Fixing beat up BMX "Rat Bikes" and putting them back in service!
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- čas přidán 9. 10. 2023
- BMX bikes are remarkably simple, and near indestructible. That's why I'm taking these old BMX bikes that haven't been ridden in years, and putting them out at my pumptrack to stay. We're going to fix these bikes, get them running again, leave them under a tree for shelter, and put them to use!
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I think I speak for all of us when I say, we need old school Seth BMX videos!
he needs to see this lol
yes
No
I was attending a small, experimental school. We built our own full size BMX track at the school, which were an old farm just outside the city - just next to the local golf course. We fixed a bunch of old bikes, we had for free and learned using tools - learning by doing. Now the area is a part of the local trail arena with more than 100 miles of trails and tracks for MTB. Back in the 90's in was a ruff patch of land. The local garrison had its training facilities there. We road our bikes there and in the winter season we went skiing there as well... Hikers and dog walkers used parts of the military training ground, and one day we pitched the idea of building a BMX track, and the military send an excavator and helped us with moving dirt. We used two or three days on building jumps and berms, while some of the students went to prepare the bikes. We started on a Monday morning - and Friday we had an opening of the track... We had the support from the local authorities. A fun and, on the same time, hard periode of my life. We attended the school for a reason. Some of us might have been in jail, if we didn't went to that school...
Very cool. More schools should make stuff like this possible
@@Rockmaster867 It was a school for students with issues... I've ADHD and got bullied a lot in the ordinary school, but the students at the school was a mix of the worst bullies and the victims of bullying. We had to learn practical stuff, help with the gardening and so on. When the school needed to rebuild for example an old barn, it was us students, who did the work with one of the teachers. He was a carpenter, had worked as a teacher at the education centre for different crafts, and ended up with trying to teach us how to lay bricks, change windows and doors etc on the old barn.
We had to cut the grass and grow vegetables in the garden. It was an experiment, and it might have worked for some, but for others it didn't... There wasn't always time for normal subjects as math, English, and other more "bookrelated" stuff... I'm the first student from that school to graduate from University.
Sounds absolutely amazing.
@@casperbachjunckerkennild2592 Sounds like it worked for you.
@@FoxRob93 Maybe to some extent... After I had my masters degree, I've had problems finding a job, leading to stress and anxiety - at with the ADHD diagnosis it all went pretty sour. My blood pressure went sky high and I've had some strokes, so last year I was retitered after a long battle with the authorities here in Denmark... Furthermore I have a bad back, so I can't find a small job, so I can't earn just a little more than the benefits from the government... So living is actually quite tough at times.
It still have my bikes, but can't ride them as often as before...
The fireman pole is the best addition to the workshop by far!
I love how Seth doesn't age. Seriously, he looks exactly the same as he did in those old videos.
Oscar in time out. Thrown bike parking. Beating star nuts with wood and air hammers. Bikes names after famous rats. Epic crash at end. This has all the makings of a top video! Nice work Seth. This was both a learning experience and entertaining.
As a bmxer who follows this channel mainly for trail builds and riding videos. I gotta say I feel like this is a special thank you for sticking around all this time. Love ya seth, you're the best!
Ah yes, I loved the caveman era of tools including the air hammer (fast whacky stick)
There was that one time my cousin and I had to use a flat shovel and a rubber mallet to press a headset bearing cup into a bike frame...
I can’t wait to have all the cool tools like that lol. Being able to throw all the expensive tools at every annoying task that has me putting my head in my hands and crying. No more struggling I choose air hammer
My dad found an old Mongoose BMX at the thrift shop for I think $20 way back in the early 90's. I must have had that for a decade, spray painting the frame and wheels and what not. It's really the only bike I can really remember from when I was a kid. Now I'm about to turn 40 and looking at a Mongoose Grudge 26 to add to my fleet of Bikes, an BMX with 26" wheels and styling like that when I was a kid. It even has the foam top tube cushion, I saw somebody riding one on a trail and just a flood of memories came back to me!
Seth, I would love to see more BMX content.
Rode nothing but garage sale bmx all through my childhood (80’s-early 90s). Lots of fond memories wrenching with my dad, hanging out with my neighbors, and riding the janky trails all over Derby, KS (Crane Park). Man, we lived on those things. I only wish my daughter was into bikes like I was.
Ohhh yeah this definitely brings me back to the early 2000s building skate ramps in the garage, reading RideBMX, and figuring out shade tree wrenching. I sold my BMX bike last year and have been contemplating another since.
I rode BMX through the 80s and my favorite tools were a hammer and crescent wrench. It wasn't until years later that I even realized there were specific tools made for working on a bike.
you forgot a tool, "vise-grips"
Great Video Seth, I have several BMXs and I'm 61, In love riding trails on them and oftem get looks of wonder and amazement from people seeing an "Old Guy" 6'4" riding a BMX. Ride like your still young and you'll stay young. More videos like this please. Maybe more pump track videos too
I came from the "midschool" era, and just within the past few years, have been building BMX bikes. Oddly, your videos (which don't have a lot to do with BMX) inspired me to start wrenching on them for kids in the community and to treat it as a leisure, and not as a frustrating affair with hammers and the worst tools possible like I did in my youth. Sooo... Thanks? I'm slowly convincing myself to join the MTB cult because of your videos.
Have you been following his channel for a while? It was quite a few years back, but Seth actually did a series on BMX bike skills using the bike now christened Rizzo. It's over on the main channel and a fun series to go back to now and again.
@@mikeaaronnewman1305 I hadn't seen that series until about a year ago, which was pretty cool. But I just started watching his videos about the time he changed the name of his channel to Berm Peak.
I rode hard back in the late 80’s early 90’s and we never fixed anything! I honestly don’t know how we survived. We all had sloppy headsets, bent wheels, and shoved our feet into tires for braking. But it is still some of the best memories I have from my childhood. I just recently got a pedal bike again for the first time in over 30 years. I would never try what I did back then but it really is nice to be on a bike again!
Its soo satisfying to watch him do almost anything 😅
Every BMX’ers tool kit;
Vise grips, adjustable wrench, and hammer.
All the tools ever needed!
My favourite bike ever (still is) was a blue bmx my father got out of a skip for me. We put new peddles and tyres on it and then I shredded (atleast in my head) on it hard for years.
Back in the early/mid 90's I had a Frankenstein BMX with a Diamondback frame, Elf fork, DK XL stem, Redline forklifter handlebars, Odyssey triple trap pedals, Odyssey pitbull brake and lever, an Araya rim in the back and mystery rim in front and generic 3 piece cranks. 😄 I loved that bike.
One piece at a time.
Entertaining video. Reminds me of when I was a teen, I brought my BMX bike up to my bedroom with some basic tools, hammer, screw driver, and some wrenches to replace the bottom bracket and crankset. Had zero clue what I was doing, took it all apart, had the new parts, and hoped for the best that I assembled it back together correctly and without damaging the new parts.
That race bike may feel a wee bit small because while it's a 20", it appears to be a "Junior" sized frame, being race bike designed for a child. A "Pro" or "Pro XL" frame may be better your size. :)
There's something quite satisfying to giving an old bike a new lease on life. I think it is because bikes bring joy, and by repairing a bike you will bring joy to someone.
Seth, you’re such a down to earth guy. I really appreciate it. So much pretentiousness in the bike world, we need more people like you.
Midschool bmxer here. Started riding again about 4 years ago.
More bmx content please!!!
I grew up in a small town with a local landfill you could “explore for treasure”. Whenever my Dad would do a Saturday dumprun, I’d find random bikes to take home for parts. I built a few ratbikes in the 90s.
My favourite bike was a full sanding and spray can paint job + a GT Bicycles sticker set, everyone thought it was real and pricey. It
Cost me time and $20 in paint and clearcoat plus another $20 for the sticker pack.
Eventually In high school I had enough spare bmx junkers for visitors to borrow. One weekend my classmates from another town spent the night and we had a blast bmxing the town at night.
The worst bike had a rear tire that looked like it came off a 70s bananaseat bike…buddy gave it 70lbs at the gas station by accident. It sounded like a gunshot when he plopped all 200+lbs onto that tired overinflated tire, good times.
Seth would love to see an update on your backyard trail system! Been a while since we've seen it
I am 48 years old and although I am no where near Seth's level of riding, trying to do manuals on my BMX is always fun and just from that, eating right, not only do I enjoy riding more, I lost a load of excess weight too. I highly recommend having a BMX in your life. With that big bolt sticking out the stem, Splinter looks like it will take you out with some ninja move.
Always watched this channel because it was entertaining and a fun little look at MTB coming from the MX world. The Powersports store I work at decided to carry E-MTB and my first thought was to come here and watch your videos a little more seriously thank you for making great and informative content
my brother and i in the mid 90s would pick up free bikes from garage sales, which were usually free because something wasn't working. we'd swap parts between 2 or 3 to get something running, saving our money for grips and brakes which were about $10 a set. some specifics i remember are disabling coaster brakes (in favor of the hand brakes), and a mullet bike we made from throwing a 24" fork on a 20" bike. the threaded steer tube was a little short so we just left off the top nut and checked that it was tight before each ride. also made our own winter tires by buying a pack of machine bolts and nuts, bolting through the tires with the heads on the inside nuts on the outside, and running duct tape around the inside of the tire so it wouldn't pop the tube.
Thank you for this video. It brought me back with a chuckle and a smile. Those 90's bikes would have been top notch in the 80's when I would have killed to own one. You made my day!😂
Seth we need more bmx content. I'm a bmxer from the 2000s myself, you forgot the oversized wrench that you used to have to take to the rough spots to fight off the bums 😂😂
I love how he casually chucked those bikes out the door 🤣
Would love to see a bmx comeback on this channel, just picked mine back up after 4 years.
I wish I still had my 20” bike from the late 50’s just for the memories ! In the 60’s I transformed her when the banana bikes first came out .
For kids it was our first independence to cover distance away from home !
As someone who raced novice BMX some 40+ years ago, and had to pay for the bike, equipment and repairs myself, heaving Ratatouille into the brush was not acceptable. It was even a bit painful to watch. 10 demerits for you, Seth. 😜
This video definitely took me back, though. I had an 8- or 10-piece tool kit from my dad to do all the work on my bike. It did get the job done. Today, with my carbon gravel bike I pay someone who knows what they're doing. The tech is a lot more complicated than it was back in 1980.
Leftover M8 from building a playset in the backyard as a headset bolt - chef's kiss!
man seeing that SE everyday bike takes me back to all those years ago when you were but a wee small youtube channel
Glad to see it again after all those years ☺️
I am definitely having flashbacks from my teenage years in the 90s. I wasn't able to afford a nice bike, but I was handy with a wrench. So I would help other kids upgrade their bikes in exchange for their old parts. Which I would then use to upgrade my bike. Everything is gone now except for a set of white GT mags that I just kept all these years because they were cool.
Seth that was so good to watch,brought back a lot of childhood memories for me.We certainly didnt have many tools back then but we made it work.Great stuff mate.
I'm just now fixing my bmx that's been sitting for Years. this is perfect content!
Former 90's bmx'er here. Street and small time ABA member. BMX is why I still ride a Hardtail MTB. 😅 However, I sold my 20" FIT BMX bike once I threw a leg over a Dirt Jumper. At 5'11 & 36yr old, the 26" DJ bike just feel right. 😎
Another entertaining the vid Seth. 👍🏻
Haha, love the ending ya Punk!😂
For some reason my mum got mad at me when I changed the tyre using the silverware. But it was perfect, no sharp edges!
Bmx in the 90s was awesome. The drop test was real. Simple tool kit, shifting spanner, some pliers, a hex wrench and a beating stick. A good test for a friends new bike was to ghostie it of the biggest set of stairs in your school. And wd40 everything! Good times
Still have my bmx bike. Redline RL440. Love it!
Love seeing the old LI clips
The 90’s? How bout the rad 80’s? I can remember hammering a flat head screwdriver on my old Columbia and Huffy bikes to tighten headsets and bottom brackets around 1 piece cranks. Of course these bikes had banana seats and high rise bars and we jumped them off everything! A BMX bike was a huge upgrade!!
You've got me all motivated to retry some bmx tricks, so i went to look up your old videos on the topic. What happened to seths bikes hacks? I feel like i've been robbed of my childhood, and that wouldn't even be that exaggerated. So much good content, where has it all gone? Please tell me that i can re-watch your earlier videos, just for old times' sake.
Your's truly, Felix.
That's one thing you gotta love about bmx. Indestructible!
Digging the Woodward sticker. That game me some good nostalgia about a few great summers up there.
Spot on! I also used to dent my frame with a hammer, destroy most of the paintjob with some bricks or stones, tear my seat with some scissors or a knife, and always made sure to snap off an amount of spokes to be able to slightly bend the rims so no one in their right mind would nick my old, worn out BMX. To this day I still treat my vintage mountainbike and grandma bike just like that, and it really works, no joke! I love how you landed that one-eighty unintentionally, you full of surprises, l so love this channel please never stop
and it cost... Zero dollars!
You should build a small shelter for the rat bikes. A place to park them and keep them mostly out of the elements.
Sooo.....a rat nest?
@@andyteran4370 love it! haha
your BMX hack videos are what got me into the channel and helped me learn bike maintaince and learn to 360 with your tutorial. back when it was seth's bike hacks . i no longer ride but those skill transfer in parkour / free running . learning how to bail also transferred over and 360s.
Hi back in the 80's 🇬🇧 i used to ride a Firebird freestyler got it from a 'shed 'of a bike shop that was like an Aladdin's cave (best BMX shop for miles!!!) built it from scratch and cherished it for years a bunch of us would cruise the town bashing and crashing into everything HAPPY DAYS . THANKS FOR THAT VIDEO BROUGHT BACK FOND MEMORIES 😊✌️🚲
BMXing in the 70's and 80's on my JMC black and gold 20" and chrome and black 24"! I'd help Jim clean up his shop in Azusa back in the day. My dad's shop was in the same industrial complex. Great memories!
Love the bmx content please keep it up, I’ve definitely had a few rat bikes when I first started to ride myself but we all have to start somewhere, using proper tools definitely is a pleasure though haha. would love to even see some old bmx clips also!
Yeah a hammer and a block of wood was our headset press and a piece of rope over the garage rafters and looped over the saddle was our workstand. Love this.
For me it was the 80s and most all of my parts came from a junkyard. That's why I go overboard today. At least that's my excuse to my wife. I have a BMX coming in today. Pretty excited for Spring.
Started riding bmx over 20 years ago. Been on mountain bikes for a long time now but I bought a nice bmx again this summer. Love riding it around town and hitting the local pump track. Thanks for the videos!
Still have my S&M holmes from those days! took it out of my parents garage and build it back for pump tracks 2 year ago. It felt like my wrist were about to split in two the first time I got back on it. I just love suspention
Those old school BMX videos are a glimpse into a time I wish I was around. So cool
Yes, I've been waiting for a BMX video haha that gap at the end was no joke. looks at least 5 bike lengths. On a heavy ol' klunker too. Like some of the other comments, I'd definitely like to see more old BMX footage.
A hammer, pliers, adjustable wrench, open wrench and a block of wood....so many memories with those tools😅😅😅
I raced BMX in the early '90s. I loved that little race bike. It was giving me ELF vibes!
BMX was a big part of my childhood in the late 90's early 2000's
Late 80's BMXer. We used to used a broom stick between the chain stay and wheel to tension the chain. Worked like a charm!
Did the broomstick trick broke Mom's broom had to buy a new 1. Found a piece of pipe hammered the end shut and made a wheel pry bar. Never broke Mom's broom again.
In the 80's we 'fixed' our bmx bikes with crescent wrenches, slip-joint pliers, and a flathead screwdriver. When allen bolts started coming out we HATED them! Bend a wheel? Put it in the bike rack at the park and twist it back into shape, then hope to god dad doesn't notice it. Now I service my kids' bikes to the hilt!
Finding a new unlisted video upload in the playlist is like finding a diamond in the rough! So, here's something that'll age me... I had a BMX bike in the 80s, but I wasn't allowed to go near the tool chest at home. So for upkeep and repairs, I relied on a crudely made wooden mallet from a leftover piece of 2x4, and a set of Gemco Store branded wrenches and plier (on sale) - yes, _that_ Gemco. Geez, I'm old.
sick footy dude, brought back memories of shredding in the 90s
Ah, man, i had a weird rat bmx as a kid. The handlebars were so wide, and the grips were lime green! Good times 😢
coming from another seth - long time follower and even longer time bmx rider, this video was enjoyable. gotta keep it bmx when working on the bmx😂
I was always the mountain goat in my friend group, they all had BMX bikes for screwing around the downtown area, and mountain bikes to tool around the ATV trails in Maine before mountain biking really caught on up there, but I could only afford one bike so I went with a mountain bike. That too was very BMX though, it was cobbled together from bits and bobs that I either had laying around, or from donor bikes that I found at my grandfathers salvage yard. I didn't have the right tools to remove the bottom bracket so I learned how to weld and threw a big ol nut on the bracket to give me something to back it out with. Working on bikes and being creative with the way I fix them is what made me want to go into engineering, which it turns out I didn't have the patience for, but that same fire is what led me to be a product designer, designing kayaks for a living.
I really appreciate what you do…. I took a 25 or so year old specialized hard tail 3x8 and updated it to a great 1x9 with more street slick tires and it saved me who knows how much just by investing about $200. I also got some great tools and a bike stand (ok….that was another $300) but I learned a lot. My next project was scratch build 1/9 For my daughter. Channels like yours taught me the basics ! 😁👍
I've been riding BMX scince 2015 and I still use all strategys as you did
Ahhh the good old days, much simpler times in the 80’s. Built countless ‘rat bikes’ with a hammer, shifter and a couple of screwdrivers.
it's so cool seeing bike restored with a more commentary pov
Should try and send one of those down a trail. I'm willing to volunteer as a test dummy 😂
I JUST SAW THIS 1 MINUTE AFTER IT WAS POSTED!!!
11 mins
I watch your videos for like 7 years or so, but the last scene was the one I laughed the most at :D
Seth/kids had it good in the 90s for having a block of wood to work on the bikes. Tools I had were much more primitive in the 80s.
Started riding in the 70's, wheelies on banana seat bikes, through the 80's, half of the 90's... then MTB's took over.
Until 3 years ago. But I remember the kid mechanic mentality, fix it by any means necessary. I was disappointed you didn't employ vice-grips, lol. Love the fleet you restored. I just built up a trashed Skyway T/A frame, and used the wood block method for the bottom bracket cups 😉
Keep up the cool content 🤘
I felt that crash at the end...been there PLENTY of times in the 90s. And even the few attempts I tried to be a BMX kid again in the last 15 years. haha
I'm literally doing the same thing. Although you're about 700% faster, it's cool to see someone else is as crazy as me to keep a 40$ bike working
One time I thought my top cap was unimportant because someone at the skate park told me that. So when I destroyed my top cap (some how) I just said F it and went without. My headset promptly blew up mid bunny hop. There’s a video somewhere lol. I loved this video seth.
At 57 i've finally got into BMX's, it's very silly fun.
Pure entertainment. That last clip (go close up) ...
definitely appreciate you keeping the craft alive!
In the late 90s I was using 'firm hold' hairspray to get my grips on/off. Once it goes off (takes 12hrs) it sticks like glue but unlike glue it comes loose again with a bit more hairspray.. Slide an old spoke or a thin screwdriver under the grip to get the hairspray in there.
The fireman's pole, epic!
I use to have an old 20in GT in highschool. Got a 21in Fit BMX in college. 21inch is my preferred BMX size. I still ride BMX today but don't do any tricks it's just my style of bike now. Mostly cause it fits in the car easy haha
Just brought my old 98 Hoffman Condor back to life too!
Cool- i actually just fixed up my old Bylly from the 90`s , lost of fun, and back in the day i used all kinds of metodes fixing my bikes😃, torches, hammers you name it
I love Bmx! Still ride it and just getting into mountain bikes. Thanks for the videos.
I wish i still had my mongoose decade.
i was in the middle of a teardown rebuild when we had to move, had to store it at a friend's house (an older couple) temporarily, some junkers came along and took the frame. I found out when i went back a month later, the junkers apparently went through buildings they wasn't supposed to and took a lot of their stuff that owned the property, including my bike frame and wheels. The only thing left of it was the seat, seat post, handle bars, crank, crank sprocket, chain gooseneck. It still makes me mad to this day, the people did feel bad and offered me $100, but i didn't accept ($100 wouldn't have been enough to even get another frame back when it happened, now they're priced to the moon and well out of my reach).
Thanks, I was happy forgetting the pain of installing star nuts with nothing but a hammer.
2:45 Shoving a bar end into the steerer tube was a common thing on park bikes when I rode BMX. The tires were often a bit slimmer and lower profile, so the bar end filled that gap to make footjams easier!
It's a bit...odd on a race bike though lol
Really love this throw back to BMX video, nice finishing clip too. Back to the roots that lead me to MTB…❤❤❤
This video brought back soooo many memories!!!! Thanks Seth!
Roadmaster Pro Edge 20" was my first bike and after that I bought my friends GT Mach1 20" my freshman year. Great times on both of those bikes.
Would love to see more oldskool bmx clips from you 💪
I was off BMX by the 90's, though I have a fond place in my heart for them. First dual sport in '97 and the rest is history...
7:18 "I'm gonna go a little bit outside the box and put on a helmet..." LOL