No helmet, pads, gotta be home before the sun goes down!

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pizzahulk43@reddit

Nice. Removed a general comment that didn’t quite fit your post. Whatever.

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Yeah this is BS And you know it. If my brother hadn't been wearing his helmet in a race in the 80s, his brain would have been splattered on the road. I get so sick of these memes and posts. You guys are sounding like Boomers more and more everyday 😆 The national average brain injuries have gone done 40% Knee pads have prevented injuries 55% and more to soft tissue and breakage . We didn't have the Internet back then so of course we didn't hear about the deaths and injuries. So keep up these posts, old farts. You just make us sound like the people we despised when we were teens.

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Kate_Electro@reddit

I agree with you about this. We have helmets precisely because of the many deaths and terrible accidents. Sorry about your brother.

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NaturalSpecialist5@reddit

Thanks, but he's fine. The helmet actually cracked in half. Lol

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

Just trying to engage in some possible shared experiences of growing up when we did and did not intend to trigger folks out there. But you embrace your anger-one day it’ll serve you well I suppose! Cheers!

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NaturalSpecialist5@reddit

I'm not angry. Just pointing out you make us look like old farts lol ![gif](giphy|l0IyajjbNiRvCr7RC)

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duqduqgo@reddit

Get off my lawn!!!

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NaturalSpecialist5@reddit

![gif](giphy|3o6ZtoGTm2HwiKxhUk)

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Zestyclose-Smell-788@reddit

I wear my dain bramage as a hadge of bonor

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Igmuhota@reddit

Sweet tabletop!

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GenX-ModTeam@reddit

Moratorium - Some posts may be removed due to temporary moratoriums on its content. Currently, photos of Redditors are not permitted until everyone recovers from the great "Then and Now Trend" of 2025. There is a whole megathread for personal photos. Also, Spotify Wrapped posts are prohibited. No one cares about your playlist, please don't post it.

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MzunguMjinga@reddit

I don't think my boys ever experienced ramping into a ditch full of weeds and experienced the anguish of a thousands "paper cuts" in the webbing of their fingers from trying to climb out.

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Bobby_Globule@reddit

Sometimes I wish I had a little bike i could do some messing around on. I love lurking this sub: r/bmxcruiser

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Fit-Narwhal-3989@reddit

Forgot to mention the trashed testicle when your foot slips off the pedal. Good times.

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DuTcHmOe71@reddit

Love that photo I think like the dukes of hazard song should be on in the background...

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

Jump-Van Halen I think was playing 😃

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DuTcHmOe71@reddit

Well gosh darned you may be right....

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Zestyclose-Smell-788@reddit

How many Kmart Huffy bikes were destroyed in this manner? I particular the seat supports at the back. The Mongoose was on our Christmas list. The Huffy is what we got.

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Ok-Ear9289@reddit

My first mongoose got stolen in record time!😑😕

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Zestyclose-Smell-788@reddit

Oh that sucks! I lived in a small town, no way you could get away with it there. Nobody locked their bikes.

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javabrewer@reddit

If you were sitting on those seats you were doing it wrong to begin with

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Zestyclose-Smell-788@reddit

Absolutely. The correct sequence is to get separated from your bike in mid-air, kind of come back together as you both hit the ground, hard. The resulting wreck may or may not include damage to the bike, your body, or both. It's random, ranging from no damage to either, to destroyed bike and broken bones. The seat posts are just collateral damage.

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150yd7iron@reddit

Rad day is March 20th this year (I think).

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IDunnoReallyIDont@reddit

Be home when those street lights come on or else!

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pizzahulk43@reddit

Yeah this is how I broke my right arm and most the bones in the same hand… the first time. Terrible arthritis these days. But tubular I guess.

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Aegis-Heptapod-9732@reddit

I hate these kinds of posts. In our defense, we didn't know better then. But I'm not going to look down on kids today because they're wearing proper protection.

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pizzahulk43@reddit

I’m with you that’s what I wanted to point out. We weren’t braver we were stupider. We weren’t tougher because we got hurt. I put my kids in all the protective gear I could get and so did all the GenX on this site. Thank god we learned what our parents didn’t.

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

It’s not about being braver or more stupid, it’s about the celebration of living in the time you have. I only wanted to share some of my experiences with folks that may have had the same.

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SeaEmployee787@reddit

big ramps we always had pads on even back then. Dirt jumping no, but you watch one of those pump track vids now. holly hell those folks get so much air they need to be wearing protective gear.

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

Sorry to hear that! At least you lived large!

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hkusp45css@reddit

This is survivor bias. I love being GenX and I love the competence that the lack of supervision instilled in us, but a LOT of were lost to stupid misadventure and I'm not convinced that lionizing that idea is a good thing.

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

Not trying to lionize just trying to re-engage in shared experiences. Life is short, to truly live is even shorter. Those that are here today will be gone tomorrow, like our youth and all our worldly possessions. We each have to find our way to be at peace with ourselves, regardless of what comes at us.

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HardlyAnyGravitas@reddit

Yep. I hate this Boomer crap. Even though cycling on the roads was *much* safer when I was a kid, I still remember the funeral of a girl in my year who was killed on a bike.

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Thirty_Helens_Agree@reddit

My childhood dentist’s brother ran the local bike shop. The dentist donated pads for the front handlebars on BMX-style kids’ bikes - like to be included free with every bike purchase - because of the injuries he saw. There’s a local law firm that donates kids’ bike helmets statewide. I don’t wanna know about the horrors they saw to motivate that donation.

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KISSALIVE1975@reddit

Crybaby Generation Is The Motivation

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beekerz33@reddit

Ever take it off any sweet jumps?

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ceazzzzz@reddit

Nice air! Looks like a decent amount! I’ve been there, and the last time I was catching air doing a tabletop, I landed a little sideways, and in the hospital for two days. Even with the type of helmets back then, I still would’ve face planted the landing, and in the hospital.

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dukeofontario@reddit

Grew up in the 80's near Sacramento, CA and back in the woods there was this awesome BMX track that someone made.

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Inner-Confidence99@reddit

I had so many bike wrecks. Especially going downhill then hit a patch of gravel. That’s why my knees are gone and my elbows too as well as my hips. Wouldn’t trade those days of freedom we had back then Really wish kids today could be as free as we were.

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AnyDamnThingWillDo@reddit

An a clip around the ear if a hospital visit was required. The good old days

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ifulbd@reddit

Learned to stitch myself up. On the rare occasion that I was permitted to have a professional stitch me up, I was sure as hell not allowed to return to have the stitches taken out because that was a separate charge and required a functioning vehicle and an available driver.

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Sigvoncarmen@reddit

" If you break your leg doing that , don't come running to me " - my mom :)

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

Ha! So true!

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ONROSREPUS@reddit

My mom always told me if a bone isn't sticking out just go get a band aid.

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robscomputer@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/yzz8onk1dakg1.jpeg?width=4577&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de982a32baef1d271536a5602d62866e60d80d8a This was around 93\~94, Union City, CA. I was the photo guy in our group, so I have literally like five photos of myself while 100's of my friends. (For those from the Bay Area, it's Red Devil, the back step up jump).

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PinkRoseBouquet@reddit

Taking sweet jumps off a plywood platform with my banana seat bike is a memory I’ll always cherish.

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MaximumJones@reddit

Let's see a pic of you doing it now in the exact same place on that bike. Now THAT will be impressive 😁

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

All you’d see is my bald spot and sky. Impressed?

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dc-67@reddit

Now I remember why the multiple knee and shoulder surgeries in my 50’s!!!

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LazzarilloDeTormez@reddit

Not sure about “be home before the sun comes down.” Maybe in elementary school. As a teenager I had no curfew. I could come home when the sun came up as far as my parents were concerned.

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ifulbd@reddit

My parents were “Don’t come home before the sun sets. “

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Avaloncruisinchic@reddit

Those were the days

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CiaoMofos@reddit

Diamondback or GT ?

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

Think this one was a Redline!

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barkadam@reddit

Classic Table Top. Nice form without all the PPE getting in the way. Lol

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

When you know, you know! Thanks!

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Ok-Teach-9735@reddit

53 and still ride a BMX. https://preview.redd.it/2k11kyeubakg1.jpeg?width=2065&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aeeb604bbb9ac0442015bf3142d6cd2ad91aeab8

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azlobo@reddit (OP)

Dude! Sweet!!

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Govinda74@reddit

I’m convinced a lot of the chronic pain I have now has it’s roots in this phase of treating my body like a rag doll, trying to pull these tricks and hitting the ground hard over and over…then skateboarding came along and the pointless self-abuse train rolled on and on…

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