mid school memories.

[Philbert]

I've viewed some threads recently and seen some items for sale on the mid school face book page. some I agree with some I don't and I guess it depends on how you remember things as to how you personally feel. So what I'm wondering is how you personally remember mid school? Not so much about going out and having fun with mates but more the industry. I'd like to hear from people that actually rode in the era, not people who have started collecting mid school because it's cheaper than old school.

For me what really sticks out in my mind of the mid school era was the demise of the factory bikes and the emergence of the after market companies. I appreciate the old brands still had big name riders like voelker on gt. Mccoy on mongoose. Mirra on haro etc. But the likes of standard,  s&m, t1, volume, fbm, hoffman etc were the brands that were being talked about. The brands the people wanted to ride. The brands that progressed the sport without big money backers.

Just wondered what other people thought

[Dannywhac]

PB's not asking about MS start/finish dates - but what you thought about the industry back then.

Yeah - deffo the rise of the rider owned comps and the splitting of said riders from the ever increasing sh1t bikes (as in out of touch) the corps were still pedaling out. Saying that though down at the park the vast majority of bikes were still budget 'big brand named' bmxs.

It's gotta be the industry innovation led on by rider innovation for me I reckon. Some crazy stuff cam out in the MS period, and some absolute corkers were invented. Loved the fact that nearly every region of the UK had someone making pegs or knarps at a local engineering company/dads shed. Bikes covered in custom botches to solve sh1tty brakes, homegrown stuff like G-Sport etc.

[john4130]

i rode my 88 master up till 92 when i eventually killed it, it had been welded a few times and the plate at the seatube replaced with a 6mm plate. i then bought a 92 condor complete and rode that for a couple of years, then a standard lengthy which lasted 10 years before breaking. had g sport forks and stem on it, the thing weighed a ton but took plenty abuse and still asked for more, rob ridge reaction boa on it too, home made pegs, g sport hubs and fat rims. the rider owned companies were the only one's making stuff that could handle the abuse of heavy street riding, it may have been more expensive to buy but it was much more reliable. i think even if the big companies tried to beef up their products they were still losing out to the smaller rider owned ones. i'd say most people were fed up breaking shit and didn't really trust them anymore.

[Fletch]

I banged my head too many times and smoked to much weed, I can't remember much from back then! 
As mentioned above backyard rider innovation lead the way in the mid 90's
I had a first set of king forks, a few pairs of reaction boas and backyard yardsticks pegs. I also made my own long stem wedge and other bits and pieces
The annual pilgrimage to hastings for the backyard jam
Trails riding really progressing, and street riding
Riding brakeless
Twist lace wheels
Big ass baggy trousers!!

[Gordy]

A couple things that stood out for me was the wave of rider owned companies, such as Terrible One, Metal Bikes, Volume, Macneil, Kink, Federal etc in addition to Hoffman, S&M and Standard etc and the shift from the big corporate companies.

Another thing that really stood out was that there was a more "trail" style approach to riding. Joe Rich and Taj Mihelich who were two of the most influential riders of the time could ride street, dirt, ramps and absolutely kill it on anything and make it look so damn good. It became much more about speed, style, flow and consistency rather than just being a trick ferret and landing flat over a box jump or quarter.

The level of riding was going through the roof at the time and it led to people focussing on specific types of riding. You no longer saw DMC, Jay Miron or Mirra riding Flatland as they focussed on street and Vert to remain on top, also because Andrew Faris, Trever Meyer, Andrew Brown and many others were taking it to another level in flat. Mirra and co. couldn't spend hours upon hours in a parking lot, while sending it to the moon on a vert ramp aswell.

Real Street was really starting to gather momentum and riders like Brian Castillo, Rooftop, Dave Young, Joe and Taj and Jim Celinski were slaying every handrail, wallride, ledge in site and made street what it is today.

I guess I don't know what I'm trying to say, other than riders in this time took back ownership of the "sport" and relieved the corporate giants of the responsibility. The level of riding was going through the roof on the back of increased popularity through X-Games, Gravity Games and it saw riders focus on specific areas of BMX and lose the term "Freestyle" as people were quickly known as an awesome street, dirt or vert rider.

Hope that gives some sort of insight into what I felt and observed during that time

[ED209]

Great thread :-)

Personally I packed in BMX to skate in 88 ... but I'm very interested in the time that followed that and the bikes I would have brought if I stayed with it during the early 90s. The design changes that occurred in the 90s make it about the most interesting period in BMX as far as I'm concerned 

[EDBANGER]

I love the tag under the "MId School" forum link.  "They said BMX was dead.....it wasn't".  For me I remember just being old enough to get down to the local BMX track with my mates only for it to be bulldozed the week after.  Following that all I wanted was a mountain bike.  I then got one for christmas only for it to be stolen from me 2 months later and I was gutted.  Parents couldn't afford to buy me another bike so I bought a BMX from a mate for £5 and we rode round in a little group of BMX bandits.  There were no facilities anywhere near us and no mention of BMX anywhere in the media or as far as I was concerned, the world.  Without the internet being around there was nobody pushing it for me and I believed that BMX really was dead.  Then I came across Ride magazine and I just spent hours drooling over mostly GT's, Haro's and Hoffman's which would probably have been 93ish.  I then discovered a bike shop in Kings Heath called Bike Pro that actually sold BMX parts and spent a lot of time in there dreaming of owning the Hoffman Big Daddy frame that was on the wall.  I saved all my money and eventually built a custom 95 GT Performer after buying every part bit by bit.  It got nicked and that was it for me.  Girls, drugs and rock and roll seemed more important.  I just wish that all the local park facilities and information via the interent were about at that time.  I might actually have gotten decent on a bike.  I'm hoping it's not too late but I need to find someone my own age to ride with other wise I'm gonna look strange down the park 

[ED209]

I love the tag under the "Mid School" forum link.  "They said BMX was dead.....it wasn't".

all I can say is RIDE ON!

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[ron burgundy]

I remember the town bike shop being totally uninterested in BMX. We ended up asking the dudes from the local surf shop to order our parts in to stock, they also stocked a lovely selection of Vision trainers