McBain

Oh my, I came across this thread again. i can’t believe it’s been 40 years since the Ascot days. And 16 years since I started this thread. Damn, I’m almost 60 now! anyways, if anyone’s still around, chime in! ps here’s my actual bike I raced at Ascot in 81/82

Yep, Skunk. Worked pretty well as a race bike, I liked it quite a bit, but the bottom bracket was a bit too low for a race bike. Got out of the gate really nice, and was very stable in the air, but cut too close to pedal over obstacles and through turns.

That's a sweet ride! If I were to put together a bike for street and park riding, it would look exactly like that! I've always loved the Quads. I raced a replica 24" looptail Quad for a while during 2004!

Thanks for all the info! Still, though, no one has any pics of racing or the tracks at Ascot or Harbor?!? I guess we were all too busy riding to take pictures.

As an old school early 80s racer, then 20 years of no riding whatsoever, then back in 2003 or so to being a serious new school racer, here's my list of most significant design changes from 83 to '03: 1. The clip pedal. 2. Cassette hubs. I ran Chris Kings on my new school racers, and those things are the bomb. No skipping ever, no breakdowns, impervious to dirt, quick clean and easy to change the gear, and INSTANT engagement. When you take them apart to lube them, you see they are absolute machined jewelry inside. The standard freewheel is a very primitive, crudely made device with very questionable quality control these days. That's about it! Everything else is pretty minor, and pales in comparison but would go like this: 2. Frame geometry - adding 2 inches to the top tube makes for a much better and faster ride. When you look at the pics of the pros BITD, it's pretty obvious the frames were too small for best performance. Esp. for guys like Stu. 3. The current canti brakes are simpler, more rugged, need less adjustment and work better. A good design for BMX. 4. Tire tech is changing quite a bit. Modern tracks are totally groomed, have no mud, very very little loose stuff, and most pros these days are riding on skatepark style tires that have no knobbies at all. Umm, the bad design thread is next door!

DX is ok, but where do you clip in?!?! For a platform pedal, the DX design was/is tops, though, for the reasons you give. Too bad they have no relevance to modern BMX racing, though! The current diamond shaped Chro-Mo frame was, overall, the biggest and longest lasting breakthrough in BMX, though, and it is a great design for a BMX frame, elegant and perfectly fitted for the task. The introduction of clips changed the sport the most dramatically (for better or worse is a completely different can of worms!).

I remember going to the Alpine Village track a few times. From what I remember, it was incredibly bumpy, rocky and dusty, even by old school standards.

If there's a way you could convert and post those movies (and the pics) that would be unbelievably awesome!

That is some BIG time style, wow! What a great pic. I guess once ya got it, ya never lose it!

Hey Brian, are you and your brother Hapa? Jim died of Cancer a few years back. You might be thinking about Charlie Brackens and his big brother Tommy. Or the Jenkins Brothers.? I was actually cleaning out my parents garage on eyear and came across my old Torker. I was already into customizing Harley and thought of restoring my old racer. Then I stumbled upon this site and the rest is history. Alot of cool people here! Yep, you obviously remember me and my brother. That is really sad about Jim. I remember him being one of the nicest kids there. Charlie, that's it! And of course Tommy, from Powerlite, I think. I have a cool pic of my brother's Torker, I have it at my office, I'll post it tomorrow.

Wow, what happened to Jim? Sorry to hear that. I do remember a lot of those names. Tom "Bednorz and Broomsticks." I remember Omar from Race Inc - very fast as I recall, and Rich Rivera, too. I think I raced against Tom and Rich, but I'm not sure if I just remember their names or actually raced against them. I remember the Gardena boys. Boy, you sure have a much better memory than I do, esp. for the names. You are helping to bring back a lot of my memories of those days that I thought I had lost completely. One more name, if you can. There were 2 brothers, they were black, the younger one was my age, I think his name was Eddie. The older one was very fast, but he was a few years older and I think may have been a factory pro, even as early as '82. I remember their dad gave me a ride home a few times. Do you remember their names?

Also, do you remember a kid who had a purple anodized Nomura with graphite Tuffs? I think he lived within riding distance of the track. I remember hanging out with him quite a bit, and riding over to his house from the track every now and then. I can't remember his name, though.

Holy cr@p! I totally recognize all 3 of you in that picture. Who could forget those suspenders! My brother, when he had his Torker (the bike right before his GT), rode in an exact same uniform as your Torker outfit. On his GT, he went with an all white jersey, all white Max pants, and those white JT gloves. If you were 15 when Gary was 16, we probably didn't race each much. I was the same age as Gary for most of the year. Steve, I remember John's drilled out Race Inc. The rims, cranks, everything drilled. It's such a small world, amazing.

What were the big OC tracks? Obviously, Orange Y was the biggest. Was there also one in Westminster? One with a big, long, steep starting hill?

I raced both Ascot (Gardena) and Harbor (San Pedro) BMX in the early 80's. I remember Mr. Dave Scott. Real nice guy and great announcer! Hey McBain! Did you race at that time? I'm 40 and if you did race, chances are that we went up against each other. I raced upto 16X. Got my drivers licence and hung up the bike. My best friend (Gary Nish) rode for Race Inc. and Mikey Scott was his teammate. I'll try and look for some old pic's and post em. Gosh, those were the days! ~Johnny Cat! Yup, I raced quite a bit at the time! I also raced up til 16X. We're very close in age (I'm 41) so we may have actually gone head to head with each other. What a trip that would be. Gary Nish - is that Gary Nishimura? If so, I remember racing Gary many, many times! I wonder if he'd remember me? One of my vivid memories of Ascot was coming out of the first side by side with Gary, and then seeing him hit the afterburners and pull away from me literally like I was standing still. I think Mikey was a bit older or younger then us, I remember seeing him there a lot, but not racing against him. I remember Dave Scott's announcing. He gave out some funny nicknames. There was a big kid in my class when I was first starting out at around, he called him the "Ground Pounder," then everyone started calling him "Quarter Pounder." That would be great if you could post some pics. I'd love to see them.