Good bmx bicycle

[smokinwrench]

I am shopping for bikes for my 11 year old for Christmas. Back when I was young, diamond back, redline, gt, mongoose were the bikes to have. I knew that mongoose sold out and became a cheap bike years ago, today I called a bike shop in Wichita and found out that GT is also owned by the same company that builds all of the cheaper bikes. They told me Haro is now the bike to own.

I know we have lots of young users on here and wanting your opinions on this. I am wanting a bike that will be good for him jumping, doing some tricks. He is fairly hard on his bikes, his current bike has a bent frame. I'm tired of buying walmart bikes and having them be junk in a year or so. I'm wanting to stay under $300. Do I need a freestyle, or race setup?

thanks
Josh

[posty2100]

Haro's are decent bikes, to me their like 200x's in the 3WW. They are good and get the job done. But I would recommend like DK, Hoffman, Specialized, Eastern, or FBM. They are a little more expensive bikes but you get what you pay for like anything else. I used to be big into bikes when I was in my teens. Used to dirtjump mostly and ride in skatepark alot and some BMX. Freestyle or racing bike really isnt a whole lot of difference to be. Depends on what used for. For BMX of course a racing bike would be good because they are usually lighter and are designed better for racing. Freestyle bikes would be more for riding in a skatepark and doing like flatland tricks. I found both style bikes are similar you just get used to it whatever it is. Buying a walmart bike is like buying a chinese quad or trike basically.

Heres a good site I used to buy alot of parts and bikes from.

http://www.danscomp.com/

[smokinwrench]

Local bike shop has specalized and hoffman and I think either can be had for under 300.

He likes the looks of the old school bikes, I have seen some nib old bikes on ebay that I kinda like like old dynos. Really like the GT air but now that I found out they are owned by a cheaper building company not sure I want that.

[posty2100]

ya I loved the dynos, I had a Dyno Detour, NSX, and Compe. I think now they are now all bought out by GT. Im not sure I dont keep up on it anymore. Didnt't realize they were built by a cheaper company. I know FBM's were built in Johnson City(Binghamtom), NY near where I live. I used to go to the skate park called East Coast Terminal and they made FBM in the basement there. Were all custom made and I took a tour of it before. Really cool stuff but they were not cheap.

[mopar_man]

It's worth looking into bikes that are sold at dedicated bike shops even if they aren't made by who they once were. They'll be better quality than the ones you'll find at Hellmart and such department stores. Schwinn is a good example of that. Junk department store bikes, decent bike shop bikes. The nice thing about buying from a shop is the sales and service. They'll know what they're selling and will service it properly, sometimes for cheaper than if you brought in a bike from a department store. You'll also likely have a lot less problems with warranty if something should happen. What I would do is take your son in and take the price tags off the bikes. Let him take the ones out in your price range for a ride and see what he picks. That is, if it's not a surprise for him (not sure if he knows he's getting it for Christmas). A decent shop should let you take home a bike and if it's not what your son wants, you can bring it back in the same condition you took it and trade for something he does.

[posty2100]

here a video or the skatepark I used to go too, now closed. I know im getting off topic but this brings back the good times I used to have there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb2XTqw211g

heres the FBM shop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XreXP...eature=related

[smokinwrench]

I just looked at my notes I took from the bike shop and it was a Hoffman not a haro.

[daniel_250r]

make sure the bike has 3 piece cranks for starters and try to stay away from the gyro mechanism they suck

[T3 LOPES]

Danscomp worked for me. I bought a poverty buck99 for 250 shipped . it has been a great bike for the money. they do have a nice selection.

[leviblue]

DansComp is great. Afew years ago I got a Ripper (left over) from them and it was cheap, $350. they have a great GARAGE SALE section with leftovers from the year before.

[factoryX]

Fit trail 2 has one of the strongest frames in the business, Eastern is pretty goof but a little long. Kink Has really good deal value wise.

http://www.danscomp.com/101886.php?cat=BIKES

http://www.danscomp.com/101583.php?cat=BIKES

I beat the hell out of my friends kink gap and it was still going after 720's!
http://www.danscomp.com/101678.php?cat=BIKES

[85Tecate]

when i was younger, Haro, GT vertigo and Dyno compes were the bikes to have. I could tell you what kind of bikes are good now. I'll be he will be happy with anything you buy him though

[factoryX]

Haro, gt, dyno?, have all been outdated, haro bikes weigh around 30-32lbs? If you want to get your kid into biking/jumping and have a budget kink bmx is you best option. The kink gap is only $350! And they even offer another bike, http://www.danscomp.com/101677.php?cat=BIKES that's only $300.

[ditchmud]

Things have changed a lot since i grew up in the 70's and 80's but you can tell quality when you look at it. I bought my son a GT about 2 years ago and I really like it. I don't know if this is before or after they went cheap but his looks very good to me. I only spent that kind of money on a bike for him because he took really good care of his previous bikes.

[xXxDaNxXx]

check out the sit www.pinkbike.com they definatly know they're stuff. Its a forum like this one, but for bikes.