Now do it Properly!

You hear a fair bit of old school reminiscing online. You know: That today's frames are too light, top tubes too low, spokes too few. But it's always struck me as backward - like you want your riding to progress, your life to progress and the world to progress, but for your bike to stay the same? It's kind of like your grandfather complaining that the internet is ruining the world and stubbornly writing letters to anyone that'll listen. That horse has bolted.

Heat treated frames, butted tubing, low top tubes, small drive trains, 36 spoke wheels ,small bb's, integrated headsets, cnc'd bridges, micro dropouts, 14 oz cassettes, offset machining, slammed pivotals and integrated seat clamps - There are loads of companies pushing design and new technology to make bikes lighter and easier to handle. Big stuff is still getting thrown down and they're not blowing up left, right and centre.

Anyway, if you still really want a 35 lb bike, 48 spoke wheels, a 44 tooth sprocket and a big padded seat, just go out and treat yourself to a Diamondback Joker - they're cheap too.

Out with the old and in with the new I say.

Proper Bike Co have been around for a few years now. They don't have a massive range of parts, but it's all designed in-house and they've got their own style going - kind of plain, no frills, but with a tech machined look that doesn't go overboard. And lots of colour of course to feed the machine.



They've also got a team of new school high flyers like Mike Miller and Max Wood who know how to tuck and spin their way round just about anything and I'm sure ain't complaining that their set ups are too light.

Proper's hubs in particular are crazy light. They've got a 369 gram (13 oz) rear cassette that's available with regular or female axle set up. I think it was the original version of this hub that had some problems with the bearings in the driver, but they've solved that by using a ceramic bushing instead. Which, correct me if I'm wrong, I think is a first for bmx. You know that I know that you know what a bushing is, but in case you don't - it's basically just a porous cylinder that's impregnated with a lubricant and so offers a smooth bearing surface. There's more friction than when using ball bearings, but no moving parts and for this reason Proper are saying that for this application it all but eliminates the possibility of failure.



They've got just one frame at the moment, the TTL which is Miller's sig frame and another street prototype on the way. The TTL weighs in at a respectable 4 lbs 7 oz and features most of the details of a modern all purpose frame that seem to get those internet lurkers fired up - butted tubing, removable brake mounts, integrated seat clamp, some cut outs here and there. But if you check this Miller clip out you'll see that there doesn't seems to be any problems with a quick three down a ten set - maybe it's just that he's got about 5kg less jeans than he would have had riding in the 90s.



Their most recent product release is the Microlite stem, which is a particularly nice bit of kit. It's machined out of 6061 t6 aluminium, has a 52mm reach and weighs in at 249 grams (8.8 oz). A range of little details contribute to an original, light weight take on a classic six bolt stem without having it looking like a space ship. I'll let Dave Lombard from Proper do the talking. This is lifted from an ESPN interview with him:

I think it would be a stretch to say that this stem is particularly unique. We tried all sort of unique ideas with pistons and ultimately decided that unique doesn't always equate to better. We ended up with a traditional 6 bolt front load stem with 52mm reach and all the features we liked. It's smaller than most stems, so we increased the clamping area a little with virtually no additional weight. There is a vertical shaft down the centre. We've seen a lot of stems with horizontal shafts in a similar area but we found the vertical option to be stronger. It has a recessed area around the fork compression bolt that allows the top cap to fit flush with all modern forks. It's much lighter than most stems without looking (or being) particularly crazy.

So there you go - Proper Bike Co - Not reinventing the wheel, but keeping it rolling.

...and BMXtec - Keeping closing sentences corny.

Design is Useless

Design is pretty much worthless unless you're pushing things a bit. Everyone goes on about "rider owned" companies, but really, what difference does it make who's running the show? Riders can be assholes too you know. In fact there's plenty of riders who are assholes. I'd rather give my money to one of the big "corporate" brands that's actually putting effort and cash into doing new shit, than a rider owned company just pumping out catalogue parts stamped with their brand and lining their own pockets.

As it happens it doesn't look like too many of the bigger companies actually do much product development anyway.


Odyssey's probably one of the biggest that does and as a result they have loads of products that push things in new directions - just think Director Forks, Elementary Stem, now the new PC pedals with pins - They invented the cassette hub no less and now have G-Sport under their roof. Whether you like their products or not is irrelevant. They put in work on product development and as a result they have a huge loyal following and deserve it.

Fly are one of my favourite bike co's. They've always got new stuff on the go. They're pretty slow with it all, but I'd guess that's just cause they're small and like I said before, that's probably a good sign in that they're actually testing stuff and getting it right. I've got no idea how many designers might work for a company like Fly, but I'd guess it'd be very few. 1, 2 or 3 maybe. I Don't know.

Anyway back to Fly. If you're at all interested in the tech side of BMX then the fly site has plenty of nice illustrations showing off the innovations that they've come up with. Things like this:
Along with good photos, like this of their integrated drop outs, which they say they've been testing for 6 months. Pretty slick:
Or this:
I'm really waiting on this and have been since I heard about it maybe 3 years ago.

The Fly cassette hub, which they say is going to weigh in around 12 oz, partly due to a different type of axle that tightens on just one side. A bit like the 2.5 piece cranks I'm guessing. There is a huge thread on BikeGuide.org about it, so rather than listen to me you can go listen to a whole bunch of people speculate on how it's done.

Aside from that you'll just have to wait. They say they've been developing it for 4 years already so don't hold your breath.


The End.

More plastic stuff to sit on

When do you sit on your seat. Almost never. So you don't need padding. OK agreed.

Everyone runs their seat at the same angle and the same height. Yes? Yes.

So a seat and post in one, what's the problem? They were around in the old days and now they're back and smelling suspiciously of trendiness.

Fly have been working on theirs for at least a couple of years, but still isn't available. Nothing wrong with that, you'd hope that they'd be testing it, redesigning and testing again. That's pretty much how Fly, IMHO, have so many good and innovative bits.

They say they've been testing polymers for the seat, getting the mix right so it's rigid without being brittle. They also added the aluminium sleeve to the inside of the post to stop the post crushing when you tighten the clamp. I don't have a weight for the seat, but I guess it's light, cause otherwise you'd just have an aluminium post wouldn't you?

KHE banged this one out a year or so ago - plastic seat on a ali post. The whole baseball thing? I don't know. Just... why? And I've had a couple of bad experiences with KHE parts that just seemed like they weren't thought through 100%. But I'm sure this seat is perfect - go on buy it.

When eclat came along with their hundred or so products all at once last year, one of them was their "complex" seat/post combo. Looks ALOT like the KHE seat, especially the underside, and it's also plastic with an aluminium post. Taiwan is a small island you know. Which came first? Who cares.

KHE Loyal Seat / Post Combo: Weight 190g / 6.7oz

Eclat Complex Seat / Post Combo: Weight: 179g / 6.3oz

Or you could just go one of these. Beautiful isn't it? There's even some a fake carbon fibre stickers for that extra bit of race cred. Fuck these things are fast.
Uni Race Seat / Post Combo: 147g / 5.2 oz

A post about seats - and posts

Might as well start here.

Here's a pic of eclats new pivotal post and seat - still just a prototype, but looking pretty nice. Apart from the fact that it's clear, it kind of looks like all the other pivotals, but apparently it's made of nylon and has a bit of extra ribbing in the nose to make it a bit stiffer. They were probably trying to avoid that droopy look that the original macneil pivotals (and all the other rebrandings of that design) get after a while - when the nose gets bent down. You still see it alot and it looks pretty bad if you ask me, but...


I reckon plastic seats are the way to go. Why bother with padding, it just gets ripped and shitty. It's also a couple of less steps in production so it should be cheaper (?)

Odyssey have finally put out some pivotals as well. They're calling it the Senior 2 and there's a padded and a non padded version. Don't know if it's the same size and shape as the Senior or what, but it seems longer. Maybe it's just the photos but you got to say the odyssey looks bad:
Yep rails are out and it's all plastic and pivotal.

Thought I'd better chuck in some fit for the popularity stakes:

Here's all the specs for the seats above:

Eclat Pivotal (Proto): Weight: 180g / 6.3 oz. (without cover), 250g / 8.8 oz. (with cover)

Odyssey Senior 2 Pivotal: Weight: 177g / 6.2 oz (without cover), 272g / 9.6oz (with cover)

Fit Low Bolt Pivotal: Weight: 253g / 8.9 oz