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RADBMX.CO.UK  |  Old School BMX 1980 - 1988  |  Old School Race (riders ready, pedals ready... GO!!)  |  Blazer-Navajo-rebel racing from an unknown frame to a big chunk of bmx history.
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Author Topic: Blazer-Navajo-rebel racing from an unknown frame to a big chunk of bmx history.  (Read 13821 times)

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Offline oberonspacefruit

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well, its been a voyage of discovery, and its reminded me why I got hooked on collecting again. The chase for information, and playing “miss marple” as sawzall puts it can verge on the point of obsession sometimes, but its so moreish……
Anyway, I bought this frame.



Its very well made, but I had no idea what it was, other than that it was a mini.  I pmed a few heads on here, but they could only guess, and they admitted that they were guessing, so I put up a thread, which brought more guesses, albeit educated ones.
The nearest guess, was a Curtis mini, due to the machined headtube. The thread then went a bit dead, so I set about asking some guys on bmx museum, not expecting much, as a few of us thought it was a uk made frame.
Ive got to say the chaps on museum were really helpful, and very well informed. I was put onto a guy called dubplatestyle, as he supposedly had a lot of expertise on exotic mini’s.
He knew what it was straight away, well, to 3 options, and that was only because I didn’t send a clear dropout pic. He put it down to:
Blazer mini. 79-81
Navaho little chief 81 ish
Rebel Racing Li’l reb 82-83.
App arently they were all made using the same jig, and the last two were all welded by the same guy, in Lufkin texas.
All are very rare, and only a handfull are displayed in the bmx museum.
as a point, the texas rebel racing was nothing to do with the rebel uk bikes that we know.
There were no chrome blazers, so that left it to the Navajo, a spin off, who later went on to form Harbour bmx.

Hers a bit of the trail I went down.

Blazer mini:








Navajo little chief:


Navajo mini:




Navajo chief 20"







Bruce brock:
Blazer racing was also a related team in which the bikes were made by the same machine shop as Rebel and Rebel was a spin off from them 1981.
blazer bmx bikes were made in Lufkin Texas in the early 80's.  I believe they were only made in 80-83'.  I do know a good contact for All of the Blazer info.  He was one of the factory riders.  He also has some vintage Blazer stuff as well as stickers.  I will look him up.



from a recent email:
Yes Blazers were made in Lufkin but they were transferred there from Chandler Arizona.

Dave Gerston hooked up with Mike Maberry (from Lufkin) and they were the two that made Blazer go. Dave did all the frame building and Mike was supposed to market the product. Dave had his thing going and then Mike found him and convinced Dave to move the operations to Lufkin.
They had a great run for a while but Mike had financial issues and the whole thing went Kaput.
Dave has lost his mind and is back in Chandler. He spends his days as a street preacher shouting at passer bys. Dave had a younger brother named Josh that was my age.(43ish) Josh is also back in Chandler. I think I found all this out from BR Anderson of the ABA.

Mike Maberry is working for A Chevrolet Car dealership in Lufkin (there is only one Chevy dealership in that small town) Mike has something very interesting, He has the 1980 ABA Texas tour  professionally filmed on 8 mm stashed away in his house. Movie grade film of the early days.

Blazer or Dave not only made frames but He was the genius that gave us the Electronic staring gates that had Lights and corresponding noises. The ABA would order a new gate for every National that was held in an arena. I welded them all together after school and football practice. Dave also invented the two man practice gate. Dave also made Bleacher risers.
There are also issues with some of the dates these guys are pinning on Blazers. There is a wrap around head gusset for the down tube. This is because a few of the early frames cracked at that juncture. We added the gusset on everything but the minis.
recent email in 2012.


first gen blazer mini

First gen blazer mini
(non-machined head tube, hole in rear drop, decals w/o border.)

2nd gen with machined headtube and solid drops






However Rebel became much bigger due to the amount marketing and involvement from ABA Founder Merle Mennenga in Rebel Racing and Bernie Anderson & Roland Chankin, who originally both started Rebel Racing. Charles Bruce, my father, ended up with ownership of both companies due to reasons I am not completely clear on, but I do know he was responsible for all marketing of Rebel and took it to Europe and Australia, where it was much bigger down under than here. However Rebel was a viable bike manufacturer until around 1988.




Blazer racing was also a related team in which the bikes were made by the same machine shop as Rebel and Rebel was a spin off from them 1981.




























The only actual mini's back then were Blazer's out of the same machine shop, until the Titanium Rebel mini was made. I have the only one that I know of still in existence and it is not painted because you could not chrome or paint titanium.

It was not until my dad fully took over Rebel and Blazer did they make their own Mini's and Cruiser's.


The team used GT's Mini's and Cruisers with Rebel stickers until about '83. The only actual rebels were the Rebel Johnny Reb (Mid-size) and the General Lee (Full Size) 20" frame.




Bernie Anderson started Rebel Racing with Roland Chankin in '81, but then sold it and Blazer Racing to Charles Bruce in '82. Charles Bruce was the marketing arm of Rebel Racing, until Roland Chankin and Bernie Anderson parted ways due to personal issues between each other after the ABA Texas Tour in '82 (Really have no details why.). Manufacturing was actually in Phoenix through a Gene Roden (ABA) contact. Charles Bruce was the one who took over the management of the race team in late '82 and moved manufacturing of Rebel to Tennessee in late '83/early '84 to a manufacturer who also made Vector, because the quality of the Rebel/Blazer frames coming out of Arizona had quality issues and many were braking at the head tube. This is when the Rebel stick tails (Gen 2) frames started.

Charles Bruce closed up shop in '87, after the economy and BMX took a down turn.





That is an original loop tail Rebel mini. They were never marketed. The minis were only available to factory riders and/or factory support. This generation was never marketed to the public because of their tendency to break at the neck. It was only a select few that broke, but Rebel "minis" had a bad reputation because of this. It was due to a small batch (20 or so) that was made with some bad chromoly tubing in a shop in Phoenix. I own a Titanium mini that is probably one of the only still in existence.



Here is the original Rebel Titanium Mini.


One of only a few made in Titanium and the Ti models were only owned by factory riders. This mini design was marketed under Blazer Racing and the Rebel Racing name as a Chromoly frame only. Several of the younger factory riders rode GT's re-stickered with Rebel, because they did not like the geometric design of the Blazer mini, that the Rebel was based from, but once this design was made, all younger riders sponsored by Rebel rode these titanium models. To name a couple of those riders, Mike Wheelock & Trevor Tully rode for Rebel for a number of years on those frames. Little bit of history...Blazer Racing was the original company and in 1981 Bernie Anderson and Roland Chankin spun off to start Rebel Racing Products Corp with a ABA sanctioned endorsement, but was marketed and later owned later owned by Charles Bruce from Houston. Rebel was originally started in San Antonio, Texas in 1981, but moved to Houston, Texas in late 1982.

I still own this bike who was ridden by Factory Rider Trevor Tully from 1983 - 1985. As you can see this bike was never painted because they did not know how to finish titanium back then and since it was resistant to rust, the titanium bikes were just set up as is. Hope you enjoy seeing this bit of Rebel history.





Taken from the October '81 Bicycles Today.












Brock Bruce
Factory Rebel Rider from 81-87.

From Dubplate style:
From my understanding Mike Mayberry was to handle the marketing & management of the team while Dave Gersten was in charge of all fabrication for Blazer. (An interesting side note, Dave also manufactured the electronic starting gates for the ABA as well.)
After reading a lot of other forums regarding Blazer, Mike makes a lot claims that don't necessarily add up, here's a few factual and questionable statements he was quoted saying: Blazer made frames only, none where available in chrome, all where painted except 10 copper-plated frames, never used the single "B" as a head tube decal or logo, no pad sets or any other product bearing the Blazer name and besides being friendly with Bernie Anderson, Blazer in no way was ever connected with Rebel Racing.
From what I can gather Dave & Mike eventually had a falling out and went their separate ways, now considering Dave owned all the tooling and jigs for the frames, i believe it was at that point he either sold the company or partnered up with Bernie Anderson to keep Blazer going.
i found this pic on a "neighboring" site and swore it was a Blazer stickered as a Rebel.however,considering there is so much discussion on whether or not Blazer ever made any frames in chrome this pic became a curiosity.



So thats where the story stands at the moment. Its so interesting tracing a bikes history especially when youve got no idea what it is. God knows how such frame ended up in the uk, that part will remain a mystery.
I want to touch ORB

Offline sawzall

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Great info phil and an interesting read
Can't wait to see it built :daumenhoch:
British race frames and race clothing wanted

rodriguez

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Good read and a nice little frame set  :coolsmiley:

Offline Jaymz

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Wow so much information

Offline animal

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Superb  :4_17_5: a great read was that  ;) good sleuthing  8)

Offline fischflo

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Great compendium, good work :smitten: ...and good find in the First Place :smiley6600:

Offline Funkyworm

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Awesome result !

Very nearly bought a general lee off of ebay in the states about 8 weeks ago, good find & not too many of these in the UK.

Offline oberonspacefruit

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Im sure mattdub had somthing harbour lites, or the like, anyone know anything about them?
I want to touch ORB

Offline Mikku

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That's a great read! Good job!!  :daumenhoch:
From Dorset to Japan:- http://www.radbmx.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,182215.0.html
Ok riders, random start. Riders ready, watch the gate old gaijin make a fool of himself! :D

Offline region11

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Very interesting read  :)
Neil

Offline Andy68

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Enjoyed that read. Nice one  :4_17_5:

Offline Bornintheusa

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« Last Edit: November 04, 2014, 02:11 PM by Bornintheusa »

Offline Picklez

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As others have said, great read, good work, thanks keep it going
**** WANTED: Early black Comp ST's, Mint Black Shotgun 2 or OG Suede Kashi Aero, Titrons, Black-White/White-Black RadKaps. Thank You ****

Offline jhammons01

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Quote
Yes Blazers were made in Lufkin but they were transferred there from Chandler Arizona.

Dave Gerston hooked up with Mike Maberry (from Lufkin) and they were the two that made Blazer go. Dave did all the frame building and Mike was supposed to market the product. Dave had his thing going and then Mike found him and convinced Dave to move the operations to Lufkin.
They had a great run for a while but Mike had financial issues and the whole thing went Kaput.
Dave has lost his mind and is back in Chandler. He spends his days as a street preacher shouting at passer bys. Dave had a younger brother named Josh that was my age.(43ish) Josh is also back in Chandler. I think I found all this out from BR Anderson of the ABA.

Mike Maberry is working for A Chevrolet Car dealership in Lufkin (there is only one Chevy dealership in that small town) Mike has something very interesting, He has the 1980 ABA Texas tour  professionally filmed on 8 mm stashed away in his house. Movie grade film of the early days.

Blazer or Dave not only made frames but He was the genius that gave us the Electronic staring gates that had Lights and corresponding noises. The ABA would order a new gate for every National that was held in an arena. I welded them all together after school and football practice. Dave also invented the two man practice gate. Dave also made Bleacher risers.
There are also issues with some of the dates these guys are pinning on Blazers. There is a wrap around head gusset for the down tube. This is because a few of the early frames cracked at that juncture. We added the gusset on everything but the minis.

Logged on here to point out, those are my words.
John Hammons
(Formerly) Lufkin Texas

Offline insectbones

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........and nicely bumped in the process.

Very interesting read  :daumenhoch:

Offline dinglem

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This is awesome - thanks so much for sharing all of this. You have an absolute gem there, and I will look forward to seeing it built up.

I have gone down a similar route researching HarborLite, and have had plenty of contact with 'dubplatestyle' in the past couple of years since I sourced the WHEELS Ti prototype. He's a top guy, and knows his stuff.

Chris Lawther took the WHEELS riders over to the Bicycle Harbor shop in the early 80's to research their renowned light weight Mini builds, and as a result came back with some of their super-rare (and super light) bars and nylon headsets. I have managed to get hold of some of these from a couple of ex-WHEELS riders to go on to the prototype Ti build, and 'dubsplatestyle' has sold me a few tasty lightweight Mini items in preparation also.


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My bars - never seen another set.
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...and my nylon 'HarborLite' headset.
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Funking in your space since 1984.

Offline dinglem

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And here's Big Trevor Robinson, Dean Bateson and Raggy outside the shop itself. Check out the bikes!!!


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Funking in your space since 1984.

griff

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What a fantastic thread, can't believe I missed this first time around  :4_17_5:

Offline Mikku

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Just re-read this - awesome pics, info and history!! Keep it coming!! :daumenhoch:
From Dorset to Japan:- http://www.radbmx.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,182215.0.html
Ok riders, random start. Riders ready, watch the gate old gaijin make a fool of himself! :D

Offline McQUEEN

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First time I'm seeing this, one of the most interesting threads I've ever read on here! Great work!  fistblump

I love the photos of the bikes outside the Bike Harbour Shop. If I had a time machine, I'd be right back there now.
When I was born, the world was a far simpler place.
It was all just cops and robbers.
And BMX.

Offline chrisv39

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Great thread :daumenhoch: this has really brought some memories back to me. A childhood friend of mine called David Mcpherson used to race a Navajo mini up here in the north east. It was the only one I've ever seen as you didn't even see them in magazines. We lived in Middlesbrough so was possibly bought from Colin Armstrongs or maybe Tuckers at Guisborough. I remember him telling us how rare it was and like the foolish kids we were no one really taking any interest in it as it wasn't one of the big name frames.
This is the first time I've come across the name again in over 30 years!

Offline jhammons01

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Back on topic:

Quote
From my understanding Mike Mayberry was to handle the marketing & management of the team while Dave Gersten was in charge of all fabrication for Blazer. (An interesting side note, Dave also manufactured the electronic starting gates for the ABA as well.)
After reading a lot of other forums regarding Blazer, Mike makes a lot claims that don't necessarily add up, here's a few factual and questionable statements he was quoted saying: Blazer made frames only, none where available in chrome, all where painted except 10 copper-plated frames, never used the single "B" as a head tube decal or logo, no pad sets or any other product bearing the Blazer name and besides being friendly with Bernie Anderson, Blazer in no way was ever connected with Rebel Racing.
From what I can gather Dave & Mike eventually had a falling out and went their separate ways, now considering Dave owned all the tooling and jigs for the frames, i believe it was at that point he either sold the company or partnered up with Bernie Anderson to keep Blazer going.
i found this pic on a "neighboring" site and swore it was a Blazer stickered as a Rebel.however,considering there is so much discussion on whether or not Blazer ever made any frames in chrome this pic became a curiosity.

The Jigs as mentioned always belonged to Dave G and he could do with them what he wanted. If we needed a new jig for anything, Dave fabricated it from scratch and no one commissioned that jig or owned it.

"The Falling out" wasn't anything more than Mike running out of money to continue. The "Copper" frames were in the process of being chromed (Triple nickle chrome is a process of different materials) and Mike didn't pay the platers for the job so the work stopped and Mike was able to wrangle the ten frames away from the plater with only copper plating. It became a fad or flash in the pan if you will.

"break-up" cont: After months of Dave and I not being paid anything, and the Electronic starting gates for the ABA along with bleacher risers being the only source of income, Dave laid me off and that was the last 'real' insider info I can give you.

Keep in mind that Mike didn't have any money, he had taken sales proceeds and sponsored an ABA tour and national, he had also sponsored a TON of riders (over looking me for some odd reason, more on that if wish on another thread). so, Blazer racing was running on "promise" and not actual income. Dave and I could pound out a ton of frames (Dave could weld the prefabbed components into a complete frame in 1 hour, I busied myself bending tubes and filling all the empty bins with whatever tubes were needed to build frames), so all that being said, we were ready.....just needed to be paid for the work already done. In other words, Mike owed Dave for ~75 frames or so....

Also keep in mind that Dave and Mike were introduced by Bernie and Dave was still a huge supplier of the ABA starting gates two man practice starting gates and bleacher risers, so, anyone that could offer to market the frames, Dave had to take that offer as he was a very strange very reclusive young genius. After Blazer stopped, I really can't offer much more info after that as I was sort of pissed off at the whole thing and snubbed all incoming info from entering my brain. I'd hear the younger kids ( I was just about the oldest rider at the tracks these days) talking about Rebel yadda yadda and I would tune out.

The Chromies? After I got laid off, we had quite a few frames on the shelf, who's to say if Dave released those to Mike to get them chromed. You guys are thinking that this was some sort of huge corporate dealings with CEOs and Factories...when you need to be picturing a small industrial unit with ONE guy in there welding away on used equipment and some high school kid arriving around 4pm on a Robinson......that's the Factory.....and the CEO of Blazer was a guy working out of his Garage

There's nothing wrong with all of that as I later became the "Mike" of HB Cruisers in the mid 90s but let's be real, trying to figure out "production runs" and when this happened or that happened is a pig in a poke and someones  memories may not be as crisp as they would like them to be.

Offline BMX1973

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Some great unusual bikes turning up  :4_17_5:

Offline factory pilot

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This is what Rad is all about compared to FB ... What an amazing story and brilliant thread ....
Let's give this one a massive  :bump: explosion :4_17_5:
"Knowledge is the acceptance of ones own ignorance." Socrates 399BC

Offline CDBMX

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This is what the interweb in general, & forums like this are all about.
We start with a mystery & the word spreads around the globe. Before long the answers come in & a story with a timeline & real people with well known names come to life.

Congratulations on turning a bare frame & a question into a rich & vibrant history.
I'll be building Quickies till the day I die, ..... & maybe a couple of days after that.

RADBMX.CO.UK  |  Old School BMX 1980 - 1988  |  Old School Race (riders ready, pedals ready... GO!!)  |  Blazer-Navajo-rebel racing from an unknown frame to a big chunk of bmx history.
 

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