Author Topic: The PK Ripper Years (Read 8911 times)

hotdog · « **on:** June 18, 2011, 08:16 PM »

In the summer of 1982 my much loved Sentinel Scorpion SX met an untimely end under the wheels of my mates dad's car whilst he was reversing out of his drive. With no hope of an insurance claim, my older brother came to the rescue with a loan of £300 for a new bike.

With that, I picked up the phone and placed a custom order with Surrey Skateboards for a Ball Burnished PK Ripper complete with blue coaster Skyways,Renthal Bars and Maxy Cross cranks.... Christmas had come early!

For the next 2 years I rode that bike everyday religiously,practicing & perfecting tricks that I'd seen in each new issue of the bible that was Bicycle Motocross Action. Here's a snapshot of an unforgettable part of my youth,something most of you reading this will,no doubt,relate to.

Early 1/4 pipe kickturn,decked out in Sidi motocross pants,Vans & Oakley "almost an unfair advantage" shirt.

The 'Old Faithful.' Note the homemade camo lever & seat covers.

A couple of covert night missions to a local building site and we soon had our own trick ramp

A ghostly ramp 540

Pretty soon,Alan Woods had me helping those new Torker boys out at the Liverpool Garden show.
Vertical re-entry on a super-sketchy quarter pipe & astro turf run-up!

The pros n' cons of Renthal handlebars

Eventually the trick ramp was turned into the decking for this little puppy.

QUADROPHENIA · « **Reply #1 on:** June 18, 2011, 08:22 PM »

pukka pics

remember so well rippers with tuff in the rear and spoke up front, proper skatepark bike before any freestyle frame came out

rollin72 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 18, 2011, 09:06 PM »

top pics mate, love the one of the mangled renthals..bet you ragged your knackers when they went

NORTY40 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 18, 2011, 09:21 PM »

Cool pics

The ramp on your drive looks safe as fook ....... not

crightonk · « **Reply #4 on:** June 18, 2011, 09:28 PM »

Nice Pic's!!!

In2 bmx · « **Reply #5 on:** June 18, 2011, 09:36 PM »

Very cool pics .

Those Torker tops always looked cool bitd .

hotdog · « **Reply #6 on:** June 18, 2011, 10:50 PM »

Quote from: NORTY40 on June 18, 2011, 09:21 PM

Cool pics

The ramp on your drive looks safe as fook ....... not

Eh, that ramp was built by The Federation of Master Builders !

steve69 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 18, 2011, 11:00 PM »

Love old pictures, wish i taken more BITD

NORTY40 · « **Reply #8 on:** June 18, 2011, 11:12 PM »

Quote from: hotdog on June 18, 2011, 10:50 PM

Quote from: NORTY40 on June 18, 2011, 09:21 PM
Cool pics

The ramp on your drive looks safe as fook ....... not
Eh, that ramp was built by The Federation of Master Builders !

When i think back to some of the ramps we built and im sure the ones other Radsters built it's a surprise so many of us are still here

glenboy · « **Reply #9 on:** June 18, 2011, 11:44 PM »

brill pics hotdog your original bike looks very similar to the one you built recently, i got those renthals on all 3 of my pk's

, were they the superstrongs or superlites as the strongs which all mine are , are really thick tubing but the lites are a much thinner gauge , like the coaster brake on the pk i thought about doing that on one of mine , who says rippers are race bikes they can freestyle as well

hotdog · « **Reply #10 on:** June 19, 2011, 12:40 AM »

Quote from: glenboy on June 18, 2011, 11:44 PM

brill pics hotdog your original bike looks very similar to the one you built recently, i got those renthals on all 3 of my pk's , were they the superstrongs or superlites as the strongs which all mine are , are really thick tubing but the lites are a much thinner gauge , like the coaster brake on the pk i thought about doing that on one of mine , who says rippers are race bikes they can freestyle as well

Didn't realise that Renthal did a Superlite handlebar. I think mine were the thicker gauge. Freestyle bikes hadn't really been 'invented' so we just ran knobblies on race bikes with tuffs or zeds. RL & Mike Buff were the major influences back then along with Bob Haro plus some early magazine features on the likes of Fiola and Jeff Watson. It was around '81/82 that I bought the Action Now magazine video from Don Shoemaker in the States,got it converted to vhs pal format and first saw real footage of Bob Haro and Jeff Watson. Now that was a FOOKIN' FREAKOUT!

Mattdub · « **Reply #11 on:** June 20, 2011, 10:00 AM »

Great pics , thanks for sharing

Taipan · « **Reply #12 on:** June 20, 2011, 04:11 PM »

I hope you made yourself to lay-back seatposts out of them mangled bars?

glenboy · « **Reply #13 on:** June 23, 2011, 11:27 PM »

was the coaster brake no problem on the ramps ands quarterpipes i always imagined landing with the coster brake on

58 delray · « **Reply #14 on:** June 24, 2011, 01:10 AM »

Quote from: glenboy on June 23, 2011, 11:27 PM

was the coaster brake no problem on the ramps ands quarterpipes i always imagined landing with the coster brake on

after a few hops and jumps you got used t landing with your leading foot down so as not to put the brake on, is that makes any sense

pickle · « **Reply #15 on:** June 24, 2011, 09:03 AM »

awesome pictures..........great little read that

trickydeno · « **Reply #16 on:** June 24, 2011, 10:13 PM »

great pics fella.and some great proper old school ramp building

hotdog · « **Reply #17 on:** June 24, 2011, 10:34 PM »

Thanks for the comments. The trick ramp was a lot sturdier than it looks. The half-pipe actually came from Southport Skatepark via the top of the hill at Chorley BMX track.

MartyC · « **Reply #18 on:** June 25, 2011, 08:43 AM »

Any pics of your Scorpion pre-running over?

hotdog · « **Reply #19 on:** June 25, 2011, 01:21 PM »

Quote from: MartyC on June 25, 2011, 08:43 AM

Any pics of your Scorpion pre-running over?

Here you go....

What's the first thing you do when you get your first bmx?
You put on your brothers Bell Moto 3 and test her out into the imaginary berms!

One of the first tricks to learn (note the Suntour Holeshot 2-speed derailleur)

or maybe not

A year later and the derailleur has been ditched

MartyC · « **Reply #20 on:** June 25, 2011, 02:59 PM »

Excellent stuff, I love Scorpion's as it was my first BMX BITD too ...

Me on mine...

My mate Darren on his...

Another mate Grant Foster (now in a German AC/DC cover band!) racing my brother (I think, it's hard to tell in the pic!)...

hotdog · « **Reply #21 on:** June 25, 2011, 03:14 PM »

They must have sold quite a few Scorpion/Exploders. There was a lad that lived 'round the corner and he had the TX model. There's something a bit special about all these old photos,something 'pure & innocent'. I love the way you're all sporting the 2-tone Vans!