S&M unveils Speedwagon Cruiser frame

31 07 2012

After much anticipation, S&M has unveiled its new Speedwagon race frames.  And while they have made some tweaks to the the 20 inch version’s geometry for the 24″ version they have stuck with the tried-and-true geo found on the 24″ 38 Special.

In terms of updates, Jay Skwarlo of S&M said they:

…ditched the mono stay and put the dropouts on a diet. We also got rid of the cable split cable stops and went with three guides.

Looks dialed.

Another thing that caught my eye was the addition of a new stock size, one with a 22″ top tube.  Definitely a plus for the bigger guys.

Color options are Gloss Black, Trans Red and Chrome.

Specs

  • Butted/air-hardening Super Therm tubing
  • Bullet tipped tapered chain and seat stay
  • TT lengths: 21.5”(4.3lb), 22”(4.35lb)
  • BB Height:  12”
  • Chainstay Range:  14.75″ – 15.75″
  • Head Angle:  73°
  • Seat Angle: 70.5°
  • Standover: 9”

For more details and pictures of specific parts of the frame, check out the S&M Bikes website.

Can’t wait to see one of these babies in chrome.

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Categories : New products, New School, Racing

Can’t wait to get back on the road again

28 07 2012

Throwing the bikes in the car — whether it’s in the trunk, backseat or on the bike rack — and hitting the road is just one of those summertime essentials like beers and barbecues.

Getting out of Dodge and seeing what the next city, state or (if you’re really ambitious) country, has to offer is usually just the thing to shake things up, give you some fresh perspective and open the door to some good times.

Love this pic. (Cribbed from the Skyway Facebook page.)

On my agenda this weekend is racing a provincial/state race (today) and then on Sunday (I’m not making this up…) checking out the Sunday team at a bike shop demo in a nearby city. Good times all around.

Hope you’ve got some plans to check out some new places this weekend too.

Summers go by too fast these days.

Gotta make the most of these summer weekends.


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Categories : Freestyle, New School, Old School, Racing, shenanigans

Cro-mo continues its racing comeback

27 07 2012

Back in March, we talked about the comeback that chromoly race forks were experiencing in the race community. Now with more and more people switching to chromoly forks, it seems like the a trend is starting to develop towards chromoly race frames.

Sure, chromoly frames have always been available from the industry stalwarts, S&M and Standard. But beyond those two companies the choices for “steel is real” advocates was noticeably slim.

That’s beginning to change.

In a recent Vintage BMX forum thread, a reader was showing off his SSquared chromoly cruiser prototype frame and said,

Now that they made this first cromo frame for me; I think it has reenergized their desire to do a full cromo run.

Which is pretty compelling when you consider that SSquared is one of the more popular race companies at the moment…they obviously think there is a market for these frames.

Other big names in the race community, like Supercross and MCS have also had cromo frames in their lineups for some time now  (the Bolt and Speedfreak respectively) despite the widespread use of aluminum frames in the race community.

And as further evidence of the chromoly trend, there are rumblings that GT and Mongoose are also testing out Chromoly race bikes.

Looks like we might have a cro-mo resurgence on our hands in the next few years. I for one am kinda looking forward to it.


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Categories : New products, New School, Old School, Racing

Tested: Mechanix gloves

19 07 2012

While not made with cycling in mind, I have been noticing that a lot of riders have been singing the praises of Mechanix gloves on different forums and websites.

So I decided to put them to the test.

Mechanix gloves, if you’re not familar with them, are an all-round glove made for mechanics.  They’re designed to be durable but still thin enough to afford mechanics the ability to work on machinery, small parts, etc. without taking their gloves off.

But do they work for BMX?

I took them to a Thursday night race at the local track to find out.

How did they compare to the regular name-brand gloves that I usually wear?

Very well.

The gloves were very comfortable. They didn’t feel hot (despite the record temps that day) and were thin enough to give a great feel for the grip and lever.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to test their ability to withstand a crash (because I kept it rubber side down that night) but I really got the sense it would take a lot to tear these gloves…they looked like they could stand up to a lot of abuse.

In the looks department you can’t really go wrong either…the ones I tried kinda reminded me of old school Oakley gloves…and they’re available in just about any color or color combo you can think of. Matching them to your current gear definitely shouldn’t be a problem.

Would I recommend them? Heck yeah.

They stack up easily with any of the big-name gloves out there right now.  And you can get them at most auto/hardware type stores at considerably lower price then you would pay for “riding-specific” gloves.

If you’re in the market for gloves, Mechanix gloves are definitely worth checking out.


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Categories : New products, Racing

Didn’t Coca-Cola get the memo?

18 07 2012

Coca-Cola made a bit of a splash recently with their sponsorship of Olympic contender, Sam Willoughby.

Of course, Sam’s been getting a lot of hype recently as he is one of the favorites to not only podium but possibly get the gold in the games.

Coke’s been using Sam’s image in a lot of advertising lately so you would think they would be hip to the nuances of the whole BMX thing by now.

That’s why I was a bit surprised to see this poster in my neighborhood convenience store.

“Go for the Gold” it says, along with a prominent Olympic logo and the image of a BMXer either riding street (or dirt I suppose) on  a bike with pegs!

Is the marketing department over at Coke unaware that there are different types of BMX riding?

Sure, there were rumors a while back that freestyle might make it into the Olympics but that hasn’t panned out. Now here we are a couple weeks out for the Olympics and we have a Coke ad with a street rider “Going for the Gold”.

Part of me thinks I should just let this slide and just be happy that BMX is getting some play from a major company. On the flip-side, however, I’m little ticked off that they could get it so wrong with this ad.

Maybe this will all change if Sam does get the Gold medal this summer.

Somehow I doubt it.


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Categories : goofiness, Racing, shenanigans, street, Trails/Jumping

Wayne Keller killing it

9 07 2012

Straight out of Florida and the creative mind of Wayne Keller, we’ve got a brand new edit that Wayne describes as “random footage of same old stuff in a new year.”

I think you’ll agree that description doesn’t quite do it justice.  In fact, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll have a smile on your face and ready to go ride after watching this.

For more on Wayne, check out his blog, carrot-bag.blogspot.com

And for more on the bike he’s riding, check out Tribute Bikes.


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Categories : Flatland, New School, shenanigans, Skatepark, street

It ain’t over till it’s over

4 07 2012

This has got to be one of the most spectacular race finishes I have ever seen.

At the Kingston BMX Provincial Qualifier this past weekend, Michael Morris crashed hard over the last jump (watching it from the sidelines it looked like he would be down for the count) but in a split second he bounced back up, grabbed his bike (that is now spinning in front of him) and ran across the finish line…for the win!

As you can imagine the place went bananas!

Check it out.

Kudos to Debbie Meighen Albrough for the great camera work!


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Categories : New School, Racing, Trails/Jumping