So since every other post on any and all bmx related blogs has something to do with the fixed gear freestyle scene I guess I'll post something about it. You might expect me to be a little one sided on this topic but I actually have been on both sides of the argument. I used to ride a track bikee I built up, I had the Chrome Bag the Rollers, hell I even had theFixed Gear Specific Vans New Eras shoes. I was hipstered out to the MAX!!!! But the only thing I ever did on my fixed was stuff that wasn't possible on a bmx, like Skids and keo spins.
So moving on. Lets start with the few problems I have with most fixed riders. The main thing that bothers me is when they convert amazing road bikes into shitty fixed gear conversions, if I see one more converted Bianchi with an Aerospoke up front I will Punch them In The Dick! Which brings me to another thing, the ones that use nothing but the lightest carbon fiber RACE ONLY parts and frames to do all their tricks on, go back to Steel and Aluminum and everything will be fine! Then their are the ones that think they are the next Major Taylor because they one their local Alley Cat, even tho they mainly use their Track bikes to get back and forth from liquor stores and smoke shop. Oh and this may seem petty but I also don't like anyone that uses the term "fixie" (Thanks tarckbike and bikesnob). But I mean when you really look at all this and put it into perspective this is just a very small percentage of the Fixed Gear community.
Remember bmx got started by kids riding bikes not intended to do tricks on. Fixed Gears do offer a few different things to the table(Keo Spins and stuff of that nature). I mean its not like FGFS is going to DESTROY bmx, its just a completely different riding style for a completely different style of people (like Roadies, or downhill riders). Let them be, it wont bother bmx at all. Sure a few of them are douchers, but their are plenty of douchers in the world of bmx. And also remember a bike is a bike no matter if its fixed, has gears, or is single speed. We are all in this together.
Now with all this being said I am attending this tomorrow.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday tech tip: Setting up a gyro
Here is the first installment of my Monday tech tip since you shred all weekend and destroy stuff monday is normally a good day to check up on everything and adjust the stuff.
Alright I honestly think one of the reasons sooo many of you kids ride brakeless is because you don't know how to set up brakes. Thought about this the other day when I was thinking about my days back working at a shop and always had to fix kids home done brakes set-ups daily (for free by the way). Anyways heres my tips on setting up a gyro (with dual lower cables, if your not running this style gyro set up get up to date son!)
Step 1:
First put your removable mounts and tabs in place, when screwing in the tabs get it just tight enough, if you over tighten it you will ruin it and have to retap some tabs :/
Step 2:
Take off your stem and put on your gyro and gyro plate
Step 3:
Place your brakes on and as your screwing the allen bolts in be sure to clamp on to the spring bolt and spin it in a direction that causes the pads to go up against the frame hold it their and tighten down that allen bolt, make it as tight as you can! This will help your brakes spring back!
Step 4:
Put your cables on with NO tension (I.E. have all the bolts screwed all the way in on all your tabs and cables.)
Step 5:
Now its time to adjust the brakes, the most annoying part of it all!
Okay if your brake pads are not evenly spaced from the rim on each side then you will have to adjust this bit pictured below. How you adjust this is tighten the cable corresponding to the brake arm until its as close to your rim as you can get it!
Now that those are even you may need to tighten up your upper cables to make it less squishy to do this just tighten these cables below
Then if that still wasn't enough you can go ahead and tighten the cables going into your gyro plate also, pictured below
Now you have dialed brakes! Time to get those abubucas and fufanus! Bring em back!
Next week how to true rims!
Alright I honestly think one of the reasons sooo many of you kids ride brakeless is because you don't know how to set up brakes. Thought about this the other day when I was thinking about my days back working at a shop and always had to fix kids home done brakes set-ups daily (for free by the way). Anyways heres my tips on setting up a gyro (with dual lower cables, if your not running this style gyro set up get up to date son!)
Step 1:
First put your removable mounts and tabs in place, when screwing in the tabs get it just tight enough, if you over tighten it you will ruin it and have to retap some tabs :/
Step 2:
Take off your stem and put on your gyro and gyro plate
Step 3:
Place your brakes on and as your screwing the allen bolts in be sure to clamp on to the spring bolt and spin it in a direction that causes the pads to go up against the frame hold it their and tighten down that allen bolt, make it as tight as you can! This will help your brakes spring back!
Step 4:
Put your cables on with NO tension (I.E. have all the bolts screwed all the way in on all your tabs and cables.)
Step 5:
Now its time to adjust the brakes, the most annoying part of it all!
Okay if your brake pads are not evenly spaced from the rim on each side then you will have to adjust this bit pictured below. How you adjust this is tighten the cable corresponding to the brake arm until its as close to your rim as you can get it!
Now that those are even you may need to tighten up your upper cables to make it less squishy to do this just tighten these cables below
Then if that still wasn't enough you can go ahead and tighten the cables going into your gyro plate also, pictured below
Now you have dialed brakes! Time to get those abubucas and fufanus! Bring em back!
Next week how to true rims!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Support Your Local Bike Shop
Do it.
I'm not going to lie I didn't realize how big of a deal this was until I was about 16 and started working at my local hardcore bmx shop. We would throw huge contests, host video premieres and help out all the local rippers. The most annoying thing in the world while working at this shop was when I would have kids come in everyday and ask me a million questions about what part they should get and stuff along those lines. Then the kid would show up at the shop with a brand new frame that he ordered off of Dans Comp! This would piss me off more then anything in the world! I spent hours with this kid a week talking about which frame he should get, telling him how different geometry affects your riding and the kid comes in with the exact frame we had picked out and he said he would buy it when he had the cash saved up! What was his reason for buying it off of dans you ask? Because I would have to charge five bucks more then dans to help cover shipping costs! This is ridiculous! Does Dans sponsor local riders? No. Does Dans throw jams in your local parks? No. Does Dans let you come into their shop and let you just sit on their couch and what bmx DVDs all day on rainy days? No. So why are you supporting them kids! If you have to and I mean have to, as in your local shop doesn't carry bmx or charges a rediculous mark up (Like 25% over dans price) then go ahead and order from Empire, Goods, Staff-bmx, or Albes. Why those four shops? They are all rider owned! They all do stuff for their local scenes! They all help out the industry and local riders! So think twice before you buy.
I'm not going to lie I didn't realize how big of a deal this was until I was about 16 and started working at my local hardcore bmx shop. We would throw huge contests, host video premieres and help out all the local rippers. The most annoying thing in the world while working at this shop was when I would have kids come in everyday and ask me a million questions about what part they should get and stuff along those lines. Then the kid would show up at the shop with a brand new frame that he ordered off of Dans Comp! This would piss me off more then anything in the world! I spent hours with this kid a week talking about which frame he should get, telling him how different geometry affects your riding and the kid comes in with the exact frame we had picked out and he said he would buy it when he had the cash saved up! What was his reason for buying it off of dans you ask? Because I would have to charge five bucks more then dans to help cover shipping costs! This is ridiculous! Does Dans sponsor local riders? No. Does Dans throw jams in your local parks? No. Does Dans let you come into their shop and let you just sit on their couch and what bmx DVDs all day on rainy days? No. So why are you supporting them kids! If you have to and I mean have to, as in your local shop doesn't carry bmx or charges a rediculous mark up (Like 25% over dans price) then go ahead and order from Empire, Goods, Staff-bmx, or Albes. Why those four shops? They are all rider owned! They all do stuff for their local scenes! They all help out the industry and local riders! So think twice before you buy.
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