Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

As title suggests, I am looking for a BMX for my 11 year old son.
His requirements are that it has stunt pegs and a fairly small front sprocket so that it'll go over ramps easier. My requirements are it needs to be a solid, well built bike that will last and also not too hard on the wallet.
I have looked around various bike shops and at present considering a Mongoose, Diamond Back, Frank Blank, or GT. They are all around the £175 mark, but just wondered are there any other makes I should look at for about the money, or are there any cheaper brands that are underated, that could save a few beer tokens.
Ideally the bike should have a three piece crank, 14mm axles and a 360 steering stem, but all the bikes listed above don't at that price and most the ones that do like Rooster, Pirhana etc I can't find much info about their reputations.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Got my eldest son a Rooster BMX for his birthday a few months back(in white with black mags)..top bike,he loves it f/r stunt pegs 360 steering a very strong bike which should be able to take all your lad can throw at it,highly reccomended,think i paid around £140ish for it iirc,even started stunting on it myself(ahh the good old days,lol)......bet you can almost see the beer tokens now:)

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

It might be worth contacting these guys about a bike
http://www.winstanleysbmx.com
They were really helpful when I got my bmx so they might well be able to advise as to what would be the best one for your son.
mary

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

I would go for GT however im soooooo 1998

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

And they're just Mongoose but with different decals

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Attachment 5714

ta dah!
(i fell off shortly after)

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

We The People are decent bikes with a good spec, but they're probably too far outside what you were hoping to spend.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Haro Freestyle - Always wanted one of those in the 80's

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

I got my lad a Mongoose a few years ago and all he did was throw money at it to make it a better bike...still, the frame is the key and if you start of with a carp frame, doesn't matter how much you tart it up, it ain't gonna be a great bike!

(Bit like an SV ain't never gonna be a Gixxer, but we still bling 'em up!)

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Great bikes!

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Yes! can get a Blank for £170, was told by the dealer they are good. Haro's also but bit more money.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Yeah...just watch out he doesn't want to mod it to death once he get's it!

Small sprocket is good if you can get it as stock.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Try this.

If you order now, you can reserve for Christmas and collect a few days before from most stores. I sell a lot of these. Cro-mo frame and fork, gyro, 48 spoke wheels and lovely colour.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

i remember i had a daimondback joker when i was younger brilliant bmx it was took some hammering's too i wasnt precious with it that's for sure.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Looked at those, the lad wanted one but having read some of the reviews, decided to go for something else, besides the missus said she'd bung £50 towards it so I can go down the pub after all :smt030 :shaking2: :smt078
Looking at a mongoose subject with 14mm back axle, smallish chainwheel and gyro stem for little more than the basic mongoose, sound any good Nobbylad?

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

How much younger zsv650 they still make em.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

+1

GT of Mongoose, i absolutley loved my GT, till it broke my collar bone!!!

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Have now found a couple of Haro bikes for £170 as well.
So then people in the know, which is bestest, Haro, or Mongoose?

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

about 9 or 10 years ago. :)

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Oh carp, just been looking up on some old school stuff, and it appears that the old Raleigh Andy Ruffle team burners are becoming quite collectable, even to the extent of one person mentioning that he saw one for a grand!.
Why did I give mine a Kona style paint job and end up selling it to a mate from college for £20 (he never did give me the money) :pale:
Raleigh even reissued them in 2007.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

I'd replace the word "quite" with "Very" in your post... I always wanted one in the Team colours, lovely bikes... have a look here, but prepare to dribble

http://www.burnerworld.co.uk/

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Thanks Fizzwheel make me feel even sicker why don't you!
Think it was about £130 brand new back in about 85, thing is you don't realise things are going to be collectable when they're newish. Sold it when I was about 18, and it was sort of a running joke with the git that bought it that he hadn't paid up for it. Think I'll add some interest on the sale price next time/ if I ever see him again ;).
There is one on ebay at the minute, its a bit rough and I'm not convinced its an andy ruffle as stated (should have signiture on the forks) but its at nearly seventy quid already with five days left to run.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

My lad got a Subject as his first BMX and this was the one he was modding all the time. The frame is the biggest issue (even if you get the version with the smaller chainwheel) as it's just so blinking heavy.

As to the difference between Mongoose and Haro, I guess a lot depends on the actual spec of the kit that's on them, however I would probably go for Haro if I was going to get one.

At the end of the day, unless your lad is seriously into his riding, then it probably doesn't really matter which one you go for as long as it fits your budget. So in that respect, get him whichever he likes best :cool:

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Went for a Mongoose Program in the end, read a few reviews and the Haro's seem to be breaking quite a lot and their build quality has slipped a bit.
Oh and the andy ruffle team burner went for just under 230 squid in the end!

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Doh! Just seen this thread!

I recently was working a bmx shop.

The Mongoose/GT/Haro can't really go wrong with any of them sub £200.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

haro and will he realy use the gyro ? (360stem) as they add a tone of weight also may want to get some diff sprockets to play with so he can find a gear that suits him

once again pegs are usles unless u can use them, apart from smashing ure shins on them when it all goes wrong

wethepeople are verry good bikes but more around the £200+ mark

dident see u have already got one but seriously consider diff size sprockets as they can come with stupidly high gearing

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

You have to be careful changing sprockets, if the rear brake is seat stay mounted then you can only drop a couple of teeth because the chain might rub on the brake. Also the ratio's are all relative, of its got a 44T sprocket up front then its going to have a 16T rear, it will pedal all the same as a bmx with 25-9 gearing, just that the 25T gives greater clearance when dropping in a ramp. Also if the bottom bracket is unsealed then finding a correct fitting sprocket for the axle is a real hassle, most are 19mm or 22mm but unsealed bottom brackets are 25mm and no-one hardly makes sprockets to fit these.

WeThePeople BMX's are only really decent £350 at least upwards.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

Yeh got one, as said recent reviews of Haro regarding build quality haven't been great so went for Mongoose.
Decided not to get one with a gyro as he is not gonna use it and I can't be asked to sit in a+e for hours if he tries to lol. Have been told they let in water and knacker the brake cables any way.
Doesn't seem too heavy, and the sprocket isn't that big (hell of a lot smaller than in my day). I'm sure my lad will be happy with it.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

I must admit, another of my modest interest is old scool bmx bikes. I've got 4 in my flat - all early 1980's Diamond Backs! - A Silverstreak, a Senior Pro (the pre Harry Leary race frame), and a couple of others of similar vintage! The Silverstreak is probably worth about £300 now, frame and forks alone are changing hands on ebay for up to £175 now! I jsut paid $85 for a 30 year oild set of cranks to be flown over from Hong Kong, and just purchased the last set of new off the shelf pedals that were readilly available for just shy of €50 to complete a build!

Seriously, if you want to buy a bmx these days, the absolute guys to speak to are over at radbmx.co.uk - look for a chap called "stodgy" who runs the shop. (They do have a proper shop in Milton Keynes, and host annual meets at the track there!) V knowlegable, knows whats presently "in" and "out".

The real collectible Raleighs are the Mk 1 Pro's (non loop tail, r gusset Japanese Koizumi fabricated), they go for iro £1k if you can find one.

Re: Recommend me a BMX for my sons xmas present
 

yup gyro's are pants to put it lightly, we frestylers (MTB) just run lonnggg cables if we want to do bar spins and wips, and yup they let in water and also cause (some) corosion to the head tube where the head set is mounted as happend to my haro revo 9

girth good points there havent workd with a bmx in a while just high end MTB's and DH bikes.

if the brakes are the usual brake type (V) and not old style you may want to look at some magura HS32's (i think) they are a hydrolic rim brake just a thorght as BMX brakes are usualy less than desirable on sub £300 bikes well i have found that any way but i do run hydro disks so could just be that im used to power....

:)