Pros’ Opinions - Best Part Designs
FatTony
- November 11 2008
- 5,978 views
- 49 comments
Interbike has long come and gone this year and lots of riders got to check out a ton of new and innovative products. We asked five pros which part they think has the best design right now and why. Mike Ardelean, Pete Brandt, Taj Mihelich, James Foster, Adam Banton all give their opinions.
“The Odyssey Elementary stem—hands down. It’s super light without sacrificing safety or function. It won an I-D award… So far its look has aged well, and it makes other stems look archaic.”
- Mike Ardelean
The Odyssey Elementary stem may be one of the most unique looking stems on the market, but it is definitely the only one out there that has won an international design award.
“I would have to say the best design I have seen recently is the Sequence Hook stem or the Sequence plastic pegs. The stem for me works really well because it has two screws instead of the traditional six, or in some cases four so there is less weight and less of the stem to get stripped out. Also the design because of how the stem hooks around it has better clamping power than any other stem I have used. In fact, this stem has never slipped on me yet! I am thankful to ride for Sequence because I get to ride parts like this before they come out and also I believe in the parts they make so in turn when I recommend parts like this to riders I feel it helps so the are not wasting money and time on something that won’t work for them.”
“As for the plastic pegs; it is pretty obvious…no more bent axels and less frames cracking.”
- Pete Brandt
The Sequence stem may be new to some of our readers, but flatlanders know all about the two-bolt design.
“There are different ways to interpret this question but I’ll focus on the one that made the biggest difference for me. Back in the late 80’s BMX bikes were really more or less the same as now. I could still use wheels, pedals, cranks, and most parts from back then with no problems. But one part was BMX’s weakness and made the bikes flat out dangerous. The shafted or quill stem design in use made for an impossible situation. The shaft that slid down inside the steer tube of your fork had to be a standard thickness, and then, the only headset available for BMX at the time had to fit on the outside of the steer tube. What this meant is that the steer tube of your fork could only be one thickness. And it was sketchy! This was the dark ages of BMX and most every fork not only had that sketchy thin steer tube, but the crown of the fork was welded on to the steer tube at just about the same point as where the steer tube ended. So now we have a too thin steer tube with a quill stem ending just about at the same spot as a poorly welded (most likely overheated) crown. It was a death trap and your forks could break at any moment with almost no warning. It hurt a lot of people and it made it hard to trust the front end of your bike. The clamp-on stem was the answer to this problem and allowed finally for a steer tube to be a safe thickness. Legend says that Cook Bros made a clamp on stem years and years before, but it wasn’t until the Hoffman Super Fork that the clamp on stem finally hit home on BMX. Sure, it was not in anyway an elegant design, and in fact even in those days of weight being no issue, it was considered very heavy, but it worked, and you could trust it. Later BMX ditched the awful threaded headset and adopted Aheadsets. Slowly over the years forks and clamp-on stems have been refined to the state they are in now. The clamp on stem is one part that I think really changed BMX. There’s no way the old design would hold up for today’s level of riding.”
- Taj Mihelich
Thank the BMX gods that goosenecks have gone to the wayside…
“For the past year I have had more plastic on my bike than I ever thought I would. What’s scary is it hasn’t let me down yet. From ideas that date back to the early 90’s, plastic on BMX bikes has had a longer history than you may think in various forms and function. From bar ends, number plates, seats, hub guards, old school brake guards, pegs, and even those old Bully bash guards… Plastic has seemed to weave in and out of the industry throughout the years. Of course the design, composite and what components or idea works best has been refined, revised, redesigned or in some cases completely gone back to the drawing board. A great example of this and possibly the favorite part on my bike would be the G-Sport Pleg. For almost two years now I’ve been grinding on plastic pegs—I even did a Barcelona trip with them. These things have been so fun on almost everything I have ridden. True, plastic and pegs have been done before over the years. But I’m impressed how the Plegs simple design incorporates strength and function all while keeping almost a 2 to 1 weight ratio of traditional chromoly pegs. You can slide aluminum rails, there quite less destructive sounding to security guards, and park friendly, too. Do they wear down? Of course (duh, they’re plastic) but they last longer than most of my inner tubes, and I still run those.”
- Adam Banton
BMX trends constantly change. Heavy bikes are out; light bikes are in. People now realize that in some places you can have really light, plastic parts and not sacrifice the strength of your bike.
“I think the KHE Astern freecoaster hub is an extremely innovative bike part. Freecoasters are known for having a lot of pedal play when compared to normal cassette hubs, but the Astern allows the amount of pedal play to be adjusted from none at all to as much or more as a traditional freecoaster. Not only that, but to adjust the pedal play, you don’t even have to remove the wheel from the bike. All you need is an Allen wrench and you adjust the Allen screw inside the 14mm axle. By being able to adjust the play and dial it into a rider’s specific preference, this type of innovation allows BMX to progress by making parts such as freecoasters more likely to be ridden by street riders and ramp riders who can utilize it in different ways by being creative and doing more than just the traditional ramp and street tricks.”
- James Foster
KHE’s Astern hub gives the rider a lot of options with fewer headaches.
“Years and years before I worked for Odyssey they made some advancement’s with bicycles that really changed the game. One of the most important was their 41-Thermal process. I remember the first time I was handed a pair of race forks. I swore there was no way that they would last for street riding, but I was assured they were strong, and that they were backed with a lifetime guarantee. Working in a machine environment I knew the benefits of heat-treating. I also knew that heat-treating is about as straightforward as baking a cake—meaning that there were a lot of variables to consider.
In the beginning, 41-Thermal allowed a bicycle fork to be both significantly lighter and more durable than the other forks that were being offered at the time. A process that many tried to write off as a gimmick has truly pushed the design envelope when it comes to the development of modern day 4130 chromoly parts. The process has been applied to forks, seat posts, handlebars, cranks and frames. It used to be a very rare occurrence to see post-weld heat-treating in the BMX marketplace, but now, because of the influence 41-Thermal, other companies have begun to offer their interpretations of a process that has been continuously tweaked and refined by Odyssey for the last 10 years.”
- Ben Ward
Product Designer, Odyssey
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November 11th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Yea the freecoaster is awesome to bad its fat heavy and the only light one is RHD!
MAKE A LHD LIGHT FREECOASTER!!!!!!!!!!
November 11th, 2008 at 10:46 am
plastic= lame
November 11th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
i want a solid plastic frame.
it would crazy light and, so i think, pretty fucking strong… just saying.
and the new SEAT-and-SEAT POST-all-in-1 idea is genius!
and we cant forget SEALED BEARINGS! i mean come on… i would have a new headset every week if i didnt ride sealed ones.
and cassettes. probably one of the more large advancements in bmx as well.
and the three peice crank. you guys are trippin. there is a hella lot more important stuff you forgot.
November 11th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
true that
November 11th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
idt thatd work out to good
im not a fan of plastics
November 11th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
plastic is shit…. for a frame it would be good as a sex toy…. praise to allah i will eat your children…. i wish you had kids so i could kick them in the fucking head and stomp on their testicals cuz thats the pain i feel everyday i wake up after using my plastic frame as an anal bead
November 11th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I can’t believe how retarded you punk fools are who waste time typing such lame comments into this website. Do yourselves a favor and leave the BMX community. We don’t want you here. Go drop out of high-school, get drunk every night, and end up in a 12-step program with your loser pals. Best of luck to you, dorks.
(note: it is possible to make insults without typos or swear words)
November 11th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
dude no kidding. how about a light LHD set of cranks to go with it.
November 11th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
what about the butting process? that makes it so i can have light bars but is also makes it so my BARS DONT BEND!
also double walled rims that are 1.75 inches wide so they DONT BEND and are less likely to pop a tire.
plastic is okay because it doesnt bend, but it cracks and shatters and gets eaten away.
November 11th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
amen brother
November 11th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
How about a freecoaster that doesn’t slip! I never got the opportunity to try a Sym hub. I’ve heard that design was flawless (the Nexus was light too). I’ll never get the opportunity to try one either as the owner is in very poor health. I recently tried the Geisha Light. It slipped sending me to the ground in the middle of the street like a broken chain! Ugh! Wasn’t G Sport supposed to have one or was that just the Odyssey Reloader?
November 11th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
HECK YES!!!
November 11th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
The seatpost-seat combo has been done…look up Uni. Also stem-bar combos have been done…look up Vector. I think Taj is pretty spot on…the old stem and steerer tubes were awful. I think “tube pegs” (for lack of better term) was also a great idea, although the design and construction of the first ones was horrible…think Havok pegs. And you have to give it to the Gyro for doing away with other detangler systems.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:47 am
yeah I remember back when you did a gap or a big table and either on landing or take off the stem snapped and sent you flying and cut up! they have made so many awesome advancements, people need to realize also that most companies out there have the same or close to the same stuff, so dont be so brand concious and prejudice,
peace
November 12th, 2008 at 12:54 am
The parts all of these Pros listed were all BMX specific innovations, and that is why they chose them.
Butted Tubing, Cassette hubs, Sealed bearings, and Three Piece Cranks….Those are all great advancements in BMX, but they weren’t created in BMX. They are all borrowed ideas from the Road Bike Industry. That isn’t a bad thing either.
November 12th, 2008 at 3:41 am
i disagree with the last part about odyssey, or at least what ive seen in the last year with them. ive run lumberjacks and wombolts and broke the lumberjacks in a month and the wombolts in about 3. im not even that hard on my bike but i remember there older parts and they did last forever, but now, its not so great anymore, thats why more riders got parts from all different companies. i think parts are getting too lite, even for the 41 thermal process!! come on, u guys can ride if ur bike weighs a little more.
November 12th, 2008 at 8:34 am
ive been riding for ten years and all i have to say is that
taj is right about the old goose neck setups they sucked
i dont know why plastic pegs would not bend an axle
free coasters are absolutley amazing now
some parts can be lighter and then some parts should still need to be heavier but hey i rode a 56 pound haro back in the day so a 25 to to 30 pound bike is fine for me
and i was a big anti plastic pedal person for a year
and now i have the primo one and im never going back
and the ridiculos rise on bars now is stupid
November 12th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Taj is correct, but cambmx may have “brand concious” confusion. Most companies parts are very similar, in looks and quality, but that doesn’t make them equal. Some companies [s&m, fbm, hoffman,..] made bikes better for the sport when there was nobody to buy stuff, and some companies, even “rider owned” ones are just capitalizing on the market that others created. Don’t get me wrong, make a living doing what you love, but know who your buying from before the sport is owned by nike and levi’s. Because they might not be here when you need them
November 12th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I don’t want to sound too critical.. but it seems like this was just an opinion on a product they make or are sponsored by? I don’t want to say it is neccesarily true but maybe the pay check might have a little say in what they say? I don’t know, just the vibe I got.
-Kurt Hohberger
http://www.BMXunion.com
November 12th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
dude seriously. they’re all just defending sponsor parts. haha
November 13th, 2008 at 12:36 am
not too sure why, but, i think it might be because the plastic peg will break before the axle bends or breaks.
and i retract my earlier statement about plastic frames and what not.
i was “under the infuence” and said stupid stuff.
November 13th, 2008 at 2:28 am
All of those are really good innovations, i wonder if anyone will make a carbon fiber frame coated with bulletproof lexan?!? Eh… just a thought for all the crazy engineers out there…
(Damn, I should really start working for a bmx company after i get my engineering degree…)
November 13th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
As far as plastic goes, I can honestly say that there are many plastics with the structural integrity of steel. As also mentioned above, Lexan composites are incredible strong- what surprises me (yet i am sure we will see in the next few years) is the absence of a plastic pedal with metal threaded pins. I am currently dealing with mechanical engineering, and plastics are certainly more than what meets the eye. It is true that Lexan is a bullet proof material, but when applied with a Kevlar and other Polycarbonate entities, they have been known to withstand pressure of just under 4,000psi! Wow! Most of our common materials in bicycles (i.e. 4130 Chromoly), are unable to handle such pressure. the only downside to these particular plastic composites, is that the are very expensive and would be very difficult to mold into such pieces as pedals. I am currently running the Animal Hamilton PC Pedals, and I am amazed as to how well they perform- and trust me, i was terribly skeptical at first.
November 13th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
haha. yeah man. its nice to see somebody who doesnt cuss constantly in all there comments (:
November 13th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
fuck fuck fuck fuck ur gay mother fucker, ur the biggest cunt in the fuckin whole world,,, fuck u and ur plastic frame =]
November 14th, 2008 at 8:39 am
actually i think haters like you should leave, hahaha
November 15th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Anonymous said it right. You can ride if your bike is a little heavier. Light parts are fine if you weigh like 130 pounds or less. If your bigger and not breaking these light parts then you must not be riding hard. I’m 36 and ride and have seen damn near every advancement in bmx since day one. So you young guns who haven’t been riding for very long don’t know too much how the industry got to this point. As far as what some of those pros said. They were merely hyping product for their sponsor. Now let’s stop and think about light=strength. How do bmx companies believe this. It can’t. You’re telling me guys aren’t still breaking frames and parts. I see guys breaking more stuff now then years ago. How does the concept of using lighter material or milling it, etc makes stuff strong? If there is less material on parts thus making it lighter, that right there made it weaker. Don’t get me wrong. A light bike does feel better than a heavier one, but I wouldn’t sacrafice strength/weight/integrity for something light so I can ride all day. Hell the way the trend is now kids aren’t brakes, pegs, or much of a seatpost. How much lighter do want shit. All that of which, kids are just copying each other and saying this works for stle of riding. I garauntee the heavy trend will show its face in bmx one day. You young cats, who I might add or baddas riders progressing fasters than us, will see one day. Perhaps some of the young bloods never had a taste of heavier (but not by much)bikes. I said this in another forum a few weeks back, but I personally think the bmx industry like any other industry with so much competition has to keep coming up with new innovations too make the mighty dollar. This light trend they’ve brought us is just another one those money making concepts. You know like 7 or 8 yrs ago I recall bikes weighing just right. Everyone had a 36/13, 6lb frame, rode 48’s, forks weighed more but were stronger. I know about some light stuff cuz I rode some of this light stuff and broke it all. So I went back to my older parts. I dont have a problem riding all day. This is just my opinion. If it works for you, then keep on killing it.
November 16th, 2008 at 2:13 am
I totally agree with you sean, I didn’t mean to sound like everything is fair game i just think its a little ridiculous when people keep bashing one company or another just because they can, and because they are misinformed about it. I’ve seen a lot of strength test results and most “best in class” parts are around the same force.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
i like how james foster basicly copied and pasted the specs from there web site ahahahhahaha
November 19th, 2008 at 2:51 am
KHE IS A LIE.
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:33 am
I agree with what Kurt said about the product endorsement, it’s quite obvious when you see who works for which company. Not that the products are crappy, but the lack of a widespread survey or spread of brands kinda makes this seem like an advertorial rather than a subjective piece of journalism.
Taj had the most insightful comments though, and yeah, the Elementry probably was the newest thing in BMX for awhile, but plastic pegs and pedals have been done before 2008 surely!
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