Back on my bike today!!

[bmxer4ever]

Had to go to the dentist today, the sun was shining, the roads were dry and it's been 4 months since my knee operation......
Ride to the appoitment? Yeah - why not - got to get back on the bike....
Felt weird at first - only been on exercise bikes for the past few months so a bmx felt strange!
My knees were so high up when I sat down I felt like a jockey! (And I run a HIGH seatpost as well!). My calf muscles kept hitting my thighs which I don't remember happening before - felt funny! I think with all the physio gym work I've been doing my legs are actually a bit BIGGER than before the operation!
Did the dentist thing - back on the bike - legs still felt good. Had to get a birthday present for my lady so I rode into town. Still felt good.....what next? Skatepark?
Yup! Rode back out of town - not too out of breath! - Kelvingrove was a bit damp, but enough dry bits for a bit of rolling around and some flatland attempts.
Rollback to backwards hang five - hamstring grumbled a bit and I put my foot down.... try something else.
Fire hydrant.....didn't hurt, but put my foot down. Tried again - pulled fire hydrant to infinity roll and out - better!
Tried some flail boomerangs, but my upper body and balance were'nt quite there.
Half boomerang to no handed swivel thing - pulled!
Back to the rollback to backwards hang five - pulled to smoothie and barspin out! Yeah!
Didn't want to push my luck so headed home. Pedalled up every hill on the way - finess is returning...
I'm back! Yeahhhhh!

[Trev]

Nice one Gary...  Time to get the Simon & Garfunkel CD out again me thinks.... 

[dirtbro]

well done but be carefull dont want to wreak any good work that has been done , it might set you back and you might miss the good months

[bmxer4ever]

Nice one Gary...  Time to get the Simon & Garfunkel CD out again me thinks.... 

Cheers Trev - I found betamax tapes the other day at my folks - think they might have that awful Bmx Beat run on them.
As luck (or not!) might have it, I have a betamax machine in storage for just such a find! Haha!

[bmxer4ever]

well done but be carefull dont want to wreak any good work that has been done , it might set you back and you might miss the good months

Cheers mate - it was a good day!
Don't worry - I know EXACTLY what you're saying. I've been VERY careful so far as this is a one time fix as far as I'm concerned, but I have to start testing it out . The surgeon's physio said to me that it's time for me to stress it out a little - get it working and put it under a bit of pressure. Baby steps, baby steps.....

[SaMAlex]

Thats great, what a top post! I couldnt help but have a big smile on my face while reading it. It was almost like I was there, pulling the tricks with you (apart from the fact that I cant make any of the tricks you listed! haha).

Good stuff 

[bmxer4ever]

Thats great, what a top post! I couldnt help but have a big smile on my face while reading it. It was almost like I was there, pulling the tricks with you (apart from the fact that I cant make any of the tricks you listed! haha).

Good stuff 

No worries Alex, I can't pull most of the things you can do! Glad you enjoyed - I did! If it's dry tomorrow, i'm going to try and do some more.

[TwoBobRob]

Congratulations.  I bet it felt good just to crank down the street again.

My physio told me pre op that certain muscles in my leg weren't being exercised at all by what I was doing riding. Muscles that would support the knee too....  He went on to say that I would come back much much stronger in the legs than I was previously.

Which is what you're experiencing now I guess.

Happy days 

Carry on with those baby steps, all the best   

[harris]

nice one, im glad your back in the saddle,feels so good to get back on they old bike , the homely feeling
 

[bmxer4ever]

Congratulations.  I bet it felt good just to crank down the street again.

My physio told me pre op that certain muscles in my leg weren't being exercised at all by what I was doing riding. Muscles that would support the knee too....  He went on to say that I would come back much much stronger in the legs than I was previously.

Which is what you're experiencing now I guess.

Happy days 

Carry on with those baby steps, all the best   

Cheers mate - you may have a point about the muscle thing - I'll ask my good lady - as luck might have it, she's a senior physiotherapist (a cunning plan...!), see what she's got to say about it! I think i may have been lucky in that i guess flatland probably exercises your legs in many different ways as well as all the other riding I do. I'll need to ask and find out.
G

[bmxer4ever]

nice one, im glad your back in the saddle,feels so good to get back on they old bike , the homely feeling
 

I know what you mean. It made me re-evaluate the bike I'm riding though - may sell it and get something different and lighter.....

[harris]

i just started again on a new school bike
feels a tad odd but getting better all the time.
ive been a while out of the saddle so its bit of a
learning curve.

[Flatcap]

Nice one Gary - hope things a feeling ok though dude as it's usually after you start to feel it.

Daz. 

[bmxer4ever]

Once I'm riding more and the weather improves I'll need to do a little vid and post it up. We can compare it to the '87 Tizer Worlds one that Trev put on YouTube of me! That'll be funny - no Miami hop hops though or I'll take the forks clean off these days! (Unless I lose a couple of stone!!) Haha!

[Trev]

Once I'm riding more and the weather improves I'll need to do a little vid and post it up. We can compare it to the '87 Tizer Worlds one that Trev put on YouTube of me! That'll be funny - no Miami hop hops though or I'll take the forks clean off these days! (Unless I lose a couple of stone!!) Haha!

   I thought about this too and I wouldn't dare try Miami Hop Hops now.  I'm not too sure how the front wheel would take it these days with my weight, and they're too expensive now to keep on replacing, so I think that's one trick I'll leave in the 80's...

[andy619]

Thats great news Gary.  Remember, nice and slow, no airs over 5' for at least a week.

[bmxer4ever]

It's not the air I'm worried about - it's the landings!
Wet and horrible weather again, so unless I head down to Unit 23, I don't think I'll be doin' any airs just yet!

[welsh denny]

i narrowly missed surgery though the docs and knee specialists were kinda ..... maybe you should have had it after all. getting by and docs said some people can get by without the surgery, up to the individual. my knee was totally rigid after 9 weeks in plaster (from me balls to me toes) so had months of physio and doing small knee exercises , icepacks etc for months to gain the movement , even though it never fully came back. i noticed by riding a mtb and exercise bike it was helping . when i took the bmx out for a ride (no tricks ) i found it gained me more movement as the seat was lower and knee was bending up higher.

with regards to getting a lighter bike i'd say go for it. i stopped doing a lot of tricks cos of the strain on my knee (just rode flat after accident) so decades etc i didn't do until 4 years after as my sabbath was just too heavy - 4 pegs 2 brakes, fat rims gyro etc . 40/45 ibs i reckon. ride a dolomite at the mo and its great and cheap, though been modifying a friends suelo for myself so will be even lighter. if you can lighten the bike you will reap the rewards physically . but not in the pocket. lol.

[bmxer4ever]

i narrowly missed surgery though the docs and knee specialists were kinda ..... maybe you should have had it after all. getting by and docs said some people can get by without the surgery, up to the individual. my knee was totally rigid after 9 weeks in plaster (from me balls to me toes) so had months of physio and doing small knee exercises , icepacks etc for months to gain the movement , even though it never fully came back. i noticed by riding a mtb and exercise bike it was helping . when i took the bmx out for a ride (no tricks ) i found it gained me more movement as the seat was lower and knee was bending up higher.

with regards to getting a lighter bike i'd say go for it. i stopped doing a lot of tricks cos of the strain on my knee (just rode flat after accident) so decades etc i didn't do until 4 years after as my sabbath was just too heavy - 4 pegs 2 brakes, fat rims gyro etc . 40/45 ibs i reckon. ride a dolomite at the mo and its great and cheap, though been modifying a friends suelo for myself so will be even lighter. if you can lighten the bike you will reap the rewards physically . but not in the pocket. lol.

As far as the "getting by" is concerned - been there and done that for 18 years, and I'd just had enough of having a knee I couldn't trust. Luckily for me, the surgery and rehab program for ACL replacement here in Glasgow is bloody good. I reckon it's one of the best there is. It's helped that my good lady is a senior pysio as well! I've had the inside track to all the best advice with none of the BS.
As far as the bike goes, I was even thinking today - how much would it cost to get a custom built Reynolds 531 frame with Badlander geometry! If I could get something like that at a not too ridiculous price, I would seriously consider it!
On the plus side - my knee seems to be in very good shape - the physios are very happy with it. Apparently I've done all the right things and pushed my rehab as hard as I can, so I'm gonna give it another month or so before I make any big decisions.
I'm getting the feeling though that this surgery has WORKED, end of story.
Once I'm doing some testing things on it like footplants and backside boneless, AND I give it a run out on my snowboard, THEN I'll REALLY know how good it is. Until then, I just have to keep pushing the weights and doing the exercises.
And I still have to learn flips and whips........! Heehee!

[SaMAlex]

Once I'm riding more and the weather improves I'll need to do a little vid and post it up. We can compare it to the '87 Tizer Worlds one that Trev put on YouTube of me! That'll be funny - no Miami hop hops though or I'll take the forks clean off these days! (Unless I lose a couple of stone!!) Haha!

   I thought about this too and I wouldn't dare try Miami Hop Hops now.  I'm not too sure how the front wheel would take it these days with my weight, and they're too expensive now to keep on replacing, so I think that's one trick I'll leave in the 80's...

In the early 90s, someone told me that the used to get through a wheel a 36 spoke a week cos of miami hop hops, then they changed to 48 spoke wheels and got through a wheel a month, Finally they changed to Peregrine super pro 48s and got through a set of forks every couple of months! I always thought; why not just forget about the miami hop hops?!

[bmxer4ever]

Once I'm riding more and the weather improves I'll need to do a little vid and post it up. We can compare it to the '87 Tizer Worlds one that Trev put on YouTube of me! That'll be funny - no Miami hop hops though or I'll take the forks clean off these days! (Unless I lose a couple of stone!!) Haha!

   I thought about this too and I wouldn't dare try Miami Hop Hops now.  I'm not too sure how the front wheel would take it these days with my weight, and they're too expensive now to keep on replacing, so I think that's one trick I'll leave in the 80's...

In the early 90s, someone told me that the used to get through a wheel a 36 spoke a week cos of miami hop hops, then they changed to 48 spoke wheels and got through a wheel a month, Finally they changed to Peregrine super pro 48s and got through a set of forks every couple of months! I always thought; why not just forget about the miami hop hops?!

When I was clearing out all my old stuff at my folks over the past week I came across a set of MRD forks, set of Haro forks and a set of TA forks all with busted dropouts. I know at least 2 sets were from that type of trick. Expensive bloody trick!

[SaMAlex]

I bet you will still find people on here falling over them selves to get those forks, even if you dont bother fixing them first! Keepin hold of them might just have paid for doing the stupid trick in the first place!

[bmxer4ever]

I bet you will still find people on here falling over them selves to get those forks, even if you dont bother fixing them first! Keepin hold of them might just have paid for doing the stupid trick in the first place!

I found a load of old parts, but they're all in survivor condition, and most of them didn't survive!
Just for starters there's
1 x Mrd Badlander forks - busted dropouts!;
1 x TA forks - busted dropouts!;
1 x what I think are Haro forks, but don't have the double chevron on the bottom?? - 1 busted dropout!;
1 x Series 1 Hoffman Condor frame - rear dropouts trimmed down a bit, but still have trimmed pieces!, forks to match, but dented at the peg mount on the right hand side;
1 x Tioga Task Force Spider in good condition, white and silver;
1x pair of 175mm Redline Flight cranks, single pinch bolt, good nick, but chrome flaking at a couple of points. Axle twisted!
1 x Blue front Skyway, plastic hub;
1 x pair of GT rear platforms in good nick - chrome - "Eddies Handles"?
1 x pair of Redline rear standing platforms, good nick, chrome.....
etc.etc.
If I get a complete list and some pics, do you think anyone would be interested in taking stuff off my hands?
Any sensible offers plus postage accepted!!
Not looking for much cash for most of it, (although obviously some of it will be valuable...), would rather someone got some use out of the stuff than it going in the skip.
I'm sure I've got some pics of the parts on my old bikes somewhere - I'll post them here until I get a proper list, then I'll stick stuff in the For Sale section if anyone's interested.

[SaMAlex]

I wouldnt mind the flight cranks, even with a twisted spindle. I will PM ya now

Hold on to your hat for the Condor intrest!

[TwoBobRob]

All of that stuff will sell.  Damage is irrelavent mostly. Don't get mugged off in the for sale section though - hang back and you'll soon learn who the cool collectors are; the kind of people you'd like to see get your stuff.