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1

The Bike Shop / Re: 3/8th Axle's, Hub set up and weight

« on: January 12, 2016, 11:09:46 PM »

The thing about 17mm/20mm axles is that they effectively lock the rear triangle together.

3/8"/14mm axles are weak enough to bow when you tighten your wheel up if the dropouts aren't parallel at your hub width.

Female 17 or 20mm hubs support female bolts so well. The bending area is only the part of the bolt outside of the inner axle. With 3/8"/14mm male hubs, the whole axle is flexing up until it yields

This is why a 17mm female axle with 3/8" bolts can often out perform a 14mm male axle

thats what i was thinking too.  Think im going go the 3/8th female route, and totally try something new.  Its the old, " a pencil is easily snapped in two.  the two smaller pieces of the same pencil once broken, are very hard to snap in two again." if that makes sense?  Definitely wanted to get a few opinions on it, given the astronomical cost of Rear wheels.

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The Bike Shop / Re: 3/8th Axle's, Hub set up and weight

« on: January 12, 2016, 11:07:11 PM »

Profiles newish 3/8 cromoly axles are golden, best set of wheels I've ever had, to include odyssey antigram and gsports. I don't run pegs, but have blown up two antigrams with 3/8s axles.

pretty close to pullin the trigger on it.  Curious, by "blowing them up" did you blow the inner female axle out, or the outer male bolts?  I Think Im ok with occasionally blowing the outer male bolts out, but not so much if it happens 'all the time" or from simple things like bunny hops or flat landings.  It would be a tiresome, expensive nuisance to be smashing bolts from jumping up curbs or manualing picnic tables. 

I keep waivering on if I should just spend the money to get V brake mounts on a 250L, but  Standard direct has like a $35 flat shipping charge alone to order a frame from them, and god knows how much to do a "custom" weldd V-brake job on a 250 on top of that.  I might try to get a hold of them and see if they could work with me on v-brake mounts on a 250.  14mm wheels are all around much cheaper, and would put to bed any wheel nonsense down the line.

Disappointing how expensive and difficult it is to find what I am looking for without having to essentially pay $150 dollars for welded brake mounts.  Personally I just dont like the screw-in mounts, and if im spending $400+ on a frame FFS I want welded mounts!  Im really not a picky rider either, and it seems like there's literally a million different frames out there, but virtually NONE with Moderate geometry AND welded brake (especially v brake) mounts, without having to pay a fortune in "custom" work. 

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Bike Gallery / FIT SERIES 1- 2001 model

« on: January 12, 2016, 08:25:05 PM »

Frame: 2001 Fit Series 1 20.5
Fork: S&M pitch 2002
Bars: FBM 7.75
Tires: Primo Pro 20.125 front, Odyssyey Path 20.185 Rear
Cranks: Profile 180mm
Sprocket: FBM 36
Headset: Solid Bikes
Stem: Fit USA
Wheels: Odyssey Hazard Lite Set
Seat: shadow Conspiracy slim, stripped foam

Not even joking I literally rode this bike for like 15 years. It was originally Ferrari Red, but over the years I painted it a few different times. I had a 2003 Nighttrain, and a 2005 Series 2 I put together, but for whatever reason, I found myself coming back to the Series 1 each time.  I thought I could become Steven Hamilton if I rode a short TT bike.  I still have the Nighttrain, but sadly my Series 2 got sold, and the  guy I sold it to junked it.  When I die this bike will be melted along with my corpse on the funeral pyre.  I got this frame for my 16th birthday.  Im 30 now.

4

The Bike Shop / 3/8th Axle's, Hub set up and weight

« on: January 12, 2016, 07:59:28 PM »

Bikeguide, missed you guys, been about 12 years since my last post here.  Mid-school rider and I need help understanding new modern Female 3/8th's axle's, and how I they can be ridden.

Ill try to explain my self as best  I can.  30 year old "mid-school" rider and this year I plan on setting up my first new Bike in basically 15 years.  That said,  Riding for me these days is mostly cruising city streets, hopping up and over things, and I only do the occasional 180 or 360 'for the girls'.  I also ride trails when I can get out to them. I have had 14mm axles front and rear my entire bmx riding life.  I have never rode a 3/8th axle what so ever, neither male or female, except goofing around on my roomates jr. race bike. Ill get to the point; 

To this end, My new Set-up is going to be a Standard 125R on 3/8ths axles front and rear.  I will ride 1.95 tires in the back and 2.25/ Tioga Street blocks.  I am just shy of 6ft tall and weight about 175lbs.  I have never rode a female 3/8th axle rear, and I tried to browse some old Gsport posts about them to learn something, but I came away less than certain I knew what to expect and how to set the new wheels up. Further, I browsed/lurked "pinkbike" and "vital-Bmx" to gleam a little bit of information about setting up these hubs, and literally not a single one of them seemed to know even the first thing about BMX let alone any real information about this.

From what I read, 3/8th's female axle's will have either an Aluminum/Chromoly inner axle, and will have Chromoly Bolts that mate to the hub.  Also, various sources claim that a female 3/8th axle will have similar strength to a male 14mm axle comparatively speaking.  I have looked at the Profile Mini-cassette's and the Odssyey anti-gram 3/8ths rear, as my tentative choices.  Despite the "Race" nature of my future bike, I will likely ride a 25/9 gear setup for money and convenience sake. I saw profile offers an inner-chromoly axle as well as aluminum option.  Given that Rear wheels are extremely expensive, I want to make sure im not making a really stupid decision going with a 3/8th rear "race" set up to cruise streets and Ride trails. I meticulously maintain my parts and bikes, never throw or abuse them, and I dont slam the bike around ever.

Given my weight, and that I will never ride pegs, grind , do any stair bombs or anything of that nature, could I get away with 3/8th female axles in the REAR, bearing in mind I will likely hop some trash cans or rails, do the ocassional street gap maybe in to grass, wall ride or two, and some park action, along with mostly hard packed trails and generic city cruising?  Will I crush or bend these axle's in this type of riding? I know 3/8ths should generally be run only on bikes that see transitions for most of there life, but I will inevitably be on the streets, as well as some parks.

also any additional experience or knowledge on 3/8th female rear wheels is appreciated. lol dont be shy, I saw all those S&M CCR's out there!  I know us "old" guys be on that steadfast geometry.  Sry for long winded/ got a little too excited posting again.