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XXX

Joined
May 9, 2007
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Sydney, Australia.
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G'day all.

I've been working on bikes for a few years now and have always had a pretty strong attraction to the cheap variety (being a starving student). the one i have at the moment is a rat dragster I've been building over the last few months. Hope you all dig it.

I don't think you realize how lucky you all are to live in the land you do, filled with Schwinns and all the other great brands t in great abundance, it took me months to find this frame, the frames and parts you all have are impossible to find down here.

Anyway thanks for lettin me in your forum, hope you like the bike.

XXX
 
howdy XXX, I never really realized it was hard to find bike parts, (most of our stock stuff comes from taiwan anyway) ive never shipped anything to Australia, everyone here is pretty friendly, maybe we could help ya out in that department sometime. I too was a starving student at one time, then i dropped out and got a decent job :lol: , not for everybody and i suppose i could be doin better but im not doin bad. enjoy your stay
 
Welcome from British Columbia..
we have the same problems in Western Canada with locating Bikes..
but fortunatly for me their a lot of good people here that
ship stuff. :mrgreen:

I have also founfd that WE see a lot more Department Store Style Western Flyers and Hiawatha's that are WAY BETTER for Cutting up and customising

....It's a lot easier to sleep at night when you are
Tricking out and cutting up an Average Bike,
V.S. butchering a BEAUTIFUL, hard to find Schwinn.

welcome to the Forum,
peace,
Kev.
 
welcome to the forum ...... i realize it every time i go down the road on the weekend and find bikes for 10 bucks at garage sales, thats part of why i work on bikes as a hobbie because of their abundent supply.... talk at ya later
 
There is a whole hierarchy of frames here, at least in Melbourne anyway. I'll surf up some pics and update this in a little while....stay tuned for useless information!

EDIT - Update. I'll try not to ramble. Just a side note, to anyone who cares, we call most cantilevered 'muscle bike' frames Dragster bikes or dragsters, because the most popular brand back in the day was the Malvern Star "Dragstar". Same way Americans call all body filler 'Bondo' and Brits call vacuuming "hoovering". OK, here is my list of the main kinds of frames you can find in Australia, from most common (and therefore least expensive) to the hardest to find (and therefore most expensive):

Short frame. They are short, and the canti tubes cross the seatpost well under the clamp:
1214.jpg


Medium frame. Look like a Schwinn style frame, but usually lug-brazed:
896.jpg


Long frame. When I say long, these 20" frames are about the same length, dropout to headtube, as a modern 24" mountain bike:
299.jpg


Then there are the very rare 24" versions of the above frames, I have only ever seen 2, and that was on the net.

Other bikes (in no particular order.):

Skidstar (and other similar bikes) A cruiser with 27"/700C wheels and tyres:
2904.jpg


Single shock dragster/BMX:
2165.jpg


Twin shock dragster/BMX:
2779.jpg


Swingbikes:
1997.jpg


Malvern Star Flying Wedge (Raleigh Chopper clone...sort of):
3021.jpg


Because of our British heritage, we never really had ballooners etc, it was just boring old lug brazed diamond frames, which is why a full-size old school cruiser is a rare sight here. Which is why all my bikes so far have been 20"ers.
 
Thanks Lurker..
that was great to hear all that!!

I personally would love to get my hands on one of YOUR
style Bikes...that would be a Killer Bike to have..an Aussie Custom in Canada. :D

I new a guy when I was a kid that had one of those Single Shock BMX's..hey was "The Jump King" for sure!

and I have a Hiawatha like the double Shock BMX you showed..
but I don't have those BEAUTIFUL Motomags like that one.

are all those YOUR Bikes Lurker :?:

thanks again for sharing,
sorry to steal this Post,
Kev.
 
thanks lurker i had no idea about all the different types, but now you explain it a lot makes since. i've been serchin for a frame for years but to no success. thanks for the history much appreciated. i dig your 'long fame' example, very cool.

XXX
 
None of those are mine, they are all pinched off the dragsterbikes.com website. I haven't got a single bike all together at the moment, studying journalism at uni has kind of put a halt on all projects, but this should all go MY intro, not hi-jack someone elses, i apologise, look in my intro for more info....peace.
 

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