DK bicycles looks like it might be taking a cue from the world of 24″ freestyle bikes and raising the bottom bracket on its new 2011 race cruiser to 13″ (that’s at least an inch higher than a typical race 24 frame).
In a recent thread on Vintage BMX, a DK rep explained the reasoning behind the shift:
Cruisers have always been built with a ratio that was based off of 26″ bikes (which is what cruisers used to be) this bottom bracket is 13″…so check this out:
The professional frame has an 11.4″ bottom bracket height, that is with a 20″ wheel (so that means UNDER the drop out there is 10″ of wheel, plus the tire, since the other 10″ of the 20″ wheel is above the dropout and irrelevant to the bb height.). This cruiser has a 13″ bb height, so that is 1.6″ higher than the 20 inch professional, but with a 24″ wheel, there is 12″ plus the tire under the bottom bracket. That’s 2 inches more than the 20″ frame, so in actuality, this bottom bracket isnt that high, since its only 1.6″ higher than a frame that has 2″ less wheel under the bottom bracket.
According to the DK guys on the forum thread, the new 24 is supposed to handle great (with a 20″ feel) and be easy to manual.
Other specs on the 2011 DK race 24 are:
- 22″ top tube
- 14.75 chain stay (slammed)
- 73.5 head angle
- 72 seat tube angle
- 7000 series aluminum
Certainly an interesting departure from your typical race cruiser geometry.
Will this be a game changer in the race community?
I’m pretty curious to see if other manufacturers follow suit.
Editor’s note: the BB height on the production model was lowered slightly to approximately 12.5″.
cruiser revolution 
I’m glad to see DK stepping it up. I have some experience with their products, and I sure hope this gets them some more recognition because they sure are an under-rated company.
Now my memory could be a little foggy but i was riding an 2010 standard 125 race cruiser earlier this year and the bottom bracket on that was just above 12.5″ . I came from a GHP cruiser who’s bb was at 11.5 so right away i could feel a difference and it felt like I was up over the bars a lot but once you get used to it it feels solid.
So another half inch up to 13″ ehh??
Yeah, Standard lists their bb height on the 125r at 12.5″…which is also a bit higher than most race 24s. That frame has pretty strong following so maybe this is the beginning of a trend to higher bbs on race frames.
I’d like to see an Intense Podium with like a 12.5″ or 13″ bb and a xl long top tube and big bars next. That would look pretty sweet!
Too bad this bike is not being sold as a complete!
7000 series aluminum…. that killed it for me.
I wish they went with Cro-mo too…
I wonder what the odds are that this will eventually make its way into the Cygnus 24 geometry?
With a 13″ bottom bracket this should be a SWEET ride…
What is the going price on this bike or frame?
[…] freestyle-oriented Cygnus is looking sharp and their long-awaited 24″ Professional frame (with the higher than usual bottom bracket) will be dropping in about a month. Their Evolution rims are also looking dope. Check out this clip […]