it did but in the end it got stolen. Someone once told me there's a Vectar owners club!