To date most of the pictures and webclips featuring Liquid Bikes have been pretty trails-oriented.
Made me kind of curious to see how it would handle in the street and in skateparks.
I guess I can stop wondering.
CMC from Austin shows that, with a couple of pegs thrown on, the Liquid Feedback becomes a capable street/park machine. (Photos originally posted on ridemonkey.com)
Check out the guy on the 20″ craning his neck to get a look.
Yes my friend, things really are more fun on a 24.
Bobby Parker from Sunday/Full Factory hinted about these in the comments recently when I posted about missing my front brakes.
Well, now we have a spy photo of the prototype Sunday Model-C forks with 990 mounts that he’s currently testing!
Bobby says they’ve been running great and Eben Krackau also has pair that he’s testing. No word yet on release dates but keep it tuned here for updates.
Ride BMX recently posted something on the 2011 Mirraco lineup that included their 24″ complete, the 20forty. Looks pretty good in the flat black and red (the two different coloured wheels is a cool touch too).
Here’s the rundown of the specs (so far):
Mirraco is in the process of updating their site, so I suspect full bike specs will be posted when that goes live.
I’m little leery that there’s no mention of the frame material while the bars and fork are listed as full chromoly. I’m hoping that’s just an oversight and not a case where some high-ten steel tubing is getting snuck in. If anybody has an “in” at Mirraco to find out, let me know.
We The People is back for 2011 with an update to the Avenger 24″. It was called the Avenue in previous years but it had a mid-season name change in 2010 to the Avenger.
Right of the bat, you’ll notice the look has changed to a cleaner glossy-red finish, right down to the cranks (a nice touch) with stripped-down graphics that are a bit on the basic, ho-hum side.
Notables include a new top-loading stem, 7″ bars, Odyssey tires, and double-wall rims.
However, a bit of a disappointment is the 21.25″ top tube/15.23″ chain stay dimensions. I would have really liked to have seen a longer top-tube and a slightly tighter chain stay length.
All in all though, if you can get past the shorter top-tube, this is looks like it could be one of the better completes out there for the new year.
My apologies for the blurry picture.
It was the best I could find at the current time. I will link to a better image once it becomes available.
Update: We The People has posted an online version of their 2011 catalog.
Two fun group rides are happening in sunny California this weekend.
On Saturday, the July 4130 Subway Series event goes down in SoCal. Probably the biggest group ride of its kind in the U.S., it has attracted some big numbers during past outings, including heavy hitters like Todd Lyons, Greg Hill and Stu Thomsen.
Not sure what the route is, but I believe it starts in Hollywood somewhere. They’re raffling off a Liquid Feedback frame, so that’s a pretty good incentive to go.
On Sunday, Trent B., who goes by goride09 on this site, is hosting a ride in San Francisco. It starts by the Clock Tower/ferry building and includes a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge as part of the route. He’s raffling off some BMX swag too, so if you’re in the area you should check it out. For more details, drop him an e-mail at chfrcka@yahoo.com
The recent comments about front brakes have got me thinking.
Is it time to put the front brakes back on?
It wasn’t too long ago that just about every freestyle rider rode front and rear brakes…now the pendulum has swung the other way with many riders seeing brakeless bikes as the new standard.
Have things gone too far?
Are we missing out by running just a rear brake or no brakes at all?
Before you answer, check out the videos below.
Exhibit A: Eben Fischer makes the case for front brakes.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Exhibit B:
Jay Miron, front brakes till the end.
more about “Jay Miron Macneil DVD“, posted with vodpod
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.
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.
Long a cult classic, RAD is both loved and hated by the BMX community. No matter what your opinion of the movie, if you’re a BMX rider you’ve seen this movie…probably more than once (in my case…probably more times than you can count). BMX Bandits, featuring a young Nicole Kidman, is pretty cheesy in its own right, but RAD took things to a whole other level.
Now over two decades later, another BMX movie is in the works: Accelerate. Will it live up (or stoop) to the standard set by RAD? Too early to tell. But I did read on their site that Bill Allen who played Cru Jones in RAD will be appearing in the Accelerate movie. For a BMX geek like myself, that’s already enough reason to see the movie (just kidding…sort of). In the mean time, check out the trailer to get a taste for what will hit the big screen in 2011.
Liquid Bikes has a new site up that looks great! It includes a blog and an online store to make it easy to pick up a Liquid frame or bars.
While the store appears to be set up for US shipping only right now, you can email for details and get sorted for international orders.
I like checking it out for the great trails clips that Jeremy posts from time to time.
Like this one:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
cruiser revolution 
