Friday, January 27, 2012

The New Project - or - Stop buying BMX bikes

A while back, during a late night drunken conversation, I was regaling Natalie with stories of my days of 20" riding. After a bit more conversation, and a little encouragement, I decided to build up a dream bike of mine: a 22" top tube BMX bike.
   The top tube length is how BMX bikes are measured, and for a tall gent like me, the longer the better!

Not that long...

There are several bikes with a 22" top tube; two that are readily available (not custom builds). The  Avent Neo and a Macneil Deuce Deuce. 

Avent                                        Macneil

"But Adam, these bikes look exactly the same!" Yes, ALL BMX bikes look exactly the same. I guess there's no reason to change a solid design (see 'Redline introduces full carbon BMX frame' from a few weeks back).
   I decided to go with the Macneil because it's slightly cheaper, and more importantly, it's steel, and will hold up to some abuse on the trails. Shortly thereafter, the planets aligned and I found a sweet deal on a frame fork and headset on bmx-forum.com.

Also available not blessed by Jesus

So, welcome to my new project! I was lucky that the seller included a fork and headset. It also has some fun new features like a 14mm dropout, meaning a 14mm axle will have to be used, and a Spanish bottom bracket. I've never built anything like this, but keep an eye out for updates as it comes together!

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