Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Honeycomb's Big; Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Well, either the Lumberjack Slams are real, or S&M is perpetrating their best hoax ever. I e-mailed Moeller to ask for more details (sample question: "Dude, WTF?") and this is what he sent back:

For production parts, all the honeycomb tubes on frames/forks and bars will be sleeved with carbon fiber. The diamond pattern of the material will be filled with epoxy so the tubes will actually be smooth and look totally normal. As of now the only paints we can use on the epoxy is almost neon so that should be interesting! The thin outer sleeve of 4Q Baked Supertherm really just gives us something to miter and weld to. This process is sometimes referred to as Bilateral Structure and we are also working on a (3 lb) frame utilizing it as well.


Neon paint only? Carbon fiber sleeves? Epoxy filling? Three-pound frames? Bilateral freaking Structure? You got me. Just for the fun of it, I looked up 'bilateral structure'. Most of the results had to do with either fibers or finance. There was also this definition:

Bilateral structure is an organization system that relies on reflection and / or duplication to achieve closure and equilibrium within a field. All bilateral fields can be divided into two identical or relatively similar halves on a single axis. The lateral axis within a field of absolute symmetry will delineate the two identical halves, while the lateral axis within an asymmetrical field will delineate two similar, but not identical, halves. The relative amount of absolute symmetry determines the orientation and position of this lateral axis within the field.


Yeah, I don't get it either. Well, I sort of do, but not how it fits this particular design.

Whether this whole thing is real or not (Chris never mentioned price, which I also asked about and I'd imagine would be rather prohibitive), I fully expect companies to start using materials like carbon fiber soon. Because how much lighter can you make a frame/fork/bar out of heat-treated chromoly? Seattubes and chainstays can only be so short, butted tubing so thin. And if lightness is going to remain the be-all and end-all, carbon is a cheaper alternative than titanium. I also fully expect to see an aluminum park/trails frame sooner rather than later. The Pulled Pork?

So whatever. Either we're all being taken on a ride (me especially), or things are about to get real interesting. Ever since S&M showed that one-piece clear plastic sprocket/guard combo, I've been at a total loss about what's serious and what isn't. I knew I should have booked a flight for Interbike.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The video this song is from really needs to be released on DVD.


29 comments:

Anonymous said...

well personally i like the idea for the bars but making frames out of that?? thats a joke. a frame made out of that wouldent hold up to flatland.

Russ said...

Someone sent me this link. So it's been used in cycling before.

Smitty said...

This is a sign of the coming apocolypse.

Anonymous said...

Is the song from Base Bklyn Neighborhood super heroes? super's part? i could be totally wrong.

Stephen said...

Guys, it might be time to stock up on some T-1's, some FBM's and maybe even some Sunday's.

BMX is about to get fucking goofy.

Like Minnie Mouse.

Anonymous said...

Russ, despite the fact that Titus uses that tech in MTB, I think it's pretty clear that Moeller is jerking your chain. I do not see it happening. A $120 pair of 9x32" "Lumberjack Slams" with little carbon diamonds and neon paint? Not going to happen. I think the name of the bars is the first clue...

Course, I could be wrong. I'm not sure why the weight craze doesn't just stop...are pros talking to their sponsors complaining that they can't get that one trick because their 4lb 12oz frame needs to be 4lbs 6oz?

Anonymous said...

Rims! I want honeycombed carbon resin-filled bi-lateral rims!!

Stephen said...

At this point they could just make a frame out of bamboo and if the kids can whip it, then it's solid gold.

Maybe bmxboard is right.

Fuck bmx.

Russ said...

duncan: It's entirely possible that it's all a big joke. The neon paint part seems particularly ridiculous. In which case haha. But that's sort of the point, I guess—NOTHING seems too ridiculous to be true these days. The fact that there are already a pair of 9x32 bars available and people are riding them is absolutely amazing to me.

Superfly said...

Great pick today, for the 'Guess the Video Part" quiz. I must say.

Never Met The Gooch said...

I think i once blamed Super for bringing emo into bmx videos.

At least his dreads are gone.

Anonymous said...

I hope they do make a frame like that because it will be so good !not just for the weight but for the design/looks of it

Anonymous said...

Bilateral Structure, surely?

cmon russ.

Smitty said...

You gotta wonder at this point if the Scam Bars and the plastic sprockets are being shown to throw the girlpants-crowd into spontaneous litewait convulsive orgasms, or to send Russ and SPRFLS readers into coronary attack. Or maybe Moeller has realized he can accomplish both divergent tasks with a single blog post, much to his own amusement.

Russ said...

It's entirely possible that Moeller is just entertaining himself (in which case I want those "prototype" bars to hang on my wall), but if S&M doesn't do it I fully expect someone else (cough, Eastern) to.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of the mid-school days when brand-x was all the rage w/ 4pc titanium bolt together forks! They sold like hot-cakes back then.

In all honesty I am not a fan of all the new trends but I am kind of excited in some way to see exactly how far it will all get pushed, and when enough is enough and a happy medium is found. Sort of like the mid-school aluminum and titanium tech. craze of the mid 90s ended up fading off and really good parts were being made.

If S&M is going to go back on all they have ever stood for and produce a carbon bike, I'm in the front row with a bucket of popcorn!

Anonymous said...

If it can handle grinding and all the associated abuse, sign me up...

If not, I may aswell try and ride a track frame at the trails.

Bailey said...

as has been pointed out, this is no new fangled technology. in fact, alot of good stuff in bmx has come from outside sources in the cycling world. but i would be terrified of running carbon an any bike that i would be dropping on a regular basis. one chip in it and you are done.

but considering the nature of the s&m post, and the nature of s&m in general, i wopuld have a hard time seeing this becoming a reality in the NEAR future. but give it some time...

Anonymous said...

auburn style frames are the next big thing. why just sell a whole frame when you can sell two pieces? ground thruough a chainstay? just buy a new backend. want to switch from 20.85 to 20.95? buy a new front end. believe it!

G.S.GUCCILIFE said...

Mr Moeller,wrought iron seatpost for me,thanx....

Anonymous said...

If S and M is for real, these bars will cost at least $250 dollars, if they make them to the same specs that Titus makes their tubing. SInce Titus has a patent, they'll liscence it to S&M or just make it for them, but I can't see a way to make them cheaply. Titus charges about $600 (retail) extra for the exogrid version of their Moto Lite dual suspension bike, http://preview.tinyurl.com/64tboc and there's only the down tube that is changed.

This has got to be Moeller yanking chains and mis-directing everyone before the trade show. He's probably going to release another line of taiwanese made parts or announce that he's buying Primo. Or maybe, he's just going to bring back the old Stricker frame and be done with it.

Smitty said...

Bill you and I are on the same wavelength, when I made the apocolypse comment. I was thinking of how S&M responded to the gimmicky 90's MTB crossover technology with an assertion of the superiority of DDHT frame design (Double Diamond Hard Tail.) BMX is in the Olympic Games tonight; if there is a place for this technology in BMX, it would be there - not in the street.

4130...only way!

Anonymous said...

Mork was from Ork.

Anonymous said...

99' S&M Shaun Butler bars were called Lumber bars so maybe these are his new signatures haha.

Michael said...

dont worry Russ the S&M site said the bars are fake. Thank god but you're right Eastern will probably have their prototypes next week.

Anonymous said...

So the joke is this:

"We told you we made something stupid, and we showed you pictures of it, and you kinda believed us, because we did make it, and we showed you the pictures. Burn!"

Funny shit.

Anonymous said...

bucktown

bk said...

I guess it's alright for S&M to rag on their own subsidiary's shirt, but not FBM?

Russ said...

As S&M jokes go, I liked the frame with the bolt-on headtube better.