DP RACING FIREBIRD FREESTYLER

[COZZFATHER]

HELLO i'm new on here, i got this website address off someone on Passion Ford.com where we were talking BMX,
i am COZZFATHER on there too,anyway in the 80's i owned 4 DP FIREBIRD FREESTYLERS, in Green and Chrome and a Dayglo Green one and a very rare Bronze one, DP Firebirds were THE bike for me only if wearing a set of SKYWAY TUFF 11'S.
All my Firebirds had Skways,and the last one had a ACS rotor and a coaster brake.

unfortunately in 1993 some tw@t robbed the two i then owned out of my grans back garden where they sat waiting for me to find somewhere for them as i NEVER wanted to part with my babies.

fast forward to present days and i'm the proud owner of a DP RACING FIREBIRD FREESTYLER AGAIN     (WHAT ELSE WHEN YOUR SCHOOL MATES IN THE 80'S CALLED YOU THE FIREBIRD KID)  and early SKYWAY TUFF 11'Sin black but heres the interesting bit.


DP RACING were a North Wales bike manufacturer and i know the place that finished the frames in the 1980'S, how do i know you may ask??? well my mates brother worked there and had a few if you know what i mean

anyway a few months ago i went in there and started asking around if anyone remembered the FIREBIRD BMX'S (as there was the Firebird Delta 11 race bike,and after 10 mins a old guy came out and said in the 80'S he did the FRAMES.
I couldn't believe my luck,he started saying how well the things were welded which was nice because even at 13 i knew they were quality, anyway i am getting my FIREBIRD re done in the factory by the geezer who did it in the 80's.

now that as Paul Daniels would say is magic.

my frame number is 2630 and its a late one i think.
CheeRS  Karl

[pickle]

cool!!! that's great mate......it goes without saying you asked if they had any old ones knockihng about??

 

[virtualmeuk]

Welcome to the club mate  the DP's are superb. Had mine for 26 years now and just in the process of rebuildind it. Speak to steve (firebird) He is as mad on firebirds as i am. He is starting to build a DP website so would be interested to speak to you.

Cheers

I will PM him your details if u dont mind.

[virtualmeuk]

By the way mine is '077' nice and early

[COZZFATHER]

thanks chaps

just remember though i'm the daddy when it comes to FIREBIRDS, mines gonna RISE FROM THE ASHES 

Jeeze i loved the 80's, i used to do about 10 miles a day on me old DP,school paper round etc.

the good old days when a genuine set of DP RACING FIREBIRD FREESTYLER decals cost 1.95
and a set of SKYWAYS were 29.95 each

[virtualmeuk]

Well lets hope you can fill in some blanks that we have for the site. I have pm'd steve so i am sure he will be in touhc

[COZZFATHER]

Yeh i did ask about any Survivors knocking about but alas in them days everyone wanted or knew someone into bmx's
so they all went,the other thing and the guy said what i was thinking was all DP Firebirds were numbered and it made tracking them easy, my mates mates dad was the gaffer there and we are trying to see if we can find who welded them  for DAVE PARKS
or was it DAVE PARRY i get them mixed up,anyway he was DP of DP RACING.
the fella who works there still reckons the frames came from WREXHAM,which is nice as thats where i bought my current DP from
oh and 1 other thing the chrome ones were done somewhere else and i do not know where but i would imagine it would be close.
i am from North Wales and its nice to own a North Wales manufactured Freestyler thats so well regarded
cheeRS

[kuwahero]

I just sold a frameset last week to Spectre and it still had the original bike shop sticker on the seat tube. The bike shop was in Wrexham, Alf Jones if memory serves and it was in Charles Street.

Do you know it Cozzfather. Defo contact Steve (Firebird) Esem top man he wanted mine but I had already done the deal.

Hopefully Spectre hasn't taken the decals off yet and can take a pic off it as it all adds to the history.

[phantom photon]

so they all went,the other thing and the guy said what i was thinking was all DP Firebirds were numbered and it made tracking them easy, my mates mates dad was the gaffer there and we are trying to see if we can find who welded them  for DAVE PARKS

Welcome and top marks for picking one of the coolest old school freestylers about imo 

Not all DP's were numbered. I have an early one sitting in my garage which isn't numbered. I know it's genuine cos it's my own one which I bought brand new bitd 

[COZZFATHER]

interesting about the numbers, the guy who works where they were powder coated says they were all numbered, i wonder if where they were welded any got out before stamping?


i'm having trub ( thats a old 80's word ) finding day glo green powder coat any ideas who sells it?

my mate has asked the retired old fella who worked in the offices where DP'S were powder coted and he seems to remember stuff coming in from Nottingham , he's is having a think about it, i wonder if the frames were 501 tubed??

[winnit93]

ive just about finnished this one,full on dayglo pink powder coat.i got the powder from the states and our very own superbike dan did the powdering for me.trouble is me digi camera cant handle the flouresent pink,so its looks lighter than it is in the picture
98% done want to change the seat and i want a white seatpost and a few other bits want changed.

[lodge]

I posted this up in the museum but have moved it to here as i guess it was in the wrong place.
Its a pic of Glyn Lewis riding a green dp during a bmx beat 85 practice session.

[COZZFATHER]

my brother has bmx beats on video from the 80's, i used to love the music Pepi Winder rode to, i can't remember what it was
called but bmx beat was with Gaz Top weren't it. havn't watched it since about 88

i nearly bought a pink one,but in the end i got a Dayglo green one, were the dayglo's specials as mine had black and white stickers saying FIREBIRD FREESTYLER??

I really love these old DP pics, i just know i'm gonna end up spending more and more on it to get it right, i started wanting it exactly like i had it in the 80's, then FIREBIRD STEVE, mentioned LADDER BARS to me,and tbh i hadn't thought about Ladder bars for nearly 20 years, now i'm looking out for a set. Don't mention any more goodies,i can't bare it

[DINODOG]

My first chrome DP also did'nt have a frame number,also it came brand new in chrome with just firebird in gold on the frame,a bit like the delta 2 decals  .If i remember correctly when they first came out they were all chrome.A mate of mine has a white one and the frame number on that is less than 500?

[COZZFATHER]

my chrome one had stickers  on nearly the same as the DELTA 11, THE FIREBIRD  and FREESTYLERwas in bold red, so i went and bought a genuine sticker pack like the  repro ones available now and sorted it out.

[trevor]

I used to ride for DP in the 80"s with glyn  and spent many an hour in the factory while they were being welded etc. and used to help the girls put the stickers on and stuff. great days.   I have a "brand new" mid 80"s bike with alloy hubbed skyways on it and I love it too much to ride it.!!!!!!!!!

[bmxer4ever]

I used to ride for DP in the 80"s with glyn  and spent many an hour in the factory while they were being welded etc. and used to help the girls put the stickers on and stuff. great days.   I have a "brand new" mid 80"s bike with alloy hubbed skyways on it and I love it too much to ride it.!!!!!!!!!

Yeah - Glynn gave me one of your old DP's and I reckon you'd thrashed it - it lasted less than a week before I snapped the downtube off at the headtube! Nice frames though - light, but not strong enuff....

[firebird]

hi

putting stickers on the frame, get in

im putting together a web site on dp racing, and would love to here more about the company if you guys would be interested in helping out.

cheers steve

[lodge]

I used to ride for DP in the 80"s with glyn  and spent many an hour in the factory while they were being welded etc. and used to help the girls put the stickers on and stuff. great days.   I have a "brand new" mid 80"s bike with alloy hubbed skyways on it and I love it too much to ride it.!!!!!!!!!

Good to see you on rad Trevor, you need to post a pic up of your 80's bike.

[bmxer4ever]

I used to ride for DP in the 80"s with glyn  and spent many an hour in the factory while they were being welded etc. and used to help the girls put the stickers on and stuff. great days.   I have a "brand new" mid 80"s bike with alloy hubbed skyways on it and I love it too much to ride it.!!!!!!!!!

Good to see you on rad Trevor, you need to post a pic up of your 80's bike.

Oh yeah - bloody good point! I hadn't noticed that that was your first post dude! How the devil are you? Don't think I've seen you since one of the Bmx Beats where you were Gaz Top's stunt double! It was gonna be me, but you had better hair!!! Heehee!

[COZZFATHER]

   GREAT !!!!!!!!!!!

i buy another DP FIREBIRD FREESTYLER,join up to RAD BMX, and on my first post come across fellas as pasionate on DP's as me and then to top it off a DP FACTORY RIDER posts on my thread 

i am getting the powder coating from america sorted out and Dennis the old boy who powder coated the frames for DP has seen my frame and the first thing he said was "look at the f##king welding on that" in a positive manner of course.

Trevor would you say where exactly the frames were constructed please, mines going back to the factory that powder coated  them originally to get re-done but it would be great to see if the company who did the frames maybe did the bars and could re do a few for old times sake.

also i have phoned every bike shop in NORTH WALES,asking about DP RACING and old school stuff and i got absolutely no where, a couple of people remembered them, i even asked the bike shop mentioned earlier ALF JONES in WREXHAM someone has a original DP FIREBIRD with their shop sticker still on but the fella in the shop was a right goon, and i could tell wasn't interested in the slightest.

[bmxer4ever]

  GREAT !!!!!!!!!!!

i buy another DP FIREBIRD FREESTYLER,join up to RAD BMX, and on my first post come across fellas as pasionate on DP's as me and then to top it off a DP FACTORY RIDER posts on my thread 

i am getting the powder coating from america sorted out and Dennis the old boy who powder coated the frames for DP has seen my frame and the first thing he said was "look at the f##king welding on that" in a positive manner of course.

Trevor would you say where exactly the frames were constructed please, mines going back to the factory that powder coated  them originally to get re-done but it would be great to see if the company who did the frames maybe did the bars and could re do a few for old times sake.

also i have phoned every bike shop in NORTH WALES,asking about DP RACING and old school stuff and i got absolutely no where, a couple of people remembered them, i even asked the bike shop mentioned earlier ALF JONES in WREXHAM someone has a original DP FIREBIRD with their shop sticker still on but the fella in the shop was a right goon, and i could tell wasn't interested in the slightest.

To me, that's the beauty of a site like this.....long may it continue...!
G

[trevor]

YO TREVOR HERE   THE FRAMES WERE CONSTRUCTED IN THE IND. UNIT IN FLINT,WALES. THE ADDRESS IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE ON THEIR ADVERTS. I GUESS THEY WERE SENT OFF TO BE COATED OR PLATED,THEN THEY WERE STICKERED AND BOXED IN THE UNIT AND DISTRUBUTED FROM THERE.  I WILL POST A PIC OF MY BIKE AND SOME PERIOD PICS WHEN I KNOW HOW!!!!!!!   HOPE THIS HELPS.  I HAD A FEW GL PLUS FRAMES BACK THEN, WOULD LIKE ONE TO COME MY WAY NOW!   ITS ALL A LONG TIME AGO NOW AND I WILL RACK MY BRAINS TO REMEMBER MORE STUFF.

[bmxer4ever]

YO TREVOR HERE   THE FRAMES WERE CONSTRUCTED IN THE IND. UNIT IN FLINT,WALES. THE ADDRESS IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE ON THEIR ADVERTS. I GUESS THEY WERE SENT OFF TO BE COATED OR PLATED,THEN THEY WERE STICKERED AND BOXED IN THE UNIT AND DISTRUBUTED FROM THERE.  I WILL POST A PIC OF MY BIKE AND SOME PERIOD PICS WHEN I KNOW HOW!!!!!!!   HOPE THIS HELPS.  I HAD A FEW GL PLUS FRAMES BACK THEN, WOULD LIKE ONE TO COME MY WAY NOW!   ITS ALL A LONG TIME AGO NOW AND I WILL RACK MY BRAINS TO REMEMBER MORE STUFF.

Hello again Trev! Gary Forsyth here....have you been on RAD for a while (but only started posting?). What bike you got now?

[COZZFATHER]

  so the frames were manufactured in the unit in Flint by DP, then went to Chester for powder coating, wonder where the chrome plating was done cos if its local i'll pop down and see if there still going, as when i see one i'm gonna do a chrome one with alloy hubbed black skyways like i used to have.

ALSO regards the powder coating, when finished powder coating the frames were clear  laquered to weather proof them and make them more durable, thats from the horses mouth (Dennis @ the powder coating factory)
he also mentioned they had in the 80's a little booth for specials and 1 offs that he remembers some getting done in there.