TheaterFire

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

Posted by azlobo@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 68 comments

No helmet, pads, gotta be home before the sun goes down!
Getting totally rad and flying way too high! Anyone else bike, skate, get tubular? Show them pics!

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68 Comments

pizzahulk43@reddit

Nice. Removed a general comment that didn’t quite fit your post. Whatever.
View on Reddit #78740383

NaturalSpecialist5@reddit

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.
View on Reddit #78736459

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.
View on Reddit #78738399

NaturalSpecialist5@reddit

Thanks, but he's fine. The helmet actually cracked in half. Lol
View on Reddit #78738854

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!
View on Reddit #78737327

NaturalSpecialist5@reddit

I'm not angry. Just pointing out you make us look like old farts lol ![gif](giphy|l0IyajjbNiRvCr7RC)
View on Reddit #78738750

duqduqgo@reddit

Get off my lawn!!!
View on Reddit #78737244

NaturalSpecialist5@reddit

![gif](giphy|3o6ZtoGTm2HwiKxhUk)
View on Reddit #78738662

Zestyclose-Smell-788@reddit

I wear my dain bramage as a hadge of bonor
View on Reddit #78736605

Igmuhota@reddit

Sweet tabletop!
View on Reddit #78738538

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.
View on Reddit #78738405

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.
View on Reddit #78738387

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
View on Reddit #78738380

Fit-Narwhal-3989@reddit

Forgot to mention the trashed testicle when your foot slips off the pedal. Good times.
View on Reddit #78738348

DuTcHmOe71@reddit

Love that photo I think like the dukes of hazard song should be on in the background...
View on Reddit #78735223

azlobo@reddit (OP)

Jump-Van Halen I think was playing 😃
View on Reddit #78736289

DuTcHmOe71@reddit

Well gosh darned you may be right....
View on Reddit #78738183

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.
View on Reddit #78736843

Ok-Ear9289@reddit

My first mongoose got stolen in record time!😑😕
View on Reddit #78737382

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.
View on Reddit #78737962

javabrewer@reddit

If you were sitting on those seats you were doing it wrong to begin with
View on Reddit #78737167

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.
View on Reddit #78737675

150yd7iron@reddit

Rad day is March 20th this year (I think).
View on Reddit #78737916

IDunnoReallyIDont@reddit

Be home when those street lights come on or else!
View on Reddit #78737615

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.
View on Reddit #78734215

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.
View on Reddit #78734410

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.
View on Reddit #78734947

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.
View on Reddit #78737040

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.
View on Reddit #78735861

azlobo@reddit (OP)

Sorry to hear that! At least you lived large!
View on Reddit #78735734

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.
View on Reddit #78734421

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.
View on Reddit #78736796

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.
View on Reddit #78735877

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.
View on Reddit #78735211

KISSALIVE1975@reddit

Crybaby Generation Is The Motivation
View on Reddit #78735435

beekerz33@reddit

Ever take it off any sweet jumps?
View on Reddit #78736644

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.
View on Reddit #78736570

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.
View on Reddit #78736512

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. 
View on Reddit #78736358

AnyDamnThingWillDo@reddit

An a clip around the ear if a hospital visit was required. The good old days
View on Reddit #78734837

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.
View on Reddit #78736288

Sigvoncarmen@reddit

" If you break your leg doing that , don't come running to me " - my mom :)
View on Reddit #78735010

azlobo@reddit (OP)

Ha! So true!
View on Reddit #78735967

ONROSREPUS@reddit

My mom always told me if a bone isn't sticking out just go get a band aid.
View on Reddit #78735594

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).
View on Reddit #78736161

PinkRoseBouquet@reddit

Taking sweet jumps off a plywood platform with my banana seat bike is a memory I’ll always cherish.
View on Reddit #78736148

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 😁
View on Reddit #78734482

azlobo@reddit (OP)

All you’d see is my bald spot and sky. Impressed?
View on Reddit #78736100

dc-67@reddit

Now I remember why the multiple knee and shoulder surgeries in my 50’s!!!
View on Reddit #78736094

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.
View on Reddit #78735699

ifulbd@reddit

My parents were “Don’t come home before the sun sets. “
View on Reddit #78736073

Avaloncruisinchic@reddit

Those were the days
View on Reddit #78736057

CiaoMofos@reddit

Diamondback or GT ?
View on Reddit #78733960

azlobo@reddit (OP)

Think this one was a Redline!
View on Reddit #78736021

barkadam@reddit

Classic Table Top. Nice form without all the PPE getting in the way. Lol
View on Reddit #78734201

azlobo@reddit (OP)

When you know, you know! Thanks!
View on Reddit #78735863

Ok-Teach-9735@reddit

53 and still ride a BMX. https://preview.redd.it/2k11kyeubakg1.jpeg?width=2065&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aeeb604bbb9ac0442015bf3142d6cd2ad91aeab8
View on Reddit #78735377

azlobo@reddit (OP)

Dude! Sweet!!
View on Reddit #78735824

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…
View on Reddit #78735758

undeniably_micki@reddit

Those were the days right? Man I miss them!
View on Reddit #78735615

KISSALIVE1975@reddit

Almost A Tabletop
View on Reddit #78735387

man_on_a_wire@reddit

Looks like my childhood neighbor Dave Henning. Wonder if he survived into adulthood
View on Reddit #78735362

rmhoman@reddit

Yeah we weren't very smart lol. And at other times we were too smart for our own good.
View on Reddit #78735268

pmllny@reddit

Head home when the street lights come on.
View on Reddit #78734958

GilligansWorld@reddit

As someone who achieved epic height on a bike I am betting the pedals broke off - personal experience
View on Reddit #78734775

Draterus@reddit

Boosted that table top, though!
View on Reddit #78734632

-Cool_Ethan-@reddit

Send Me An Angel and be back before the street lights come on
View on Reddit #78734519

ONROSREPUS@reddit

Bike and roller bladded. Never a pad in site.
View on Reddit #78733939