Mountain Bikes · Public discussion

Dumpster diving: First BMX bike since 1975

Rocketman · 2003-12-30T05:37:39+00:00

We stopped at Jim's new house over Christmas. He got the house cheap because the previous tenants had trashed the place, and left all their junk. They left 4 parts cars, 2 motorcycles (basketcases), and a big pile o' BMX frames and parts. (!) The stuff was legally his, and he was getting rid of it *that day*. I picked through the BMX stuff pretty good, even though I was in my Christmas dress clothes, and it was like 20 degrees F, and the wife was hovering over me with the "we need to be at so-and-so's in 15 minutes" nag. A hauling crew had already started to toss all the junk into an awaiting dumpster. I had to just about tackle one of the guys to get a big box of BMX parts he was ready to dump. I know a lot about MTB's, road bikes and such; but BMX is another world. I was guessing about some stuff that looked proprietary (cranks, funky rear hub, gyros). We only had room for one bike's worth of parts in the car, so I had to pick a good one from the 8 frames, 5+ wheelsets and 3 big boxes O' parts. I ended up with an Oryg frame - huge oversized tubing, friggin' bombproof steel frame, with a U-brake. It has pretty decent parts hung on it: Profile splined 3-piece forged chromed steel cranks, decent looking rims, sweet old-skool handlebars. This bike could withstand a nuclear holocaust. I got the loot home and bolted together something resembling a bike; but it's not quite ready to ride. It looks pretty sweet. Damn, bro! This bad boy is *heavy*! It's gotta be heavier than my CrMo SS MTB. All of the frames in the pile were friggin' heavy. I used to ride BMX before it existed as a sport. I remember reading about BMX - the new sport - in a magazine, and noticed that the bikes looked a lot like mine. I hung up that good ol' bike in 1975, after many years of dirt jumping, wheelies, drag races, ditch slalom, you name it. That bike took me everywhere. I rode it till the wheels fell off. Now I have a modern version of a BMX bike almost 30 years later. All those years I've never ridden one. Maybe I'm too old for BMX; but it will bring back some memories to ride it around a little, maybe take a few drops and hop some curbs. I don't have any kids to give it to; but I'm sure I can find one somewhere. Rocketman -- rec.bicycles.off-road is moderated by volunteers. To find help solving posting problems, or contact the moderators, please see http://rbor.org/ Please read the charter before posting: http://rbor.org/rbor_charter.txt

Started by Rocketman · 30 December 2003 · Last activity 31 December 2003 · 5 posts · 1,904 views

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Original section: Mountain Bikes
Published: 30 December 2003
Last activity: 31 December 2003
Original author: Rocketman
Posts: 5
Discussion status: Public discussion
Total views: 1,904
Views / 30 days: 7
Topics: BMX riding Steel frames

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Original post
Rocketman
Archived post

30 December 2003, 05:37 UTC #1

We stopped at Jim's new house over Christmas. He got the house cheap because the previous tenants
had trashed the place, and left all their junk. They left 4 parts cars, 2 motorcycles (basketcases),
and a big pile o' BMX frames and parts. (!) The stuff was legally his, and he was getting rid of it
*that day*.
I picked through the BMX stuff pretty good, even though I was in my Christmas dress clothes, and it
was like 20 degrees F, and the wife was hovering over me with the "we need to be at so-and-so's in
15 minutes" nag. A hauling crew had already started to toss all the junk into an awaiting dumpster.
I had to just about tackle one of the guys to get a big box of BMX parts he was ready to dump.
I know a lot about MTB's, road bikes and such; but BMX is another world. I was guessing about some
stuff that looked proprietary (cranks, funky rear hub, gyros). We only had room for one bike's worth
of parts in the car, so I had to pick a good one from the 8 frames, 5+ wheelsets and 3 big boxes O'
parts. I ended up with an Oryg frame - huge oversized tubing, friggin' bombproof steel frame, with a
U-brake. It has pretty decent parts hung on it: Profile splined 3-piece forged chromed steel cranks,
decent looking rims, sweet old-skool handlebars. This bike could withstand a nuclear holocaust.
I got the loot home and bolted together something resembling a bike; but it's not quite ready to
ride. It looks pretty sweet. Damn, bro! This bad boy is *heavy*! It's gotta be heavier than my CrMo
SS MTB. All of the frames in the pile were friggin' heavy.
I used to ride BMX before it existed as a sport. I remember reading about BMX - the new sport - in a
magazine, and noticed that the bikes looked a lot like mine. I hung up that good ol' bike in 1975,
after many years of dirt jumping, wheelies, drag races, ditch slalom, you name it. That bike took me
everywhere. I rode it till the wheels fell off. Now I have a modern version of a BMX bike almost 30
years later. All those years I've never ridden one. Maybe I'm too old for BMX; but it will bring
back some memories to ride it around a little, maybe take a few drops and hop some curbs. I don't
have any kids to give it to; but I'm sure I can find one somewhere.
Rocketman
--
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Rocketman
Archived post

30 December 2003, 06:34 UTC #2

"Rocketman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:On7Ib.73299$VB2.146576@attbi_s51...
Quoted message said:
parts. I ended up with an Oryg frame - huge oversized tubing
Doh! Just realized that there's probably no such thing as an Oryg frame. The frame has no decals, I
was just guessing on the brand (based on what looked like a matching fork, which had a big Oryg logo
decal). Yeah, I did notice that "Oryg" is "Gyro" spelled backwards. LOL! Well, I told you I didn't
know much about BMX. Anyway, it looks like a pretty sweet frame. The dropouts looked beefier than
the other frames, and the previous owners had thoughtfully hung all of the choice parts on it, so I
figured it was the best one of the bunch.
Rocketman
--
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Supabonbon
Archived post

30 December 2003, 19:01 UTC #3

"Rocketman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<On7Ib.73299$VB2.146576@attbi_s51>...
Quoted message said:
We stopped at Jim's new house over Christmas. He got the house cheap because the previous tenants
had trashed the place, and left all their junk. They left 4 parts cars, 2 motorcycles
(basketcases), and a big pile o' BMX frames and parts. (!) The stuff was legally his, and he was
getting rid of it *that day*.
I picked through the BMX stuff pretty good, even though I was in my Christmas dress clothes, and
it was like 20 degrees F, and the wife was hovering over me with the "we need to be at so-and-
so's in 15 minutes" nag. A hauling crew had already started to toss all the junk into an awaiting
dumpster. I had to just about tackle one of the guys to get a big box of BMX parts he was ready
to dump.
I know a lot about MTB's, road bikes and such; but BMX is another world. I was guessing about some
stuff that looked proprietary (cranks, funky rear hub, gyros). We only had room for one bike's
worth of parts in the car, so I had to pick a good one from the 8 frames, 5+ wheelsets and 3 big
boxes O' parts. I ended up with an Oryg frame - huge oversized tubing, friggin' bombproof steel
frame, with a U-brake. It has pretty decent parts hung on it: Profile splined 3-piece forged
chromed steel cranks, decent looking rims, sweet old-skool handlebars. This bike could withstand a
nuclear holocaust.
I got the loot home and bolted together something resembling a bike; but it's not quite ready to
ride. It looks pretty sweet. Damn, bro! This bad boy is *heavy*! It's gotta be heavier than my
CrMo SS MTB. All of the frames in the pile were friggin' heavy.
I used to ride BMX before it existed as a sport. I remember reading about BMX - the new sport - in
a magazine, and noticed that the bikes looked a lot like mine. I hung up that good ol' bike in
1975, after many years of dirt jumping, wheelies, drag races, ditch slalom, you name it. That bike
took me everywhere. I rode it till the wheels fell off. Now I have a modern version of a BMX bike
almost 30 years later. All those years I've never ridden one. Maybe I'm too old for BMX; but it
will bring back some memories to ride it around a little, maybe take a few drops and hop some
curbs. I don't have any kids to give it to; but I'm sure I can find one somewhere.
Rocketman
I'm supposed to look at a friend's friend's old GT this week, even though I'm 6'2 with a bad back
and there's no way I'm going to fit on that thing anymore. Still, I'll look. I've already got a
couple 'artwork' bikes that don't come down from the wall much. /s
--
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Ryan Cousineau
Archived post

30 December 2003, 20:00 UTC #4

In article <L08Ib.4406$I07.10362@attbi_s53>,
Rocketman said:
"Rocketman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:On7Ib.73299$VB2.146576@attbi_s51...
Quoted message said:
parts. I ended up with an Oryg frame - huge oversized tubing
Doh! Just realized that there's probably no such thing as an Oryg frame. The frame has no decals,
I was just guessing on the brand (based on what looked like a matching fork, which had a big Oryg
logo decal). Yeah, I did notice that "Oryg" is "Gyro" spelled backwards. LOL! Well, I told you I
didn't know much about BMX. Anyway, it looks like a pretty sweet frame. The dropouts looked
beefier than the other frames, and the previous owners had thoughtfully hung all of the choice
parts on it, so I figured it was the best one of the bunch.
staff-bmx.comoryg.html
You're right. The Oryg in question is an interesting rotor device that fits around the top of the
steering tube. It allows the handlebars to be spun completely around without fouling the rear
brake cable.
The brake cable comes from the lever, splits with a special splitter, and then attaches to the top
disc in the picture. That disc can lift the lower disc up, but the two discs can rotate, one turning
with the stem, the other fixed to the frame. A second split cable is attached to the lower disc,
from whence it goes through an, er, un-splitter and runs back to the rear brake.
The front brake cable goes down inside the middle of the steering tube, comes out the bottom of the
fork crown, and needs no special treatment.
These features are only found on freestyle BMX bikes. Racers generally have only a rear brake,
and no gyro.
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club
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Brett Jaffee
Archived post

31 December 2003, 15:01 UTC #5

Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote in news:rcousine-
[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
staff-bmx.comoryg.html
Heh...reminds me of a swashplate from a helicopter.
--
rec.bicycles.off-road is moderated by volunteers. To find help solving
posting problems, or contact the moderators, please see rbor.orgrbor.org
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