cashmatthews

I wish I could be there tomorrow...you guys are going to have a blast!!!! I know of two special guests who are going to make this one of the great old school events EVER!!! Keep up the great work!! Cash Matthews Tomorrow is going to be especially awesome!!!!

Excellent pics Sean! What a great and memorable ceremony! Cash Matthews

Jim Emerson ran the very first BMX National Tour. I remember when they pulled up in the Shimano Van and out poured Byron, JP, John George, Eric Richter, Anthony Galati, Bobby Encinas....it was just awesome! Jim was responsible for so much of the very early history of BMX and his story needs to be told. Byron, we should work together to get his story told to the modern day oldschoolers who may have never had the pleasure of knowing Jim. I have a few pics of him from the 74 tour when you guys stayed with us. Jim's work was vital and pivotal in the formative years of bmx. So many people benefited from his efforts, including me. Cash Matthews

Rcain: Yes, Latvia did reside within the former walls of the USSR. Which bike are they exporting? Of course there will be people who will gravitate to the sport (Maris aka Dolph Lundgren!). I was mostly referring to capitalism/exports, not so much athletes. But good point on your side as well. And it isn't thriving over there....Maris moved to California.

It amazes me how negative the bmx world can be. Seth and Lenny have been best friends for years, and Lenny is one of the most stand up humans you will ever talk to. They are both great guys with a great history in bmx. The comment about just doing this to "line their pockets" is absurd. I don't know who wrote it, but what the heck, don't you work and strive and put forth effort just to line your pockets? You mean to tell me that if you had a financial windfall come your way you would just ignore it because you are absolutely that committed to not lining your pockets? Really? Besides, 10k less fees (pesky insertion fee!) is not enough to line anyone's pockets for more than a few weeks. It isn't like he found a million dollar item or something. (I laughed hard at the unicorn skull thingy, that was good!) Why can't we just be happy that a couple of our buddies who did something great for the sport way back when are doing something equally great for the collecting world. The moment that sale completes every single collector out their adds value to their own collection. It valiadates those who collect either for profit or love, and either of those is acceptable in a free world. And if you are so "anti profit", rush on over to the Soviet Union and see how well bmx is thriving over there in a non profit, non-capitalist environment. I don't suppose any of you own a bunch of great USSR vintage bikes, right? Profit is good. Lenny and Seth are good. This bike is very cool. Give peas a chance.

Flyin Pat Ryan rode a Kenny Roberts frame during the famous White Whale Tour of 1976. I was fortunate to be part of that tour that had its first stop in Oklahoma and we headed east from there. Kenny Roberts sponsored part of that tour and Pat was required to ride the frame even though he didn't seem to like it much. Ernie made sure he rode the frame at every race, however, in accordance with whatever agreement the tour had with KR. That tour started in July of 1976 in Shawnee and ended about a month later in Atlanta at the Pepsi Cola Nationals. I believe there were other KR bikes around at that time and Pat was the promo guy. Given that time line and that they left California in late June, it is safe to assume that sometime in 1976 they began production. I don't recall much after that tour from a product standpoint. This was the tour where we all were greeted by Dusty Trails in Minerva Ohio, The DG Nationals at the Speedway Track somewhere in Florida, The Pepsi National in Atlanta, Byron Friday getting lost at the St. Louis Arch, Numerous OM/Eric The Medic shenanigans, Dan Loftus talking crazy in his sleep, and much more. This was also the same tour we did the Orange Bowl race (Vikings vs Miami were playing a preseason thingy). All of those races were awesome,but nothing equalled Dusty Trails. Scot still posts up our "after" photo in some of his posts. It was epic. JU, are you on here?

Anyone want an original Webco with Moto Mag 1's and other cool things? It even has my very first NBA number plate from 1975! Oh , old redline forks, bananna seat, Rascal bars....time to sell!!! cashgolf@aol.com

Yours truly was one of the first bmxers to appear on the hallowed pages of CNB. I ate it in the first turn at the NBA Grands at Randall and the guy snapped my face just as it plowed into the rock filled ground. I was so proud! I have a copy somewhere.

Phil!!! Man, it is so great to hear from you. I hope I accurately depicted the story. I didn't tell the one about you eating it bad in front of your house that evening. Man that was harsh. This project benefited so greatly from your help and participation. Go ahead and tell the story about Chuck! Please keep in touch. Still in Dallas? Cash

Much of the testing was done at the GT facility back in the good times. Several of the pros tested it there, some in Dallas at Dallas County Cycle Park, Delfield tested it on the street in front of his house on occassion. I have many pics of the Dallas work as I was part of it. GT probably has pics of the Interbike project and Schwinn had the bike at Interbike as well a little later.

Richard: That bike was indeed "stolen" while up in Canada. It was being reviewed by a company up there and it was a devastating blow. At that time, the company was called Phoenix Bicycles, as in Phoenix rising up from the ashes. Bryan Esser helped with some of the art work if I remember correctly. This thing had some deep roots and that bike was just awesome. Someone, somewhere, has it and knows what they have.

In the late 80's, Matt Raymer and I worked together for a while on a Belt Drive System. I had just moved to Dallas where Matt was and we worked a great deal on creating some type of Belt Drive BMX Bike as we thought certain physics theories might make Belt Drive a more efficient drive train. At one point DG had attempted a prototype but we never saw that bike and I don't believe it ever made it to a bike show. During our process, Matt did most of the heavy lifting and he certainly was the most passionate about our project. At one point we had Chuck Robinson come into Dallas and be our consultant on the project. Matt also talked to many manufacturers including Skip (Sr and Jr) as well as Electra Bicycles, GT, and Schwinn. After much testing and MAJOR expense, Matt chose GT to be the group who would market the Belt Drive System and the bike and patent (patent was on the tensioning device only) were signed over for a three year period. GT marketed the bike at Interbike and had a great response but were never able to develop anything past the prototype. Matt had a three year deal with GT that expired with zero bikes produced. During this process many top named pro's like Bartoldus, Miranda, Veltman, Delfield, Clymer and a few others helped Matt do the testing on his bike. After that Matt signed a deal with Schwinn and Skip Jr. Schwinn worked diligently on the bike and even put it in their 1999 Catalog. (Not sure on that date). So now we have a belt drive cruiser in store for Schwinn and it made the catalog!!!! Schwinn made about 1200 of the bikes and then scrapped the entire program at the very last minute. There are a few of those bikes out there, and ultimately, I believe they will be some of the most valuable bicycles somewhere down the line. Ultimately, the desired use in bmx never came to fruition and the belt drive was deemed useless in that application. The concept for a city style bike is still excellent as it is cleaner with less maintenance issues. Matt put his entire life into Belt Drive Bicycles for nearly 10 years and eventually gave up. For a reason still unknown to me to this day, Matt thought I had something to do negatively with the Belt Drive System and refuses to talk to me, answer email, or anything remotely relating to our former 35 year friendship. It pains me greatly to be sharing this with you now having lost a lifelong friend for a reason I don't even know. He didn't show up for his Hall of Fame Induction and has offered zero explanation to me. I quit working on the Belt Drive bike a long, long, long time ago and it was Matt Raymer's tireless work that brought it to life. I have nothing but praise for his work. To date, Matt is still the fastest person I ever saw ride a bmx bicycle. Ask Reilley...he was there too!

Thanks everyone for your votes. Please keep them coming in and spread the word where you can. Voting will be a little shorter this year and we need to get the word out. Thanks Mr. Brothers for this awesome forum where we can reach out to each other to continue the good work of BMX. Cash Matthews

There are so many great candidates for the HOF! Our sport has had so many stars and top notch competitors and companies. Given that the HOF is only 23 years old, it does take a while to make things right. There are some great changes coming to the HOF this year and we will be announcing those at the Rockford banquet then online shortly after. I am so excited to see the coming changes and I am proud to be working with the ABA on preserving our bmx heritage. Places like OS and Vintage have really rallied the old school troops in a positive way and the members of these sites have done a great deal in making BMX, the HOF, and the sports heritage much more solid. Thanks for playing part in this historic vote! Let me tell you also, EVERY vote counts. Cash

Talked to ABA...moments away!