If you are located in another country please check with your local Giant & Liv retailer for product offerings and availability. Here’s the place to discuss those early mountain bikes from the late 1970’s to the mid to late 1980’s. Discussion of BMX bicycles built during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Schwinn Meridian Discussion of bicycles built with 26″ x 1.75, or 26″ x 1-3/4″ wheels, typically from the 1950s to the 1960s. This forum is for tricycles, scooters, small bicycles or any other childrens riding “toys”. Discussion of bicycles built before 1933, typically but not limited to 28″ wheel bicycles.
Redline/Gold Cup races are a series of regional championship events that are held mostly for the benefit of the amateur racer with a No.1 plate on the line for the overall winner of the age and classification. It originally was a one-off Jag like Championship race on November 27, 1981, in which the competitors just had to come in the top 100 in their districts to compete. It became a six race qualifying series in 1982 held in conjunction with standard nationals. Like in its inaugural year, the Championships was held the day before the ABA Grand Nationals in Oklahoma as a pre race.
Discussion of Vintage and Antique track, road-racing, fixed gear and 6-Day bicycles. Schwinn Stingrays, Krates, and other brands of the hot-rod style bicycles built during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Instead it was the USBA that ended up being bought out by the ABA.
However, nearly 160 track operators did switch to the USBA, effectively splitting the world of BMX racing three ways. While BMX Action’s deliberate boycott was damaging, it was not the only reason the ABA received reduced coverage in the BMX press, including in BMX Action’s biggest competitors BMX Plus! And Super BMX. Many ABA nationals coincided with important NBL nationals and considering there was an informal pro boycott of ABA nationals, other races were often scheduled on the same weekend as ABA events. The press followed, which led to a further decrease in coverage. The ABA changed the way it would decide its top pro for the 1984 season.
The USBA, suffering its own financial dire straits, sold it back to Hutch who in turn sold it to the ABA. Several ABA tracks left the ABA and joined Roker to participate in his series which were to be NBL sanctioned. With this siege mentality in his background it was easy for Mennenga to believe that USBA stole the valuable ABA membership records to proposition ABA huffy cruiser bike racers to join the USBA. While the value of this list would be a motive to steal it, Mennenga provided no evidence. The magazine had left the ABA on the verge of bankruptcy. The rising costs of the insurance crises of the early 1980s, with its skyrocketing rates, affected every sanctioning body, but given the ABA’s greatly weakened state it, was life-threatening.
A few months later Messrs. Vargas and Anderson bought a majority share of the USBA from Ira Hall, becoming its two principal stockholders in 1986. About 24 hours later Ehnat was fired and replaced by ABA President Clayton John, placing him at the head of two sanctioning bodies simultaneously. Until the end of 1986 the USBA remained a separate body.
Additionally the best ten finishes at the nationals plus the Grand Nationals would count toward the pros eligibility to contend for the Pro #1 plate. This system put a premium on consistency while the Transfer System was a little closer to luck, both good and bad for a racer. This Model features Huffy’s perfect fit frame design, which is a steel frame design specially made to provide more comfort and more fun to ride. The Deluxe Men’s Cruiser Bike has a steel frame which ensures a sturdy and robust build. The frame design is called the perfect fit frame, which means it is built to provide more comfort and more fun to ride. Liv’s Tempt 3 is specifically designed with women in mind.
The amateur girls class champion Nikki Murray (unlike the NBL at this time, the ABA did not have a professional women’s division) and the Pro Cruiser number one Eric Rupe also received Honda Reflex motorcycles. The events were restricted to pros, eliminating the amateur and children classes, and invested heavily in television advertisements. Races were held on Friday nights and kept to two hours in length, which fit a television schedule and the attention span of an audience. The increased exposure of BMX was hoped to spark an upsurge of beginner classes at the local level. Greater revenue was obtained from entrance fees, making the ABA less dependent on participation on the local level.
Redline Bicycles had been sponsoring the Gold Cup Series for the prior six racing seasons. Today the Gold Cup Series Championship or simply the Gold Cup, is the second most sought after title in the ABA. The ABA felt it was a deliberate action to siphon off racers, particularly the pros from their season-ending Grand National. The hiring by the Knott’s Berry promoter Thomas Henn of former NBA founder and President Ernie Alexander to run the race (he also designed the temporary track at Knott’s) didn’t help matters. Alexander had a reputation of deliberately scheduling NBA events against the events of other sanctioning bodies when he ran the NBA.