BMX - *newbie* a few Q's.......

Hey! Ive been thinking for ages now of buying a bmx and giving it a go....im keen to do flatland, street and maybe eventually have a go at not very high verts!:-) But b 4 i buy i wanted to ask a few questions....

* Why do some bikes have a 'bent' (laidback?) seat post and some a straight one?
*why do some bikes only have a back brake?
*whats a good size of axle for the stuff i want to do? (would 10mm b ok?)
*what do i want to be looking for in terms of the hubs?
*whats the difference between U-brakes, V-brakes and calipers?

Thanks to anyone who responds, mucho grassyass!;-)
L.

1) Different geometry and different sort of riding.
2) Some only have a bake brake because they etiher want to or it just makes the bike lighter.
3) I don't know what size axle you could use but 10mm or bigger would be smart. I have 14mm hollow cro-mo axle on both front and rear. Cro-Mo is very strong material on bikes and it is hollow again to make the bike weigh less. (I do trial/dirt jumping and street)
4) Hubs? Wheels? There are also different numbers of spokes on bikes. 32 (racing), 36 and 48. I have 36 because they are lighter than 48. You choose on your number of spokes. Hubs? Well hubs in three different sorts, regular (loose ball bearings), sealed (rubber sealing around the outside of the hub) and seales bearings (regular but with sealed cartiridge bearings in the hubs. The best ones).
5) Can't answer that one. Sorry.
I hope this all helps.

Hi!
Thanks very much for your help, am buying this week sometime so am trying to do all the research i can! What youve told me is very useful:-)

Cheers!

What bikes are you looking at?
I also want to buy in the next month so we could compare notes...
http://www.mtbreview.com/reviews/Bike_BMX/ is a good place to see other peoples views on bikes...

I'm not having much luck...I think the thing to do, is go to a bike store and talk the dudes there...

peace

What bikes have you come up with so far?

I have been looking at 2 bikes:
-Mongoose sniper
-Haro Revo

Both are around the same price (£170). Both have cromo frame but not forks.

I found out today that cromo really is much much lighter than hi-ten steel! (until today i wasnt convinced) Try and get a cromo bike and a steel bike side by side and lift them both together, the difference is very obvious! Flip!

Does anyone have any feeback about either of these bikes? (ill also have a look at that link thanks:-)

Also, one other question......Pedals---Alloy for durability or plastic for less weight?

Cheers!
L.

get alloy pedals cause youll end up always breaking the plastic ones

the difference between the brakes:
-U-brake: Inexpensive, less cable used when pulling, most popular -V-brake: most powerful, more cable used when pulling, linear -caliper: i dunno

Good to know that about the brakes and thks for the advice on pedals:-)
That link from mattdog is really good and i would recommend anyone thinking of buying a bike to have a look!

Will continue the hunt tomorrow and report back my findings:-)

L.

I was wondering if I could get an opinion on this bike it...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1815847253

1) value ?
2) Quality?
3) cost of adding wheels, chain, grips..and anything else I would need...

I am just so lost, don't know what to buy...

Originally posted by mattdog
I was wondering if I could get an opinion on this bike it...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1815847253

1) value ?
2) Quality?
3) cost of adding wheels, chain, grips..and anything else I would need...

I am just so lost, don't know what to buy...

thats a good deal in my opinion. The other stuff you need could cost you antwhere from 150-250 dollars... If i had 200 dollars I would bid on it.

Cro-Mo is heavier than Hi-Ten but Cro-Mo is a hell of a lot stronger. I don't know much about teh Haro but the Sniper is an all right bike for a newbie. Another bike a might mention (not sure on the price) is the Redline 5-Spot. It is the mid range of the Redline Street bikes. The Peety Cash is the lower range and the C-Note is the Highest range. The 5-Spot frame is Tri-Moly with forged 5mm/7mm dropouts, the fork is full cro-mo, the cranks are cro-mo and and the pedals are alloy. If you can afford it (it is really that expensive compared to others) get the C-note. The frame is the same as the 5-Spot and the fork is 100% buttered cro-mo which is light and very strong. The cranks are the second best cranks redline make and are tubular 3-peice cro-mo, the ball bearings are sealed cartridge and the rims are one of the best rims in the street business. At least try and get the 5-Spot.
For more info: www.redlinebicycles.com/home3.html
http://www.redlinebicycles.com/enlarged_bikes/images/bigs/5_spot_bike.jpg
http://www.redlinebicycles.com/enlarged_bikes/images/bigs/C_note_bike.jpg

Ahhhh..!!:-) Finally wrked out that cromo is heavier than hi-ten coz went to bike shop yesterday and picked up a ruption newboy and it was lighter than the ones id lifted the other day. But the guy said it was chromo and i didnt argue coz it did say 4130 up the side. But then i checked it out on the internet and it said it was hi-ten! Seems you have to be very careful as a newbie.....people trying to scam u all over the place!

Will check out the redline bikes thks:-)

L.

1. More forward seats are for racing ; laidback for touring/general, also of course they are easier to mono and jump with.
It's largely a question of what's in fashion really.
2. They should all have two brakes in fact. Personally I would suggest you get one with a coaster brake (foot brake), as these are easier to stop and you can do burnouts and that.
3. If the frame can handle jumps then the axle should be ok.
4. I would not recommend alloy hubs. If you run them with loose bearings and the bearing cage breaks up, it will chew through the hub.
5. V-brakes is a trademark of Shimano, they are the same as U-brakes. Calipers are not as good. Foot brakes are more suitable for BMXs (a little bit more weight though).

In regards to the post about the redline bikes...
The 5-spot is in my price range...
Is it a good bike? Is there anything I need to considering when buying this bike? Are there others bikes in this price range that I should be having a look at? Is there going to be any other costs when I get the bike, or should it be good enough the way I get it new? I want to get the best for my money, so the bike lasts a little while.

Thanks for all the help.

Matt

Yes. Get the 5-Spot if you are going to be doing street. Just incase you didn't know it has 14mm axles. You shouldn't need to get anything more but it the long run you should add 3-piece cranks to your budget, but the ones you get on the 5-Spot will last a far while as they are cro-mo. The frame should be preety damn good since it is Redline best street frame and also has forged 7mm/5mm dropouts. Thredless headset, 4-piece cro-mo handle bars, cro-mo fork, Alloy Tektro U-Brake F/R, 2 Pair of pegs and you have to choose a color. You can either get it in Mustard Brown (shown above) or Goth Black (shown at www.redlinebicycles.com). Have fun on your bike!

-hey chromo is way better than steel trust me on this its lighter stronger and doesnt rust as bad
-for a good all around seat post a straight one is the bes and strongest
-some bikes have only 1 brake on back because they only need it and reduces weight most street and dirt riders ride only one break some ride break less some flatlanders do too also some ride only one front break too but thats mostly flatlanders though
-a good size axel would be 14mm they are strongest and wont bend
-id get a regular or cassette dont get a freecoaster they suck *** and arent strong at all i wouldnt trust one at all
-for your bike ur gonna want U breaks cuz the other 2 are more for mountain bikes and some race bikes run em too

well thers ur advise i hope i have been a help i hope to talk to u soon later
d130 rules!!
:( :o ;) :D :)

Hey!:-) Thanks for all the advice everyone! Much appreciated! But ive got just one more question.................

I was on yahoo auctions the other night and i randomly bid on a 2001 huffy one-ton......AND WON!!!!!......I bid £140. The guy selling is being really slow about finding out shipping costs and stuff for me, so i can still back outif i want ....what do you think? I thought the spec sounded great for the money?

Cheers
L:-)

ps: i lied.....one more question..............
Which REALLY is lighter....hi-ten or chromo? Ive lifted so many bikes and heard so many contradictory opinions that im now just very confused!!! Anyone know the TRUTH??????:-)))

Originally posted by bmxgirl
ps: i lied.....one more question..............
Which REALLY is lighter....hi-ten or chromo? Ive lifted so many bikes and heard so many contradictory opinions that im now just very confused!!! Anyone know the TRUTH??????:-)))

Hi-Ten and Chomoloy are both steel and have specific gravity - basically as a material they weigh the same.

Chromoly generally represents slightly better tubing though (in terms of yield/strength).

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-materials.html#steel

Richard

Excellent.....thanks Richard!!!:-)

L.

Is there a picture of that bike on EBay? Is it fully stock?
Here is what it looks like brand new.
http://www.huffybmx.com/images/pop_oneton_lrg.jpg

Well.....the saga has come to an end! i have a bike! The guy selling the huffy one ton was being a bit of a pain in the *** so i told him to forget it! So i got myself a GT. Its decent enuf and i can do an endo!(im very proud of that:-) Havin a great time learning! So thanks neone who helped teach me abt bmxs:-)

L.

cool I have a GT. bought it a buncha years ago, rode hardcore for a long time, then got lazy cuz this place sucks and you cant trick off of jack, or something, oh, this 'hood sucks and I hate going outside here and i got anti-social, so I stopped riding normally, then the bike was getting dusty and tires down and junk so that finished off even 'sometimes' riding for me. anyways, my GT is black, has black 3 spoke plastic rims, they look nice. I dont know what the frame is made of, dont know how durable the rims are, I know the handlebar chrome flaked off after it got wet, more each time, but has spin kit, brakes front back, pegs not standard. looking to build a really really good bike now, dunno why. my GT is heavy. the rims held up to a lot of stuff, and hundreds of jumps 2 foot and up to 5. boring jumps although. dunno why plastic rims are so unpopular

has espn2 influenced anybody else to want to flatland lately? they put some killer stuff in those videos. the concrete jungle locations they ride in make me druel cause my city is a flat, all-standard-set-concrete dump. so flatland works for me.

Whats the difference between a V- brake and U-brake? I only know the V-brake and U-brake. They have different shapes sometimes and they are made different and sometimes they go on different kinds of bikes. I hope I helped. :)

okidoke, How are you people doing?

I was just thinking... that the hell is a foot break???? putting your foot on the wheel???? that's what I do considerind I dont ride with out breaks..... please tell me all about foot breaks...
I just had my bike stolen about 4 weeks ago... I am looking at the triple x, the specialized 415 pro, the tj velin, the specialized tigercat..... and the one I am most likely to buy.... the jerry bagley 4 star (mosh) any info on that? the thing is, I do alot of riding which means a bit of every thing... can the 4 star handle the street??????

If you didnt read all that, here are my questions:

1) WHAT ARE FOOT BREAKS?

2) IS THE JERRY BAGLEY 4 STAR MOSH ANY GOOD?
CAN IT HANDLE A LITTLE STREET?