Take a 24″ cruiser, a spare wheel, some scrap metal and a razor scooter…weld them together..what do you get?
An old school sidehack.
Looks like the Finestones, Brian and son Finn, know how to have a good time.
Check out this video: to see the Finestone’s sidehack project in action.
Looks like more bike companies are joining the “gold rush” with retro-inspired gold anodized components.
Case in point, Redline’s 2011 Proline 24 chock-a-block with gold components.
It may not get the fanfare of the Flight series, but for me, if you’re looking for a race-ready complete it’s hard to go wrong with the Proline. And now with gold components, you get a little bit more soul with your performance.
Whether you’re 7 or 47*, nothing quite matches the pure fun of riding your bike.
Whether it’s street, dirt, park or racing 7-year old Finn Finestone is not missing out on any of it.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Ouch!
Clipping in not only makes you faster but it also makes your crashes more spectacular too.
Check it out…there’s even slow-mo so you can cringe (or chuckle) a few more times.
Summer’s here and people are showing more skin.
Your bike should be no different.
Ready to take the plunge and rock the skinwall tire?
A good option might be the DMR Supermoto, available in wire and kevlar. Technically a MTB dirt jumping tire, it seems like it would be a great option for a 24″ BMX. 2.1 inches wide with a low profile it would be at home at skateparks, trails and race tracks. It’s relatively lightweight too.
Not sure how widely available this tire is in North America (DMR is based out of the UK) but their site shows both U.S. and Canada distribution so you should be able to get it if your bike shop deals with one of the listed distributors.
For more on my one-man crusade to bring back the skinwall tire, check out Is it time to show some skin again? and Showing some skin in Utah.
Update: The 24″ version of this tire is available in wire only. The 26″ version is available in both wire and kevlar.
I have been checking out Edward Koenning‘s blog, When are you going to get a real bike? for a little while now and I have to say I’m getting pretty hooked.
A big part of his blog is digging up vintage BMX magazine pictures/spreads and commenting on them. I often find myself tripping down memory lane when I read one of his posts. I start remembering where I was when I saw or read it, how I devoured every word of the mag (keep in mind this was before the Internet) and how much it had an influence on me.
I was pretty stoked to see him pull out this gem recently. An awesome berm slide by RL Osborn from BMX Action‘s “24 Wars” cruiser shootout article.
I was pretty stoked on this spread too. Eddie Fiola with a perfect table top air (on vert!) and “The Culligan Man” doing a big jump on a race cruiser to see how it would hold up.
If you’ve been into BMX for a while, When are you going to get a real bike? is definitely worth checking out.
One of the biggest influences on my “biking career” has to be my dear ol’ Dad. Since I first picked up a BMX, he’s been my go-to guy. From fixing my bike, driving me to races and displaying an incredible knack for bringing beat-up/broken bike parts back to life, he gave me the kind of support that no bike company sponsorship could provide.
When other fathers would get worked up at the track yelling at their kids, he would shake his head and say he was just glad we were having fun and going home in one piece.
He’s the guy who taught me to ride a bike in the first place.
I still remember him running alongside me, one hand on the seat post, encouraging me to “pedal, pedal.” I pedaled as fast as I could. After a while I realized he wasn’t holding on anymore. I looked back and saw him standing there, a little nervous but with a slight smile on his face.
I kept pedaling.
It felt scary but so good at the same time. I was on my own but my Dad was still there if I needed him.
Some things never change.
Thanks Dad.
Vintage photo of my Dad working on my bike. (Check out how scrawny I was back then.)
For many in the BMX world, the stereotypical image of the cruiser rider as a squirrelly, middle-aged cruiser racer persists.
Another stereotype:
Nobody under 30 rides a cruiser (unless it’s for racing).
And finally:
“Big” tricks are only done on 20″ bikes.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that this kind of “traditional wisdom” is rapidly falling by the wayside.
Not convinced?
Check out this web clip from Ollie Sandles.
Granted, it’s mostly 20 inch riders but look closely at the lone cruiser rider (who I think is Peter Beer). In addition to a nice turndown at the beginning, check out from about 1:54 on….flairs, tailwhips, vert airs.
This (relatively) young guy is tearing things up…including all those old stereotypes about cruiser riders.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Most BMX magazines are, at best, hot and cold on cruisers. Not many are bold enough to put them on the cover. BMX Action did back in the day. These days? You’d be hard-pressed to find cruisers getting a mention, much less the cover.
That’s why it’s such a cool surprise to see BMXer magazine stepping up and putting George Goodall and Carly Dyar, the two national number one cruiser riders, on the cover.
Good on ya BMXer for stepping up!
Steel is real. It’s a refrain you’ll hear time and time again in the forums from die-hard cro-mo fans. And while there are cro-mo race options out there…like S&M, Supercross, Standard and CycleCraft, by and large, they are available in frame and fork only.
Why doesn’t anyone offer a cro-mo race complete?
Back in the day, a complete cro-mo race cruiser was easy to find. Not so anymore. Pure race machines are pretty much all aluminum these days.
Is it time to bring the complete cro-mo 24 race cruiser back?
I think so.
And there are a number of reasons why.
Versatility: Sure an aluminum bike might be fine for the track, pump track and light trails….but would you trust it anywhere else? Bigger trails? An impromptu session at the skatepark? Probably not. A cro-mo bike would let you ride in any of these situations with confidence. Sure, some people have a second bike for this very reason but many people do not have this luxury.
Better value: A good cro-mo bike can easily outlast an aluminum bike. With the way the economy is these days a bike that lasts just makes good sense. And if you’re a Dad just swinging a leg over a 24 for the first time (or after a long layoff from the sport) a little bit of the “give” that 4130 has will be welcome. If your kid decides to quit racing and just ride trails and park? No problem, the cro-mo bike will take you to the park or trails in style.
Pent up demand: With such a vocal group on the internet forums, a good cro-mo race complete would probably sell like hotcakes.
While I don’t expect S&M to suddenly jump into the complete market, certainly the Fit CR24, with a couple of tweaks to the geometry (and maybe the components) could be offered as a race version (just as an example…not to pick on S&M/Fit). I think there’s a market out there and whoever decides to take the plunge will be pleasantly surprised.
It’s time for race bike manufacturers to get back to their roots…it’s time once again, to sell the metal.
David Frid knows steel is real. He rocks one of the nicest 38 Specials out there in the O-Cup race series.
cruiser revolution 
