So road is fine and gravel is the cooler edgier sibling. Track? Is it 2005 again? MTB is pretty okay, especially when we’re taking double boing . There are other niches, but real talk…
Nothing is as cool as BMX.
For a discipline that has remained true to steel (freestyle) where others have moved on and come back, it really doesn’t get much online love from the kustom community. Look, I get why, BMXers are broke and won’t pay $3k+ for a frame…
So if you make them, ride them, wanna talk about how to make them, or found some frame details that you appreciate as a frame builder, post it up here please.
That is awesome! Whatever your thoughts on LBSs (mine might be particularly strong haha), the BMX community has been one of the most loyal on the the idea of the LBS.
There is a shop Anchor BMX in OZ that has a house line of parts at good prices. Their chainrings look insane. Love mine.
I’ve all but retired from 20”, but here’s my 26”. It’s the second 26 I’ve build myself and it’s been a ton of fun at the local skateparks and dirt jumps.
The geo is pretty progressive for a 26, but outdated for a bmx haha 73° hta, 0 bb drop, 14.7 chainstays.
It’s set up brakeless with three pegs and a freecoaster pretty much all the time. I built it around the mtb 135mm standard which I regret. I thought I would want a brake for pump tracks, which is nice but HOLY MOLY. This NS bikes mtb freecoaster only has an 1/8 cranks of slack - I’m so used to maxed out bmx coasters with 1/2 cranks or more.
Yeah brakeless is the way on everything other then trails(DJs).
Looks incredible and the paint is spot on.
I’ve built a 24 DJ for the lady which I’ll post up in the build threads but it’s meant for dirt.
Interested about the coaster. I’m big on the freenight planetary coaster and their licensed derivatives. Does this use their design or a clutch type thing?
Beautiful table too! You right or left foot forward? Looks like an oppo table?
This is a super timely post! I visited the local indoor bmx park for the first time this week and had an absolute blast. I was riding my enduro hardtail which was not the greatest but got to borrow a friend’s bmx and it was so cool jumping it around! I’d love to build one myself but have exactly zero idea where to start. Is there any sort of canonical geometry for bmx frames or is it as varied as other disciplines?
Maybe make a spreadsheet of the geometry for the different models within one brand or maybe a few?
Look at the ranges of the parameters and go back to the description of each frame to get an idea of what each parameter affects. I’d suggest buying a reasonable ‘complete’ to get familiar first. They’re pretty cheap for a decent full 4130 frame.
The key ones are TT length, BB height/drop, CS length. Bar height does a lot but that comes later.
Sizing is by TT length in general but people have their preferences.
They need to be built SOLID. I’d defs build around an off the shelf fork and skip on the gram counting.
The s&m atf has had the perfect (imo imo imo) all-rounder geo for years. It’s hard to beat a 75° hta and 13.5” chain stays. For someone your height I’d recommend something in the 21-21.5 zone. Long enough to not be twitchy, but not a planted race bmx either.
That’s a sweet looking frame and an even nicer table Em! I haven’t ridden my bmx in years because my back is often sore but I do like to try and click a table on all the bikes.
This is my personal race bike the gate keeper!
Worked out nicely, chromo race bike just seems to have amazing traction and not as jarring…
My frame has 22 inch tt 15.3 chainstay 73 deg hta 71 deg sta. Lots of inspiration from fbm and s&m, but modern amenities in classic form. The seat stay seat tube junction drives me crazy I need to make this better!! Or get a horizontal mill to help do that.
Built a few BMX frames now, here are my most recent- one for me, and one for my friend. I experimented with super low BB heigh with the availability of shorter freestyle crank arms these days. Was pretty stable, but 10.5” BBH was too much. My buddies frame is at 11” BBH and a 13.25 rear end and it’s awesome. Plan to do my first “two frames at the same time” based off of that geo. Oh and his has a 44mm ht w angle set for geometry experimentation. And v brakes on both cus we were always jealous of the better brakes on race frames lol.
Thanks guys! @Bucko believe it’s an old Tree stem. That one is my buddies ride. I almost forgot- it uses a collet to clamp to the steerer tube- pretty wild. @wzrd if I’m understanding the question- catching my crank spindle boss area on double pegs? The double pegs I do are usually just ramps which keeps the cranks away from the coping usually. It IS a problem on an normal hand rail, but I don’t do those anymore- I have enough fake teeth
Edit- the wishbones and stuff from the nineties are just for fun since those are the first bikes I was stoked on when I was younger. My yellow bike copies the style that Hoffman used on a few bikes:
Oh shit man- sorry about the tooth- I hate the dentist! Lol. I imagine on a 26 it would always be hard since it would be a bunch of actuall BB drop. I think the drop on my low bike was at zero
