Got a new bike since I was here last, a 2010 T1 Barcode. Somehow it's the first Terrible One I've ever ridden -- not the first one I've owned, but the first one I've ridden. There's still a Maas Barcode stashed in the attic (in the unopened box, no less), along with a Garrettcode that I always meant to build but never did.
As it turned out, I was in Austin over New Years before my frame got shipped, so I was able to stop by T1 HQ and receive my frame from the Ultimate Male himself. (I left it there and had it shipped back to NY, but that's not important here.) Eventually I got it built up, and it looks like this:
Well, it looked like that until I got rid of the skinwall tire. But you get the gist. The Barcode is still a classic BMX frame -- no tapered stays, no lightening holes, requires the use of an actual seatpost clamp -- but there's still something off. Compare the current Barcode above to the classic Barcode below:
Yes, that bike could beat up my bike. No, I don't want to go back to the days of dinnerplate sprockets and couch enema seats. However, I do hate the fact that front triangles have become so acute. What was wrong with standover height? The new-ish Barcode isn't exactly a Killorado, but come on, people. Are we that desperate to drop weight? It's bad enough that I need to hear I'm riding a little kid's bike, do I have to have people think I'm riding a little GIRL'S bike?
Sigh.
14 comments:
It lives!
Yay, keep updating.
And yeah, that frame is too low to be called a Barcode. Sorry.
However, T1 making slightly more modern frames is better than having no T1 at all, I suppose.
i could give that garretcode a home angelina couldn't even give an armload of vietnamese.
Yeah, it is lower slung for sure, but everything else is a-okay with me. I will be getting a Dave-built real soon.
Nice to have you back. Nice CNN article, BTW.
Sweet, glad to see this post today.
Nice work Russ.
What ever happened to the seatclamp t-shirts?
ahh the new barcodes will have an integrated clamp :-(
glad your back, like the seatpost clamp.
I find a bike with a lower standover is easier to move around in the air, including things like turndowns
Glad you're back.
Gotta make what sells, not just what you made before. Still, it's not too low. You can trust in Joe.
Really there is hardly any difference, I have a Mass built sfa, its standover is 8 center to center, I have an older Joe Rich code, it's 8.25 center to center, and I have a spooky built original code, its 9. The solid code is 8, over the nearly ten years of this frame its only dropped an inch.
ur back from the dead. good.
The newer frames look (and ride) so much better. I am so glad to be done with the days of ugly and janky feeling frames. Every company has progressed this way, not because it is a fad but because it is actually a better ride. Obviously T1 is going to make changes for the best.
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