I had one of the first Centurion Diamond Backs in 1978. WSI co sponsored the bike shop team Flying Dutchman Bike Shop in Newbury Park Ca. Right after that Jag came in and we went with them. That was right before Wheels and Things took it to the next level of marketing. And they had great talent with Eddy King and the Hudson Bros.
This is awesome. I’ve been loving all this info. I was a kid in the 80’s and it’s bringing back so many memories. I hope you keep going on all the companies especially in the 90’s where it was mainly rider owned and up into the 200O’s. Lots of great info on those companies.
I had a mid 80's Hot Streak on Skyway's that again... Probably gave away for next to nothing way back when. Lol! My parents bought me a Viper in like 94 or 95 after we got rear ended and my race titted Redline got hosed. But I kept that Viper around and it got beat sauced! Hard! It held up nearly as well as that Hot Streak! I can dig DB! Not my favorite, but not to be slept on either! Sweet Action Mossie! Thanks for takin us along!
I'm a 60 year old American, but am firmly in the BMX Bandits camp... sorry Rad folks. And another great video. I came into BMX hard in the late '70s and watched a lot of these brands come up. Cripes... I remember when Harry Leary was on JMC.
Thanks for the history of this brand and WSI as a company. I worked in a shop during the 80's that sold WSI bicycles, and I used to hear that acronym spoken regularly. I owned several Centurion road bikes and one diamondback mountain bike. I can't say I was a fan. The frames on all, but one of my WSI bicycles broke, and I heard that was common with their BMX frames, if you actually used them to race or for freestyle. Despite my dim view of the company's products, I enjoyed hearing the company's history. It brought back memories of a mostly good time in my life.
Around 1983 my brother got a Diamond Back Silver Streak. I think it lasted a week before it was stolen. Around 1996 I bought a Diamond Back Harry Leary Turbo. I held on to it till about 4 years ago and sold it.
I grew up in the 70's-90's, raced BMX at Cardiff and Argenton BMX tracks in NSW Australia. It was the golden time for BMX- there's not many bikes I haven't owned. My race bike was an O.G. 81 P.K. Ripper Looptail. I still have 2 sheds full of BMXs and MTBs. A heap of Restos and daily rides and I just branched into Ebike conversions. EXCELLENT MATERIAL AND RESEARCH IN ALL YOUR VIDEOS. You're so lucky growing up around some of the Greatest BMX riders ever. Keep up the great work mate. Cheers From Australia. 🍻🤙
Ough probably the bike I have most ridden was a 90's "freebike" Diamondback, it survived the city for years, I turned it into a "gravel" fat tire bike before gravel even existed, at the end ransack the parts (all new at that point) and left the hammered frame in the street like a gnawed bone.
Hey anyone who grew up in the southeast of Melbourne, around the area of Chelsea to Frankston around 1983 to 84+, remember a kid called Damian Verkade AKA Dunny Man🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣.He was supposed to jump off Olivers Hill into Port Phillip Bay on his Diamondback I heard he was supposed to be sponsored by DB, I remembered hearing the jump didn't work out well. ,The jump messed him up bad, the rumors i heard back in the 80s
These are all pretty much perfect in length and content, just do your thing, man, we'll watch like it's Penelope Pitstop on a Saturday morning and I enjoyed that cartoon in '70 or so, my cartoon-watching heyday, good times. And if you do bike media campaigns and such, you have to show everyone a bunch of the Schwinn ads in Boys' Life magazine. It had large pages like Life and Look magazines and the kid on a Schwinn Krate lining up against a dragster on a dragstrip, c'mon now, that's what we were all doing on our bikes. 🤣
My first MTB was a Diamond Back Traverse rigid bike back in 1992. Within a year I was living out in Colorado up at a ski resort and actually riding a mountain bike in mountains
First time I ever ran across a Mt. bike at a shop was in 86 I think? Bought a DB Trail Streak.. lot of fun..ancient technology ! I got a lot of stares riding into the woods back then.
DiamondBack held it down, at least for the PacNW. Took me most a decade to get my hands on one- but I just started riding this Darrin Reed sig Seahawks frame and its super rad! Was the best and last high end frame they made before dergy or whatever sold them or something
My first legit BMX was a Turbo Lite. Got it for Christmas. Thought I was so cool,and try showing off. I rode my Diamondback 12 miles to the movie theater (think Iwas 12yrs old) watched a crappy movie came out and she was gone lock cut laying there.😢😪😲😱😫😡💣💥🤜🤜🏃➡️🚍🕒🕥🌙
I had a Murray X24 that lasted about ten years I can remember when the seatpost bent and my dad took a solid steel bar and pounded it in to the right height. I didn't care about weight
So much of the bike biz is just nameless mass importation and name brand slapping. The owners of the Diamond Back name also marketed road bikes and sponsored a US domestic pro team (Rally Health, I think) in the 2010s. They were pretty good frames. Not sure if produced in China or Taiwan.
Gonna have to disagree with you on the whole silver streak thing. Earlier DB frames were called medium, large, and senior and were available as just F/F and were full chromoly. The “silver streak” was their first attempt at a budget “Complete” bike and the silver streaks were different as the frame was a combination of mild steel and chromoly.
Thank you all for the recommendation! Who here owned a diamond back? My first "nice" BMX was a Joker and I loved that thing
viper was my first. All chrome good stuff
Diamondback is cool
I had one of the first Centurion Diamond Backs in 1978. WSI co sponsored the bike shop team Flying Dutchman Bike Shop in Newbury Park Ca. Right after that Jag came in and we went with them. That was right before Wheels and Things took it to the next level of marketing. And they had great talent with Eddy King and the Hudson Bros.
Still have ( now mine ) my brothers 79 VM serial number Pro …and a
83 Formula One 😎
@@MossieRidesBikes yes
RIP Harry Leary.
RIP, Harry.
This is awesome. I’ve been loving all this info. I was a kid in the 80’s and it’s bringing back so many memories.
I hope you keep going on all the companies especially in the 90’s where it was mainly rider owned and up into the 200O’s. Lots of great info on those companies.
I worked at WSI for about 15 years....from the Weiner / Bobrick days...to late 90's. This was a good trip down memory lane.
Thanks for doing this! DB was my first “serious” bike and even decades later I am still enthralled by them. Long live Diamond Back!🤘🐍
Diamond Back is just department store brand now in Australia.
I had a mid 80's Hot Streak on Skyway's that again... Probably gave away for next to nothing way back when. Lol! My parents bought me a Viper in like 94 or 95 after we got rear ended and my race titted Redline got hosed. But I kept that Viper around and it got beat sauced! Hard! It held up nearly as well as that Hot Streak! I can dig DB! Not my favorite, but not to be slept on either! Sweet Action Mossie! Thanks for takin us along!
Very cool man, keep’em coming , love the bmx stuff
I'm a 60 year old American, but am firmly in the BMX Bandits camp... sorry Rad folks.
And another great video. I came into BMX hard in the late '70s and watched a lot of these brands come up. Cripes... I remember when Harry Leary was on JMC.
Thanks for the history of this brand and WSI as a company. I worked in a shop during the 80's that sold WSI bicycles, and I used to hear that acronym spoken regularly. I owned several Centurion road bikes and one diamondback mountain bike. I can't say I was a fan. The frames on all, but one of my WSI bicycles broke, and I heard that was common with their BMX frames, if you actually used them to race or for freestyle. Despite my dim view of the company's products, I enjoyed hearing the company's history. It brought back memories of a mostly good time in my life.
Still have my MD signature Hot Streak. Thanks for the excellent video!
DB in mid to late 80s Australia had a very good reputation as a high quality brand.
Around 1983 my brother got a Diamond Back Silver Streak. I think it lasted a week before it was stolen. Around 1996 I bought a Diamond Back Harry Leary Turbo. I held on to it till about 4 years ago and sold it.
I grew up in the 70's-90's, raced BMX at Cardiff and Argenton BMX tracks in NSW Australia. It was the golden time for BMX- there's not many bikes I haven't owned. My race bike was an O.G. 81 P.K. Ripper Looptail. I still have 2 sheds full of BMXs and MTBs.
A heap of Restos and daily rides and I just branched into Ebike conversions.
EXCELLENT MATERIAL AND RESEARCH IN ALL YOUR VIDEOS. You're so lucky growing up around some of the Greatest BMX riders ever.
Keep up the great work mate.
Cheers From Australia. 🍻🤙
Ough probably the bike I have most ridden was a 90's "freebike" Diamondback, it survived the city for years, I turned it into a "gravel" fat tire bike before gravel even existed, at the end ransack the parts (all new at that point) and left the hammered frame in the street like a gnawed bone.
Never owned one but, the Diamond Back Silver Streak was the bicycle that started it all for me in the early 80’s. So dang cool.
Rest In Peace Harry Leary. He just passed away recently.
Yes. To all you suggested, YES!! 😃
Hey anyone who grew up in the southeast of Melbourne, around the area of Chelsea to Frankston around 1983 to 84+, remember a kid called Damian Verkade AKA Dunny Man🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣.He was supposed to jump off Olivers Hill into Port Phillip Bay on his Diamondback I heard he was supposed to be sponsored by DB, I remembered hearing the jump didn't work out well. ,The jump messed him up bad, the rumors i heard back in the 80s
These are all pretty much perfect in length and content, just do your thing, man, we'll watch like it's Penelope Pitstop on a Saturday morning and I enjoyed that cartoon in '70 or so, my cartoon-watching heyday, good times. And if you do bike media campaigns and such, you have to show everyone a bunch of the Schwinn ads in Boys' Life magazine. It had large pages like Life and Look magazines and the kid on a Schwinn Krate lining up against a dragster on a dragstrip, c'mon now, that's what we were all doing on our bikes. 🤣
I'm looking at a Diamond Back mountain bike sitting out my window right now.
Yeeeees RAD / Bandt...And thanks for all your work :)
Had a DB assault ex BMX complete as first real bike. Chrome with anodized red parts.
The only diamondback I remember trying was a "DBR" hardtail from 98 or 99, back then I was like "uh diamondback makes mountain bikes?!"
😂
My first MTB was a Diamond Back Traverse rigid bike back in 1992. Within a year I was living out in Colorado up at a ski resort and actually riding a mountain bike in mountains
First time I ever ran across a Mt. bike at a shop was in 86 I think? Bought a DB Trail Streak.. lot of fun..ancient technology ! I got a lot of stares riding into the woods back then.
@foodstick I grew up in a small town. As soon as everyone got a driver's license they stopped riding bikes
DiamondBack held it down, at least for the PacNW. Took me most a decade to get my hands on one- but I just started riding this Darrin Reed sig Seahawks frame and its super rad! Was the best and last high end frame they made before dergy or whatever sold them or something
I worked for DB and don’t remember a Darrin Reed Seahawks signature bike and I’m from the far inland NW.
Thanks for all the BMX videos, I had suggested before, anything on Race Inc?
If Diamond Back is a funny name for a BMX what about their nemesis Mongoose? More BMX videos please.
Do a video on ELF ! ELF has been around since 81 and still around
My first legit BMX was a Turbo Lite. Got it for Christmas. Thought I was so cool,and try showing off. I rode my Diamondback 12 miles to the movie theater (think Iwas 12yrs old) watched a crappy movie came out and she was gone lock cut laying there.😢😪😲😱😫😡💣💥🤜🤜🏃➡️🚍🕒🕥🌙
I had a Murray X24 that lasted about ten years
I can remember when the seatpost bent and my dad took a solid steel bar and pounded it in to the right height. I didn't care about weight
Mike D ruled!
Surprised you didn’t mention that BMX Bandits starred Nicole Kidman.
As far as BMX games go, it’s Dave Mirra or nothing. And all the heartbreak he brings with it 😢
I just picked up Dave mirras BMX 2 for the OG Xbox 😎
I have one 0f those Ridge Runners hanging in my shop.
So much of the bike biz is just nameless mass importation and name brand slapping. The owners of the Diamond Back name also marketed road bikes and sponsored a US domestic pro team (Rally Health, I think) in the 2010s. They were pretty good frames. Not sure if produced in China or Taiwan.
I think that bmx bikes got taken over by mountain bikes. I rarely see anyone riding a BMX anymore. I remember when we had BMX tracks everywhere.
Gonna have to disagree with you on the whole silver streak thing. Earlier DB frames were called medium, large, and senior and were available as just F/F and were full chromoly. The “silver streak” was their first attempt at a budget “Complete” bike and the silver streaks were different as the frame was a combination of mild steel and chromoly.
Diamondbacks were cool
No internet in the 60's to help people figure out the source of their products.
last cool thing DB did was win the X games with bruce crisman. even then i think bruce has come out and said it was just DiamondBack stickers on a S&M
Examples of Academy Award winner Spike Jonze photo cedits in your vintage magazines collection?
How does one message you bike photos?
I get them through Instagram. My link is at the bottom of the video description!
@@MossieRidesBikes any alternatives? I dont have social media
First like. Must be my lucky day.
BMX Bandits is better despite Nicole Kidman hating it.