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Flanelcamel

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  1. Not sure I agree with these "gen" labels, if that were true there would be more like 6. I've been around VDCs most of my life, got my first in 84 (orange freestyler) and have owned a lot of VDCs in the last 25 years. They were never called "gen 1,2 or 3s". You were Lucky to see 2 in any given town. We used to sell them and every time we got one in it was cool because it was different than the last. Once you see about 10 VDCs you quickly realize they are like snowflakes. They were more custom than production framesets if you ask me. Voris changed things up all the time, from tubing shape, geometery, drop outs, decals, you name it. Very few frames ever left that warehouse exactly alike. Voris is an innovator and his framesets prove that. I think its funny when someone calls their VDC a prototype because Voris left out a cable mount or something. Thats how VDCs are. They're all like that! Thats what sets them apart from your everyday Hutch, Huffy or GT. Its what makes them so collectable and cool to own. We are talking about a pretty small number of bikes here like 1000 framesets total! Changas, by far the most common, maybe 500 made. Gorilas around 200-300 tops. Chimps maybe 100-200. Freestylers I'd say its only 100-200. Pit bikes only 25. Misc frames, 26", prototypes,ect maybe another 25 frames. Thats it! So probably 150 freestylers were made in less than a 10 month window of time. I don't get how that can be broken down into gens. Its just some variations on a small group of frames. I think I have 9 freestylers right now and no 2 are the same. The non-pearced top tube frames seem as if they were all made later by the new owner and not Voris. The 84s came in both round & oval top tubes. The majority of the 85 serial # frames were made by the 2nd owner and he only lasted 6 months. Even if they weren't made by the man they are still the coolest thing out there.
  2. It sold for $3k ......but I didn't end up getting it. The seller agreed to sell it to me at $2700, within 10 minutes he got some higher offers and uped it to $3k on me. I would have paid $3k for it but I just blew my wad on 2 Free Agent Freestylers this month. Oh well, when I miss a VDC I always just figure I will end up with it down the road at some point anyways.
  3. Glad to see it finally got the restoration it deserved, looks outstanding! I got to get me a bunch of those stands, very nice..
  4. Those are expert bars and will work fine, infact a lot of people (myself included) like them better than the pro bars. I get people emailing me all the time about this. There are 4 different production size Monkey bars VDC made. I have a few odd ball bars off by a little bit but the vast majority are as follows: Pro bars 27 3/4" x 9 3/4" Expert 27" x 8" Pit 27 3/4" x 7 1/4" Cruiser 27 3/4" x 6" Hope that helps! Ray
  5. I think Voris just used what he had on hand at the time. My old freestyler BITD had the die cut ones, which seems to be the rarity. Most freestylers I have come across over the years have the chrome vinyl type. Decal placement seems to be all over the place too. There were only 50-100 of these freestylers made at BEST, chances are only one batch of those die cut decals were ever made.
  6. The Solid cranks are much larger and more oval shaped. They look sick with the oval frame tubes on freestylers. I have a few sets of Prince Alberts on VDCs too and they fit the look well also.
  7. Heres a few more of the 26... All campy drivetrain I recently put IRC tires on it and like them much better. The hubs are Sturmey Archer drum brakes. Cranks are vintage Solid cranks. This bike has been updated too..
  8. These ones are nos blackwalls. I have been told there were green and red ones made with black wall too but I have never seen any.
  9. More recent pics of Woodys old VDC and the white one. Another favorite too..
  10. Thanks Clive for taking the time to save it! Good job! I'll sleep a little better tonight. My appologies for any harsh comments too. Cheers, Ray
  11. You know that is highly unlikely to happen due to the wide variety of "collectors" out there. There will be this rechromed wonder but there will also be an original condition that someone more caring kept intact that gells more with many of us prefer. Just in case someone did not get my point. I think that rechroming that thing is wrong, but no way in hell am I going to claim the moral high ground and try to tell someone what to do with his property. We went through something similar with the TGIF debacle. Some people got very upset at the company, but very few people said anything about the "collector" who was laughing all the way to the bank Just because, we as collectors, are part of a community, does not make an item community property You're right its his to do what he wants with... the bummer part it he is doing it just to sell it. He has had it since 85 which is very cool!.... but just wants to squeeze a few more bux out of it, which sux I think.
  12. I seriously doubt that. Just look at Heaths auctions. Most of his crap is re chromed and when he does sell something,its for big $$ You have to understand who is buying this stuff. This "Please don't chrome-----Restore!!!" is only in the minds of the serious collectors and as we all witnessed with Brian Hays PK Ripper auction,there aren't that many. 98% of the people who will bid on the VDC Pit f/f (Hypothetically speaking) will be BMX enthusiast with big pockets and an urge to "WANT" a VDC Pit....The other 2% will consist of FlanelCamel,Vato and a very small list of UK ebayers. You want proof??? Look at the PK Looptail F/F that is on EBAY right now. Its close to $2Gs already with its Re powdered frame and new decals Brian Hayes couldn't reach $1000 with his complete, era correct, mint and original PK survivors All this may be sad...but like my good friend Anthony aka Mr Auburn always says "It is what it is" Real collectors know what they are looking for and don't buy Heaths junk and I think that PK is seriously over bid just because someone wants a white one real bad for some reason. Doesn't mean its worth that. Someone will buy the pit in ANY condition because they don't have one and want it bad. That doesn't really determine its value IMO just that there is high demand. There will always be impulse buyers with deep pockets to drive prices up I guess. To a real collector who is going to keep it for more than a year I think its value is reduced by rechroming especially on such a rare frameset. I'd pay $1000 less for a rechromed one next to an original one because I have 2 and am not buying based on desperation. Is its value set by demand or condition? Depends on whos buying I guess... Who knows
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