30 years old - Fat - Bmx Bike - Thoughts

I'm trying to find some kind of activity to participate in during the week that would be semi-thrilling and requires a bit of exercise. Normal bike rides have lost their flavor, so i'm considering picking up a 24" redline bmx bike I found on craigslist. I used to ride bmx when I was like 14 and 140lbs.

I'm like 6ft, 225lbs, and 30 years old now -- but it sounds fun... I know I shouldn't care -- but whats your thoughts? Too old, the bike is too small, bmx is for girls .... what?

Anything you can enjoy and get exercise doing , I say do it.

^^^ Any don't forget that you can still make it to work on Monday! Never used to consider this but it has become more or a factor to me with age.

I get some funny looks when I longboard (skate) in my neighborhood (I'm 36). It's fun, and I couldn't care less what judgemental no-life losers think anyway.

There is a gun in my neighborhood who for 20 years has been riding a longboard (skate) wearing booty shorts and has long dreads.....If you were from TX trace I might have some questions....

Do it... It's great exercise and inexpensive. My only recommendation would be to use get a 20" instead of the 24". I recently started riding again, and thought the 24" would be better, but it's too bulky and sluggish for me.

I'm 31 and I still love to pull out my longboard and go for a cruise. We used to go longboarding ( back in the day) with our English teacher as he still loved to shred the pavement.

It's funny when your 16 you think 30 is old. Now that I'm 31 I think I'm still young ( or atleast act that way). I haven't slowed down on any of the sports that I have done over the years. I had kickboxing on Tuesday, went riding on Wednesday night, had kick boxin last night, and will be on my boat all weekend. As long as you keep yourself in shape keep going. Rest when your dead!

My sons 20" Redline, with 1/2" axles (to state it is not a compact or toy bike), seems a bit cramped for me, but I think the set back seat post would fix that. I would love to have a ramp in the yard and jump it.

Just don't do like me though. On his maiden Redline bike ride, we went over the local soccer fields. I was on my mountain bike. We were jumping curbs, climbing through ditches, and weaving in and out of the brick columns at the snack bar/main building. He hit is shoulder pretty good on one and I got close, so we went to the other end of the lot. There we decided to jump a HANDICAP ramp. We started out from under a pavilion, dropped off a curb, rolled a couple of feet and hit the ramp perpendicularly. We did that a few times, and in one last effort, I decided to try my best to double it. I pedaled hard and planned to pedal when my tires briefly landed between the curb and ramp. Unfortunately, this threw me off balance and I went splat on the asphalt! I immediately knew that I hurt more than I should and it only took about 10 seconds to realize I had broken my collar bone! I jumped up and said, "Let's go!" It was all I could do to ride the mile or so home without puking or passing out. BTW, I was 43.

Today, I'm 46 and still ride wheelies in the cove on my mountain bike. I don't care who sees or what they say. I'd rather act like a kid instead of acting my age. When you start acting old, that is when you have given up. Have fun!

In re-reading your post, I must state that I have been as high as 260 and as low as 190 while doing all of this. 5'-9"

Try mountain biking, it's really fun and a great workout, you get to be outside and in the woods.

Around here the only older guys that ride BMX bikes are about 30, haven't shaved or showered in at least 3 days, have shaved bald heads and tatoos all over their backs (I'm talking cheap tattoos, not the good stuff). It also completes the image if you wear knee high black socks, cut off black dickies and have a chain going to your wallet.

I'm not just judging, I'm just sayin'....... Ha, ha, ha

I think I'd prefer a single speed mountain bike with 24" wheels. It'll roll faster, be more comfortable and still be fun to play on.

That said, do what makes you happy. Who cares what other people think.

buy a dirt bike, nuff said!!

damn Evan, you just described me. now I feel all bad and stuff. haha.
do what you want. I prefered the 24" over the 20", but thats just me.

Originally Posted by westsiderippa

buy a dirt bike, nuff said!!

everyone needs one of those too, but they don't give you the cardio workout the pedaling does

I wheelie my motorcycle in the back yard and don't care who sees me do that either.

Funny story about my last time on a BMX bike

When my oldest boy turned 12 I bought him a new Haro freestyle bike. He hadn't got off the school bus yet, and I was in the front yard wiping off the fingerprints. I wanted to surprise him when he got home with his shiny new bike.

A couple of older boys in the neighborhood came riding by and were complimenting me on the new bike. I let them know that it wasn't for me, but for my boy. After looking the bike over, one of the boys suggested that I come take it off this jump they built down the road. I really didn't want to do it ( I hadn't rode a BMX bike in about 10 years) but gave in to their pressure.

The jump that the kids built had a huge hole dug out right behind it. If you come up short, you'll land in the hole, and eat it big time. Plus you start up on this hill and get your speed up and then hit the jump. I was nervous, but was going to give it a go either way. I needed to make sure I cleared this jump so I get flying down the hill as fast as I could go and hit the jump. I had more then enough speed to clear the jump, but in mid flight my feet came off the pedals and I couldn't recover quick enough. When I landed (if you want to call it that) my feet hit the ground, the handle bars spun around, and I went face first in the dirt.

All the kids came running over to make sure I was still alive. I jumped up as quick as my body would let me, and wiped the blood and dirt off my face with my shirt. I had a pretty nasty scrape from my face sliding in the dirt. I picked up my kids brand new bike, to access the damages. I noticed the handle bars were crooked and loose. I quickly blamed my wipe out on the handle bars being too loose, and I think they bought it, cause one of the kids offered up his bike to me to try and jump it again.

Now my lie was already catching up to me. I told him maybe some other time, but they wouldn't settle for that and kept at it until I said I would. So I started to head down the hill when I noticed that his bike had no brakes, and if I ended up landing it this time I would have to stop the bike pretty quick or I'd end up riding into a fence. I started to drag my feet until I got it to stop, and hollered down to the kids about not having any brakes on this bike. He yelled back that he does it all the time. So I started back down the hill and hit the jump, and sure as ***** my feet flew off the pedals again and I ended up sliding on the same side of my face through the dirt.

I ended up roughing up my kids new bike and my face too. I remember walking into my house and my ex-wife just shook her head, cause she saw me take off on the bike earlier, and told me to be carefull.

I used to ride at an indoor bike park a few yrs back. I'm 6'3'' and 220 I bought a new Haro at the time and bent the forks in less than a week. I bought a Diamond Back and road that bastard til the wheels fell off. Since your big like me, shop carefully or you'll be buying new forks or another bike. Just a heads up. Have fun. My opinion the old iron is far better than the new stuff. Gt's, Redlines the old Hutch Trickstars, Quad angles and my all time favorite drum roll please PK RIPPERS!!!!