Clamp Down

I'm sure lots of things happened while I was away -- lots of "innovation" and "progression" and all sorts of other neat stuff. Happily, I ignored much of it. And whilst my own new steed may be equipped with folding tires and giant handlebars, it's still (mostly) all black and those giant handlebars are four-piece.

To be honest, I prefer to focus on the things that didn't change. Heck, it's 2010 -- I figured street would have been taken over by a bunch of waiflike Garrett Reynolds clones throwing 720 whips down double sets on pegless, aluminum-framed "street" bikes with 28-spoke wheels and those aluminum Answer bars with the bolt-on crossbars. Basically, 13 Experts Gone Wild. But no, steel is still real, and most wheels are still 36-spoke. And I have yet to see a 22"-wheeled bike in the wild. Phew.

There is something that concerns me, though, and that is the continued effort to eradicate the seatpost clamp. Said campaign appears to be spearheaded by Animal pro riders, which is funny since Animal appears to still make/sell these. Now, though, appears to be the Era of the Wedge Post. It started over a year ago with the WTP Mike Brennan/Max Gaertig signature frame. That was only the beginning.

First -- well, maybe not first, but whatever -- we have the Wormz frame from FBM:



(Admittedly, the circumcised seattube is more than made up for by the coolest headbadge in BMX history.)

Then there's Skavenger. Long a rumor, now true, NYC's streetiest have come out with a full line of hardgoods including signature frames for both Edwin DeLaRosa and Vinnie Sammon. Neither is SPC-friendly. Needless to say, don't expect a Skavenger seatpost clamp anytime soon.

Hey, I get it. They're signature frames. And if Ed and Vinnie and Wormz and Mike and Max (UNDRCRWN x Animal collab?) are committed to the wedge post, they can design their frames any way they see fit. And I hope they sell. As for me? I'll be sticking to these.

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Oh man, awesome, S&M is manufacturing some of United's Grande Bars. Sweet! And they're...only available in the UK? Uh, right.