Independant manufacturers

[dev]

I love all aspects of bmx, but my heart lies with racing. When i read the forums it blows me away the prices being paid for, hutch, robinson, raleigh,, skyway etc,, mainstream stuff!!!(well you know what i mean). I bought a Birmingham wheels race frame  a couple of weeks ago for £35, its to say the least beautiful, reynold 501 tubing, perfect welds the chrome is pukka and if there were more than 20 made i would be amazed. To me proper old school. And to top it all the same week picked up as complete original padset for $2, in all pads and frame with p+p£ 42. Bargains to be had ladies and gents just get away from the mainstream. Dev

[motomagII]

i saw that birmingham wheels on the bay 2 times and never though of it as descent frame so dismissede bidding st away .must be few rare unknowns out there which were really quality

[dev]

i saw that birmingham wheels on the bay 2 times and never though of it as descent frame so dismissede bidding st away .must be few rare unknowns out there which were really quality

Thats what its all about i guess, i am lucky to know a few peeps involved in birminghm wheels bitd and even they couldnt remember may pad sets being made.  I guess thats what i mean tho, dont dismiss the rare out of hand there are some superb frames kicking about. The wheels frame will match any MRD or Rickman Frame as will the Whitehawk i also have. Small firms bitd, but with untouchable builds

[retrogeezer]

Lets see your Whitehawk....I had one until a few months back..

[dev]

did i buy it of you? its a 24" mini whitehawk cruiser.

[motomagII]

bmx 796 had one of them really well made pity it wasnt full size as really rare too .nice frame

[daz bmx it!]

Birmingham wheels!

[dev]

Birmingham wheels!

looks like a trophy badge?

[team_teapot]

Dev

 i think the fact  is most collectors are collecting their child hood dreams. most only knew the more mainstream stuff. you had to be actually on the scene to know about this type of stuff and the smaller indy garage builders. quite often this is not stuff you can pick up from don smiths and dave speardens bmx books. raleigh was never going to stick it in the burner annual and tim march was busy with mrd. it was under ground and to many will remain that way. even if you put these bikes in show room condition on display at some old skool meeting they would get over looked because many just dont get it and would not recall what they are. what people are looking for is a part of their childhood or a part of some other kids chilhood they could never afford to have.  thewrese not a lot of this stuff about so the likes of $%^&&io and the skate pool are very unlikly to bring it to retro wanna bee's attention

[dev]

True words. I was lucky enough to have known Don Smith on a personal level. Its true that many people wont know who he is and the influence and input he had on the growth of bmx in the Uk. As well as writing the RIDE series on BMX and Motorcycle trials Don was the 1st UK world trials champion and developed bikes both bmx and motorcycle includung the Kawasaki trials bike. All round good guy who past away last year. Gone but never forgotten, not whilst bmx and trials exist.
I still think the small teams that came in to bmx to challenge the mainstream are the real old school, everyone can huff and puff but the small teams made the exotica. The frames were hand made, the chroming was one on one for perfection, not painted white chromed. As teapot says you can stand rare bikes in the middle of a 100 mainstream bikes and the majority would walk on by! dont get dragged in, Look at the frames,  check out the welds its only then you can see seperate the wheat from the chaff!!!!!!

[team_teapot]

there was an oldschool display in tours This year. they had some cycle craft and other bits and bobs that was confusing many of the HRW crew. then we had some of the mid school stuff. when you look at how the industry went through its slump the early to mid 90's stuff can be just as card to come by as the garage built stuff of the 80's but often the quality was not as good

[oldmankev]

I am amazed how many of you remember Whitehawk especially
if your not from the South. The guy behind it was Mick Whitlock
who built m/cycle trials frames went on to BMX had a shop in
Horndean (Hants).

[darren]

does anyone remember pr racing? frames were very similar to curtis.

[Bob_Acid]

retro wanna bee's

you have a way with words i can only aspire to Rich

[dirtyvans]

whitehawks are top notch quality, heres mine



cheers rich