Bmx Questions

[eskimo]

Try It Now - I think i just need more practice...

...oh and more speed

Try and ride the wall for a little longer. I can see it's real low and probably hard to ride. Also try preloading like i said. Also try bunny hoping into it and you can try waiting untill your back wheel is level with your front. But generally you've got the right idea. Good luck. Provide us with more footage.

Oh one more thing try and power it rather than flow it. Same goes for that little manual, try bonking it instead for a change.

Sweet. I just found out I got the job I was going for, so I'll be in London all summer

But yeah, pre-summer job would be sweet, just 'cos my room's bigger here, and I have no work to do until the 17th June.

Awesome. I got myself a new job as well.

[Ali C]

yo

still getting a bmx, just saving some dosh up.

I am still unsure wether to get a fully built bike and trust the designers and speccers (new word?) that it would ride nice and be up to the job without tooooo much upgrading (barr some lighter parts)

As I pointed out previously I like the look of a WTP pheonix...however I cant seem to find them on customriders any more (would need to buy from them to get at trade price) My other (more expsensive) option would be to custom build one.

I have very little experience with bmx so I am not totally sure on what I like. I know I dont like uber short bikes, but I do want one I can bunnyhop easily.

the Fly Bikes 3 Amigos Frame has caught my attention. I know Fly frames (especially the Pantera) are meant to be nice and I like the sound of the seat being more out of the way...I will probably be running the seat slammed too. Has anyone got any views on that frame? I was thinking about getting the 21" and short 13.75" chainstays as that will bepretty lanky, but me being 5ft 10 is that frame too long? would the 20.6" be a better option? How do the chainstays effect the handling, my views are longer are better for manuals, but shorter is better for bunnyhops and spins?

also, info on what bars have a decent shape would be cool, I like a lot of upsweep on my trials bike, I know bmx is different, but are there a reccommended pair to get?

ALSO, I will be after some grippy tyres, they will be mainly used for park or street, are the light weight KHEs any good, I fancy a really light bike, I would be tempted to run tubless which would eliminate puncture issues.

Any help on general "what parts are good and light" would be cool too.

[Mark W]

The 21" 3-Amigos will actually feel like a 20.75"TT with that laid back seatpost, so it'd probably be pretty much spot-on for you Ali. I'm riding a 21"TT frame with a slack seat-angle now, and it feels shorter than your average 21"TT frame, but it also feels perfect as a result

The KHE tyres are arse. I really don't recommend them - they just puncture savagely easily, and the sidewalls go quite easily too. If you're going lightweight, maybe a Demolition Baja tyre with kevlar bead up front and an Odyssey P-Lyte Path tyre out back?

Parts wise, stuff I'd recommend that you'd probably like:

Bars: United Squad 8" rise bars. Nice, big, wide and light. Make it a bit easier changing from trials to BMX

Forks: Odyssey Classic Race forks. Strong, light, lifetime warranty.

Seat: Macneil Stump post and Macneil Capitol seat.

Stem: Fly Mosca, 'cos it's nice and short, but the WeThePeople Supreme stems are super nice too.

[Ali C]

cheers mark, very helpful!

On the tyres rfont, what would I be looking at if I just wanted grip rather than weight saving, I have been using tioga slick 1000 things on my 24" and they seem pretty turd, fast but turd, can I expect grippier than them?

[Mark W]

Hell yes. Bosh a Fly Ruben tyre up front and you're laughing, then a GLH rear. Having said that, Animal GLH tyres aren't bad up front, but aren't quite as grippy. But yeah, Ruben front/GLH rear is a sweet combo.

[chrishayton]

yey ali! get it soon. mine will be here tomoz. i need new bars though. these will be sub 24"

[Ali C]

I'll start ordering some parts on monday I think, I dont wanna get it all at once because I think I'll have a heart atack at how much it costs, but in chunks it seems better lol

thanks for the help mark, really handy!

Actually, I just remembered a dream I had last night, I was at some bmx/trials jam and you were there mark on your bmx, it was blue and brakeless and the best riding bike I have ever been on, I was 360 bunny, tailwhipping, foot jamming, it felt soooooooooo real! I was really disapointed when I woke up

[Mark W]

If you ever meet up with me, you'll find that my bike really is that. I think it's probably just that it's awesomeness was radiating to you. It really is the nicest bike evarz.

[poopipe]

Animal GLH tyres aren't bad up front, but aren't quite as grippy.

I have them at both ends, they're fine on tarmac, concrete etc. (they roll like buggery in fact) but do get a little shady on metal ramps and not quite finished skatepark paint.

not a question so much as a warning

don't buy a 25 tooth Million Dollar Sprocket for your powerbites cos it won't fit

reasons:

The hole in the middle of the sprocket is too big (I'm assuming this influenced by George French and his "next imperial size up from the universal metric standard" approach to designing bike parts - ie. they'll fit wombolts and nothing else)

You can't run it guard side in without a spacer because the chain catches on the crank arm

You can't run it guard side out without a really big spacer because the guard hits the crank arm and you can't tighten it up

I am not happy. My hastily improvised tinfoil shim isn't up to the task of centering the sprocket on the crank arm so my chain's going baggy-tight-baggy-tight etc.

Any suggestions on making a shim or indeed anyone know what size the hole is so I can go buy one ?

In happier news . I did get a bit of a chance to ride my geisha and apart from it constantly moving in the dropouts and being a slut to line up (not used to the silly stud system) I'm quite impressed although I bashed my knees a lot.

How does the turning round when you're fakieing work without half cabbing then eh? I'm used to using pedal pressure but that's not an option.

[eskimo]

The 3 Amigos probably is a good option if it does feel like a 20.75 frame. I find this size is perfect for manuals and hops. Also the longer the bike the better the hop in my opinion. It's the back end that reflects alot of the twitchiness as well. Just moving the wheel by a few 10ths of an inch makes alot of difference.

As for bars, tall ones will feel better when coming from a stock. I found it took me like a week to get fully suited back on the bmx with 7.25" tall bars. But once you have got used to them they seem nicer to ride. Although i haven't given tall bars a full test anyway. I could reccommend the Alliance bars in large for you in you do want slightly bigger bars. Plus they're on offer.LINK

Tyres, the KHE ones are a little strange. I can't see myself riding one again. Up front they seem nasty but on the rear they grip and roll alright. Like said not really strong enough. I have been riding the Animal GLH tyre up front for 6 months+ now. I'm on the second one. They last a good while and grip, well i haven't found any problems and i ride alot of metal slippy ramp. They are however heavy at 700grams.

I also got some welter weight Maxxis tubes and they do make a difference. Only ridden for a day so far. Same for my new Demolition Zepplin tyre on the rear. It feels great so far.

Poo have you tried turning the sprocket round so the bash is facing inwards? I have the trouble with my Macneil bash and KHE cranks. I have to run spacers between them.

Turning out of fakie, well it's either a slider which reduces you speed to nothing if you properly go for it or just literally pick up and turn. The movement is the same as a half cab but you need to leant over the back and pivot. Seems strange but it's just like doing a 180 endo with no brakes. Now try a full cab they are super weird with no chain/freecoaster.

Edited May 17, 2007 by eskimo

[poopipe]

Poo have you tried turning the sprocket round so the bash is facing inwards?

yup - the chain hits the crank arm when you do that. I figured if I was going to have to run a spacer I might as well put the guard where it was going to stop my chain getting chewed on pedal grinds. I might flip it over again cos I'm not entirely happy running a 5mm spacer outside of the sprocket (I'm running out of spindle)

I phoned Alans and they're going to send me a tophat washer to convert mr French's (stupid, f**king) 23.8 mm hole down to a 22mm for free - cos they're nice and they did tell me it'd work fine.

If I had a bikeguide account I'd insult George in person but I'm not angry anymore so I can't be arsed.

Apart from all the tossing about and the rain I'm still fairly pleased with the going backwards business. Bit pissed off that my wheel moved on the way into work though

[eskimo]

That video

Why did he have a strange sized hole machined then? Something to do with making the sprocket have to have a shim for wearing/strength purposes or just to annoying?

[poopipe]

the video is cool - i had a 6 million dollar man action man thing when i was a small boy - he had removable panels that revealed bionic parts on his chest n stuff.

The hole is that size so it fits on wombolts which have a 23.8 mm spindle - this angered a lot of people who didn't want to replace their sprocket when they bought wombolts and then discovered they had to.

What gets on my tits is that there's no literature telling you that they use a non-standard sized sized hole when you buy the pigging sprocket - nor is there an adaptor supplied for anything but a 19mm spindle.

I'm double pissed because mr French was running powerbites on his own damn bike until he started developing the wombolts

[eskimo]

the video is cool - i had a 6 million dollar man action man thing when i was a small boy - he had removable panels that revealed bionic parts on his chest n stuff.

The hole is that size so it fits on wombolts which have a 23.8 mm spindle - this angered a lot of people who didn't want to replace their sprocket when they bought wombolts and then discovered they had to.

What gets on my tits is that there's no literature telling you that they use a non-standard sized sized hole when you buy the pigging sprocket - nor is there an adaptor supplied for anything but a 19mm spindle.

I'm double pissed because mr French was running powerbites on his own damn bike until he started developing the wombolts

So he designed them then? But still that is more than annoying.

[poopipe]

he designed the wombolts - or at least has been publicly defending the decision to use a non-standard spindle diameter.

MDS hole size fits the wombolts - ergo, stupid sized hole is down to stupid size spindle

[eskimo]

After looking at them they seem nice cranks. The fact they have ankle defending properties and don't work themselves loose they seem a nice buy.

The thing with my KHE's they have a tendency now to come loose too easy and to be able to kickflip the cranks have to be able to actually move side to side a little. After removing some spacers so the crank sits on firmly i could kickflip with the cranks being tight. But i think from where they came loose and i didn't notice the cranks or ti axle has worn down.

Another thing being my cranks are still the lightest cranks available for street as 'cause of the axle no doubt. But upon using the Wombolts i would of only put on 200 grams which isn't much really as i could save that in some pedals if wanted.

[Mark W]

I'd wait a bit for Wombolts to actually be proven to be strong. Lots have broken, and Odyssey have apparently beefed up the hexagonal bit on the crank arm where the wedges go in to stop it from happening. They're blaming it on rider installation error, but even Mike Aitken's did it, and I can't imagine he'd have done them wrong? But yeah, it's happened to lots of peopel so I'd wait a while.

Equally, Fly cranks are shit. Tim snapped two sets in a little under 3 months.

Poopipe - the 15/16" hole is the 'normal' one and you'll usually need a top-hat spacer. e.g. on my United sprocket I need one. It's just stuff like Imperials you wouldn't 'cos they're machined to 22mm. I think Tree sprockets are 22mm too... It makes more sense for it to just make all of them 22mm then give a top-hat spacer for them to convert to 19mm, but now Odyssey have got the f**king Wombolts out it means unless you run a top-hat spacer you're done for.

With the turning out of fakie, basically, you pump your hips as though you're doing a manual, and then just turn the bars the direction you want to go. You've slightly unweighted the front, so you'll just get a satisfying "Skrrrrrrrrrrrr" as your front tyre just skims over the ground. That's what I was doing in that video anyway

[boon racoon]

ali i really can't speak highly enough of the phoenix. even the 4 seasons should do you right for the price.

mine's been pretty much spot on out of the box! everyone who's ridden it can't believe how nice it is for a complete bike. it's definately long, has wideish bars and if you flip the stem over it's nice and high.

nothing's let me down so far

[eskimo]

Oh so much for the Wombolts then. I was so tempted by them as well this morning. I knew the Fly cranks were lame as well. Guy at Motion had them for like a week or something, either way they snapped which isn't good. I guess i'll stick with my KHE's for the moment or sort them out properly. I haven't heard anything on the 2 piece ones though. It also seems now as you can't actually make a strong chromo axle which is good as a ti one.

[poopipe]

Poopipe - the 15/16" hole is the 'normal' one and you'll usually need a top-hat spacer. e.g. on my United sprocket I need one. It's just stuff like Imperials you wouldn't 'cos they're machined to 22mm. I think Tree sprockets are 22mm too... It makes more sense for it to just make all of them 22mm then give a top-hat spacer for them to convert to 19mm, but now Odyssey have got the f**king Wombolts out it means unless you run a top-hat spacer you're done for.

With the turning out of fakie, basically, you pump your hips as though you're doing a manual, and then just turn the bars the direction you want to go. You've slightly unweighted the front, so you'll just get a satisfying "Skrrrrrrrrrrrr" as your front tyre just skims over the ground. That's what I was doing in that video anyway

you can count superstar and whoever made the sprocket that came on my bike in that list too but fair enough. I'll just blame Alan's for sending my the wrong adaptor

I'm still in a huff about needing a 5mm spacer between the sprocket and the arm though

I kinda got the turning bit at lunchtime on the mini down the road so I'm getting used to it. Apart from the studs it's a lovely coaster.

I might reduce the baggyness a notch - just for those "oh shit - I'm heading off the side of an 8 foot transition and I need to stop going backwards quickly" moments

Edited May 17, 2007 by poopipe

[nickyw]

Pow! Bites are awesome but weigh lots..Iam keeping mine now after hearing about the wombolts...Oh yeah how do i get the sticky stuff off my frame what the stickers left?

[poopipe]

Pow! Bites are awesome but weigh lots..Iam keeping mine now after hearing about the wombolts...Oh yeah how do i get the sticky stuff off my frame what the stickers left?

spit works

as does surgical spirit.

anything solvent based should dissolve the glue - and if you leave the windows closed it helps make the process more enjoyable .

personally I don't bother, when enough grit gets stuck to the goo you can rub it off pretty easy with your fingers

[eskimo]

personally I don't bother, when enough grit gets stuck to the goo you can rub it off pretty easy with your fingers

Do that, worked for me.

[nickyw]

i used turps in the end.

[Mark W]

Spray some GT-85 onto some kitchen towel and rub it off with that Or you can soak the sticker glue in GT-85, then rub. Either way works.