BMX - Gyro vs straight cable

this is kind of a dumb question but im new to bmx im im looking to buy my first real bike to use.
do most people prefer a gyro or a cable ? and can you do a bar spin with a cable or do you just not do that trick? just looking for peoples opinions so anything you say will help!

You can do bars with a cable, it has to be linear though, and you have to spin the bars back after. If you want a brake, a long straight cable is the simpler, easier to dial in, set up. Gyros still work well, but getting very uncommon. I prefer no brakes, except for big trails.

thx for the help

I'm sorry - what's the difference between a linear cable vs. a straight cable?

Also - my current brake setup uses a Cartridge Systems gyro, whoever that is. I only have rear brakes, but there's a "y splitter' coming out of the brake handle that sends two brake cables back to my rear brake. What type of brake cable setup is this called? And if I wanted to remove the gyro, I would just keep the "y splitter" thing and ahve to run new/longer cables direct from the Y splitter back to the brakes?

Thanks.

well a linear and a straight cable are the same thing its just a linear has better braking

I don't get that - if linear & straight are the same, how can linear have better breaking? I'm still confused as to the difference between a straight & linear brake setup? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

No, a linear cable uses a different housing that prevents the cable from binding and pulling the brake while the bars are spun so you can still roll freely. If you try bars or whips with a regular cable, especially if it isnt really long, it will lock up the brake and you will die!!!1

Personally, I prefer no brakes. if you live in an area where the cops actually enforce the brake laws (uncommon, though these places are), go with a cable, no a rotor. rotors can be useful for barspins, but can be really annoying and can reduce brake power.

I run a front brake only on my flatland bike. Im able to run my front brake cable through the middle of my headset and out through the bottom of the fork to the front brake. No need for a gyro and braking is just fine.

yeah, I think NWD has a point. what kind of BMX do you ride? if you do flatland, go front only, if you do trail of dirt, go for a sratight cable, and if you do park, go for a rotor. with any of these, I roccomend you gove no brakes a chance.

I prefer cable

Correctly setup a full dual cable gyro setup gives much better brakes than a single cable run. The force is split between two cable resulting in less stretch. Plus you can tweak each side to perfection.

BMX unfortunately like other forms of cycling is greatly influence by fashion the tendency for straight cables and no gyro or no brakes is largely (but not completely) due to a combination of fashion and mechanical importance, neither of which are by any means exclusive to BMX.

If you're mechanically competent go with gyro and, dual cable setup, if not go with a straight cable set up. Check out bikeguide and gsport's website technical articles on brakes.