BMX Action--July 1984--Part Two--Harry Leary

Bicycle Motocross Action--November 1981

Great cover shot of Harry Leary blasting into a berm slide. Was 1981 Harry's best year as a Pro? Not sure, he seemed to be everywhere, and didn't seem like he was leaving anytime soon.

  

When cruisers were starting to catch on more, companies started releasing more and more to fit the demand. Funny to see some of the earlier models with their laid back geometry and tall stand over heights. It was a great starting

point for a great class of BMX bikes though. 

Jumping into bushes. Young Eddy King winning 14x. Stu Thompson sharping his pedals. And the Rupe boys tearing it up. nice group of photos for the Pittsburgh race.

Very fun looking track layout. I like all the bumps and ruts coming in and out of the turns. Lots of slipped pedals. Those fools weren't clipped in. Need to look and see who took number one that year. Close points race. 

There is so many rad things about this photo. Not just the speed these guys are doing, the era perfect BMX items. More than one rider with front brakes. Campy hubs. Riders still running those Tech I levers. Great year for BMX.

Flick Trix Hi-Performance BMX Hutch Pro Star Fingerbike (Random Colors)

More links to visit. 

http://www.clickedbmx.com/2010/09/ed-koenning-interview.html
http://sasquatchcanyon.blogspot.com/2010/07/doing-least-most.html
http://www.clickedbmx.com/2010/10/weekend-turd-down.html

BMX Action -- September 1982 -- Part 2

Here is Part 2 of the BMX Action September 1982 post. With Toby Henderson riding a chrome Hutch cruiser you know the article will get a lot of attention. I am sure those bikes are worth a ton of loot these days. And was it a prerequisite for everyone in BMX back then to own a 4X4 Toyota? Lifted of course.

Buff and Henderson doing double "Hendersons" for the hutch test. I like how it says that Buff took the test bike to the ABA Springnationals and made the main, but fluffed his start in the main. So Rad.

I think I might have posted this before about how popular these Diamond Back Turbo bikes were when I was growing up? Anyone else remember them being so popular? I was never too impressed by them. I was more of a chrome GT kinda kid anyway.

Harry Leary and RL Osbourn air over Long Tall Len and Diamond Back Team Manager Sandy Finkleman. What the Hell? Did harry hit the sweet spot on that jump? Or was RL just taking it easy?

Buff doing the ramp endo on the BMX Action Trick Team kickturn ramp. It was always amazing that Buff and RL could make the simplest of tricks look so cool. And Buff always had the best bikes set ups. The white PK Ripper with red parts is one of my favorites.

Cult O.S. BMX Bike Frame - 21 Inch - Black
Cult Mind Control BMX Bike Stem - Raw
Cult Faith BMX Bike Grip - Black
Cult Let 'Em Talk BMX DVD

BMX Action--August 1983

This issue has to be one of those issues that stands out the most to me. And it all has to do with The Pit and a certain Hutch Pro Star test. You will see that in a minute.

Given their normally epic race coverage, it is a good thing to have a pictorial to cover a race every once on a while. Seeing as how good of a photographer Bob Osborn is, this is a welcome site.

Brent Paterson getting stylish over one of the double sets in the Pro Cruiser class.

Concrete jumps and berms must have been a must have for track in Florida. That and carpets on the top of jumps at the trails. Or is that everywhere now?

I know a lot of people have the "tuck" associated with Greg Hill, and I somewhat agree. But this picture of RL blasting one out of The Pit is by far one of the best ever captured. And still, to this day, on of my favorite tings to do on a bike.

Another great shot of Buff proving he has hops. And Toby Henderson sliding sideways "goin' wide open."

Pro gate starts always attracted a large crowd. Bid time speed of the line here. Damn! these shots make me want to go to the track .

(*update 9-4-2013* That is not Gary Ellis, It's Troy Daniels. Sorry.) This issue had a lot of great cruiser coverage. Does anyone know what forks Gary Ellis is running on his bike? Was it some kind of Kastan design dropout or a Kuwahara thing?

Mike Dominquez letting it fly over the Vans Plexi half pipe. What were they thinking not having decks on that thing?

Shimano PD-MX30 DX-platform pedals, silver pr
Diamondback Grind 20 BMX Bike (20-Inch Wheels), Aqua, 20-Inch
Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite, 3G Works Globally - Latest Generation

BMX Action--December 1981 - - Part 2

Part two of the BMX Action December 1981 post from Monday. East to do considering this issue had 132 pages in it. I need to try and track down a copy of it. 

ABA Devonshire race coverage opened with this great shot of Harry Leary leading the Pro main while Greg Hill looks to can control out of a sketchy situation.

The track layout looked like a fun one. Action was always good at giving the younger guys coverage, like the 11 expert class.

RL Osborn giving the Diamond Back Pro Kit a burn slide for good measure.

Wasn't a lot of side hack coverage at the time. In fact, I can hardly recall any of it. Good to finally see some it of in these scans.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Sidehackers [VHS]
Norman Osborn -- Spider-Man Series 1 Action Figure
Diamondback Skin Dog BMX Bike (20-Inch Wheels)

Bicycle Motocross Action--August 1980

Harry Leary doing a classic style X-up on this cover of Bicycle Motocross Action. I think to me that picture took second seat to what they had up in the right side of the cover. Jim Pratt cleared four cars? What? I was floored when I read that for the first time when I was young. I never jumped over a car, but I sure rode off the hood of my mom's huge Chevy Impala.

I think this might have been our first look at "Jumpin' Jim Pratt." He joined the BMX Action Trick team for a while jumping over cars at some of their shows.

There is so much that is right about this picture. The use of 40 gallon drums as your landing ramps supports. The lack of final section at the end of said landing ramp. Pratt clearing four cars in 1980. Pratt ruled!

I will just leave this description up to the photo caption. "Hey, mam, this is poly-unsaturated boogie at its wildest. The Pros; buns out...full tilt bozo...haulin' bananas. In the premiere position. Brent Patterson."

At this time having a Kuwahara was a must. Such awesome bikes with great color combos and great logos. The black with the gold parts is such a good set up. Wonder why Kuwahara kinda died out? Oh yeah. GODZILLA!

To view the rest of this issue, download here. http://oldschoolmags.com/BMXA_80.html

It's Monday!

Time for some more magazine scans. And this one is a jump that sparked a ton of debate back in the day. The "Leary", The "Judge", our what ever it is you want to call it was such a cool jump. I guess no one knew who did it first, Harry Leary or Tim Judge. Ah, I didn't care back then, I called at "Judge" because I though Tim Judge was way cooler than Harry Leary.

Bicycle Motocross Action---July 1979.

And of course a few months later BMX Action, November 1979. Tim Judge not quite as clicked as Harry. Hey, I still wasn't going to call it a "Leary". All though, I probably did and just didn't care. I was too busy riding my silly bike.