Sources: www.fatbmx.com, Ride BMX US, www.pedalbmx.com, Eric Skougstad, ...
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| Basic was an innovative small company based in Canada that was around from 1993 to about 1998. Basic's original frames were the exact same frames as the Standard Lengthy (Big City Bastard) and Shorty (Small Town Hick), b/c Basic for some reason ended up with a run of those frames that for some reason Standard didn't want or something. The next batch was their own designs. Darcy Saccucci, one of the founders, left the company in 1996 due to differences of opinion with his partner, Cecil Milligan, and it soon fell apart. |
| Darcy Saccucci, www.fatbmx.com, december 2003: I started making number plates and t-shirts at home when I was 15 to sell at the races, I still owe my brother a couple hundred from the start up costs... A few years later I started a company called Basic Bikes with a partner (...) We built Basic up pretty well. We had one of the best teams of all time, Dave Osato, Jason Enns, Paul Buchanan, Jamie McIntosh, Andrew Farris, Dan Rigby, and bunch of other talented guys. That was the first chance I had to make the parts that I wanted. After I sold that company, I was looking for someone to do some designing or marketing work for but living in Canada made that a tough so when Jay and Jamie started Ten Pack I was pretty stoked to start working for them with the idea of one day doing something like MacNeil. |
| 1993 |
Rick Moliterno: Our first production run was made by a machine shop in Davenport. They couldn't make them right so we refused them all. Those bikes that were refused are what became Basic Bikes.
Cecil Milligan, Ride BMX US december 1995: Steve Roy was talking to some guy in Chicago at the Finals in 1993, and he said there was a guy that had bikes that were made, and just sitting there, and he wanted to sell them. So we phoned the guy, and it turned out to be the same guy that was making Standard bikes so Darcy and I just bought one. One each, for us. We bought some pegs, and axles and stuff. Kinda whatever he had there that we thought we'd want for our bikes. We bought those, and we were like, "wow." Then our friends were like, "Can you get anymore?" So then we thought we'll just buy those frames and put our own decals on them. |
| 1995 |
Ride BMX US december 1995: Basic from Canada have been building an interesting story over the last few years, even though they've only been building bikes for a few months. Founded on the Dirt Bros. strategy of using other company's old frames (Standard's in their case), it was easy for people to be skeptical as to what would happen when their stock ran out. That is, until now. Basic is now manufacturing their own line of bikes, The Big City Bastard (street and mini), the Small Town Hick (flatland) and the Sluggo (dirt, street, and all around). The Big City and the Small Town are both very similar to the original "Basic" bikes, but the Sluggo is a completely new design.
Cecil Milligan, Ride BMX US december 1995: We just wanted to get away from Standard, cause our bikes were Standards with our decals on them, so we just wanted to get away from that. Make our own. I'd always wanted to make my own bike company. |
| 1996 |
There was only one pink Basic bike at the 1996 BS finals contest. That one bike belonged to Andrew Faris, who rode with his original flow, pulled his darkside strings, and ended up with second place. |
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| 1997 |
Basic bikes has introduced a new signature frame for pro flatlander Andrew Faris. It is called the Aura. |
| 1998 |
Since Andrew Faris is now riding for Schwinn, Basic will not be calling its new flatland frame the Aura. Instead, it will be the new Small Town Hick.
Basic is relocating to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. |
| BASIC TEAM |
Paul Buchanan
Jason Enns' first sponsor
Andrew Faris .... - 1997 then riding for Schwinn
Jamie McIntosh
Dave Osato
Dan Rigby |