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thinking aloud here... my 7yr old does bmx training and the odd summer series race with the local club. great bunch of blokes (and ladies) who run it.
in said summer series, run alternately at the 2 local tracks, they have a vets class. about 8 entrants generally ranging from a mum having a go to old time racers who fly and all in between.
they tried to talk me into having racing last year, and now the summer series is being planned again i'm tempted.
i have ridden bmx tracks on my jump bike (can't jump mind you) but have never touched a 24" cruiser.
will i die?
you won't die - but you will learn more about bike handling than you ever thought possible.
and you'll enjoy it immensely!
buy one, buy one now.
I think you might die. Be fun though, wish we had a decent track locally.
are there any sizing considerations for a cruiser; tt length, cranks etc?
i'm 6'2" - and bought a cruiser with a 22" top-tube.
fit's very well.
I'm an old timer and have just bought a cruiser to play around on this summer. You'll need to learn how to jump but otherwise you'll be fine. Get some decent kit and practice.
See bmxtalk for some good s/hand deals on 24 inchers
Mike from Dialled bikes is probably the best person on here to offer advice on this.
Although I can assure you that you won't die.
And you don't need to jump.
Gav, if you want to give the BMX racing a go, then you can race on your jump bike first and if you catch the racing bug, then get yourself a cruiser.
If you definitely want to take the plunge and get a cruiser (no you won't die - but you will soon notice how much quicker and responsive BMX bikes are compared to MTBs), there are plenty of good starter complete bikes ranging from DK/SE/MCS at cheaper end of the scale to Kuwahara/Free Agent/Haro in the mid-market and Redline/Intense at the expensive end.
If you want to build up a custom bike, a little company called Dialled Bikes sells the most popular cro-moly/853 frame on the UK race scene 😉
Which club do you/your kids train at?
Are free-agent coming into the UK again?
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet 🙂
I got addicted riding an Ambush-24
gav - you bought a cruiser yet?
I'm in the same boat as Gav, my son has just started and it looks far too much fun not to get a cruiser and have a roll round!
Keep us posted Gav.
I started racing BMX when I was your son's age but that was about 30 years ago.... I would love to give it another go. How veteran is the vet's class exactly?
Gav, you can have a few laps on mine (not selling) I'm at The Track every Weds, started out just watching as wel!
£170 for a 2007 floval flyer, described as great condition (2 owners), sound about right?
[url=
30-39 Brits[/url]
Classes are spilt by age,
I raced 30 -39 cruiser a couple of years ago and now into 40+ cruiser but stopped racing, some clubs will even split a 40 - 44 cruiser & 45+
Some guys are the kids who raced 30 years ago and have never stopped, they're so bloody quick you wouldn't believe it but there's plenty of blokes who rode Raleigh Burners in the early 80's and haven't been on a bike since.
It's a really family friendly atmosphere and a great laugh, also let's you know just how smooth you need to be on the bike and how much you can get away with when you ride an MTB!
Try it, enjoy it, great fun
thanks for all the positive replies and advice, and apologies for not posting back sooner but the surfs been up!
mike... the boy rides at cornwall bmx club primarily, they do excellent training with the kids and are really good with them. we also like the track out at portreath but if i ride, and by the time i've paid for diesel to get over, its a bit of an expensive session.
rhys, thanks for the offer. may well take you up on that. one of the guys from cornwall bmx also emailed me after seeing this thread so i think i'm rapidly painting myself into a corner here and will have to get something sorted in a couple of months time and give it a go.
dialed bikes... who are they then, any good? ; )
Freeagent has been around. They have been selling here for years.I know someone that got a limo(2009 i think) and compared to my team issue haro it felt oddball.The bb felt quite high compared to my own bike. A few others agreed on it not feeling as good.jump on a few bikes before you buy as some look the part but might not feel the best for you.unlike mtb the angles and design of race frames/bikes could all look so similar.i would get to the track and ask for a wee blast of a few.
Sorry for the hijack... What kind of age is good for kids to start? My eldest is nearly 5 and a confident rider, but no prodigy. Do they need to be a certain size?
I think Bath Bmx club is our nearest track
my boy started bmx at 6, but at 5 he was riding around 'the track' at portreath. but i've seen younger kids turn up.
best bet is to go see your local club and ask. they may even have some club bikes that they will let you try.
thanks, will do that