Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Adaptation

I can honestly say I’m surprised about the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the éclat railed-to-Pivotal adaptor yesterday. In fact, it made me re-think my own opinion. Was I giving a truly ridiculous product a pass? Am I slipping?

Nah.

Look, it’s just an adaptor, like those weird round-pin things that let you use American electronics in Europe, or the hat washer you run on your cranks. (If you want to talk about stupid, how about the fact that no one can come up with one universal sprocket drilling?) Let’s say you bought a Pivotal setup, gave your railed seat/post to the kid down the street, but have had quite enough of Gonzo-dicking every available Pivotal seat. Rather than taking your old seat and post back from little Timmy (mean!) this way you can just pick up an adaptor and a new seat and keep your Pivotal post. I don’t see how this is a bad thing. Having to take your seat out to adjust angle is somewhat inconvenient, but once you have it set how much do you change it anyway?

(It’s worth noting that Pivotal Gonzo-dicking could be minimized one of two ways—either make the noses of seats stiffer, or shrink/eliminate the “teeth” on the seat/post interface, which would—in some cases, at least—allow the seat to slip before bending. Knurling works for bar/stem, right?)

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Fit posted what looks to be a cameraphone spy photo of Edwin Delarosa’s new FITED LT. Should have seen this coming, I suppose. Although Edwin never seemed to have a problem boosting on his old frame, so I’m not sure exactly why they needed to make a change.* I suppose we’ll have to wait for the final numbers. Just at a glance, the toptube looks lower and the downtube looks skinnier. If the 21” rear end is shorter than 14”, I’m gonna be pissed.

More on this later as info becomes available.

(In semi-related news, S&M has apparently both squashed and lightened the 21" Stricker frame, as well as changed the best laser-cut brace in BMX history:

"We just finished making the new 'under 5 lb' Stricker frame with smaller seat-stay bridge with a small anchor graphic cut out of the tube. They also have a lower stand-over height than previous versions."

Oh well, nothing gold can stay.)

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Just in time for the Beijing Olympics, an Australian company I've never heard of released a pair of bars with a slotted crossbar for easier number plate attachment. Redline tried something similar years ago with their Forklifter bars, but this is a much cleaner look.

Wait, that’s not what this is for? I give up then.

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If you ever wondered what it would look like if an Animal Sprocky Balboa and an Odyssey Vermont were allowed to reproduce, wonder no longer. Thank you, Oden Bikes.

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Hell, this post needs a photo.


There.

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* That’s a total lie, and both you and I know it.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

I kind of think that the whole using a pivotal post with a railed saddle gimmick is a solution in search of a problem. As are lowered top tubes.

I also think we can blame Shimano for all of this. It's a long story, I'll tell you about it someday.

Anonymous said...

worsest copy of a sprocket ever!

Anonymous said...

"released a pair of bars with a slotted crossbar for easier number plate attachment"
i made this comment on the come up last week
we've got the same idea ???

Anonymous said...

one of my friend try (for fun on an old frame) to make a prototype with no top tube and no rear up tube (i don't know how you call this , i'm french).
I think that should interest you...
he made 2 whip with and it broke on the bracket , very funny
watch the photo here :
http://teamloc.free.fr/media/dotclear/images/max2.jpg

i saw there's another Ben , so i call myself Ben 2
excuse my language

James said...

Ok now im angry

Why are all frame builders making frames lower ?

edwin and stricker where some of the only non-scootery frames left

Not everyone wants uber-trendy low top tubed frames, I for one tried two frames of newer style lower top tube and found it unstable and ruined my riding until I managed to pick up a newer stricker which has a lovely normal hight top tube

the pool of available normal sized frames is being quickly replaced with low standover short backend frames with 75" headtubes, the new lurch and dirt bike seem to be the only ones left to choose from for the taller / older rider

how many low tt frames do fit / s&m need ? thats like 7 by my count

Anonymous said...

attention company honks:
i need a pivotal/banana seat adapter. i want to conform to the trend of having a slammed seat, yet enjoy the outlaw status of a bg ole sissy bar on the back...

Anonymous said...

Crazy concept but just maybe the riders want the lower top tubes???? You praise S&M for one thing then when they change you complain... Sounds like you guys are the ones not allowing progression to happen, no?

Here and there things will change to represent the majority of peoples taste so the product will actually sell. They probably hadn't sold many Stricker frames in a long time.

Id you want to compare the lower stand-over to a scooter then perhaps the higher stand-over should be considered a road bike? Make the switch then you wont have to bitch hah.

All just speculation, the sites a fun read as usual.

Sprfls signature Stickler frames coming soon.

James said...

my point is that there is a increasingly poorer choice of frames available, because frames are all moving to such a similar size and shape

surely its good if everyone has a good selection rather than just the latest trendy riders ?

and the stricker has been sold out in the uk (even s&m ran out in the US) for months due to high popularity

Anonymous said...

The Stricker frame was perfect...why fuck with it? It was obviously working pretty well for Josh. I mean, he's not exactly Mr. Tailwhip, is he? Do you think he walked in to S&M one day and demanded Chris build him a prototype with a lower top tube so he could do 30 foot gaps easier? The whippy kids can buy an LAF...they shouldn't have fucked with it.

The railed to pivotal thing is an adapter so you can go backwards...it's like using a headset that let's you run threaded 1" forks in a threadless 1 1/8" frame. "I just like loose headsets and breaking my fork steer tube...it's my style." Bent seat rails are lame, and most seats are so short they don't have fore and aft adjustment anyway. And if you like fore and aft adjustment, why not use a Thomson? It'll last a million years longer than your seat rails, that's for sure. Why buy a doo dad to run two things that don't fit together. I'm not a homophobe, but I've got to say: the railed to pivotal "solution" is a bisexual set up. It's for people who can't decide what they want, so they try a little of each.

Stephen said...

Stay gold, NER.

Stay gold.

But yeah, the Eclat thing is just a mess. Anon 9:50 am said it best, "a solution in search of a problem."

Maybe it'll be the new 990 fork plate.

Nick Ferreira said...

Why do you want him to post about how bad that site is? It's just kids making a blog about riding? Unless you have other reasons?

CHROME_RIMS_YO said...

on the outsiders clip comments:

untouchedpearl01 (2 weeks ago) Show Hide
+3
Marked as spam
Reply | Spam
STAY GOLD YALL!!!

Anonymous said...

you have to read this blog before bike snob, because if you do it the other way round this one seems even shiter than normal.

Anonymous said...

The sprocket just looks like a weird tree.

Anonymous said...

"If the 21” rear end is shorter than 14”, I’m gonna be pissed."

Really? You're going to be pissed because a rider made a change to HIS frame for whatever reasons that he deemed fit?

Anonymous said...

Also, did you make up "Gonzo Dicking"?

Anonymous said...

i've heard the "Gonzo dick" phrase a billion times but don't really know where it came from or why it's called that. is it in reference to the Muppet? and if it is then i don't recall seeing an episode in which he had a full frontal scene. maybe the person that coined that term is better friends with Gonzo than i am or perhaps they belong to the same gym or something.

Russ said...

a) BSNYC is in a league of his own.

b) Yes, I will be pissed if things continue to move towards every frame on the market having a low-slung toptube and a sub-14" rear end. Obviously Ed can do whatever he wants with his signature frame, but I find it hard to believe this represents "progress" as much as it represents "oh noes, kids won't buy a frame that weighs more than five pounds."

c) Tragically, I did not come up with "Gonzo dicking." It's good, though.

d) I'm still on board with the Pivotal adaptor thing. Honestly, a Pivotal post with the eclat adaptor is essentially a simpler Fly post that gives you more seating options. And it WOULD let you run a banana seat, so there.

Anonymous said...

oh my god i'll be able to run my primo haemorrhoid!!

you're brill really russ, just like to keep you on your toes!!!

Anonymous said...

Still waiting for the FAQ's post..
anytime soon russ?

Anonymous said...

I love the pivotal adapter
I love the Stricker Frame
I love Bmx

Anonymous said...

russ, i don't know if you ever thought about this, but why don't they just use splines for handlebars??? though it might seem stupid to some, there are still people out there whose bars slip forwards, including me...

Anonymous said...

im just kinda guessing so don't all jump on me but splines on bars would kind of fuck up if you had a really bad ass crash that would either ruin the spline or bend your bars if the spline held well enough. basically im saying its probably important to have a bit of give so the knurling is good in that way.

also russ is onto something with companies making pivotal seats a lot more rienforced in the nose. they could market it and shit and maybe that could be considered progression. but that would add weight and wouldn't sell so maybe, but yeah...

Anonymous said...

exactly^ jake you're a wanger

Smitty said...

Bars with splines? Dan's Comp actually sold them in the 90's. Anybody else remember the brand Fly'n W? I think it was a 12-spline design...maybe should have been 48, maybe then it would have caught on.

Anonymous said...

so you want guts that have rounded knurling and only one bolt?

good luck with that
link