The BMX Race thread.

converge11

Likes Dirt
Yep all 3 berms are concrete.Love the big Start hill with the gate that goes under ground. Only problem was it was bouncing back up a little on the weekend for some reason. So far definately my favorite track, our track in rocky. ..its like a massive pump track. .. you only get a chance to pedal on the berms, so it felt great to actually ride a track you can get your legs spinning on.
 

Crimson

Likes Dirt
The 2014 BMX landscape could get very interesting if no one steps up and buys Intense/Sinz/Speedco from VSI by June 30.

Though I am admittedly a little confused by this statement:

Until such time as each respective sale is final, VSI will continue to handle sales, warranty, and other customer service needs. Customers can contact us at 562-407-2184 or by email at sales@vsiproducts.com.
While I understand they will continue to handle the sales/warranty etc, are they still manufacturing or will product just gradually dry up?
 

converge11

Likes Dirt
Wasnt one of their riders (maybe kirkham? ??) comments something along the lines of itll be sad thatwon't be anymore intense bikes? Ill have to find it again, but that's the feeling I got from it.
 

Norco Maniac

Is back!
Formula went to the wall last year. it'll be a real shame when nobody but Redline and GT are making bikes. personally, i wouldn't ride either - no options for someone my size.

Sinz are the only manufacturer who made cranks in my length that i didn't have to sell a kidney to pay for.

will BMX become the province of only average size riders?
 
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converge11

Likes Dirt
From what I gather plenty of brands come and go and come again....I don't think theres any need to worry. Plenty of brands still make a million sizes to keep everyone happy.
 

haydenw

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Someone will buy them,
and either way there is about a billion different frame/component cfompanies going around at the moment... NBD
Sinz stuff is crap from what I've seen anyway
 

Crimson

Likes Dirt
I have no specific love and or hate for the VSI group of brands. I generally don't buy their products because they don't operate in the market I buy into, with the exception being the Sinz "Elite" range of products (of which I have 2 pairs of carbon forks). While I can see someone buying one or two of the brands (I believe they are for sale seperately), I doubt they would be finalised in a month so can see some disruption to the supply later this year.

The lose of Intense will leave a pretty big hole in the "first bike" and the "quickly growing kid" market.

Sinz, have a reliable and generally cost effective option for basically every component on a race bike, sure most don't use them but they are always there for an emergency repair while you wait for your prefered brand to be ordered in.

Speedco, have kind of died off after an explosive first year in 2010/11, so I doubt they will be greatly missed.
 
Grips, split links & rims

A few quick questions:

Is it OK to run a split link in the chain or is that a 'no no'?

Secondly, last weekend I had my first race meeting in the wet. It rained non stop but was still awesome fun. Had heaps of grip on powerblocks which was a pleasant surprise but, after the 2nd moto my standard push-on grips started twisting and I finished the last two motos with the grips sitting inboard an inch. Not confidence inspiring jumping doubles. Will lock-ons fix this?

Also, I've ridden my 'PK' for 6 months on and off and trued the wheels 5 times. I've run out of thread on 3 spokes on the rear, which the bent axle is probably constributing to, but i can't get a wop out of the front in one spot either. How long, in general, do rims last before they need replacing? Do i just treat them as consumables and replace them at set intervals?
 

redbruce

Eats Squid
A few quick questions:

Is it OK to run a split link in the chain or is that a 'no no'?

Secondly, last weekend I had my first race meeting in the wet. It rained non stop but was still awesome fun. Had heaps of grip on powerblocks which was a pleasant surprise but, after the 2nd moto my standard push-on grips started twisting and I finished the last two motos with the grips sitting inboard an inch. Not confidence inspiring jumping doubles. Will lock-ons fix this?

Also, I've ridden my 'PK' for 6 months on and off and trued the wheels 5 times. I've run out of thread on 3 spokes on the rear, which the bent axle is probably constributing to, but i can't get a wop out of the front in one spot either. How long, in general, do rims last before they need replacing? Do i just treat them as consumables and replace them at set intervals?
Split links are OK.

Lockons as mentioned


The ones on my sons PK (2007) lasted many seasons with only a couple of tweaks. However they werent the best quality (heavy mainly but they also only had painted plain carbon steel spokes) and maybe the quality has gone off and/or you are hard on wheels.
If you have run out of thread on some spokes the rim obviously isnt round. In any case sounds like your wheels need replacing.

My son ran PK OEM wheels for 2 seasons and some I had built up with rino lites, Ti spokes and DX hubs for another two. The latter werent touched at all in that time (he was state ranked and a best of 13th (14yo boys)at the Aussies at the time so was no slouch). As a bonus the race wheels were around 600g lighter than the PK's!
 
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haydenw

Likes Bikes and Dirt
A few quick questions:

Is it OK to run a split link in the chain or is that a 'no no'?

Secondly, last weekend I had my first race meeting in the wet. It rained non stop but was still awesome fun. Had heaps of grip on powerblocks which was a pleasant surprise but, after the 2nd moto my standard push-on grips started twisting and I finished the last two motos with the grips sitting inboard an inch. Not confidence inspiring jumping doubles. Will lock-ons fix this?

Also, I've ridden my 'PK' for 6 months on and off and trued the wheels 5 times. I've run out of thread on 3 spokes on the rear, which the bent axle is probably constributing to, but i can't get a wop out of the front in one spot either. How long, in general, do rims last before they need replacing? Do i just treat them as consumables and replace them at set intervals?
My guess is that the factory build on your wheels was shitty and you are having to compensate with all the truing. I have had my current wheel set for something like 9 months and have not had to touch them yet... and they have endured some decent cases and crashes
 

hach_bee

Likes Bikes and Dirt
A few quick questions:

Is it OK to run a split link in the chain or is that a 'no no'?

Secondly, last weekend I had my first race meeting in the wet. It rained non stop but was still awesome fun. Had heaps of grip on powerblocks which was a pleasant surprise but, after the 2nd moto my standard push-on grips started twisting and I finished the last two motos with the grips sitting inboard an inch. Not confidence inspiring jumping doubles. Will lock-ons fix this?

Also, I've ridden my 'PK' for 6 months on and off and trued the wheels 5 times. I've run out of thread on 3 spokes on the rear, which the bent axle is probably constributing to, but i can't get a wop out of the front in one spot either. How long, in general, do rims last before they need replacing? Do i just treat them as consumables and replace them at set intervals?
Split links are fine, just usual chain maintainance at the same time.

What Hayden said and;

Could be a dodgy factory build. Don't take this the wrong way but how are you truing them at home? Have you got a stand on going as they're on the rig? And have you been taught before (in a store by an experienced mechanic)? Please don't take offense, I wouldn't dream of trying to true my wheels, just curious. Bent axle certainly won't be helping! J&R do some awesome custom build wheels and mine were perfect out of the box, and remain so!

And congrats Converge, hope there's no bad blood between yourself and the other rider :p
 
I found some “Pro” brand mtb grips lying around at home so I fitted them up this arvo. They’ve got a locking collar at one end and even though I torqued them to spec, they still rotated and crept inward 5mm riding tonight. I’ll fit some with collars at both ends and try again.

hach_bee, I’ve got a basic truing stand that I use. It doesn’t have dial indicators like professional stands rather it has two nobs that screw in against the braking surface and when the rim just brushes the tip I find the section that rubs, true it, then check, screw the nobs in a bit more and repeat. I usually get my rims within 1mm of lateral movement if the rim will let me. 0.5mm if I’m being fussy.

I’m no mug at lacing a wheel and I constantly monitor parts on my bikes but I must have killed a Chinaman because tonight at training the one part of the wheelset that was working fine, the front hub, has now developed bearing play. The wheel flops around in the fork. How can cartridge hub bearings go from being fine to sloppy in an hour?

A couple of things I’ve noticed truing them leads me to think redbruce is right about the spokes being substandard which would be the major contributor to the rims warping as much as they have. The rims are Alex DM22’s which I thought would have been reasonable quality. Bent axle is my own fault. Front bearings? Dunno.

I don’t think I’m hard on wheels but I’ve only been riding BMX seriously since April so I’m not what people would consider smooth. I only weigh 68kg. Now that every last component is stuffed I don’t have any reason not to build a new wheelset.

Thanks for the advice ladies & gents. Of all the forums I frequent, the advice I read in this forum from the racing crew has always been spot on.
 

hach_bee

Likes Bikes and Dirt
You reply does prompt me to ask however... are you constantly tightening to true your wheels? Or are you also addressing the opposite side of the issue to adjust tension or back off on that side?

With the bearings- no idea? Been riding through any awful weather lately?
 

redbruce

Eats Squid
I usually get my rims within 1mm of lateral movement if the rim will let me. 0.5mm if I’m being fussy.

How can cartridge hub bearings go from being fine to sloppy in an hour?

A couple of things I’ve noticed truing them leads me to think redbruce is right about the spokes being substandard which would be the major contributor to the rims warping as much as they have. The rims are Alex DM22’s which I thought would have been reasonable quality. Bent axle is my own fault. Front bearings? Dunno.

Now that every last component is stuffed I don’t have any reason not to build a new wheelset.
That spec is fine but make sure you have sufficient and even tension around the wheel or it will warp in accordance with the tension variation under (dynamic) load, causing things to eventually go out of true (statically) again. If they still use painted carbon steel spokes you are up against it and on a road to no where. Unfortunately its very difficult to put sufficient tension into carbon steel spokes to prevent them loosening without being close to breaking.

Alex DM's are a solid rim, but heavy.

Front bearings, they are cheap crap standard and go from go to whoa pretty quickly once dirt and water enter through the shit seals.

Set of Evy's, double butted name brand SS spokes with brass nipples (aluminium ones corrode and strip when trueing wheels down the track) on some mid priced hubs and you are away. Unless you have lots and lots of experience building wheels best to get them pro done. Ti spokes arent work the expense (and are pro builder material to get right and even then....)

If you do have a go, get and study Roger Mussons book first.

http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/wheelbuilding/book.php

Youtube and Vimeo are no substitute:

http://vimeo.com/11005316
 
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You reply does prompt me to ask however... are you constantly tightening to true your wheels? Or are you also addressing the opposite side of the issue to adjust tension or back off on that side?
back off one side, tighten the other, usually in 1/8th turns then pluck the spokes to make sure they sound similar, (poor man's tension guage). I've never had any problem like this truing other wheels or with the 4 road & mtb wheels I built myself.

Stripped down the hubs. One of the lock nuts that holds the front bearings in place had come loose and the combination of that and the bearings being shot suddenly made the wheel sloppy. I thought the rear axle was bent because the driver would rock side to side freewheeling but it's not. The spigot that the freehub runs on is bent. Repacked the bearings, put some preload on the front and trued them again. Hopefully they'll last this weekend's racing.
 

converge11

Likes Dirt
Now that I've been in the sport a year I bit the bullet and bought some vans warners. Got them yesterday and trying them at our clubbie tonight. Pretty scared! Lol bet I fall over on the gate at least twice!
 
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