“What Should I Get?”
By Brett Downs
If there is one question that raises my ire, it’s this one.
Not that it’s a bad question, it’s just incomplete. No matter if it’s a frame, bike, tire, or bars, we need to know more information to give you a proper answer. You can’t order from a restaurant without knowing what’s on the menu. If you don’t tell us about yourself or what you want to do with the bike/part, i.e. the type of riding you want to do, the question is pointless.
Secondly, the answers people give are the true blood pressure raisers. Personal opinions come out in order to help but somehow they often revolve around the ego of the person authoring the reply. I often use the analogy of “What’s the best flavor of ice cream?” We all have our opinions, likes, and dislikes but that doesn’t make a damn bit of difference in helping answer the question with any certainty.
There is such a wide variety of BMX bikes and parts out today in can be mighty confusing for a newbee or an old head getting back into it. It would be easy to be overwhelmed and ask the internet for help. Unfortunately, the expanse of answers is equal to or greater than what the market offers.
People often end up answering by making declaritive statements about themselves. This is fine, if you are built like, ride like and have the same attitude as the one responding. Odds are you don’t. People will exercise their ego online. Let them but take it with a grain of salt.
Here’s the salt.
If you used to ride, odds are you had a bike that had an 18.5” to 20” top tube. The chainstay length was at least 14” and had a 74.5 degree head tube angle at best. Thankfully, these bikes don’t exist anymore, with the exception of one flatland frame.
Modern bikes quite simply ride so much better-once you get used to them. Getting used to them is key. You need to spend some hours on the bike. If you don’t, it will always feel odd. I’m going to spill the beans here and give you the straight talk on bikes.
Complete bikes
Spend the money! Seriously, this is vital. Old riders that rode top of the line bikes in their day are used to performance, even if it is now obsolete performance. I see many riders buying entry level bikes and not stoked on them. Some revert back to their 80’s or 90’s bike. Bottom line, if you used to drive a Porsche, you can’t buy a new Kia and expect it to perform like your old car did.
Start at the mid range bikes and move upward. While the size and geometry may be the same across the line, the componentry will make a huge difference in the overall performance of your ride.
Frame Geometry
We are basically talking millimeters here guys. If you are just starting or getting back into it, you don’t know. If you have been riding, you know what you like. I’ve seen so many people complain about a head tube angle being a half a degree off or a top tube 3mm too short. A weld bead is about 2mm. Do you really think that will make or break you? Guys, it doesn’t matter that much, especially if you are starting out.
Get a bike and fine tune it. Things like fork offset, stem length and head tube angle can all be changed, or if you are cheap, just move your bars forward or back a bit for a similar effect. The main thing to understand is a longer wheelbase is more stable at speed but harder to whip around. A shorter wheelbase is squirrelly at speed but easy to move at slower speeds. Again, what is your type of BMX riding?
Longer rear ends make it harder to pull up the front wheel but the balance point is more stable. Shorter rear ends make the front wheel pop up easily but the balance point is precariously small. Fine tune the bike to how you ride before you go buy a new frame to gain half a degree of head tube angle. Ride as many different bikes and set ups as you can when you are around other people. That’s how you learn what works for you and what doesn’t.
Crank Length and Gearing
The standard 44/16 gearing works out to today’s 25/9 gearing. This is fine for 99% of riders. As most of us older guys are pumping around a park or putting in a couple of good cranks before the first dirt jump, who the hell is actually pedaling anymore? Now some of you are out riding the streets so you want a harder gear to get up to full tilt boogie speed, or some of you flatlanders want an easier gearing to ride out of tricks with less effort and that’s fine. You’re basic 25/9 gearing is adequate.
Crank length was always a standard of 175mm for freestyle and 180 for racing. That was when bikes had 14.5” rear end lengths and you needed longer cranks to get more torque out of the gate or toward the quarterpipe. With modern frames having a 13.5 or shorter chainstay length, those old crank lengths will often end up with your heels clipping the back pegs when pedaling.
I’ll let you in on a secret, DMC has been riding 165mm cranks since the 80’s. He figured the shorter the crank, the less leverage there was to break them. Smart guy. On a modern frame, 170mm cranks are pretty much the sweet spot between not clipping your foot and still having some torque.
Bars
With the trend of bars getting taller, the industry has given us several options not seen before. Along with that, stems have gotten taller. I often see 10” tall bars on top of a stem that jacks up the bars another 1.5”. At some point, things get ridiculous. That is usually around the point where your hands are at nipple height.
Just as in the 90’s the bars and set ups got ridiculously low, today they are ridiculously high. When they are too big and tall you loose some finesse and can’t properly support your body weight when you land. Your body will do the “collapse” as seen done by pretty much every street rider in his twenties. While they may help some of the sore backs we have acquired, so will stretching. Touching your toes a few times a day is smarter than buying three different handlebars in quarter inch increments.
Tires
The trend in tires keeps getting fatter. A quick heads up, if your frame or fork is over about 5 years old, it may not be wide enough for your 2.4” tire. Your old brake might not straddle the fatness either. Big tires offer a cushion for harsh landings because they can be run at a lower PSI. Our old joints like that.
They also have a bigger contact patch to the riding surface which adds traction. Jamie Bestwick told me when he went to fatter tires he found they want to keep the bike perpendicular to the ground, in the same way if you have ever tried to lean over a fat bike. He said he could come in a bit crooked and it helped straighten him. Good enough reason to switch but who of us rides like Jamie?
Fatter tires do have a “dead” feel to them due to the lower pressure and more drag on the ground. Skinnies are nimble and quick but don’t offer the traction and cushion. Again, how are you going to ride and what are you looking for when it comes to performance?
Other Bikes
Many BMX guys ride other bikes. One thing I have learned is you can go from a small bike to a bigger bike without much hassle. Going to a smaller bike always makes you feel like a circus bear on a pit bike. If you have been riding MTB’s, road or other big wheel bikes, any BMX is going to feel sketchy and cramped.
You will have to get used to not sitting down again. I have often told old bmx’ers that went to big bikes to just get a 24” wheel bike. Any smaller is going to be a challenge that will hamper their experience. With all the 22” bikes out there, they are great for guys used to bigger bikes or just bigger guys. Those bikes shine at speed. If you are doing flatland or low elevation tech street, they are a bit difficult to flick.
The Key to Freestyle
My friends and I have joked about this for over 30 years when asked by an up and coming rider “What’s the key to Freestyle?” Well, it took a long time but it’s finally been discovered. Are you ready for it?
Hours.
Bottom line, you need to put in the hours to get good at anything. The right bike and set up are important but will never make up for not riding enough. A new fork isn’t going to make you learn a hang five. Hours will. A new frame isn’t going to make you pull that 360. Hours will.
By spending the hours, we will learn what works and what doesn’t for each of us. Spending money on new stuff is easy, hours aren’t. The right bike and set up are genuinely important. Again, they are the fine tuning.
In closing, I’d like to say supporting the industry is super important and we should not stop buying bikes or parts. Without supporting the brands, we will be in a black hole of not being able to ride or build a decent bike. We are so fortunate to be at a time where we have so many options to fit the most dialed bike ever. When spending, spend wisely. In order to spend wisely, ask questions, but ask the right questions. And when people answer in absolutist terms, ignore them.
Ride On.