BitterSweet

Hey guys, I work at a bike shop with all guys, They all have bmx bikes, one of the guys actually use to be a pro rider. Anyway, they are trying to get me into the sport, right now I do only road and tandem riding. What bike would you suggest, I'm looking at this bike: https://www.kinkbmx.com/bikes/11whip.html# I would get it in the blue and black.

michaelscycles

The whip is a nice bike, chromoly, sealed bearings, all nice. The only real weakness is the Kenda tires. They max at 45psi so if you start doing some bigger tricks, you should upgrade them. Since you work at a bike shop, shouldn't be a problem for you. If you are tall, the 20.5" top tube might be a little small too.

robertv

Well, I wouldn't worry about the crappy tires. Stock tires on a complete tend to suck. 45 PSI is pretty crap though.
You sound like you know bikes so this should be easier.
How are you planning on riding it? Do you wanna ride BMX trails and dirt? Street? Park? Or just something to cruise on?
If you just wanna cruise any bmx will do. Find one with colors that you like.

If you wanna also properly ride bmx and maybe do tricks you have to consider what you're looking for.
Shorter rear triangles mean easier manuals but less stability(to some extent, depending on the geometry up front a short rear can still be quite stable). Some BMX have quite a short seat tube to keep the frame low to the ground, this is good for tailwhips and etc but is a bit of a silly trend in bmx. I would say slightly trailsy frame will work well for all types of riding. If you're very tall the kink whip might feel a bit small for you(if you're over 6 ft).

The fact that you are a girl in no way affects what kind of BMX you should get. BMX geometries aren't male/female specific like roadbikes sometimes are(I'm not talking about stepthrough frames I mean proper female road bikes). You might want a less butch paintjob than the guys though. The paintjob on that kink is pretty sweet looking in the photo. Colony makes some really good looking stuff too(I don't think looks should be the primary issue here though).

Another consideration. The bike you are looking at is pretty entry level. It's a bit heavy, but not very. It doesn't say on the website but I imagine its not full chromo. The fork is, but it says nothing about the frame. If you were to get a slightly higher end complete you could get something that is 100% chromo and will also be lighter and stronger. I'm a bit of a bike snob and won't ride high tensile steal even if someone paid me to. High ten is perfectly adequate, but I'm a snob. If you have a nice road bike maybe you wanna add a similarly nice bmx to the stable. Go full chromo then. If you just want an extra bike to muck around on then don't worry about the chromo. A lighter bike may really be worth it for you though, most guys complain about the weight lighter bmxs than that and they're probably heavier and stronger than you(Im guessing, based on the differences between men and women) So being a girl you might really benefit from having a full chromo frame. Just give it a though. Talk to your friends who know about BMX and see what they think.

Anyway, bmx geometry is less about the riders body and more about how they want to ride. If you wanna ride fast and hit big jumps with lots of stability a longer bigger bike if you wanna ride street or park and do mad technical stuff a shorter smaller bike is desirable. Some people can do both on the same bike. So you can follow my advice or just pick just about anything, you'll still have heaps of fun.

Finally if you are planning on getting a bmx, raising the seat post(you'll need a new seat post as most bmxs have very short posts now) and riding it seated, then try to pick one with a geometry that doesn't put the seat in a weird spot when you do that. But then just kinda apply regular bike fit Concepts to the bmx as best you can. Also, don't do this, its lame.

If you wanna look at some other bikes maybe look at some stuff made by Fit, Sunday(some crazy nice colors, some are even quite girly even though guys ride them), colony, or maybe Volume?

And hey, I'm not trying to belittle you with the "girly" comments. I don't know if you want some nicer girly colours or if you want something flat black with skulls on it, I have no idea what your preferences are, but if you're looking for something more feminine looking it is out there.

Anyway, hope that helped.

fuzzbox

That is actually a nice complete. I am a girl rider myself. That tt length should be the max length unless you are pretty tall. I'm about 5'7" and have a 20.5" frame. You should definitely do it. The worse that could happen is it sitting in the garage.

BitterSweet

I'm actually pretty tiny, that's more what I'm afraid of. I'm 5'3". But they guys said that would be a nice bike for me. I was planning on street and a little park eventually. I still need to work up the nerve to try any tricks. Our shop carries Eastern and Kink complete bikes along with their parts and primo parts. So I can get any of those bikes below MSRP. I didn't think there was a difference in the geometry and even if there was it doesn't matter to me since I ride a men's carbon road bike. Thank you for all the help though. :-)

fuzzbox

If you got that bike you could get a shorter stem if there is a problem. If you can test ride it around the block and see if you like it. From what I learned about trick is just go for it and don't think twice while attempting it. Sounds like all the guys there are willing to help you out on things so that is even better.