Bicylces?

Ya know, though I skated for 17 years I also had bikes. For much of the time I used them for transportation before I could drive, but I could jump, ride wheelies and do some minor freestyling etc... It was not until about 1999, that I built myself a $1,200.00 bike. I wanted a top notch bike and I already had lots of experience building bikes. Well, I rode that sucker around a lot and kids started noticing it and would say how cool it was when I rode by them. Eventually a neighbor kid "Curt Bartels" came over to my garage while I was out there working on another bike. To make a very long story short, he spread the word to tons of other kids that rode BMX bikes that I had a high dollar bike and many others and tools.
What was my own obsession soon became a business. I was getting woke up at 8am on a Sunday with some guy and his kids bike wanting it repaired. Man before I knew it, I had two rows of new and used bikes in my garage at all times. I outgrew the whole thing as soon as I made my first large purchase. I bought 75 bikes , completely wiping a guy out that used to do the business years ago. I turned a lot of them over and some of them I stripped and tossed in the dumpster.
Back then eBay was still fairly new and I could buy large lots of new parts and mixed lots for little of nothing. I stocked shelves which I built in the garage and I still ran out of space.
In a year we moved into our second house which had a larger garage and two "out buildings". The largest of the two buildings I electrified, cleaned up and made it usable to build bikes in.
A close friend of mine was driving home one morning from another town and was killed by falling asleep at the wheel. He owned a large shop and had fancier tools and a 6foot quarter pipe ramp. Well, it was not my intention but I took care of his mom for a few months while she was mourning and she forced some stuff onto me and I bought some of the rest.
This totally blew up the business for me at the unfortunate event of my friend. I would much rather have him around than some tools and bikes. RIP Jessee Anthony.
So much more blah blah later...Hey I am just giving some background for the photos I am sharing.
Pink and Chrome bike is a Schwinn Predator Freeform that I restored. I bought the frame from another friend that I met on the internet and did a TON of buying from named Todd Evers. I built the bike because when I was in elementary school I would go buy a Freestyle BMX magazine and drool over all the tricked bikes in there and it was one of them! ACS 120psi tires can you believe that? More than a car! I can't remember the brand of rims, but I think they were ARAYA double wall.
The lavender and white bike is a Skyway StreetBeat. Can you imagine the looks I got riding this thing? I didn't care, I had fun riding around and doing old school flatland tricks on it. I sold this one on eBay for $350.00 and now it's owned by an ex-pro for Skyway named Marcos. The bike is not 100% original, but it had some of the cool parts kids wanted such as the TIOGA Crazy Chain, Hutch Seat Clamp, TIOGA Double Bars, ACS Rotor and more...still love this thing! Stay tuned for more bike stuff later.