New Carbon Fiber BMX

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My 13 year old son is an avid BMX racer. This bike was custom built and delivered yesterday. The only real non-carbon component on this build is the bars. No one really makes carbon BMX bars for big kids/adults.

Supercross BLK2 XXL
Supercross BLK Forks
Speedline 1.75 RCR Carbon Rims with Ti Spokes
Onyx Ultra Rear Hub, 20mm Onyx Front Hub
175mm RaceFace Cranks
HT T1-SX Pedals
Supercross Massive 8.5" Bars
Tangent Stem
Box Brake Lever
Speedline Rear Brakes
44/16 gearing at 53.6 gear-inches

IMG_20190312_193333.jpg


IMG_20190312_193432.jpg
 
beats the bmx bike selection of the 80s and my Kuwahara I raced as a kid. Still fun times to remember. Slick bike.
 
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Originally Posted by Bryanccfshr
beats the bmx bike selection of the 80s and my Kuwahara I raced as a kid. Still fun times to remember. Slick bike.

I never had one but I remember the bikes of the time through the magazines well. Friends had the random Mongoose or whatever, but something like a GT or Redline or Hutch was like an exotic rare sports car. I miss that time!
 
Thanks for all the nice comments. I appreciate it. My boy, Harrison, loves his new bike. He'll get a chance to race it this weekend locally at indoor tracks.

But then on Monday, I'm shipping it to Houston, and Harry will fly down next Friday. He's going to spend Spring Break with the BMX Olympic coach and train down there for a week and then at the end of March, race a big National in South Carolina. I'm hoping he makes big improvements and learns a lot....and makes some incredible memories and a few more good friends.

Originally Posted by AZjeff
Trick. Weight?


I haven't weighted it yet. But it should be in the mid-15 pound range.
 
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I've never seen a carbon fiber BMX bike - it looks like a smaller scale hardtail-singlespeed mountain bike!
 
Originally Posted by nthach
I've never seen a carbon fiber BMX bike - it looks like a smaller scale hardtail-singlespeed mountain bike!


That's basically what it is. The "seat" is pointless. But the rules claim we have to run them.

Originally Posted by Bryanccfshr
beats the bmx bike selection of the 80s and my Kuwahara I raced as a kid. Still fun times to remember. Slick bike.


When my brother and I started BMX racing around 1985, one of them had a Kuwahara. They were a high-end bike back then. I remember my Dad paying like $850 for a complete bike at a local bike shop. That was INSANE back then. But the bike I just posted above came in around $4800.....YIKES!!

Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
something like a GT or Redline or Hutch was like an exotic rare sports car. I miss that time!


I had a Hutch freestyle bike. It was AWESOME!! It caused a lot of jealousy in our neighborhood. My other brother raced a Redline. But we had one wealthy kid in town that actually had a GT. Those were the Ferrari's....as far as I remember.
 
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Originally Posted by Bryanccfshr
Kuwahara


Those were sweet!! I never saw one in person,only in magazines. I remember one that was chrome plated with red Tuff Wheel 1's (maybe around 1981-1982?).
 
Back when I was growing up, the Mr. Lucky DiamondBack and DKs were hot stuff. Of course, my parents bought me Toys R Us bikes when I was a kid. I think Specialized recently made a BMX bike that drew heavily from their aluminum-framed mountain bikes, but the big red S is more into spandex-clad disciplines of cycling.

I now ride road or gravel/cyclocross bikes but there's a monthly social ride called Bike Party in the Bay Area. And I do see the BMXers and FGFS guys come out on Haros, Redlines, SEs and Volumes.
 
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My 13 year old boy got on a plane this morning by himself and flew to Houston to train with the US Olympic Coach over his Spring Break.

Proud of this kid!!

[Linked Image]
 
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The IOC/UCI had to cut out many of my favorite TRACK cycling events from the Olympic roster to make way for the added BMX (and mountain bike) events.
frown.gif


But it IS cool, and great that your kid got that invite to train with the best (and showed much independence by flying/traveling alone as well)!
thumbsup2.gif
 
Originally Posted by dailydriver
The IOC/UCI had to cut out many of my favorite TRACK cycling events from the Olympic roster to make way for the added BMX (and mountain bike) events.
frown.gif


But it IS cool, and great that your kid got that invite to train with the best (and showed much independence by flying/traveling alone as well)!
thumbsup2.gif



DD:

Many people in the BMX world believe the UCI is ruining BMX. The focus now is on Olympic sized tracks (8M starting hills, huge jumps, etc. etc.) and many kids (8-15 years old) have personal trainers, strict diets, very structured workout schedules (including a lot of gym time), and insane amounts of travel. I'm guilty of following this path. But my boy wants to do this, he puts in the work, and I support it (money and time). The "issue" is, in order to complete, you have to be all-in. Before Olympic BMX, you could just be a BMX rider, never really train, and just ride your bike a lot and be really good. Now those boys are left in the dust. And it's really upset a lot of people because BMX "isn't fun anymore".

I understand and sympathize with their frustration. However, this is the current landscape. And if you want to play at the top of the heap today in BMX, you better have the courage, the will, and the money to support it. No doubt, like most Olympic events, it's an elitist competition.

[Linked Image]
 
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Originally Posted by Phishin
The IOC/UCI had to cut out many of my favorite TRACK cycling events from the Olympic roster to make way for the added BMX (and mountain bike) events.
frown.gif


The focus now is on Olympic sized tracks (8M starting hills, huge jumps, etc. etc.) and many kids (8-15 years old) have personal trainers, strict diets, very structured workout schedules (including a lot of gym time), and insane amounts of travel. I'm guilty of following this path. But my boy wants to do this, he puts in the work, and I support it (money and time). The "issue" is, in order to complete, you have to be all-in. Before Olympic BMX, you could just be a BMX rider, never really train, and just ride your bike a lot and be really good. Now those boys are left in the dust. And it's really upset a lot of people because BMX "isn't fun anymore".




That's great your son is willing to put in the effort and time - we might just get to see him on TV representing Team USA one day.
thumbsup2.gif


But UCI is as corrupt as FIFA and the NFL(if not more) - I can I see why the BMXers are upset that they are becoming like their spandex-clad counterparts minus the marketing. UCI can't get the roadies who race in the World Tour in check since cycling is a dirty sport(that's why I mentioned the NFL) and there's still doping scandals in pro cycling. I think BMX and women's cycling are the two bright spots for the UCI unless someone there decides to pull off a Lance or Alberto.

I dipped my toes in racing - even at the beginning level(cat 5 men's/cat 4 women's), I saw guys at the starting line on $10K+ Cervelos and Specialized S-Works road bikes with electronic shifting and carbon everything. A few people I know that catted up told me they had to get a coach and train hard even at the amateur level. There's also a lot of burnout in racing. I decided then racing isn't my thing. A woman I knew who was the top of her category dropped out, it wasn't serving her.
 
Originally Posted by nthach
[
There's also a lot of burnout in racing.


See see that in BMX all the time. 2-3 years is about all you get out of USABMX members before they quit coming to the track. But that's mostly for one major reason:

When you start racing, you are classified as a NOVICE. You race other Novice riders at or about your age. After 10 Novice wins, you become an INTERMEDIATE. You then race other Intermediates at or about your age and after 20 Intermediate wins, you become an EXPERT. That's when it all of a sudden gets REAL.

You go from dominating the Intermediate class to get those 20 wins....and then you absolutely SUCK when you turn EXPERT. Most kids can't handle it and quit.

Most adult racers know they will never commit to racing in the Expert class....so they Sandbag the rest of their lives and never win those 20 Intermediate races so they can stay an Intermediate.
 
Originally Posted by Phishin

When you start racing, you are classified as a NOVICE. You race other Novice riders at or about your age. After 10 Novice wins, you become an INTERMEDIATE. You then race other Intermediates at or about your age and after 20 Intermediate wins, you become an EXPERT. That's when it all of a sudden gets REAL.



Sounds almost like the USAC system for amateur racing - you start at cat 5(4 for women), and if you have finished 10 races you "cat up" to cat 4(3 for women), and then it's based on a points system calculated by how many starters/finishers are at a given race as well as how many races you placed in the top 10. If you take the "early bird" training sessions in the winter time, those sessions will count for upgrade points from cat 5.
 
Originally Posted by Bryanccfshr
beats the bmx bike selection of the 80s and my Kuwahara I raced as a kid. Still fun times to remember. Slick bike.

I much prefer the 1980s bikes...
 
Originally Posted by alcyon
Originally Posted by Bryanccfshr
beats the bmx bike selection of the 80s and my Kuwahara I raced as a kid. Still fun times to remember. Slick bike.

I much prefer the 1980s bikes...


Yeah, they were cool. Lots of Chrome and polished parts back then. Mostly everything was Chromoly 4130. Now everything is aluminum or carbon fiber. But the geometry, stiffness, and quality of the bikes today is far superior.

The boy did decent at the Carolina Nationals over the weekend. He turned 14 the day the races started....and aging up at this point in his young life presents a fairly hefty challenge.

2019 Carolina Trophies.jpg
 
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