Smokin Steve Styler

I have tried linking the sight. No luck. Not the same as the old SA band. Easiest way to find the web page is to search for Hey Zeus Publishing or FTWTF

My friend Adam Roye scanned my sticker collection a few years back. He put together this zine with his and my favorites. He also made buttons out of some of the designs. You can order Youth Currency and lots of other fun stuff from Hey Zeus Publishing. Adam is the brand manager for Cult, Empire BMX, and some other BMX companies. He is much younger than most of us on this site, but has an awesome appreciation for the history of BMX. It feels good to see the younger generation giving the past the props it deserves.

I ended up with this recently. This bike was ridden by Pat Miller while he was riding Pro Vert for the Schwinn program From about 1995-2000. Pat lived in Austin during those years and a mutual friend kept it all these years. Mostly original but for tires and seat/post. I love the way the rear wheel was built: with 12 gauge spokes, race laced. The bars are tweaked-doesn't surprise me.

Maybe Mike Divett? I know he worked at SE Racing in the early 90's. Not sure if he raced.

Wow! It is an honor to be named class winner no matter what the circumstances. Thanks for all the votes from everyone that voted. I'm very stoked. What a great start to a new year.

I think this is the first bike I restored. 24" Powerlite Cruiser There are some before and after shots. I had the repairs done by Rodney Miles and he took care of the powder coat. Rodney is a great guy and always did great work. His knowledge of BMX mixed with his metal working skills always made him a pleasure to deal with. I loved this bike, but like most bikes from the 80's I was disappointed with the ride quality and comfort in a world of modern bikes. Truth be told, these early Powerlite 24" frames were 26" front triangles with a smaller rear triangles welded on and 24" forks. The handling of this bike is not great. I think My parts choice was pretty good. I would use real CW bars if I built this bike again.

I had a conversation with James Shepard the other day and I asked him for some production numbers for the products Homeless Bikes was selling from 1991 to about 1993 This was for the time that James was operating Homeless Bikes. By 1994, James no longer had any involvement with the brand. B and E in California was fabricating the frames. The two models were the Mack and the Soul Bro. Minimum orders for frames was 50. The first order of 100 frames (50 of each) plus another run of 100 were sold in 4-6 months according to James. Somewhere in there was an order of 50 SL frames. All told James estimates that about 600 frames were made. There were about 15-20 defect frames in one order. James says he sent some back but kept a few of these for team riders. I have one of these "defect" frames now. I was not on the team, but needed a frame at the time. James hooked me up. The defect is that the top tube is welded into the frame too low. Most of the Mack frames were chrome. There were only about 100 green Mack frames produced. All of the forks were made by Mike Divett at SE Racing. James estimates that a lot more forks were made than frames. Maybe double the frame production. The forks were changed after early production. The fork legs were shortened so they no longer extended past the bottom of the dropout. All forks were chrome. The Homeless stem was made from parts that DK was already using. The thicker base of the Homeless stem was the flipped over inverted cruiser stem base. Homeless stems also have a unique rounded top chrome hollow wedge bolt. Both Pro and XL sizes were offered. Not sure how many exactly were made, but at least hundreds of each. Other items James mentioned that were sold under the Homeless brand were Pegs and seat posts. Both were just generic Taiwan parts with Homeless stickers applied. The same method was used for wheels using Homeless stickers on an Araya or Ukai rim and Suzue hubs.

I have made some sales with lots of zero's at the end. Not bragging, just stating for the sake of the thread. Well, maybe just a little bragging. Eddie's TA Cruiser Frame/Fork and wheels. This was close to $10K NOS VDC Freestyler frame/fork $3.5K VDC Gorila Frame/Fork/Cruiser Bars 3.5K 26" Bottema $1K These sales were all years ago. Not sure the market would bring those numbers today.

Fab-Weld? Just did a quick google image search. Could be.

Yes, Ryan, Lynn had frames custom gussetted during production because of previous failure issues. Seems like most Cook Bros Cruisers I have seen have been repaired at some time. I think my frame is from the same era, but was repaired or maybe even a mod to prevent s known issue. I have a feeling the bike was sold new in Austin out of Lynn's shop. Those serial numbers are just too close. I am going to continue my research and figure a few things out.

"Steve, you live in Austin right? " Yes, I am in Austin.

Bought this today. It was no steal. I paid well over 1K. Mongoose bars and forks. Bendix 2 speed kick back rear hub. Frame has been gusseted. Maybe from factory? Paint looks to be brushed on. Serial number 631 Any ideas on a production date, guys?

I got the frame Randy had. Mini with sew ups. He told me it had been in a fire. Randy said you and Shelby raced it. You want it back?

I got this little dude in Austin. Looks to be same production run as yours, Don. This bike was raced by factory Blazer riders. It was in a house fire at one time, and sports-what I have been told- a Torker fork. My serial is 480. Not far from yours, assuming Blazer used a consecutive system. I bought this frame on Museum. Looks to be made at the same time as the mini frame(s). It has a 19" top tube. Serial #216

I think I figured it out. I was trying to put spokes on the inside of the hub. Realize now the "Race Lace" pattern. I feel dumb because that was a big part of what made this hub unique. Will post some pics when I finish.