Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas II

Yeah, yeah, so Hunter S. Thompson never wrote a sequel. Doesn't mean he shouldn't have.

More Interbike nonsense, obviously.

It's worth noting that the Stolen Pivotal post from yesterday doesn't bother me so much because it's a plastic seatpost, but because it's an ORANGE plastic seatpost. It looks like something that belongs in a roadside emergency kit, or maybe a tackle box. Yes, it will probably be both lighter and cheaper than an aluminum post. But a) how often do you replace your seatpost, and b) how heavy is a stubby aluminum Pivotal post to begin with? I suppose if you're getting your first Pivotal setup it could make sense, but...yeah, whatever.

No original product shots for you today, so I'm just gonna steal some from Dig and comment on them instead. Here's the link if you just want to see the photos. (Day One here.)


1. FBM Exodus


It's an updated version, apparently, although Dig makes no effort to point out what the updates are. However, the maroon paint and prismatic stickers make it look like a late-'70s, early-'80s BMX bike, which is never a bad thing. I always thought someone should rip off Mongoose's original 'BMX' headtube sticker.



2. Fit cruisers.


We're all getting older. It can't be helped. And as all the owners of rider-owned companies—Miron, Cielencki, Sher, Castillo, Morales—age, thoughts turn to big wheels. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying this and the real reason for all these 'street' cruisers is that market research revealed that the 24" (and 26") market is ready to take off like a rocket, but oversimplification is my bag, baby. Do NOT tell me if FBM and Metal come out with cruisers, I'm not sure whether I could handle it.


3. Eastern Bi-rectional hub


"Bi-rectional," besides being Porno of the Year for 1998, is the name of Eastern's new convertable cassette/coaster hub. Anyway, Dig took a pre-emptive shot at us blogging types out here:

This is Eastern’s bi-rectional freecoaster which can also be transformed into a cassette hub. It works awesome, but I’m sure the blogosphere will find something to bitch about anyways....

"It works awesome." Is this because someone at Eastern said so, or did Dig put it through some sort of condensed torture test? Because while I'm sure it worked great on the display bike in Vegas, and I'd like to believe it IS awesome, I can't help but think of folding Grim Reapers and improperly welded titanium cranks. Love to take your word for it fellas, but I wouldn't want to be the first one on my block with one of these. I'll hold out for V2, thanks.

(Would have also been cool to hear more about how it works. Is it really worth taking the guts out of your hub any time you want to switch between cassette and coaster?)

Also, if you get a bi-rection for more than four hours, see a doctor.


4. Macneil race frame


This is kind of awesome, actually. I'm not sure whether Macneil will be sponsoring racers or just hooking up their team riders, but I do know that it should lead to some gnarly tracks if Jay Miron is involved. Here's hoping for water-hazard doubles filled with beer and alligators.



5. Federal grips

Hey look, it's more Longneck derivatives! It's so funny. Company A picks up Rider B, who loves Longnecks. Company A wants Rider B to run THEIR grips, so they come up with a grip design that is almost-but-not-quite like Longnecks just so Rider B can still feel like he's running Longnecks even while he isn't. My question is, who the heck is left running actual Longnecks? ODI should sue everyone.


6. Unnamed Federal frame.


I know it's unnamed (and a Federal) because Dig told me:

A yet unnnamed Federal frame with low standover height, steep head angle and short back end.

Wow, gee, how stunningly original. And look at that! Drilled-out stay caps and clearance for a big tire in the back! How revolutionary! We here at SPRFLS would like to suggest some names, since Federal apparently shot their creative load coming up with the unique design:

• The Burr
• North Dakota
• Generica
• Zee Rocks
• The Follower
• Decimal
  

7. Animal cassette hub

Whenever a company enters a market that they've previously left untouched, I always wonder what team riders are supposed to do. Because it's entirely possible at this point for a rider to be sponsored by three different companies—who once never overlapped—that all make, say, seats, or handlebars. How do you decide who to rep?

In the interests of full disclosure, I saw this hub a while back but was sworn to secrecy. Not that I knew anything about it anyway. It doesn't lace weird, it doesn't have a massive female axle, it doesn't have bushings instead of bearings. About all I can tell you is that it's purple, has aluminum axle nuts, and comes with a matching hubguard. What else do you need?


I'm a little disappointed that no one took pictures of the what must be countless new Pivotal seats debuting at Interbike. UGP has something like 20 new 'designs' all by themselves. If I do go next year, perhaps that will be my mission. Since no one else has chosen to accept it.

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UPDATE: Dig posted a third batch of Interbike photos with the admonition not to steal them. I feel like I'm in the legal clear since I was commenting and editorializing, but if I made someone mad, I apologize.

I won't post anything from said third batch, but I will say that the red Versa frame is gross, and that the Kink Empire Revision C is the equivalent of Dave Grohl re-naming The Foo Fighters "Nirvana Revision B." The only thing it has in common with the original Kink Empire is that it's a BMX frame made by Kink. No piercings, NO SALE. Jerks.

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Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

Let's run through some Interbike photos, shall we? Thanks again to Jacob for sending them—his comments will appear first in quotes.


1. Kink Pivotal posts.


Here we have Kink's two varieties of seatpost—slammable, and absolutely have to be slammed. I'm sure that extra inch of aluminum is all that's keeping you from triple whips. (More importantly, note the seatpost clamps in the background. Keep hope alive!)



2. Kink ceramic headset.


Ceramic bearings are all the rage in road and mountain (and industrial applications, I'm sure). They're smoother, faster, and—of course—more expensive. This Kink version is supposed to retail for somewhere in the neighborhood of $100. Let's hope they remembered to make them correctly this time. Think this is a case of killing a fly with a grenade—does anyone's headset not spin smoothly enough? Will this help someone pull a sextuple whip or 37 barspins? Is it worth spending quadruple what a "regular" headset costs? Let me think...no.


3. KHE Centaur bar/stem combo.



Uh, the handlebar is actually a three-piece bar? Color me frightened.


“At first glance this you would think this would be a seat post clamp. but you would be wrong. It's the clamp inside the one piece bar and stem combo. Looks like a seat post clamp from 10 years ago.”

Yes it does. Words cannot express my disappointment.


4. KHE freecoaster.




"Coaster hub that you can adjust with only a allen key through the middle of the axle, allowing you to adjust on the fly for how much play you want without have take anything off the bike. Pretty sweet, but I dont ride a freecoaster hub.”

Neither do I, but having dealt with a Geisha Street for a while (two washers or three?), I can see where this would be a desireable development. Look for every other freecoaster maker out there to quickly license it if it works.


5. T-1 Cyclops stem.


Ain't gonna lie, I'm pretty happy to see an honest-to-God new T1 product. And I can appreciate stems with no bolts on the back, but a traditional four-bolt cap. Not really psyched on split caps, but oh well. At least it's not carved up all to hell and back.


6. Sunday Model D


I was going to call this Sunday's long-awaited trails frame, but I'm not sure whether people were really waiting for them. I know it has "normal" 5mm dropouts and a regular non-wave downtube. I do not know whether it has longer stays. The graphics are pretty rad, though. And you can't go wrong with olive and silver. Please make padsets.


7. Odyssey sidehack


I never understood sidehacks, even in the BMX Action days. Cool-looking bike, though. Are those...Cyclecraft bars?


8. Fly grips...er, grip?

Interesting. One grip that you can cut yourself to custom lengths. Or, if you ride a fixed with drops, buy two and cut the flanges off. I'm sure there are other uses for it, too, but this isn't that kind of website.



9. 2-Hip Groove...whatever.


“quite possibly the worst eye sore at interbike... I cant really say much more...”

And I already said enough.



10. Fit forks.

“kind of hard to see but the forks get crazy tapered down near the drop outs. dakota has been riding them and that have held up. hmmmm.”

They were displayed on the Dakota Roche frame, which I don't know anything about except that it has gussets on the top and bottom at the headtube. I'd like to see the Dakota, Eddie and DeHart frames side-by-side.


11. DK Random Wrench V2


“spoke wrench built into the top, sleeker one-peice design. with a little socket nub on the side. much nicer looking. not a bike part but something to make fixing it much easier.”

I've never had a Random Wrench—if I was carrying a camera bag anyway I didn't mind loading individual tools—but it makes sense, at least. Seems inevitable that I'll wind up with one.


12. Premium 3.3 pound frame


“sooo you make a 3.3 lbs frame and you build it up and bolt it to a stand, yet have no stand- alone frame to pick up... premium you are intelligent! so the tubes are double butted and drawn in a special way. then heat treated for 3.5 times longer than normal frames. haro guy said it would shatter before it bent... so you have that to look forward to!”

I'm not sure whether I need to add anything to that, other than the low standover is disgusting and the "Strawberry" toptube integrated seatclamp may be worse.


13. Stolen Pivotal post.


“more plastic! excuse me thermalite...”

I'm genuinely torn. On the one hand, if you're going to just slam your post anyway, there's no reason it shouldn't be made of plastic or wood or cardboard or whatever. On the other hand, is it really necessary? I vote HELL no. How heavy can one of those stubby little aluminum bits be? Now, if it was a plastique post, that would be a different story. I could get behind that.


14. Haro Freestyler


My friend Ian sent me this one. While the double top tube and graphics look spot-on, and the black mags are appropriate enough, I always hate the generic three-piece cranks and padded seats that appear on these throwback bikes. Not to mention the pseudo Gower Power sprocket and all-black tires. Bikes like this just end up looking like a mish-mash of styles from different eras and aren't particularly good for anything, except preying on the nostalgia-blinded. Why not do it right?

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Viva Las Vegas

Can I just say I found it quite funny that, in the first segment of the first day of Interbike videos on RIDE, the first product introduced was a fixed gear complete? Apparently Subrosa will be joining Volume and FBM in the fixed gear market. Which is all well and good, 'cause company owners gotta eat, and one would presume the margins are better on big-wheeled bikes. That said, the first product shown? Come on.



What else did we learn from the first-day videos? (Hopefully I'll get photos of some of this stuff for tomorrow—at which point I'll be happy to discuss it all further):

• Fit is making plastic pedals.
• They're also giving Dakota Roche a signature frame (which makes...six signature frames? Seven including the Lurch?)
  
• Sunday will be offering a cruiser frame and fork. (They're not alone—WTP and Subrosa already had cruisers in their respective lines, and Macneil will be offering a rather lovely complete 26" looptail cruiser straight out of 1981.)
  
• Sunday has also added a trails frame, which will be waveless and feature "normal" 5mm dropouts. If it's lighter, I guarantee people will be riding it as a street frame.
  
• Aside from the fixed gear, Subrosa will be offering a Kryptonite-esque chain lock. Oh yeah, they'll also be making some BMX bikes and stuff.
• The 2-Hip Anniversary Pork is just plain crazy (and Ron uses all-caps more than I do, damn). I'm not quite sure who's going to buy it.
• Although I guess retro is in, as Subrosa is doing that bashguard bike as well as a mag-wheeled 20", Haro is offering an update of the original '82 Freestyler, and Sunday's Second Wave colors are based on bikes from Haro's '87 line.

Lots of colors now, too. Almost too many. In fact, it reminds me of the days immediately before the dark days, when damn near every mailorder part listing was followed by the cryptic notation "R-B-Y-BK-W-O-L-GR-GY-BB." (That specific string was for Tuff Wheels in July 1987, by the way.)

Anyways, there will be much more tomorrow. I'm not sure whether I'd be way more on top of things if I was there or not. Maybe the exact opposite.

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I'm kind of hoping someone spots a worse complete than this, but at the same time I'm not sure whether I could handle it. Meet the Bully Impulse:


I mean, seriously, why even bother? Other than the tiny gearing and the small dropouts, this thing looks like a time traveller from 1998. It's even got the chainstay dimple for a 44-tooth sprocket (and what looks like a 65-degree headtube). I almost wish I had a kid so I could not buy him this.

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Blue Falcon, Orange Cranks, and Green Clovers

Working on something longer for tomorrow (here's a hint), so just some quick hits today, I fear.

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The latest entry for "What Does A Real Bike Look Like?," courtesy of the Blue Falcon:

I particularly like the inverted frontload drop stem with high-rise bars and a spacer underneath. Time for a new Fit topload stem? Also please note the visible seatpost, big dirt front tire, metal pedals and dress-unfriendly standover height. BFF!

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Hey look, a new Profile color. No way!


Still somewhat surprised that Profile keeps banging out new colors of the Race Cranks without trying a bigger, hollow spindle or a two-piece design or something. While I do respect the "if it ain't (that) broke, don't fix it" mentality, I also think there would be a huge market for a Profile crank that's stronger than the Race but not quite as massively overbuilt as the SS/DJ. American-made, 22mm, 48-spline chromoly cranks? How could they miss?

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If you ever wanted to knock off your own Pivotal setup, here's your chance. Or at least you can see how many patents are involved. From an interview Tunney did with Darcy at Macneil. (I would love to know how much revenue the Pivotal patents bring in annually—not that anyone will ever tell me. Bastards.)

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Ben Ward at Odyssey sent me this along with my monthly check (kidding!)—that's a gen-you-wine SPRFLS sticker on the bike rack in front of the PDX's own Goods. Holla. (I'm gonna get more made soon, promise.)

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Finally, how could something right be so wrong? Don't get me wrong, it's totally awesome that Vans gave Tobias Wicke a signature shoe, especially since they seem to be hard to come by these days (signature shoes for BMXers, not Vans).


But a full-length visible airbag on a pair of Vans? For serious? It's like Ian MacKaye rocking a fauxhawk or a vintage Ferrari with spinners or Metallica...well, doing pretty much everything they did after 1990. Come on Vans, you're better than that! Leave the gimmicky nonsense for companies like DC, please.

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Pivotal Discussion

"Hey, didn't Odyssey say they'd never make a Pivotal seat?"
"I don't know whether they said never. Seemed pretty unlikely, though."
"Man, that's so weak."
"But wait, it's a totally new base. And they offer a pre-stripped version. Kids'll be psyched on that."
"Yeah, whatever. Sellouts!"
"Still, the plastic ones look better than any Macneil or Animal with the padding ripped off."
"Yeah, whatever. Why are you rationalizing so much? You're a sellout, too."
"Look, I just can't hate on any seat with a lightning bolt on it."
"SEEEEELLLLLLOOOUUUUT. How much are they paying you to say this?"
"Man, it's just a Pivotal version of one of their existing designs. At least it's not another fashionably re-covered Velo. And at least they're not offering yet another re-branded stump post."
"Yet."
"Yeah, I'd assume they'll do a post eventually. Wouldn't want the team riders to be running another company's product."
"Why do you do that all the time?"
"What?"
"Assume. You're wrong half the time, ya fuckin' moron."
"I don't know. Old habits die hard, I guess."
"You're still a moron. Well, let's see you defend the Odyssey Pivotal post. What are they gonna do to make it different from the 25 of them already out there?"
"No idea. Maybe they'll put a pump in it or something."
"Right. Like Odyssey would ever do something like that."
"Oh well. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

••••••••••••••••••••••

Just in case you're wondering whether the concept for the new Fit Hawk x Empire was a new one in BMX, the answer is an emphatic no:


Hutch did it 20-odd years ago.

Still pretty cool, though.

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When I saw the photo of Joe Simon's new Cosmotron, it reminded me of something. Maybe it's just me?

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I've always loved this song.

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EDIT: Thanks to Jim Bauer for coming through with the Aerator image.

Unshaven

First things first: a correction.

(Not sure about you, but I hate that newspapers and magazines hide their corrections way at the bottom of a page. I'm gonna buck the trend—and this one wasn't even my fault!)

Turns out the new Simple frame I talked about on Monday won't have a shaved headtube after all. I got an e-mail from Jimmy Röstlund at Simple/Eject that cleared things up:

I saw a short little note on about Simple going into production with the "shaved" headtube thing. I know that Sidewall posted that on their news page, but it's a miscommunication and I have taken the appropriate action to get that corrected.

We did do prototypes with that style headtube, but we decided to go with a normal style headtube after testing. If you look at the photos that were posted of the frame you can clearly see that it's the same headtube as we've previously released. I've attached a photo that shows the headtube more.

Thanks, Jimmy. I'll be curious to see whether Sunday goes forward with it.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

Heat-treated. Colorways. "Super Bake." What could I possibly be talking about? Frames? Bars? Nope—try stem bolts. Hollow, powdercoated stem bolts. They're the 21st century equivalent of dice valve caps.

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If you're like, a downhill/freeride/urban MTB type or a fixed-gear freestyler, now there's a stem to go with all your pink Chris King stuff. Pretty and strong indeed. It's Hollywood Mike Miranda!

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I meant to link to this earlier—Brian Tunney recently posted an interview he did with Joe Rich about the future of Terrible One. Seems like some production will be shifting to Taiwan. Makes sense to me. Knowing the little that I do know about frame production and profit margins, it's hard to believe any company can survive selling US-made frames that aren't produced in-house. BMX frame retail prices haven't increased appreciably in the past decade, while the costs of everything—from raw materials to transportation—have increased a great deal. Factor in that the framebuilders and company owners (not to mention sponsored riders and other employees) probably like eating a couple times a week and living under roofs with luxuries like electricity and hot water, and either prices need to go up or costs need to go down. Probably both.

(I wanted to sprinkle some quotes in here, but assblasters isn't loading for me right now. Shame.)

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Went and saw The Dark Knight in Imax last night. Not bad, although they could have easily cut 10 (or maybe even 20) minutes without doing any damage to the main storyline. And while Heath Ledger was really good, I feel like his portrayal of the Joker wouldn't be getting this much attention if he was still alive.

Anyway, did this remind anyone else of something like this? Flat black and fat tires, woo hoo.

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Easy one?

Who Buys BMX T-Shirts?

Fit has a new t-shirt out featuring what appears to be an angry grizzly bear.




Let us ignore for the moment that it just seems like a more aggro version of Lotek's Nightwolf shirt:



Which, in turn, was just a bite of (I'm sorry, "homage to") countless other shirts that have been available at cheesy mall stores and mountain time zone gift shops for the past 20 years:




What's important here is this: Why have a shirt CALLED the "grizz air shirt" and not have someone doing an actual Griz in the ad? Is there no one on Fit who can do a Griz? For an example, see the classic shot of Stephen Murray below:



Griz Airs were popularized (if not invented) by Josh White back in the '80s, and later became a staple of a young Taj Mihelich. It would be nice if now they were more than just the name of a t-shirt. But oh well, it's not a tailwhip. Why even bother?

(I can't wait for the inevitable striking cobra all-over-print Matt Beringer shirt. Here, just re-brand this one.)

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?)

•••••••••••••••••••

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.

Wild, With My Monochrome Style

It was inevitable, I suppose, the return of the monochrome BMX bike. Haven't seen any in NYC yet (besides the ubiquitous all-black versions, which have never gone out of style and represent more of a complete lack of obsession with color than an unhealthy one), but a quick spin around the web reveals a couple of freshly built examples:

The first one I saw was this all-white Kink. Quite the photo, huh? It reminded me of two things—ghost bikes, which are locked to signposts and light poles to memorialize cyclists who were killed (or injured) near the spot, and the all-white GT Pro Freestyle Tour that came out in the '80s during a Euro craze (if I'm not mistaken, BMX Plus! did an all-white "Project Euro" as well):


The only mystery about the Kink are the tires, which I expect are Primo Walls. Not the best choice for a current bike, but white tires are hard to come by these days. (If you're going to ride this bike, stock up.) I'm pretty sure the last time I had a set I also had white Z-Rims. Also, don't lock it up in a major city unless you want people to assume it's a tribute to the dead and get REALLY mad at you when you unlock it.


Then there was this all-red Fit Hawk, which was posted on the Fit site around the same time as they announced the availability of the red frame and parts. Like the white Kink, it was built by a shop (and I'd be curious to know whether either of them actually sell).

The Fit, like the Kink, appears to be all current with the exception of the tires, in this case Primo V-Monsters. They made V-Monsters in blue as well, so one would hope someone would make a Crip Hawk to go with the Blood version. (I'm surprised by how well the tones match, despite the use of both flat and gloss red, and paint and anodization and rubber.)


My favorite mostly monochrome bike was a Pro Performer that Eddie Fiola rode back in the mid-'80s, a recent semi-accurate reproduction which is shown here:


Given the black tires and the gold and chrome parts, it's more like one of Aaron Ross's neon monstrosities than the unicolors above. But it wouldn't surprise me one bit if colored tires made a comeback sometime soon. What goes around, comes around.

Bike Check (By Request)

Seeing that there has been some wonder in the comments section about my own ride, here it is:



FRAME: 21" Fit Edwin 2007 prototype
FORKS: Odyssey Race
BARS: Animal Bob Lite
STEM: Animal Jumpoff
CRANKS: Odyssey Wombolt, LHD, 175mm
PEDALS: Odyssey Jim C Mag (unsealed)*
SPROCKET: Terrible One American Flyer, 28t
FRONT WHEEL: Odyssey Hazard Lite/Vandero 2
REAR WHEEL: Odyssey Hazard Lite/LHD cassette, 10t
TIRES: Odyssey Plyte 2.1
PEGS: Odyssey Pleg (4)**
SEAT: Animal Cush
POST: Macneil
GRIPS: Animal Edwin
BAR ENDS: Odyssey Par Ends
HEADSET: FSA Impact
CHAIN: KMC 510hx

* Actually, the pedals are currently black Twisted PCs (I know)...
** ...mostly because I'm running Plegs. Seemed silly to have plastic pegs and metal pedals. Still not used to grinding quietly.

MODS: Not much—I'm no Chase Gouin. Cut the seatpost, cut the steerer, that's it.

(I realize that the one photo is something of a cop-out—I meant to do a shot-for-shot match of the Fit S3.5 preview, but it just never happened.)

Gotta Know When To Fold 'Em

When KHE introduced their folding freestyle tires, I thought they were stupid.



Yes, folding tires with Kevlar beads have been made for road and mountain bikes for years. (As usual, BMX is only a decade or so behind the times.) All sorts of pros run them with minimal problems.

Yes, it's an easy and relatively cheap way to save a fairly substantial amount of weight—rotating weight, even!

But, as stated here on several occasions, I'm not particularly enamored with KHE and their BMX "innovations." (Remember the proprietary Coke-can headtube internal detanglers?) The idea of buying a lighter—and more expensive—tire that would no doubt wear down faster just to save a couple of ounces wasn't really appealing. Not to mention the whole folding thing was entirely inconsequential unless one was embarking on a long road trip or planning on mailing them to people. Who carries extra tires on a regular riding day? There was no way this whole expensive folding tire thing was going to catch on in BMX.

As usual, I was wrong. Laughably so.

They sold like crazy to the gram-conscious (and bike-check obsessed) crowd, and now there are no shortage of companies making (read: putting their logo and tread pattern on) folding tires—Fit, Fly, Animal, We The People, even Revenge Industries. (I envision Sean McKinney unravelling stolen bulletproof vests to harvest the Kevlar for them.) The Kevlar beads alone, according to the late, great Sheldon Brown, save roughly 50 grams—two ounces—per tire. Of course he was talking about road and mountain tires, which are larger in diameter. So lets say it's more like three ounces per pair. That's not too shabby. For example, it's more than you'll save by going from a steel to ti rear axle (according to the Profile website, their solid chromoly 14mm rear axle weighs 8.1 ounces, while a ti one weighs 5.3 ounces).




But according to the ever-reliable Dan's Comp website, the weight savings are actually more substantial than that. A regular old 2.1 Animal GLH tire weighs in at 26.9 ounces, while the identical size GLH Type R is 21.2 ounces. That's 5.7 ounces per tire, almost 3/4 pound for the pair. A 20x2.15 KHE "Park" tire saves you even more weight—it's only 13.4 ounces, four ounces lighter than their "Street" tire. A pair of the big "Park" tires weighs less than a single 20x2.1 GLH. Absurd.

So there's obviously more to this than just Kevlar beads. Thinner sidewalls, lighter casing, different rubber compounds, less rubber overall, crystal meth. BMX tires went straight Star Jones. What's not to like?

Well, how about flats? I hate 'em. Used to hate 'em so much that I would run an old tire with the bead cut off inside another tire. The upside was that you could run over Kerry King and not get a flat. The downside was that my wheels weighed about as much as the ones on a Harley-Davidson. Not that anyone was overly concerned with that sort of thing. Obviously priorities have changed. And while many of the folding tires also offer sturdier lightweight casing to reduce flats, that's not going to help much if you run over an industrial staple. Or, for that matter, if you let your PSI get too low. Folding tires aren't like Primo Walls, which you could safely run down to approximately eight psi. If you're going to go the folding route, invest in a decent floor pump. You'll need to keep that pressure up.

(By the way, if you couldn't tell, I absolutely love the pillbug product shots that accompany all the folding tire announcements and advertisements. "Our tires roll up 4.6 percent tighter than the competitors!" "Our tires can be shot out of a cannon!")

Price is still a bit of a deterrent as well. Sure, folding tires are only $15 or so more per tire than their conventional brethren. But if you go through tires in a hurry, that adds up quick. The cost per ounce saved will only go up over time. It's up to you to decide whether it's really worth it. If you primarily ride smooth indoor parks, folding tires make perfect sense. If you primarily ride glass-strewn city streets, maybe they're not such a great idea.

As of now, at least you still have a choice. Folding tires haven't totally supplanted "normal" tires. If you want a $35 lightweight tire that can be sent to you in an envelope, you can get those. If you want a $17 unfoldable tire with steel beads and enough tread to endure a summer's worth of skids, you can get those, too. (And you can also get a $22 tire that falls somewhere in the middle—non-folding, but lighter than a "conventional" tire.) If you want to pick your tire by weight, you can do that (if so, I recommend you also pick up one of these). If you want to go by price, that's fine, too. Which means the tire market is healthier than the frame market—imagine if you could still choose between, say, a Tierra and an Angel of Death. Choice, in this case, appears to be a good thing.

But I can also still think that folding tires in BMX—at least in their current incarnation—are more trouble than they're worth for the average rider. Like too many things these days, folding tires are great if you're a sponsored pro who gets them by the case. Not so much if you have to dip into the rent money every time you need a new one.