SoCaled 

saw this today, curious what you all make of it?
https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sf...672497692.html

unterhausen

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to think about it. However, I think that after 20 frames they should be better at welding than that. If someone never tries to get better, they can splatter a weld on over and over and never get better. They should take the off-cuts and practice welding them together. I just hate to think about what their miters look like. After 47 frames, their miters should be pretty close to perfect.

dsaul

I've only built 25 frames and my welding is far better than that scary looking stuff. My first TIG welded frame looked much better than those. They are probably not going to fall apart, but all of those welds are contaminated and will fail eventually.

I'd agree that he's just doing the same thing over and over with no effort to improve.

LesterOfPuppets

I dunno where he gets this number from, considering I can get one for just a hair over double...

https://gt1972.com/shop/ols/products...NKD-FRM-26-1-1

SoCaled 

Well that is a cool link, I wonder how many get made? here in SoCal we have groups of a hundred plus, that go out on "Big Kid BMX" rides. I have seen them tricked out in nearly every way, wonder if any of them are riding one of these?

LesterOfPuppets

Probably mostly PK Rippers, but there are plenty of brands that have 26/27.5/29 BMX cruisers. Those Gary Turners are the first ones I think of when someone is looking for Made in the USA.

SoCaled 

Yep, they are probably 85-90% SE "Rippers" (PK, Big, Fast, etc) and the various "Flyers" (SoCal, Blocks, Big, etc.) and the odd "Quadangle". I do see some GT, Haro, Kink, Subrosa, Throne, etc. Don't think I have seen a "Gary Turner" in person? What I was getting to was it seems like the trend with these is to put money into customization/paint/esthetics, rather than handbuilt? I didn't even realize US handbuilt was an option (I don't know much).

What is the relationship between GT72.com and GT Bicycles as it exists now? I had assumed if you bought a "Performer or Pro-Performer" now it would be factory built, overseas? Price point for a whole bike would be less that a "Gary Turner" frame and fork, so it would seem like they have to be?

I started in 20" wheel BMX with a boat anchor of a Ross (what my parents could afford) until I saved up and bought a friends 2nd hand Schwinn Predator. I destroyed the Predator riding it hard and then moved on to I 4th hand GT performer. I recently had one of the modern 29" PK Rippers (I got for nearly nothing) but it was the odd version with the straight top bar instead of the classic BMX slant.

With all the money in the "Big Kid BMX" market, I would love to start seeing more hand built frames out there.

dsaul

The problem with "hand built" and BMX, is the fact that most BMX people are used to getting a frame for $400 and aren't willing to pay more for a hand crafted frame that is built in the US. By the time I purchase the tubes, head tube, bottom bracket and dropouts and pay for powder coating, I'm already at or over $400 in costs and I haven't added anything for my labor. I don't think there is much of a market for $1000+ BMX frames.

SoCaled 

I don't disagree and the small runs of the GT72 bikes seem to back that up. What I do see here in SoCal is custom/limited/colab versions, of production bikes, that cost well over a $1,000 and then get additional customization. I am just a bit surprised there isn't some percentage of that group that puts the priority/money on the frame. If I was dropping the money I would rather have a GT72 than a limited edition LA Dodgers SE bike, but again I think you are right, that doesn't seem to be what "the market" is looking for?

unterhausen

When I heard that breaking frames on purpose was something that BMX riders were prone to do, I lost interest in building BMX frames. My son wanted me to make him one, but tbh, I didn't do it because it's never good to build something you aren't interested in. Then he wanted me to build a 'bent. To which I responded, "do I know you?"