# Early bmx converted stingray



## birdzgarage (Sep 15, 2020)

70 stingray. Converted to a bmx bike long ago.even has freewheel conversion.as found by @rustjunkie in the Monrovia ca area.i bought it from him and all I did was find a replacement front tire and tube.it rides actually.i will always keep it in this unrestored condition as its a small piece of socal stingray and bmx history


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## Kombicol (Sep 16, 2020)

Is it a little difficult to ride with just 1 pedal ?

Seriously though, cool bike.


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## Beach Bum III (Jan 11, 2021)

Super cool. I remember converting a Bendix coaster brake to freewheel was the HOT trick for a little bit. I guess that makes me OLD.


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## Norrin (Jan 22, 2021)

True old school, I love it.  I’ve never seen a brake mounted like that.  Can you post a close up of the brake please?


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## Norrin (Jan 22, 2021)

I did that a couple of years ag


Beach Bum III said:


> Super cool. I remember converting a Bendix coaster brake to freewheel was the HOT trick for a little bit. I guess that makes me OLD.



o, went with the old school style on a 1981 Team Schwann with Tuff Wheels.


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## coasterbrakejunkie1969 (Jan 22, 2021)

F@#$ing awesome bike, really nice. It found the right spot to land.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jan 22, 2021)

had one very much like that in Purple when I was about 13.... original fork though. I remember a ride to the gravel pits where coming down from a jump I bent the heck out of my seat post and had to ride home standing up. gave it to a friends little brother when I was about 16.  if not for that I bet I would still have it.


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## birdzgarage (Jan 22, 2021)

Pic 5 is as good a close up as it gets.


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## old hotrod (Jan 25, 2021)

I remember when BMX was starting...we went to the local Schwinn store and they had a Stingray "conversion kit" for $14.99 I think. The kit included one pair of knobby tires, bars, pads, 10-speed seat and plastic number plate. The tube fork and handbrake came a little later...very fond memories!


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## Tom Hand (Jan 26, 2021)

Here are our versions. This is September 1974.


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## Beach Bum III (Jan 30, 2021)

Tom Hand said:


> Here are our versions. This is September 1974.
> 
> SOo RAD! The 26 incher was way ahead of it’s time and the Mustang with bike racks...yeah!! Is that a 24 incher next to the Stingray?  Any more pics like this?? We’d all love to see them.


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## Tom Hand (Jan 30, 2021)

Here are our suspension bikes from around 1975.  Both are 24".


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## Beach Bum III (Jan 31, 2021)

Tom Hand said:


> Here are our suspension bikes form around 1975.  Both 24".
> 
> Those are wild! Looks like the derailleur on #3 acts as a chain tensioner? #1 front suspension is unusual to say the least. Kind of like a Greeves motorcycle. Did you have anything to do with building these beautiful beasts.m?


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## Tom Hand (Jan 31, 2021)

Yes, the geometry was wrong but I could not easily get the pivot point closer to the crank centerline than I did. My uncle in Wichita and I machined the parts  used on the mono shock and Dad helped my brother and I build the suspension on the front.  It was modeled after a DKW MX motorcyle of the time, around a 1972 to 1974 version.    The monoshock is still in St. Louis; the other i think we removed the front end and went with a regular folk again.   But, I have picture with it at the same race posted above.


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## Tom Hand (Jan 31, 2021)

Color shot of the mono shock.  I only had a few minutes at a funeral to look through the photo album and clearly, I took sucky shots of the photos we took back in 74 and 75.  I think the second one is our winnings that day but I sure do not remember getting that much good stuff.  It was so much fun to have a real track to race on.


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## Beach Bum III (Feb 1, 2021)

Tom, this stuff is SOLID GOLD. Thanks so much for busting out these old photos.


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## nick tures (Feb 1, 2021)

Tom Hand said:


> Color shot of the mono shock.  I only had a few minutes at a funeral to look through the photo album and clearly, I took sucky shots of the photos we took back in 74 and 75.  I think the second one is our winnings that day but I sure do not remember getting that much good stuff.  It was so much fun to have a real track to race on.
> 
> View attachment 1349023
> 
> View attachment 1349025



nice mustang !!


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## furyus (May 11, 2021)

That 70 Sting-Ray is so perfect. Gorgeous bike.

We converted our Sting-Rays back in the early ‘70’s. We called them “dirt bikes.” We didn’t wear helmets. We didn’t have phones, either. Kids today have no idea what they missed.

furyus


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## birdzgarage (May 12, 2021)

Thanks man


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## GTBruiser (May 27, 2021)

That's a killer bike!  Brings back lots of memories.  I still have my '77 conversion.  It originally had a set of black box bars then sometime in the '80s I switched them out.


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