3S1M

I visited a local bike shop that turned out to be a really nice place with lots of cool bikes and parts and such. I got some new bars for my cruiser that changed the feel of the bike for the better I think.

Anways.... I'm not sure if it's the kid in me but I feel the calling for a BMX bike. Either a true 20"er or some kind of bigger hybrid. But what's the point for a 47 year old guy like me? Am I too old to try some tricks? LOL. I'm concerned if I start farting around I'll break something (meaning a bone or something). I never rode BMX as a kid but I had a bike that was sort of set up like one. I converted my first schwinn and then my brothers gave me a sting ray frame so I could get fatter rims on it with knobby tires. But I had put a set of bmx style bars on the original bike with a bmx style stem and transferred those over to the sting ray frame.

Of course I always drooled over the bikes other kids had that had more money than I did. Diamondbacks..... I forget what else there was but there was some cool bikes that then.

ANYWAYS.... I like the looks of them and I think I'd like to start trying to do wheelies. LOL. I'm not sure if it would be wise or not since I'm getting to be old but I guess I could get one and find out how much I can take. LOL.

So.... Any old guys out there actually still doing tricks? Or do you raise your seat up and just cruise around on bmxer? Something bigger than 20" or just a standard 20" wheeled bike? I did learn that BMX bikes usually call out sizing by the top bar.... . So 21" with 20" tires? LOL.

The Haro's looked pretty sweet. That last black "devotion" bike was a 29" wheeled bike. Wowz. I was thinking it would be cool to get a mountain bike frame that takes 24" wheels, get a coaster brake rear rim, and bmx style bars and stem and make a 24" BMXer. Anyone ever do that?

mynewnchome

I had that exact Haro Sport when I was a kid....and I put one of these on it....well, it was cool at the time.

DMC707

BMX bikes are commonly available with 24" and 26" wheels, as well as the 29'er you pictured
SE Racing makes retro-ish models in all wheel sizes that appeal to us old guys

My OM Flyer -- it has 26" wheels and is capable enough on a BMX track

Bikerider007

If you go 20 dont waste time on retro like Haro, they are updated but the geometry on the new stuff is way better. I am biased though, retro may be your thing as it brings back memories, for me I'm just over it.

It will take practice, I'm 49 and just got back from a 2 hr session of working on bar spins, manuals, 180's (trying to get back to 520's flat), and hops. Wheelies are about the easiest thing to do so you can start there to work on balance.

I rode BMX into my 30's, went more to other riding, but came back to BMX 20 about a year ago.

My fav bikes are Cult and Subrosa, they give props to old school but are the latest and greatest equipped, and have cool branding. I have a 26" Devotion and 20/26 Subrosa, stunning bike out of the box but I did a little upgrading. 29" is basically 700c road but wider so I stayed under that so I can do some harder street riding. 24 was to close to 20, rather ride 20.

Really depends on your riding, may want to pick up a decent new school 20 on Craigslist or Offerup. Kids remove brakes then realize they dont want to ride like that and give up, so they sell cheap. Save good money for when you are sure what you want.

Bikerider007

My Devotion, added Cult layback, and Subrosa 9" bars. Removed the Van's (Cult collab) tires and grips, they are awesome but wanted a more aggressive street tread and using those elsewhere. More than pleased with the cleared raw. This will be at the Gary Turner (GT) show, not my full build entry but is a great rider.

3S1M

This seat actually looks comfy.

3S1M

That's really sweet looking.

Bikerider007

It rides comfortable and light for its size. Sealed cassette hubs, sealed mid bottom bracket, sealed integrated headset

SE is a very popular choice, they are the "Bike Life' advocates, they are wheelie machines for many. They even have a "Fast Ripper" model now, 5 or 6 speed rear derailleur BMX.

3S1M

OK, here's some more questions:


Building a BMX on a budget for an older rider..... how to? I would like to understand the anatomy of a BMX type bike. From what I gather it's important that they be sort of beefy cuz of the stress put on the from doing tricks. So does that mean steel rims and frame or no? What's the weight of a typical BMX bike?


Also, what might be some good how to youtube vides on tricks? I have started to watch some and there are what seems like some surprisingly good teaching by some younger guys. I watched a few with these two younger guys, one has curly blonde, long hair and the other has straight dark hair and they are pretty good at showing "how to" do things. And they're not really annoying to listen to. My main ones I want to start with are wheelies and that wheelie where you don't pedal. I forget the name of that. And bunny hops.


And lastly, if you go bigger than 20" rims does the skill level go up or does it make some tricks harder? Or no? I would like to possibly be able have a bike I can cruise around on and also start to learn to do tricks. Or is it just better to have two different bikes for that? I see the trend for 26" bmx cruisers, but it seems like that might make learning tricks harder.

I started to try and do a bunny hop on my cruiser bike. I actually got air twice last night, however I doubt it was high at all. I mostly just got my front tire off the ground but I did actually get both tires off twice. I was sort of excited. I didn't work on it overly long. I sometimes worry that might start my kidney stones moving. LOL. I know I have a few in my kidneys that just sit there and one of them is big........ I've had several in the past. The only reason I think that way is cuz when I was in my 20's I was on a business trip with my Dad and he visited a friend along the way. And his kid was riding a skateboard. And cuz I used to ride back in the day I did a little riding with him and then fell. Then when I got back from the trip a week later I ended up passing a kidney stone and I always assumed it was the fall I took that got it unlodged and moving. LOL.

smullen

I'm older (46) and looking at getting a bigger BMX too, at my size a 20" just does not work. Hoping to have something by the end of October.


Whats a 520?? I'm sure I've heard of it, but just can't recall it

Good Idea, especially if you live in a bigger city, more to choose from. I'm out in the sticks, so we got slim pickins....

Nice to see some BMX/Freestyle traffic on here....
I though everyone was either a MTB'er or Roadie.. No Offense to them I have a Mountain Bike and a XC bike, but want to amp up the BMX collection.

2cam16

Check out Clint Gibbs channel on YouTube if you haven't already. He's just getting back into bmx.

OldGoatBmX

I prefer a 24” to cruise with my kids and occasionally hook up the kid wagon and pull my grand kids with it. Wow did I just say that.

3S1M

Yeah, I was kind of thinking I'd like a double duty bike to ride with the family but be able to do some tricks on too. But not sure if that's doable. The one thing I was thinking was that what are the gear inches on a typical bmx bike? It seems like if you want to do wheelies you might have to go lower than what my cruiser is. I try do a wheelie and it's like... too hard.

I did watch a video on youtube, it was like called SoCalBMXcruisers or something like that and there was like 20 guys (maybe some gals too but I didn't really notice any) just cruising down roads and doing wheelies and such on BMX / Cruiser style. Looked like a lot of 26" wheels in that one. I was thinking it would be good to try and do a build with either 22 or 24 wheels on a youth mountain bike frame...... Possibly? One that I could pick up cheap. Just change out the handlebars and stem and possibly the wheels. I don't really think I want a derailleur although gears might make it better for a dual purpose bike.

Now, I'm kind of excited cuz I keep practicing a bunny hop at the beginning and end of my daily rides and I can say I'm getting little bit of air. LOL. Well, I can get both wheels off. Not consistently yet. And not high at all . But one thing I tried last night is I hopped on my Sons bike and despite the fact that it's a few pounds heavier I felt I got a little more air. I think cuz on my cruiser I have normal ole pedals that are like cruiser pedals and my son's bike is a mountain bike with pedals with some teeth. The plastic kind. But I think that helped me pick up the back end with my feet pointed down and grabbing them.

3S1M

I'm sort of reluctant to try too much at this point cuz my wife has just started having terrible sciattica pain and needs more help from me right now. So I don't want to hurt myself doing tricks on my bike. LOL. I was tempted to try riding while sitting backwards last night but opted just to do a few bunny hops and work on that before and after my nightly ride. It sucks cuz my wife was riding with me after dinner at times but now... Although maybe the PT guy will tell her that's good for her. I don't know. We're trying to hook her up with a PT guy now cuz apparently that's one of the key things to do when dealing with Sciattica pain.

I'm also sort of stuck in how much money I want to spend on another bike because of bills, plus I have a huge desire to buy a dual sport motorcycle and the more I spend on bicycles the less I save for that. But bikes are cheaper. LOL. I think I'm really going to try and do a budget bmx cruiser build this winter slowly, by trying to find cheap stuff here and there and then the motorcycle may just have to wait another year. Maybe find something that needs work for next winter but do the BMX bike this winter.

At least I've got goals and desires. That's a huge bonus. I've been fighting lyme disease for over 10 years and this was the first year I felt good enough to do any of this kind of stuff. But since I'm getting older and have had bad health for ten years it's like I want to make up for lost time. LOL.

3S1M

I didn't try real hard but trying to do a wheeline on my 26" cruiser seemed futile for me at this point. Hops are going a little better.

Bikerider007

26 are heavier/harder to get up to a point, but 26+ you can sit down and wheelie easier. Its the choice for many older guys.

Change of gearing can make it easier also, many change their sprocket (or chainring) the way fixed gear riders do to make for better balance vs top end speed. If you are geared high you will be learning and doing wheelies at high speed which is harder. Its why you see some riding Rigid Mountain and other gears bikes (like the SE Fast Ripper), to allow for change of gear that makes it easier to get front wheel up. You can tell its geared low when you see guys going very slow while riding a wheelie. I learned to do wheelies on a ten speed pretty young by copying the older hippies in my neighborhood . We would just flip bars (DUI style) and go for miles on one wheel. Bar position plays a part also, too far forward makes it harder to pull up and feels like your arms sway more. Seat slid further back helps get you over the rear wheel.

3S1M

I did a little googling this morning and the consensus is that 55 gear inches is a typical BMX bike. Weight is typically 25-27 pounds. But I think that was with 20" bikes... I see that in competition, 20" and 24" are the norms... it seems. 26" is more of a cruiser. I wonder if 22" is a thing or not... But I think I'd like to do a 24" build with a bit lower gear inches than my cruiser. Mine is at like 62" approx..... I forget exactly what it was when I figured it out but it's close to that. The only thing is I think I'd be pedaling a lot more to cruise around with the family if I go that route. Either that or I just have two bikes. A normal 20" bmx and leave my cruiser as it is for riding.... But I like the idea of making an "ideal" hybrid bike. There's probably not such a thing though.

Reynolds 531 

Of the choices for BMX, for fun, I really like 24.
20 just feels way too small, although I have spent may years on them.
26 feels like a klunky MTB
29 feels like a real MTB.
24 feels JUUUST right.

(I have many of each, the 24s are my fave)

3S1M

Yeah, a 24" cruiser BMX seems like the way to go. Now to just figure out how to do it cheap. I think the cheapest way would be to find a boys 24" mountain bike and change the handlebars and then decide what I wanna do with the rims. Derailer or no derailleur. I like things simple so I'd probably just ixnay the dereailleurs and just do a rear brake. And try to gear it for about 55". I rechecked the gearing on the two bikes I ride. Mine is like 63.4 and my Sons, the sweet spot when I ride that one is the 3rd smallest gear on the rear and the I use the middle chainring. And it after doing the calculations it's at 54.6 some odd gear inches and that feels the best to me on that bike. Which is weird how much lower it is than my bike. But mine is a coaster brake so it is what it is.

I'm not sure if there are reasonable 24" bmx bikes on the market but I'm into salvaging stuff that no one wants. I'd like to try my hand at painting a frame too. Then I could do the colors I want.

Could I get a pic of your 24"ers Reynolds 531**********

Bikerider007

In the end you'll find you want multiple bikes for multiple types of riding if you like riding enough. You'll notice most every here has multiple bikes. And many times multiple styles.

DMC707

ITs not too late -- take it slow

A purpose built 24 or 26'er will save grief over wrestling with a frankenstein kiddie mtb conversion --- dont know your location but craigslist and a willingness to drive a bit for a deal may be your friends

DMC707

A true competitive bmx bike now is usually well under 20 pounds for a 20" bike -- a 24" is not much heavier

26" was a class but it fell by the wayside decades ago --- that doesn't stop old guys from having fun on them though - even 29'ers -- a 29'er definitely has the capability to be a do it all "hybrid" bike -- but keep in mind a "hybrid" is about like the dual sport motorcycle you referenced ,- not great on the street , but will eventually get you there , - and pretty mediocre in the dirt in most cases (excepting a few high end KTM's and similar machines that are basically XC bikes with tags and lights )

3S1M

I almost rode a wheelie last night on my son's mountain bike. LOL. I got the front tire higher than I thought I would. It surprised me. LOL.

Anything over a 20" bmx bike around here is vaporware. I don't know if it's my location or what but I don't think I've seen one with 24" or larger. Unless I just passed by quickly cuz it was so expensive. I'll keep my eyes open. But the main thing was doing it on a budget. I'm tempted to pick up a 20"er just to try it out. There are a lot of lower end 20" bmx bikes for sale. I'm sure some of them are junk. I still find it laughable how they are priced. I'll see a beat up "Next" brand and they'll want 50-70 bucks for it. LOL. there are some deals on 20"ers though. Even some better bikes go for not a lot of money cuz I think they just need the money. But some of them are in areas I'm not really wanting to go to......

It might not be a bad idea to see what I think of a 20"er first. I can always resell it if I think it's too small.

smullen

Same here, I live a few miles outside of a small Rural town in Southern Mo.

I see folks in and around town on bikes everyday, But I have never seen anyone around here on a BMX bike bigger than a 20". Just not that common in certain areas.

A few weeks ago I drive 45 Mins North to the closest Bike shop. They had tons of Mountain Bikes, Expensive road bikes and a few kids BMX bikes, but no BMX Cruisers as they are normally called.

The next weekend I drove over an hour South East of me to a bigger Bike shop, they had tons of bikes of every kind, they probably 25+ BMX bikes, but only one was a 26" BMX... I test road it around the lot. It was so much better than trying to get my big butt on a 20"... So, its got me looking at the big ones now...

There is a pretty cool FB group called 24*26*29* inch BMX Cruisers Only! and everyone (except me) has one or more of these things...
Some guys have a half a dozen or more...

I think I said it in here or another thread. A few weeks back, I picked up a brand new 20" BMX all set up for Freestyle, front and rear footpegs, roter, front and rear brakes... It was fairly cool for a cheapy, but its just too damn small... Even with the bars adjusted a bit FWD, I still can not ride it.

Failure on my part for not doing more checking and test riding similar sized bikes 1st...

I ended up buying a new 29" wheeled Mountain Bike and I have been riding that. I still have the BMX bug, but I'll have to ride that till I can get my hands on a BMX "Cruiser" that I like.

smullen

One more thing. If you go to https://www.albes.com/BMX-bikes/ and look somewhat towards the bottom, they have where you can Click on BMX by size... 22, 24, 26, & 29....

They have several that are priced pretty fair in the bigger sizes... Just so you can get an idea of whats out there.