Do standards slip as you get older or are you just a cheap bastard?

[ukoldschool]

I registered on this site some time ago when I was building up my Streetbeat, then I lost touch and have come back, and I have a rant to get off my chest.
Im sure this rant will mark me as an enemy or a snob to many on this site but its something that I have to say!
WTF is going on with all the absolute crap being put on peoples builds these days?
Crap parts and in some cases crap frames that we wouldn’t have touched in the old days... Is it just that your tight and don’t want to shell out for a decent skyway/haro/GT?

3 Prime examples:

Maxycross cranks
These things were hideous back in the day and I for one would have been embarrassed to be seen with a pair (I stuck with a one piece till I could afford a set of profiles). I remember halfords had literally hundreds of them on the shelf as frankly - they were shit!

DP freestylers
Absolute cack then, cack now in my eyes. Sure, I appreciate that to some there’s a certain quirkiness about a British built (read birdshit welded, low quality steel) frame but honestly we used to laugh at DP's back then and I still laugh at them now.

Cack stems, ie Sugino, SR etc
Appalingly made sandcast lumps of ugliness – just why?

Am I on my own here? Don’t get me wrong I see some quality builds still happening (the trickstar for example) but honestly the cheapo build seems to be taking over and I DONT LIKE IT!

Rant over, flak jacket engaged, bring on the flames
 

[LucyLastic]

Maybe peeps are just skint and will buy better parts when they've got a bit more disposable income.  I'd like to build another bike but the thought of shelling out for a half decent frame will just not happen at the mo, too many other financial commitments.   

[JT Smooth]

For a lot of people, the best stuff is worth 2 much and so lower end or less desirable stuff is being snapped up

[brettypeeps]

I think you have to build to a budget and if that is Maxycross cranks and Sugino or SR stems then so be it

DP frames absolute Cack .  I had on back in the day and I have one now and they are a dream to ride.  I even prefer it to my Haro Master

[ukoldschool]

so standards slip AND your a cheap bastard too?

 

[meticulous]

its now much more difficult to build a high end bike than it was 3 or 4 years ago, because all the nos stuff has been used up, people hang on to it and sell off there low end stuff, and no one is prepared to pay top dollar for mint desirable parts, on top of all that everything has been done to death now, and its just more of the same.....

and tbh i would sooner see a mint low end bike (like my tin murray) than a hutch, as they are much rarer....

[Dannywhac]

Oooh - BMX eugenics

If all that was built up were top-o'-da range bmx's from BITD, then there'd be no examples of the low and mid range bikes left, they'd all have gone into landfill recycling. For a lot of people the low and mid stuff was what they rode and hold dear to themselves because of the memories.

Any part of a collection generally isn't just limited to high-end products, you need the good, bad and ugly. I'd love to rebuild my Freeway Aero frame with it's original thin spoke Acorn mags not because they're quality built parts but because that bike holds a lot of memories for me. Just me 10p's worth

[BENDYCAT ELEVENTEEN]

  this is going to be a funny thread  

[ukoldschool]

I had a freeway acorn freestyler bitd and you couldnt pay me to have one now!

[ThisBitterPill]

 

[curtispro]

 

[stidds]

I do love a good rant 

[brummie]

I had a freeway acorn freestyler bitd and you couldnt pay me to have one now!

bet that looked good with profiles on 

[BENDYCAT ELEVENTEEN]

troll   you blow your cover too soon  

[curtispro]

I have not been involved in this hobby for very long and as I see it there are two type of builds, one for show that's never going to be ridden and ones that get built to ride (all be it carefully), mine are built for riding and therefore have parts on them that are not going to break the bank or your heart when you fook them up, I build them that way because I enjoy riding them that way with a big grin on my face  

Build what you want, how you like it, after all its your bike  

[punkdSICO]

Hi

I kind of agree with you on Maxycross cranks.  Never really liked them and they are pretty ugly.

DP freestylers Absolute cack then, cack now in my eyes.

You serious??!!  Forgetting about any preconceptions you have or childhood snobberies; if you had never heard of Haro/GT/DP/etc before, and you stuck their classic freestyler designs side by side, I think most people would say the DP is visually the most striking.  Haro's always look just slightly "not right"; they are too high and the angle where the double top tubes bend to go down to the drop-out, that angel is just slightly mis-placed for it to be visually pleasing.  The geometry of a DP is faultless and looks gorgeous.

Clearly beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Im probably bias as I have 2 DPs.

Btw, I have nothing against Haros and would love one (they were my childhood dream bike) but all these years later when I can take a subjective step back and reconsider, I just come to the conclusion that once you take out of the equation the big name sponsorship/company founder, I realises that there are far more attractive freestylers out there than Haro freestylers.

Cool thread..  I expect its going to go on for a while

Paul

[ukoldschool]

I had a freeway acorn freestyler bitd and you couldnt pay me to have one now!

bet that looked good with profiles on 

dont be silly...... the whole thing went in the bin when it snapped in half after flying out of the concrete halfpipe at rom. Actually thats a lie, I held onto the pink acorns for a while as I thought the hubs were cool

[58 delray]

its not a case of standards or being cheap, many people build there bike to factory spec and if that includes maxy cross cranks or a sugino stem then thats what they build it with.
also for a lot of people that how their bike was bitd so they build using the parts they used at the time.
i had a sugino stem on my goose in 81 and never had a problem with it.

[pickle]

Hi

I kind of agree with you on Maxycross cranks.  Never really liked them and they are pretty ugly.

DP freestylers Absolute cack then, cack now in my eyes.

You serious??!!  Forgetting about any preconceptions you have or childhood snobberies; if you had never heard of Haro/GT/DP/etc before, and you stuck their classic freestyler designs side by side, I think most people would say the DP is visually the most striking.  Haro's always look just slightly "not right"; they are too high and the angle where the double top tubes bend to go down to the drop-out, that angel is just slightly mis-placed for it to be visually pleasing.  The geometry of a DP is faultless and looks gorgeous.

Clearly beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Im probably bias as I have 2 DPs.

Btw, I have nothing against Haros and would love one (they were my childhood dream bike) but all these years later when I can take a subjective step back and reconsider, I just come to the conclusion that once you take out of the equation the big name sponsorship/company founder, I realises that there are far more attractive freestylers out there than Haro freestylers.

Cool thread..  I expect its going to go on for a while

Paul

I have to say I like the old DPs but there geometry is awful! There head tube angle is way to relaxed and the steering is all over the place.

I can understand where you're coming from ukoldschool but I think the low end stuff deserves a place in the history of it all. After all not all of us ever had haros or GTs, Christ all I had was a burner but its all bmx brother 

[griff]

morning troll

I took a haro master frame and put a mixture of non-era correct parts and repops on it

because

1) I'm on a budget and am also a tight bastard (since I don't live with my parents I have to spend money on other 'essential' stuff like bills and food)
2) I'm going to ride it, not tug myself off looking at it in the living room so don't want to be agonising over scuffing some top end bike porn when I fall off

love and hugs  

griff

[markyp]

sometimes its nice to mix things up a bit so if you fancy a maxy cross crank for example as your other builds all have flights then so be it,theres no point in building every bike the same with tuf neck stem,flight cranks,polished arayas,kashi mx,gt bars etc etc,what would be the point in that.as for dp freesylers i could only dream about owning one back then so although not my cuppa now i still think they are an important part of os bmx ,very desirable and british

[Swivel]

Hi

I kind of agree with you on Maxycross cranks.  Never really liked them and they are pretty ugly.

DP freestylers Absolute cack then, cack now in my eyes.

You serious??!!  Forgetting about any preconceptions you have or childhood snobberies; if you had never heard of Haro/GT/DP/etc before, and you stuck their classic freestyler designs side by side, I think most people would say the DP is visually the most striking.  Haro's always look just slightly "not right"; they are too high and the angle where the double top tubes bend to go down to the drop-out, that angel is just slightly mis-placed for it to be visually pleasing.  The geometry of a DP is faultless and looks gorgeous.

Clearly beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Im probably bias as I have 2 DPs.

Btw, I have nothing against Haros and would love one (they were my childhood dream bike) but all these years later when I can take a subjective step back and reconsider, I just come to the conclusion that once you take out of the equation the big name sponsorship/company founder, I realises that there are far more attractive freestylers out there than Haro freestylers.

Cool thread..  I expect its going to go on for a while

Paul

[curtispro]

Thing of beauty and check out the repo stuff on that 

 

[pickle]

Very nice! 

[mattuknc]

Build what you want, how you like it, after all its your bike  

I've built mine to ride them, never really liked the one piece cranks, and some of the newer cranks still look the part on the older style frames so I don't see that's a problem.  
I'm no carpet queen.