BMX Basics
What's that in the garage?
"Perception is reality." How many times have you heard
that? Believe me, if you ever have the poor luck to choose the
profession of automotive sales, as I briefly did a few years ago,
you will hear that phrase quite a bit. "Perception is reality"
is a classic example of a "truism", but as is often
the case with truisms, there is some "true" along with
the "ism". Here's an example: Nearly everyone I know
has a car made outside of the United States. My father, brother,
wife, other relatives, and most of my co-workers all drive Japanese
or European automobiles. My immediate perception, then, is that
American auto makers aren't even "on the map", so to
speak.
Naturally, nothing could be further from the truth. Ford is
a world leader in automotive innovation. Chrysler made enough
decent cars to attract Daimler-Benz into a partnership. And General
Motors, apparently, is still in business. Therefore, my "perception"
is wrong. On the other hand, the lack of American cars in my immediate
circle of friends and family probably means that I will not buy
an American car in the foreseeable future. Were everyone to feel
this way, my perception of a struggling American auto industry
would, in fact, become reality. As Obi-Wan says in Return of
the Jedi, "it is true, from a certain point of view."
I received a rude lesson on perception versus reality at this
year's Christmas Nationals. Much attention has been paid, in SNAP!
and the other birdcage BMX media, to Standard Byke's enormous
traveling video and BMX frame display, most of it of the bootlicking-admiration
variety. Certainly it is neat to see a Washington Monument-sized
tower full of bikes and televisions at a race, but being the cynical
old Jim that I am, I had to wonder what a so-called "garage"
company was doing with a display like this. If the general perception
is that Standard is "rider-owned", as I continually
read in the color mags, and that Standard is "giving back
to the riders", then precisely where does the reality
of a huge waste of money like the "tower" fit in?
Just out of curiosity, I called a couple of audio-visual specialists
recently, described the "tower" to them, and asked what
it probably cost to make. The figures I heard would keep an entire
state's worth of local tracks in business for a year or more.
It would be irresponsible of me to suggest that Standard has some
kind of responsibility to BMX just because racers buy Standard
products, but which course of action would benefit BMX more in
the long run---having a big tower to show off at Nationals, or
providing some much-needed sponsorship to the local tracks where
Standard owners are racing? Which course of action would benefit
Standard Bykes more?
In the past few weeks, I have started a few discussions on
the alt.bmx newsgroup with the intention of finding out how riders
view Standard and other "rider-owned" companies. Here's
what I heard the kids (of all ages) say about rider-owned companies:
- They have better quality because their products are designed
by riders.
- They have better quality because the rider owners won't let
junk go out the door.
- Rider-owned companies "give back" to the sport,
while big companies "rape" the sport.
- Rider-owned companies are responsible for the improvement
in today's products.
- It would be better for a new rider to buy from a garage company
than Mongoose or Redline.
- The riders who own companies care about us and about BMX.
Keep the above list in mind as I proceed to prove otherwise:
- Most BMX riders don't know enough about bikes to really design
anything. The vast majority of the "rider-designed"
stuff out there is actually designed by those "fat old men"
you hear so much about. For most of the garage companies, "design"
consists of calling up Fabweld, B&E, GT, or Waterford Precision,
specifying a head tube angle, and telling the welders to figure
the rest out themselves. Believe me, I have "designed"
and priced frames myself, and I know.
- Some of the quality control errors of "rider-owned"
companies are hilarious enough to warrant their own column. I
have seen misaligned frames, messed-up dropouts, missing brake
attachments, handlebars that bent when they were dropped off
a table, and a variety of other things that I can't stop laughing
long enough to write down. You see, every manufacturing process
in cycling creates a certain number of defects. Large companies
have liability concerns and deep pockets that ensure you never
see the bad stuff. The "riders" have to take what they
can get and try to sell it. As an example, I received a cruiser
frame once from an "American" company that had the
bottom bracket a full fifteen degrees off center. The company
tried to duck the warranty claim after I sent them the bike,
but I had taken pictures on delivery to prevent exactly that
occurrence. Be careful with these dudes!
- Rider-owned companies may give back to the sport, but they
give back in ways that don't help. A big tower at the nationals
does not help. Sponsoring a jumping contest consisting entirely
of the owner's buddies doesn't help. The only thing that has
been consistently proven to help the sport of BMX is local track
involvement. The "riders" are too busy hanging out
at the Nationals to do that. It is true that major corporations
often shirk this duty as well, but at least a local track operator
can sometimes get a check from one of them. Try calling a garage
company and asking for a hundred bucks to fix your starting gate.
If anybody is helping the sport, it's those stupid old corporate
guys who try so hard to put a BMX bike in every bike shop. After
all, you can't start BMX without a BMX bike, can you?
- "If it weren't for the rider-owned companies, we'd still
be riding junk like we did in the old days." So I hear,
but I'm not convinced. In 1985 the average racing frame cost
$150 and lasted five years. Today's racing frame costs $350 and
breaks after eight months of hard use. Did I mention that you'll
have to buy a fork to go with that? It is true that trails and
freestyle riders have benefited from rider-owned improvements,
but in racing I don't see it. As a matter of fact, a lot of the
current aluminum craze can be blamed at least partly on the rider-owned
people.
- Anyone who has followed my, um, "career" is aware
that I have always criticized the big companies when they needed
to be criticized. I hate GT more than perhaps any other rider
in the free world, for example, and I'm not afraid to say that
I think they make a lot of junk sometimes. However, a new rider
is better off buying a bike from a company that can be contacted
to provide service and warranty support. An eight-year old rider
and his parents will have a lot of trouble tracking down, say,
the Homeless dudes. Why? Because they're Homeless! (Sorry, couldn't
resist---but there is truth to my contention.) A rider who is
new to the sport should buy a fairly inexpensive bike from a
company with a sound warranty policy. That's the safest and sanest
way to get started. I've heard riders advise Beginners to pick
up a year-old Standard or S&M. I would avoid that advice
on safety grounds alone.
- Do rider owners really care about BMX? Some do--Terry Clapp
of Badd Racing is an example, as is Bill Madden at Clayborn.
Both of those guys are out supporting BMX and putting time and
money they probably don't have into the sport. The rest? Let's
put it this way---GT, DK, and Haro all started out as "rider-owned"
or "parents of rider-owned" companies. Any company
that becomes successful will eventually "sell out".
If you are going to deal with a "sell out" company,
deal with one that charges a reasonable price and will take a
warranty return. My experience with "rider owners"
has been largely negative. Most of them are involved in BMX because
they have no future anywhere else. Don't buy a bike because you
think these guys are just like you and me. They're not. The more
money a rider-owned company makes, the less like you and me the
owners become. It's unavoidable.
The bottom line here is that you should buy bikes and products
based on their design, materials, and price. If Redline makes
a better cruiser than Standard (and I think they do, at least
where the Cr-Mo models are concerned), why pay more for an image
that has no connection with reality? Most of the "square
cage" pedals out there are made in the same factory, so why
add $5 to have a "cool" name on them?
One of the dudes on alt.bmx said I was "corporate"
for speaking in this fashion. Sorry to disappoint him (and maybe
you), but BMX is a money-loser, not a money-maker, for me It always
has been, even when I was in the bike and shop businesses myself.
My interests are the preservation of the sport and the happiness
of my readers, and I think it serves both of those interests best
to flat-out tell you that some, but not all, of the "corporate"
stuff is as good as, if not better, than the "hardcore"
products. The "rider-owned" perception is not the "rider-owned"
reality. It never was. The only rider who is really trying to
provide you with the best stuff is the one you see in the mirror
every morning, so give him (or her) an even break and take a non-judgemental
look at all the stuff out there, okay?