Found this thread quite interesting so here we go with my story!
Grew up in NZ, I was from a working class family, not tonnes of cash but birthdays and xmas were great which as a kjid meant every possible thing in the world LOL, My most favourite bike ever was the Healing HMX500, every kid wanted one and if they couldnt afford one they rode around with kids who did have em in the hope they could ride at some stage during the day, even if only for 1 minute, the wait was worth it! I still remember biking up to westown cycles and window shopping the bike!
I of corse was allowed the ungodly heavy beast, The "Morrison Gutsy One" a cheap mass produced bike which was a carry over frame from yrs earlier 1978-80, the HMX ran from 1978 to about 1984 and was one of the last bikes Healing produced.
Healing Had a parent company in Aussie and an Arm in NZ, import Dramas forced the NZ arm of Healing to manufacture bikes in NZ, this is why some HMX's were aussie built and some NZ built, to date I never heard an argument as to which was better but now that ive brought it up I bet we might hear something LOL. trans tasman rivalry can be as good as USA/ canadian cross border taunting and that is said in most cheerful and friendly way!
There were 3 models, the first had no gusset, they were recalled after just a month or so, the things were cracking and breaking , some on the first day of use, the MK2 had one gusset and faired better but still wasnt good enough and finally the MK3 had the twin gusset but the bikes were notorious for still cracking eventually which is the main reason why you cant find them anymore, I researched and found most were thrown out and sent to the dump!
The bike eventually became the HMX 600, a bit stonger here n there and an imrovment anyway so it was a good thing, im pretty sure I seen ,as a kid , that some 600's came out with Tuff wheel mags,(5 spoker's)
Either way the bikes also had a weak gooseneck, it was common to see an HMX 500 or 600 that had the gooseneck bent right forward and the normally horizontal bar clamp point at the ground, all from jumps, the forks even bent a bit and kids would pick the bike up, spin the front wheel 180 and gently bounce the bike on the front wheel to try n straighten the forks n gooseneck back a bit ha ha ha , the things we did! im sure thats a practice seen all over the world LOL.
anyway heres some eye candy of my favourite bike from my childhood.
This last pic actually bought tears to my eyes this morning, just a random kid from NZ but just look at his face, holding his new bike, really threw me back many many years this pic!
Thank you RRB, youve put me in such a great place, a place i'd lost for a bit with the world and all its horridness!
Thank you!
www.retrobike.co.uk
bikepacking.com
nsmb.com
