Friday Quiz

I've never been happier to post a quiz, mainly because it gets that Odyssey slideshow thing off of my mission statement. The nerve! I suppose if I were more web-savvy, I could have found a way to run it smaller. Then again, if I were truly more web savvy, I wouldn't be using a stock Blogspot template to begin with. OK, that's enough use of the word 'savvy' for one day, I think. On with the show.




1. Yarr mateys, this be the new KHE Astern freecoaster:

Kudos for the nautical-themed name (I need to run one on me Black Pearl), but boo for coming up with a name that can be easily confused with the name of another bike company. What were the other names KHE considered?

a) Unday

b) It

c) Acneil

d) Utiny

e) BM



2. Standard's prototype topload stem has the top bearing cover for the headset built right in. With an internal headset and a fork with a built-in race, all you need is bearings.

What sort of problems does this present?

a) You can't run that cool carbon topcap.

b) You can't run your stem inverted.

c) You can't run 17 spacers with your Sky Highs.

d) All of the above.





3. This is the Primo 330 Pivotal seatpost.

Why would you ever want such a long post?

a) To use as a weapon when cornered.

b) You can keep your weed in it.

c) As a reinforcement for Grim Reapered seattubes.

d) To raise the seat on your Killorado to the height of a regular slammed seat.

e) Haha, there's no way that's a real product.





4. What is this?

a) One of those things they bolt into your bones if you break one really badly.

b) A septum piercing.

c) The newest Skull Candy headphones.

d) Blue.

e) I have no idea.




5. Remember when the Fit Edwin was the only frame you could buy stock with no 990 mounts? Now seemingly every company offers a brakeless complete (with CPSC-mandated caliper brake)—even MirraTrek is joining in for '09 with one of their own.
Who makes the above bit of instant street cred?

a) Verde

b) Kink

c) FBM

d) Fit

e) We The People





BONUS QUESTION: Who's better at t-shirt design?

a) Me.



b) Primo
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How the hell is it the end of summer already?

Pollcraft

Just from checking BMXfeed compulsively on an hourly basis (more often than it gets updated, I think), I've noticed there have been quite a few polls in BMX lately. Profile asked what limited color you all want to see next—personally, I couldn't decide between "waiting room beige" and "vulva pink"—and Orchid posted a bingo-card like offering of former models and (gulp) colorways for potential re-issue in recognition of their fifth anniversary:


My reaction to that one was swift: Orchid has been around for five years?

Polls have been part of BMX forever, of course—from reader polls to NORA Cup voting. I think I may have even voted for Greg Hill and Mike Dominguez once. And if I didn't, I definitely meant to. This recent rash of polling made me think: why don't more companies look for direct input? Instead of telling us what we want, why don't they ask us? I've come up with poll suggestions for a variety of companies. Some are too late, but others could still do some good.


• EASTERN: What part of our frames should we cut full of holes next?

a) Downtube
b) Toptube
c) Seatstays
d) Whatever Kyle Busch thinks is best

• S&M: Should we destroy the 21" Stricker by lowering the toptube and eliminating the anchor brace?

a) Yes
b) No

Additional question: What country's flag should we wrap around our stems next?

a) Canada
b) France
c) China
d) Angola

• Odyssey/G-Sport: What part should George French entirely re-imagine?

a) Headset
b) Handlebars
c) Grips
d) Bolt-on framestanding platforms

• Fly: Should we keep re-inventing the bottom bracket?

a) Yes
b) No
c) Dude

• Terrible One: Should we manufacture the Barcode overseas?

a) Yes
b) No
c) You still make the Barcode?

• Primo: Which rider should we kick off the team next?

a) Tony Neyer
b) Josh Stricker
c) E-Man
d) Someone who isn't even on the team yet

Additional question: Do you think Josh Stricker would ever run plastic pedals?

a) Hahaha
b) No, seriously, hahaha

• Giant: 我們為什麼要作出為BMX自行車?

a) 為愛
b) 為錢
c) 為犬

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Great song whether you know where it's from or not.

Little Things

• Animal is releasing a butted version of their Light pegs (Lighters?), which shaves 0.7 ounces per peg. It'll also mean they'll wear out faster, but hey, that's your problem. When companies like Animal are starting to put weight first, the Apocalypse must be right around the corner. I've actually been thinking about throwing on four OG pegs in defiance. (Oh noes, then my bike might weigh all of 27 pounds!)

Also, didn't MacNeil make butted steel pegs years ago and call them "Park Pegs"? With Animal making butted pegs and Kink making aluminum ones, I'm not entirely sure what's going on. Vic Ayala and Troy McMurray need to come back and start a parts company with Sean Burns and call it FUCK YOU.


• Apparently the new S&M Dirt Bike, which I've written about twice already, will retail for $370. While that's $30 cheaper than the flagship LTF (and the Fit S3.5), it's still more expensive than the Sunday Second Wave or the FBM Maneater. Which is a bit of a disappointment. I thought the new Dirt Bike would fill the low-budget void left by frames like the Standard Cashius, the FBM Outsider, and yes, the original Dirt Bike. Although I suppose I should have known different when I saw "SuperTherm" and "five pounds". It's a bit like Honda producing a new $40,000 two-seater and calling it the CRX (which wouldn't surprise me either, actually). Unconfirmed word is that the Dirt Bike will replace the Black Bike in the S&M lineup, which means it's more of a name change than anything. Oh well, some things are just too good to be true.

(Then again, given the horrorshow that is the US economy, it's amazing that BMX frame prices have stayed the same for so damn long. I just picked up a 2001 Dan's catalog that was next to my couch—don't ask—and an S&M Call Girl frame was $370 way back then. How much was gas in 2001? Then again, the Dirt Bike Classic was $200.)

• I only became recently aware of the ever-sinking toptube of the Terrible One Barcode (which, by the way, is also cheaper than the Dirt Bike). Tragic. Jack! Rose! If only weight could have been trimmed in a different manner—say, by decreasing the diameter of said toptube. Or not worrying about weight at all. Which manufacturer will be so bold as to no longer list frame weight? (I'd also entirely forgotten that Taj was riding for Giant until I saw this bike check. I know it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's still sort of like Fugazi signing with Universal.)

• This has been bothering me for a while: Spanish or Mid, people. Pick one. Is it really necessary to maintain two near-identical, yet incompatible, bottom bracket standards? If one is truly superior, pick that one. And if it doesn't matter, flip a coin.

• Stop the madness! WWJSD?

The Unbearable Lightness of BMXing

New forks from Primo. Called the "Strand Fork," possibly because you should only run them on the bike you ride to the book store. Integrated race, "swaged and flattened" tubing, all that good stuff. No silly holes machined in the dropouts, although they make up for it with the vagina between the, uh, legs (going directly against the Odyssey Director's Barbie doll look).



Know how much they weigh? 29 ounces. That's under two pounds. As far as I know, they're the first non-race fork to drop below 30 ounces. S2 Directors are 30.2, Drive Lites (which I wouldn't run if you paid me) are 31.4, Eastern Ultra Slims are 31.7. Bombshell pro race forks are 28.9. A whole tenth of an ounce lighter than the Primos. With carbon legs.

Know how much a pair of Slam Bars weigh? 34 ounces. A regular "4Q Baked" Pitchfork weighs 47.7 ounces. More than a pound heavier.

Scary, right?

When you make weight the most important determining factor in what sells—which makes sense on some level, since it's easy to measure and explain—every new product you come out with had better be lighter than the last, or else why would anyone upgrade? The Kamikaze 2, Primo's "light" fork which preceded these, weighed 32 ounces. How did they safely drop three ounces from that? Who's designing these things? How are they being tested? Honestly, I'm not sure whether I want to know. But if I were considering running a pair, I sure as hell would.

Although.

Another thing you should do—which I didn't initially—is read the fine print. These aren't even up on the Primo website yet, just on Dan's Comp. And when searching for the dropout thickness, I stumbled upon the offset: 13mm. Huh? Maybe mention that in the initial description? It's important, no? A conventional fork has 32mm of offset, which could very well explain much of the weight difference (although the 'steep' Subrosa fork still weighs 33 ounces). It also means if you run these things along with a 75-degree headtube frame and 29" wide bars, you'll instantly be able to do longer nosewheelies than Dakota Roche. I promise. Because hey, it's all about what you ride, not how you ride it.