Justin Fox
Likes Bikes and Dirt
Well I finally caved in and bought myself a BMX bike. Jing's been pushing me to do so for the past week and I've been doing hours of research since (going out of my mind).
Initially I thought I'd be able to walk into a shop with $500 and buy a decent complete but on checking a few completes out I felt that all of them looked a bit try hard. It's almost like they were trying to 'look' custom.
As a skater back in the day (lol) there wasn't any such thing as a "complete" skateboard (unless you bought one from Kmart). You bought a deck you liked, then the trucks you liked, wheels and basically personalised your own board. Skate culture rocks and BMX culture is pretty similar so I really wanted to do it right an go custom.
I had a play with adding things to a basket on Strictly BMX. Frame $400, cranks $350... that's already $750!!! By the time I had finished my build it came to $1700+. That quickly put an end to the idea of going custom. I had a little look at some 2nd hand bikes, rattled off a few private messages (to waste their time of-course... sorry guys!) but decided I couldn't trust buying a BMX bike off some dude who's thrashed it harder than I ever would.
So today I went for a drive out to Belrose cycles to check out their 2009 range of We The People (WTP) bikes. When I finally got to the store I saw a few lower end WTP bikes and again, all that paint, colours, skulls... they were just trying way too hard.
I eyed off a simple black BMX in the corner, turns out it the top of the line 2009 model Kink Apex. I got thinking that the black was a good base to start with if I wanted to add some colour to it in future. The bike's RRP was a whopping $1300 but I walked away with it for $899.00 (thanks Adrian!) so despite being a lot of cash for such a little and simple bike. I'm happy. Hpw bike shops can knock so much off a 2009 bike is beyond me (I'm not complaining!).
2009 KINK APEX
SPECIFICATIONS:
--------------------------------------------------
Frame: 100% Chromoly Double Butted TT and DT Frame 20.75" tt
Fork: Odyssey Race Fork
Brake Levers: Odyssey Medium Monolever Brake Lever
Brakes: Odysssey Evo II Brake
Bottom Bracket: Sealed Mid Bottom Bracket
Crankset: 175mm 3 Piece Tubular Chromoly Cranks, Kink 25t Alloy Decimal Sprocket
Pedals: Odyssey Twisted Plastic Pedals
Headset: Sealed Integrated Headset
Handlebar Stem: Alloy Front Load Stem
Handlebar: Kink Badger Bars
Hubs: Sealed Joytech Cassette 14mm, 36h Rear Hub
Cassette / Freewheel: 1pc sealed 9t driver
Rims / Wheelset: Allienation Black Sheep 36h Front Rim, Chrome Rear
Tyres: Kenda Kontact 20" 1.95" Rear Tyre, K1041 20" 2.25" Front Tyre
Seat Post: Pivotal Stump Post
Saddle: Kink Pivotal Slim Seat
Grips: Kink Alpha Grips
--------------------------------------------------
RRP: $1300
Purchase price: $899
Weight: 11.08kg
Now for some pics (the bike will be de-stickered tonight of-course lol!).
Initially I thought I'd be able to walk into a shop with $500 and buy a decent complete but on checking a few completes out I felt that all of them looked a bit try hard. It's almost like they were trying to 'look' custom.
As a skater back in the day (lol) there wasn't any such thing as a "complete" skateboard (unless you bought one from Kmart). You bought a deck you liked, then the trucks you liked, wheels and basically personalised your own board. Skate culture rocks and BMX culture is pretty similar so I really wanted to do it right an go custom.
I had a play with adding things to a basket on Strictly BMX. Frame $400, cranks $350... that's already $750!!! By the time I had finished my build it came to $1700+. That quickly put an end to the idea of going custom. I had a little look at some 2nd hand bikes, rattled off a few private messages (to waste their time of-course... sorry guys!) but decided I couldn't trust buying a BMX bike off some dude who's thrashed it harder than I ever would.
So today I went for a drive out to Belrose cycles to check out their 2009 range of We The People (WTP) bikes. When I finally got to the store I saw a few lower end WTP bikes and again, all that paint, colours, skulls... they were just trying way too hard.
I eyed off a simple black BMX in the corner, turns out it the top of the line 2009 model Kink Apex. I got thinking that the black was a good base to start with if I wanted to add some colour to it in future. The bike's RRP was a whopping $1300 but I walked away with it for $899.00 (thanks Adrian!) so despite being a lot of cash for such a little and simple bike. I'm happy. Hpw bike shops can knock so much off a 2009 bike is beyond me (I'm not complaining!).
2009 KINK APEX
SPECIFICATIONS:
--------------------------------------------------
Frame: 100% Chromoly Double Butted TT and DT Frame 20.75" tt
Fork: Odyssey Race Fork
Brake Levers: Odyssey Medium Monolever Brake Lever
Brakes: Odysssey Evo II Brake
Bottom Bracket: Sealed Mid Bottom Bracket
Crankset: 175mm 3 Piece Tubular Chromoly Cranks, Kink 25t Alloy Decimal Sprocket
Pedals: Odyssey Twisted Plastic Pedals
Headset: Sealed Integrated Headset
Handlebar Stem: Alloy Front Load Stem
Handlebar: Kink Badger Bars
Hubs: Sealed Joytech Cassette 14mm, 36h Rear Hub
Cassette / Freewheel: 1pc sealed 9t driver
Rims / Wheelset: Allienation Black Sheep 36h Front Rim, Chrome Rear
Tyres: Kenda Kontact 20" 1.95" Rear Tyre, K1041 20" 2.25" Front Tyre
Seat Post: Pivotal Stump Post
Saddle: Kink Pivotal Slim Seat
Grips: Kink Alpha Grips
--------------------------------------------------
RRP: $1300
Purchase price: $899
Weight: 11.08kg
Now for some pics (the bike will be de-stickered tonight of-course lol!).
