Alan Hanley still remembers tearing around his local neighbourhood as a kid on his BMX.
"Riding BMX as a kid was freedom," he said.
He'd cycle 10km journeys through the streets of Springvale in Melbourne's outer east delivering newspapers on his bike.
Many years later, as an adult, he built a new BMX to remember that time.
"It's a recreation of the bike I was riding when the movie Rad come out," he said.
That film and the Australian classic BMX Bandits inspired kids across the world in the 1980s.
While it has been nearly 40 years since Goose, PJ and Judy pedalled through the streets of Manly creating walkie-talkie chaos, their antics are still inspiring amateur riders.
BMX passion rekindled by parenthood
Of a weekend, Alan joins retro rides around Melbourne with other enthusiasts, all sharing their love of these bikes.
Diamond Filippis is a fellow member, and has been building and collecting BMX bikes for the past decade.
He got back into riding because of his son, John.
"And it all started from there."
Father and son have travelled around Australia with their bikes, even going to Manly for a ride to celebrate the 35th anniversary of BMX Bandits.
In their downtime, they often go for rides from their home in Nunawading to Box Hill.
It's a passion John has loved sharing with his dad.
"It is father-son bonding, so it is nice to have something together that we have both been doing for so long," he said.
Like many enthusiasts, they are regulars at swap meets, where riders buy and build the BMX bikes they dreamed about owning as children.
BMX 'true love' can be an expensive affair
That nostalgia has fuelled a rise in prices, with some bikes now selling for $5,000.
Spilios Konstantinou still remembers being an eight-year-old and his parents buying him a BMX for Christmas.
"Loved BMX ever since," he said.
As he got older he tried mountain bike riding, but it didn't fuel the same feeling.
Part of that is a love for all things 1980s.
"It is a melting pot of cultures, the '80s; you had hip hop, you had metal, the electronic 80s, just the bright colours," he said.
And while many of the riders are a little greyer, they prove you are never too old to be a BMX Bandit.
