Anyway, someone shot me this link the other day. It's a 6.9 ounce, six-bolt frontload stem:
The company is from Portugal, which explains some of the unnerving typos and misspellings. But it's hard to believe that some no-name company could produce a stem a full third lighter than the lightest frontload stems available and expect people to think "oh yeah, they obviously know better than [S&M, Solid, Premium, Animal, etc.], who needs a nine-ounce stem?" It's machined to within an inch of your life. (The way I see it, there are places where you can shave ounces with little or no consequence, and there are places where you can't. The stem is one of the latter.)
••••••••••••
If you want to piss off George French, compare one of his products to a Bullseye product from the '80s. I triple-dog dare you. Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.
That said, this "new" WTP hub innovation is more or less exactly like something Bullseye (and maybe Phil Wood, too) came up with in the '80s. Instead of an axle, you have a through-bolt with a nut on one end. How this makes more sense than a standard axle (or a massive central axle with bolts on either end) is beyond me.
••••••••••••
Yeah, it should be Prong. It isn't.
26 comments:
Wouldn't the smarter move on the WTP hub be to have the anti-rotation bit go on the peg side, so you wouldn't need a deep socket to take off the wheel? The pin would go in to both a hole in the peg (pegs already have lightening holes there) and then in to the dropout slot. I'm pretty tired right now, but that seems like a better move to me.
So basically, what we have here is just a 3/8 axle drilled through to fit a one sided skewer. Sure, that's MUCH better than the 22mm hollow screw-in axle G-Sport uses. And the skewers are easier to replace than 14mm standard thread bolts too, I'm sure they'll still be in production 10 years from now.
there is an anti rotation pin on the peg i believe, but who uses those anyhow?
i switch to the mutiny lifted stem and stripped the bolts on initial install. could never get, or keep them tight enough. went back to the o.g. fly and will never switch away from grade 8 solid bolts.
hey Russ, remember when Brooklyn Machine Works made some kinda axle setup with those bullseye hubs, i cant remember for sure, but i think it was just a gigantic bolt and american thread nut on one side
they machined a big spacer, (again motorcycle style, but butted against the bearing race square perhaps??) inside the hub so you didnt crush the bearings...it was all this sick slip fit masterpiece, simple, strong as fuck, a hardware store away from a quick fix
never took off because of spokes...or pot, lots and lots of pot
problem was you needed the bullseye hubs and they were only available in 36... when 48's were the only real double wall rim you could get (this is way before "alex" existed and the only odyssey rims were the t1000's or some shit)
oh the irony kills me, im just slappin on some 144's daytons en shit, nah mean son
fuck your hub, were all broke, remember the middle class is dead?
full circle man, yet again, 4750324 variations of shit thats been done...
hey, fun fact.. did you know a 1993 haro sport complete with bashguard weighed in at 25 lbs...
bring back TRIMOLY!!!!
Don't you people see? It's soooo much simpler...
I'm pretty sure Mutant Bikes is a freeride Mountain bike company releasing some bmx parts.. so i would assume they know what they're doing
Has anyone heard anything on the Super Rat / T-1 stem?
It's being made in Taiwan at the same factory as Nice stems now.
to back up WTP: they don't claim this to be new
"The skewer system is something that has been seen for long enough on many race orientated bikes (like the quick release system)"
i still don't see any benefit from it
Screw the hub Russ....I want to know about the SPRFLS t-shirts! Hopefully there will be stickers too! I will proudly wear the shirt on my body and the stickers on my 2-Hip chrome-moly pork I just built up with all light-weight parts...under 30lbs. It is my personal joke for all the kids at the local park that are obsessed with weight.
http://s717.photobucket.com/albums/ww179/davalli5/?action=view¤t=122708009.jpg
Hman, That Pork is AWESOME!
That Mutant Bikes stem looks legit. It looks like your every day modern stem... And if you don't mind ripping the front-load bolts through the front of the stem and smashing your face on the ground leaving you scarred for life with a busted nose and missing teeth, I see no issues with it.
'chingers' was my security word. Hilarious! funny word. no clue what it means, but it should mean something gross... "man, she gave you the chingers!"
there are places where you can shave ounces with little or no consequence, and there are places where you can't.
Yes.
The stem is one of the latter.
No. Or not yet.
In my many, many years of smashing around on tiny stems that OG REDNECK 4 LYFErs mock and fear, I think it's the only part I've never broken.
What the deal appears to be is that as long as the design is the traditional little fist we all know, not one of those cigar cutter lookin' jokes (fittingly, my verification word is tortion), about half the material you're used to seeing down there isn't doing anything but making you feel better.
And that's important. You can't bomb shit all back-in-the-day style if you're afraid of your bike. But don't pretend you're not just being emo about it.
Have these guys send you one. You'll live to forget it's there.
mutant is a freeride mnt bike co with a few 24" frames based around bmx style parts...the dropouts are designed for bmx cassette hubs, they use spanish bb's, u brake mounts and bmx size seattubes...
the stem seems like it could be trusted for a while. i would like to see sean burns riding one, but id hate to see what would happen. on their promo, the tester seems to be airing out some 6 feet or so, which means diddly for a few runs. i just dont want a curb junkie to make something thats made for "trails/street" and wont even hold true for flat. ive seen it happen to troy mcmurray. im not doubting the fact that who knows, this could be stronger than my dk xlt, which i still use here n there which weighs more than a pack of oreos.. my dk alpha uses 6mil. this one just seems iffy though.
surely the greatest stresses on a stem are the areas between the bolts and not the huge hunk of metal between the bar base and the steerer?
So if they are just maching this area to their hearts content its probably fine. Anyway I just air quarters and nibble maunuals so I'd be happt enough with that.
let's post some pics of broken stems.
oops i don't have any.
for your approval, a Bullseye stem I just found on their site:
http://www.bullseyecycleusa.com/Pictures/stem%20pix%20hub%20array%20022.JPG
SHIRTS. SHIRTS. SHIRTS. SHIRTS. SHIRTS.
are you serious Ronan? The middle part of the stem between the steerer and bars is under a lot of stress. Who needs a stem that light anyway?
Whoa. That's a Ginormous hole in that Bullseye stem.
I can never understand why a company posts CAD renderings of the products they are working on. Keep that shit under wraps til you've proven it and are ready to release it.
It's hard to build excitement in blogs and on message boards for a totally unproven product that is still on the drawing board, but it sure is easy to attract a negative backlash.
i can't tell for sure but i wonder if the bolts are 6mm, as in the diameter of the threads are 6mm not 8mm or 5/16" like the usual bmx stems. the union street bikes stem:http://www.unionstreetbikes.com/2008/11/stems-and-bars.html
uses 6mm bolts and weighs in at 215 grams. i don't know if there is any conclusive information in the bmx world concerning using smaller bolts on a stem?
I first read "Not sure whether it's awesome or pathetic" as "awesome or plastic" which I think has equal or greater impact.
Phil, my conclusion is that larger bolts and more thread engagement equals more clamp force. Shameless plug: check www.retrobmx.com for a heavy, unstylish top load that does not slip. Finally back in stock.
If the Mutiny stem is made from the right stuff, I'm sure it could hold up OK. http://www.pointoneracing.com/ make MTB stems that are lighter by quite a margin, those stems haven't failed. They are a pretty damn new company too. But whether Mutiny make the right choices is the deciding factor on if the stem will take any abuse... or even install without breaking...
There is extra weight on the Mutiny stem, but of course, the stresses on a BMX stem are more than that of a MTB. Quite obviously.
^^^^This guy's confusing me.
^^^^^^^^^^
I'm sure he meant Mutant Bikes
My word verification is testiz
LOLOLOL
Post a Comment