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I've been going down the skatepark on my BMX and I quite fancy having a crack at grinding some of the little ledges, which means I need pegs. Turns out like everything to do with bikes this is much more complicated than you'd think.
So pegs - plastic vs steel, pros and cons? Erring towards steel just because I try to avoid plastic, but could be swayed.
Same for hub guards, anything to look out for?
I think I'm just gonna get two then I can try both sides. From trying to kick the back end out on little jumps I'm pretty sure I'll be grinding drive / right side, but it'll be easy enough to swap 'em over and pick up another set if I need them.
What are the ledges like? If they're unwaxed and beat up (or if you're not confident to hit them with decent speed) plastic will slide much smoother/faster.
Or: https://rideukbmx.com/news/metal-vs-plastic-pegs-street-dave.html
Plastic slides easier especially on unwaxed / rough concrete but can also slid off side ways of your not on as well. Steel sound much better especially on coping.
Hub guards yes especially rear if grinding ledges, less important for ramp imo. These tend to match hub or universal ones frequently need a little fettling depending on your luck with your hub.
Go for a feeble on a ledge first or 50 50 stall on a quarter.
Side you usually would grind on is the side you have foot forward, but some prefer other way. Opposite to you natural side tends to feel very odd and difficult but if you can learn to grind on both sides from the start go for it.
definitely get hub guards as its really easy to trash your spokes, especially on a metal edge. If you are grinding on the drive side then you might also want a guard sprocket so you don't trash the chain and sprocket.
I would find the lowest ledge you can find and just practice at low speed so you get the feel for placing your pegs. Focus on getting your weight over the edge and bringing the bike to you rather than trying to get the bike there first and pulling yourself to it, if that makes sense.
Park I'm mostly riding is a plaza with no transition but LOTS of ledges, most of which are angle iron with about an inch of wax, so sounds like steel might be the way to go. Reckon I'll try driveside first, then I can always swap them / get more if I want to try the other side.
There's a couple of other parks I can get to now things are opening but they'll be similar ledges or concrete transition with coping.
Any BMX shop recommendations online? I only really know Source (plus CRC etc).
Alansbmx and Custom Riders are both rider owned I think. Not sure about Source - definitely not Winstanleys based on the other thread on here...!
This is a shop run by riders who are mostly a bunch of good eggs. Follow them on insta for steady stream of street bangers
Crucial, Volt, Foundation, Waller, Dead Sailor, Alans, Custom Riders all decent in my experience. Source too but I know some people are a bit sniffy about them being a bigger outfit.
Sweet cheers, I'll have a look at those. And cheers for the tips too, I'm sure it'll be a learning process but I've picked up BMX *fairly* quickly so I figure I may as well give it a go.
That said by the time I buy pegs, guards, new bars (I fancy taller / wider), grips if I can't get the old ones off, a new tyre and maybe a helmet I'll have spent more than I did on my 'cheap' BMX. Ah well...
Any BMX shop recommendations online? I only really know Source
Mat at Entity BMX Bournemouth https://entitybmx.com/
John Dye at Volt BMX in London https://voltbmx.com/
Gav at Mode Derby https://modebmx.ecwid.com/
Phone them if you can't see what you want online.
I know this get said a lot on here but when it come to BMX it's even more important. Please please please buy from a rider owned shop. BMX being niche and the bike not being mega expensive with loads of wealthy middle-aged it mangers buying stuff on a whim all the time it really is a hard business to stay afloat in. BMX is in general a lot more core than MTB or road and the sense of community of supporting brands and shops is really important for its survival.
Totally agree @TheBrick, that's why I was asking. I used to be well into skating and it was the same there, always tried to buy from skater owned.
I'd just go plastic pegs and plastic guards that fit your frame or forks. I ran metal for years and switching to plastic has been fine for stalls on ramps or sub boxes and grinding ledges and rails.
I will ask which side drive is your drivetrain on? I run pegs on the right and drive side on the left, if you'l be running them on the same side maybe consider a chainring with bashguard for when you slip off feebles or doing chainring stalls and maybe a thicker chain. I think half link shadow conspiracy chains are still the street riders chain of choice.
Yeah I thought about the drivetrain actually, was wondering if I could flip it over or if that's going to be a pain. Cranks definitely can, I'm not sure about the hub. I'll have to have a look. Pretty sure the chain is pretty meaty but I don't really know much about BMX stuff.
flipping the drivetrain depends if a) your cranks have sprocket mounts on both sides and more crucially b) if you can convert your rear hub. Some can be flipped for LHD or RHD with a change of internals, some can't. Either way a bash guard is probably cheaper.
What bikes are you lot riding anyway?
Cranks deffo can, hub probably not. Bash is probably a better idea. My basket on Custom Riders is expanding rapidly (but Mrs Monkey is in full support as long as I ride it, so that's all good).
I'm riding a Wethepeople Warriors frame from about 2011 I'd guess, built up with lower end Salt bits. It's pretty long by BMX standards (21.3" tt I think, and long stays) but I reckon that's made it easier to get used to after MTB.
BSD make hub guards for most hubs plus nice pegs rider owned too
Bloody hell it's not cheap this BMX lark is it! Pegs, hub guards, guard sprocket (cos you can't just bolt a bash on to anything apparently...) I'd best like grinding after all this!
Wow reading that bmx article linked above was cool, I grew up watching "Street Dave" ride as a yoof! Great to see he made a life from it 🙂 but to the original point, I've generally stuck with metal pegs for park copings, rails and ledges, and used plastic pegs for the not so friendly and unloved walls and ledges. Hub guards are your friend.
My BMX is a Hyper Wizard in jet fuel, primo wheels and colony hubs. Love that buzzzzzzzzzzzz and the super screechy brake XD
My BMX hasnt changed in a nearly a decade now! Sunday Funday 2 frame, Odyssey director forks, Sunday Bars, profile stem, profile mini hubs on G sport rims, odyssey thunderbolt cranks, 2 pegs and a rear brake all parts black except for the rims.
Has BMX geometry changed much over the last decade or so? I know bars have got bigger, but apart from that?
Checks date. Not April. Is confused.
I'd love to see how high a roof Sean Burns could huck off on it though if you could persuade him to ride it.
And there's me thinking a BMX would be nice and simple...
Qwerty I am sure you have seen it but check out the finger crossed episodes and Ted James designs intergram.
I can see loads of people don't like this development but it looks massive fun to me and if I had the right kind of trails near by I would be all over it. Love the DIY ethos too.
Really midschool in vibe.
Checks date. Not April. Is confused.
It's for real, Ruben and a few other names are getting into it. See Fingers Crossed BMX.
I’d love to see how high a roof Sean Burns could huck off on it though if you could persuade him to ride it.
I think he'd be doing well getting on one right now! But yeah, remember when you needed a 12" travel huck machine to ride those drops?
Photos like that get trotted out a lot but this quote different as.
#1. It's rider lead
#2. It's not for racing or doing something that's already done on a BMX, it's for opening up trails that previously would not be ridable on a BMX due to roughness and /or helping people stay in the game who have back issues etc.
Sean Burns could huck off on it
I saw on IG Sean had a quite serious crash and has some pretty bad spinal issues, I've seen go fund me's and raffles all to raise money for his rehabilitation.
Has BMX geometry changed much over the last decade or so? I know bars have got bigger, but apart from that
Yes, almost of the opposite of MTB, Street and Park frames have been getting steeper headtube angles to aid with front wheel tricks and then slacker seattubes so that they still feel long. Then trail frames have gotten slightly slacker in the headtube angle with lower BB's for stability at speed.
@TheBrick that Mongoose Aftershock was legit (ish) and built by FTW I think. I remember getting a copy of BMX Plus! in 1996 with an article on it (might even have been on the cover) and thinking it was cool.
That's sad about Sean Burns 🙁
The bmx suspension of old always seemed like marketing gimmick pushed by the corporate end of BMX. Something like that in1996 is quite surprising though as BMX was only just coming out of its rebirth.
Has BMX geometry changed much over the last decade or so? I know bars have got bigger, but apart from that
There's still some specialisation within BMX frames, even though they look pretty similar. Tech Street frames have steep HA 75-76 deg and shorter chainstays like 12.75"./ Park frames might be a bit longer at the back with low top tube, dirt frames longer and slacker still. Pure flatland can be super niche: short, steep and low. Racebikes are very long and low.
Fork offsets are also a thing right now with shorter offsets for front end stuff and extra twitchiness and short cranks are also popular for tech stuff at the moment, like 160mm.
As oikeith says bars have got taller and wider, tyres fatter but tubeless hasn't really gripped bmx yet. Steel is still very much the material of choice for freestyle bikes but race bikes have embraced the carbon.
BTW Sean Burns is back riding a bike but doubt he'll be going off any roofs for a while yet.
FTR I have a Fiend Reynolds frame (which is way above my skill level but whatever) and mish mash of bits mostly from a WTP donor bike. It's a fairly steep and short frame at 75.5 HA and 13" CS but offset by a 21" TT and it hasn't killed me yet. Here are it
