The Beacon Bmx

I recently started riding trails again since summer seems to have graced Austin a bit sooner this year. Although I am in my late 20’s, I hastily learned that I’m not man enough to leap over consecutive dirt chasms without brakes on my bike.
Since some skatepark rat decided to pillage my bag, I found myself needing a new set of brakes. I happened to come across a cheap set of Fly brakes and couldn’t be happier with the purchase. My only complaint was that with my set up, the brake bolts protruded excessively and threatend to tear my pant cuffs a new asshole. While jutting bolts might not be sexy, through the years I have learned to let things like this slide.   Not Fly though.  Leave it to them to make the most innovative brake pad since the Mathauser.  Very cool Fly.  I can’t wait to buy a pair.

A lot of people are running Profile’s mini hub these days. One of most attractive features about it is all of the options it comes with. Proflie makes them in just about any color you can think of. If that isn’t enough to get you all hot and bothered, it’s also available in several axle configurations; 14mm chromo or titanium, aluminum race axle (10mm bolts), and 14mm hollow chromo or titanium. This hub offers something for everyone.
If you cant find what you’re looking for, don’t worry. Profile sells axle kits that allow you to build the hub of your dreams. Since I’m not doing much grinding these days, I recently decided to try out the aluminum race axle. I know messing with your hub internals can be a little intimidating, so I put together a how-to that proves it’s so easy a caveman can do it.  In fact,  all I needed were 2 allens and an adjustable wrench.  If you have all the proper tools, be sure to use them.  This is just meant to illustrate how simple the swap can be.  Check it out. (continue reading…)

To me, looking for a pair of shoes is like looking for a woman. It’s something you want to last you a while. Unfortunately for us bmx’ers finding a woman or a pair of shoes that will last us for more than a month or two is a challenge. But Orchid romanced me with these fantastic shoes for 8 months…

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Back during my racing days, most of the guys I looked up to rode Challenger stems.  I loved checking out their parts. My thought was if they had it on their bike it had to be good, right?

During these times, most of my riding was off of the race track. So, I thought buying a “racing” stem wouldn’t be a good idea.  Surely, the cut-out on the Challenger would weaken it enough to catapult me to my death upon it’s catastrophic failure.  At the time, if you wanted a “strong” topload stem the industry suggested you bought something that resembled a brick.

Nowadays things are a little different.  With stems having more holes drilled into them than necessary, lighter stems are now almost half the weight of the Challenger.

EDIT: I’m sorry if anyone got offended with my “hole drilling” link.  I came across it when I did an image search for drilling and thought it was too funny not to post.  Lighten up dudes!

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Before the early 2000’s just about everyone rode a 44/16 gear ratio.  There were few options out there since frames were built to accommodate this combination.  If you tried riding a faster ratio, your sprocket would likely rub a hole through your frame since “faster” sprockets meant they were bigger.  If you were looking to downsize from a 44 tooth, you probably wouldn’t dare to go any lower than a 42 unless  you were looking to invest in a flipflop hub that accepted a 14 tooth free wheel (remember, these were the days before cassette hubs). Sadly, flipflops created their own set of problems for “freestylers” since you’d be hard pressed to find one that worked with a 14mm axle. The smaller body of these hubs  meant you had to ride a 10mm axle which was a nightmare for grinders.

Fast forward 10 years to the age of the cassette hub.  With so many sprocket/hub driver combinations these days, there is no real standard in chainstay lengths which can range from 13″-15″.  A regular chain doesn’t always offer the adjustability needed with current set ups.  Thankfully, a few years back The Shadow Conspiracy expanded off the half link idea and created a half link chain.  With this, gear combinations are limitless but even this chain can come with it’s own set of issues if you don’t know what you are doing. (continue reading…)