The by-gone era...Bash guards..

As ugly as they seem now,Bash guards where the staple of BMX in the 90's,Everyone was making a bashguard frame or a bolt-on bash guard ( Kore & GT ) or sprocket pocket! I first seen a GT in BMX PLUS mag,Think it was the aggressor... It looked weird as shit & my first thoughts were what the fuck is that! Then Haro came out with there air master with bash guard,Kinda weird as the sport was there vert bike...

"89 GT Aggressor Frame"

Complete "89 Haro Team Master"

The war between GT & haro had started & both began building bashguard frames & making slight changes to there 1990 designs,GT went away from the down tube piercing the seat tube, Haro changed the bashguard to be more round & added the sport to the bashguard craze.

"90 GT aggressor"

I still wasn't into bashguards,They were weird & I thought they would be heavy ( BMX bikes were heavy anyway ).. Then I seen the add for Bully Bikes with Mike Dominguez airing his backyard ramp,I wanted one!

"90 Dominguez on the photo type Bully"

Bully ( By RL Osborn )built the best looking Basher back in the day,It was clean looking & made by a rider,The first lot of them were prone to cracking ( Frames made on the cheap ) but the bashguard design was clean & the frame had oval tubing & looked like it could take some shit.

Bully had the best looking graphics of the time.

"RL Osborn riding his creation"

He sold the company to MCS in the mid 90's an bully pretty much faded out of existence,RL now has a carpet cleaning business.... Go figure?

Ron Wilkerson had left haro after 6yrs & started Wilkerson Airlines & build a removable bashguard frame,It was heavy as fuck,Was the first bike to have massive thick drop outs,I got one from a mate & it handled like a pig,I didn't own it long ( Wonder where that frame is now? ) 

"Wilkerson Riot"

"Massive amounts of money were put in to this ad"

" Ron Wilkerson now owns 2 HIP BIKES"

Any company that was doing ok in the 90's built a bashguard frame...

"90 Dyno Slammer ( Repainted with Dyno Bars & Forks)

"92 Mongoose Hooligan"

"Haro had redesigned the 92 Master & Sport Frames"

"GT & DYNO had gone to the bolt-on option"

"Diamond Back had jumped on the scene with there Tailwhip frame.

"Peregrine had this prototype in the works but it never made production ( Ugly )..

The bashguard era was dying out, & the sprocket pockets were taking over.. 

" Havok Sprocket Pocket" ( Dirt Bros )

Will bashguard frames ever make a come back??? Who knows? I can't see it, SUBROSA had a wee play with making a bully copy just for shits a giggles ( Limited run? ). Bashguard frames are a by-gone era of BMX,A time when the riders took over,Stopped wearing uniforms & took BMX to the streets! They changed the way we rode & brought about a new scene! Long live the memories of bashguard frames but lets not bring them back!

" Subrosa Bully Bashguard Bike"

"Subrosa Bully Bashguard design"

" FLY BIKES ruben bolt on bashguard"

"Ruben bashguard for Luna Frame"

Todays riding is all about weight! 

R.I.P the bashguard.