Parts

“Hot rodder engine fits most bicycles and tricycles … you start it, run it, idle it, race it, stop it, lock it with your own key… you can tell it’s Mattel it sounds swell…V-RRoom is the trademark of Mattel Inc. for it’s Motor sound unit… U.S. patent pending © 1963 Mattel Inc… Batteries not included.”

In the late 60’s and early 70’s muscle cars were all the rage and kids bikes reflected the trend. Eventually outlawed due to safety concerns, the bicycle stick shifts were produced for a short time by Schwinn, Shimano and Sturmy Archer to - name a few.

Many accessories were designed and made for banana seat or muscle bikes including this battery powered tail light, which attached to the sissy bar providing both safety and style.

Although not new to bicycles, the 60’s and 70’s style rear view mirror was a staple muscle bike add-on accessory. The one shown here is of Japanese make and features the two large amber reflectors.

Mimicking the Easy Rider era chopper motorcycles, this vinyl metal flake headrest would be mounted to a tall sissy bar and provide maximum comfort for laid back neighborhood cruising.

Bicycle speedometers existed before muscle bikes and motocross bicycles, however this one made by Brentwood, was developed specifically for a 20” wheel and had cool crossed checkered flags on the dial face.

Early bicycle motocross modifications were made to mimic the off road motorcycles of the time. The OGK Company of Japan produced an accessory set to convert your stock hi-rise bike. The kit includes a fake gas tank, vinyl pad, OGK grips, plastic fenders and a number plate.

Made by O.G.K. of Japan, this plastic gas tank clips onto the top tube of your hi-rise bike, instantly changing it to a MX bicycle. Typically, knobby tires were also added and banana seats were swapped for the more functional standard style bike saddle.

In the mid 70’s as motocross began to stoke out kids on bikes someone figured out that it was easier to jump and race with a freewheel set up rather than a coaster brake. Most kids bikes were built with Shimano or Bendix coaster brakes so the un-brake and the J.B. freewheel adaptors allowed for a cheap and easy switch over to freewheeling hubs.

As BMX racing grew in popularity, and continued to take its lead from motorcycle motocross, the need for number plates came to light. The Wald Company produced the early, vented rectangular number plates, which attached to the handlebars.

Tange, from Japan, built some of the early MX components including this mid 70’s suspension fork with horizontal springer design. Meant as an after market item for your hi-rise bike, this fork also features motorcycle style closed safety dropouts.

Further copying their motorcycle riding older brothers and dads, kids also sometimes wore helmets when riding & racing. The one shown here is a flamed, metal flake finish, fiberglass helmet with added bold view MX visor.

Kids loved Evel Knievel in the 70’s for his daredevil style; as proof, the Knievel toys made Evel more money than his actual stunts. Evel had licensed his name for a complete motocross style stunt bike in the 70’s, which came equipped with the saddle shown here. If it wasn’t already obvious, it was now official, kids loved jumping their bikes.

Endorsed by cartoon character Radical Rick, the MX-2 grips by Grab-On were the hottest BMX grips on the market for a period of time. The two-piece urethane inner and foam outer design was so popular that it spawned several counterfeit versions.

Universal Pictures jumped on the BMX craze in the early 80’s by featuring BMX sequences in the movie E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. The red and white Kuwahara BMX bike was so prominent in the movie that it became like one of the characters. The early E.T. Kuwahara bikes came equipped with the officially licensed E.T. Elina saddle shown here.

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As freestyle BMX began growing in popularity in the 80’s riders inventing tricks that involved spinning the handle bars - enter the Potts Modification. The pre-cursor to the modern rotor system, the Potts Mod. allowed riders to route their front brake cable thru their stem and spin the bars without tangling the cable.

Early bicycle motocross races used paper plates taped onto the handlebars with crudely scratched felt pen numbers. By the 80’s as bikes became more dialed so did the number plates. Shown here are the Zero Nine Stadium plate and the Haro Series One plate.

Replacing the earlier Schwinn or Ashtabula single bolt style stem, the four bolt model eventually became the standard in BMX for it’s ability to keep the bars from slipping on impact landings. The Tuf Neck pro model stems shown here is arguably the toughest and best BMX stem ever made.