Which BMX style?

[John D9395]

Looking to buy my 10 year old a BMX style bike.

I am confused at what might be the advantage / disadvantage between the two obvious designs, and was hoping someone might be able to educate me.

Design 1 - Rear brake only, direct cable connection so presumably you can't spin the handle bars, but possibly better braking?

Design 2 - Front and rear brakes, with the rear brakes going through a twin cable arrangement, front brake cable going straight through the stem meaning you can spin the handle bars round and round.

Q1 - Which is the right bike to get?
Q2 - Does one type carry more 'street cred' for a 10 year old?
Q3 - Do the two different designs have totally different uses?

Any help appreciated, thanks

[Mr Gear]

John D9395 said:

Looking to buy my 10 year old a BMX style bike.

I am confused at what might be the advantage / disadvantage between the two obvious designs, and was hoping someone might be able to educate me.

Design 1 - Rear brake only, direct cable connection so presumably you can't spin the handle bars, but possibly better braking?

Design 2 - Front and rear brakes, with the rear brakes going through a twin cable arrangement, front brake cable going straight through the stem meaning you can spin the handle bars round and round.

Q1 - Which is the right bike to get?
Q2 - Does one type carry more 'street cred' for a 10 year old?
Q3 - Do the two different designs have totally different uses?

Any help appreciated, thanks

Design 1 is for BMX track racing and dirt jumping

Design 2 is for half-pipe and flatland stunts. "Skatepark" design if you like

The right design will depend entirely on what your son is into....

[allegro]

Street cred would involve a 25/9 gearing setup, an annoyingly loud freewheel and removing the brakes altogether

[shalmaneser]

Mr Gear said:

Design 1 is for BMX track racing and dirt jumping

Design 2 is for half-pipe and flatland stunts. "Skatepark" design if you like

The right design will depend entirely on what your son is into....

^^^^^^^^this is correct

He's ten, it doesn't matter.

Buy him the lightest bike you can get for the budget. That will make a hell of a lot more difference than the brake arrangement. My personal choice would be for a dirt bike, but that's just me.

[Mars]

Naah, you want a Skyway TA don't you?

[raceboy]

shalmaneser said:

^^^^^^^^this is correct

It was correct 15 years ago.

Any bike you can find as a complete set up with option 2 is not a 'real' BMX it is a Halfords/Toys R us toy bike and will probably weight a ton.

A 'race bike' is a VERY different animal involveing lots of carbonfibre, very thin wheels and is so light it will blow away if there is a stong wind.

The 'standard' design BMX is now the 'no gyro' single rear brake design, unless you go the whole way and ride brakeless which for a 10 year old who is probably new to the sport isn't a great idea.

He will not get laughed at on a single brake bike and from a beginners perspective he'll be able to ride all the various sides of BMX (except flatland) to some degree on the one bike, but try and buy from a BMX based shop and not the pig iron available from the the 'toy' shops, they are cheap for a reason.

[GilbertGrape]

Mars said:

Naah, you want a Skyway TA don't you?

A real skyway would probably cost more than a new design?

[Mars]

GilbertGrape said:

Mars said:

Naah, you want a Skyway TA don't you?

A real skyway would probably cost more than a new design?

Erm, yes.

[Al Wyn]

The other week there was a rusty `barn find` Skyway TA that sold for over £500 My ten year old rides a Blank Hustla on 18 inch rims which hes had for a while and is just about to grow out of. Tried him on a 20 wheel initially but it was just a little too long for him to manage/chuck about. He rides the ramps with front and rear brakes n giro set up along side others with no brakes without any issue...blimey when i did it i had the two hand brakes and a coaster brake too.

[Mars]

Chap sold a TA F&F with "pitted" forks for £670 last week.

[John D9395]

Hi

Many thanks for all the advice.

Took on board all the advice, did a bit of 'googling, visited a few shops (except Halfors and Toys R Us), and have taken the plunge for my 10 year old on a 'WTP (wethepeople)Arcade', with a good rear brake, and a very simple cheap front brake (like the one I had on by bike back in the 70's), which aparently is different to the rear brake because it has to have a front brake for a shop to legally sell it, but it is expected that the rider will take it off and throw it away when they get the bike home!

Many thanks again

[raceboy]

Sounds like a good choice, is that the 18" bike....
They seem a perfect size for kids about that age, only drawback is how quick they grow out of it and if he takes to it in s few years you'll be shopping fir a 20"

Hope you got him a lid too,

[raceboy]

Sounds like a good choice, is that the 18" bike....
They seem a perfect size for kids about that age, only drawback is how quick they grow out of it and if he takes to it in s few years you'll be shopping fir a 20"

Hope you got him a lid too,

[DannyScene]

John D9395 said:

Hi

Many thanks for all the advice.

Took on board all the advice, did a bit of 'googling, visited a few shops (except Halfors and Toys R Us), and have taken the plunge for my 10 year old on a 'WTP (wethepeople)Arcade', with a good rear brake, and a very simple cheap front brake (like the one I had on by bike back in the 70's), which aparently is different to the rear brake because it has to have a front brake for a shop to legally sell it, but it is expected that the rider will take it off and throw it away when they get the bike home!

Many thanks again

WOW I wish my parents had bought me a BMX like that when I first showed an interest. Instead a got a Diamondback Demon (exclusive to Halfords dont you know) with a weak 1 piece crank, shoddy brakes and a gyro system that let go of the cable when you spun it twice. Spent so much making it as 'good' as my mates bikes I should've just bought a Haro Backtrail X1 and been done with it.
Interestingly I removed the gyro system completely and used a longer brake cable(rear only, no front brake) allowing 1 rotation of the bars, this got me many cool points with my mates back then.
I hope you got him a helmet also, dont forget full face are coolest

[Highrisedrifter]

Mars said:

Chap sold a TA F&F with "pitted" forks for £670 last week.

I assume he sold a chrome one with pitted forks rather than a white one?

Pity if so. I'd like to get that sort of money for my white T/A f&f; I'm keeping my chrome one.

[Mars]

Yes, that's it. Do you reckon the chrome ones are worth more then? They're certainly more durable around the wear areas.

I reckon their rarity will sustain higher and higher values going forward.

[Highrisedrifter]

Some of the chrome ones were powder-coated white once the chrome started to degrade. So each year there are less and less chrome ones available for sale.

It's why i'm keeping my faithful recreation of my original chrome T/A from the 80s in as good a condition as I can. I'll put the white race T/A up for sale at some point once I sort my life out and I get an offer too good to pass up(unlikely though).

[aka_kerrly]

Sod having a Gyro set up, they really do not make the brakes that good at all.
My preferred set up is a rear V brake and a fairly long cable so that the bars can go in excess of 180* before getting tangled up.

I agree that light weight is a great asset to have, comparing my Haro Zippo circa 1995 at just shy of 20kg with a current Mongoose which is 12kg the difference is staggering.

Have a browse of http://www.winstanleysbmx.com/

[raceboy]

aka_kerrly said:

I agree that light weight is a great asset to have, comparing my Haro Zippo circa 1995 at just shy of 20kg with a current Mongoose which is 12kg the difference is staggering.

Light is good, popped my Freeagent on the scales and it's 21.2lb (9.6Kg) could be a bit lighter but expense and strength play a part too.

[John D9395]

Yes, helment already purchased as he already makes good use of his skate board, scooter and mountain bike. House rule, hat to be worn at all times, elbow and knee pads when on skate board!

He has a good bike hat, but much prefers his Bell skate board hat, looks like a German helmet, but aparently 'it's cool!'

Re the reply about the size, it's a 20", so you may say it looks small, but it's as big as they get!

Thanks again for all the pointers