Bmx'ers Opinions Wanted

[Mark W]

yup, the WTP range is good. hoffman do some nice cheap bikes too.

the most important things to look for are a full cromo frame&fork (seriously, settle for nothing less or you'll just have to buy new ones), 14mm dropouts on the frame and 48spoke wheels (you need 48 for proper hucking - we can't all be OBM smooth ).

Seriously, well built 36 spoke wheels aren't bad. Almost all the people here run them and they destroy shit, yet I hardly ever have to sort their wheels out for them? Look at all the "pro" riders around too, almost all on 36s, and no, they don't just change their wheels all the time. They're really not too bad... You're right about the full 4130 frame and fork though, and even bars if you can stretch to it. The Federal Foundation's pretty good in that sense, I really liked mine

[poopipe]

Seriously, well built 36 spoke wheels aren't bad. Almost all the people here run them and they destroy shit, yet I hardly ever have to sort their wheels out for them? Look at all the "pro" riders around too, almost all on 36s, and no, they don't just change their wheels all the time. They're really not too bad... You're right about the full 4130 frame and fork though, and even bars if you can stretch to it. The Federal Foundation's pretty good in that sense, I really liked mine

36 spokes save you no more than a few ounces and compared to an equally well built 48 wheel sacrifice around 25% of the strength - you're absolutely right, it isn't a problem if the wheel is well built.

However - because we're talking about wheels that are factory built on a low(ish) budget complete bike, it's a fairly safe assumption that the wheels aren't going to be all that well built.

pros might not change their wheels all that often but they're usually a lot better at not hanging wheels up on copings and landing their 3s straight than people on budget bikes are...