This was the very first "BMX Basics" column. It was originally broken into two separate months because of its length; however, since I wrote it to be read as one column, I'm keeping it that way here on the website. Remember, this is now four years old, but I think the advice still stands. Dig in--JB
This is the first installment in what is to be a series on the Modern Technique of the Motocross Bicycle. Before we so much as begin to consider what the modern technique might be, however, a brief word or two in explanation of that phrase is in order. The sport of BMX is approximately twenty-six years old and has undergone several revolutionary movements in that short space of time. For an example, consider the BMX wheel. It started life in 1969 as the standard equipment on the Schwinn Stingray-steel rims and spokes laced up to a nondescript coaster brake hub. The advent of the Motomag and, shortly after, the Tuff Wheel made one"piece wheels de rigeur until the early Eighties, when alloy rims and freewheels took over the scene, remaining more or less the same up to today.
It would be a shame for any new rider to ignore the trial-and-error process of more than twenty years and slap a set of Stingray wheels on his race bike, yet most of us are making similar mistakes in other areas ranging from bike setup to cornering techniques. The modern technique is simply the combined experience of bicycle motocross. Its purpose is to save both new and experienced riders from repeating mistakes made, and corrected, years ago. My qualifications for describing the modern technique are threefold: I've been racing for ten years, I've been paying attention to what works and what doesn't, and I'm capable of putting it all together for you. I am not a "top" rider in any sense of the word. With that in mind, then, I will be soliciting and incorporating the advice of BMX's top riders whenever possible. Even when I don't quote them, their influence will be present in most of what I write.
Most books and articles on BMX begin with the topic of Picking The Right Frame For You. This topic will be deferred until later; instead, we'll work on making the most of what you have now. For simplicity's sake, it will be assumed that you have a more or less standard racing bike with a freewheel and rear caliper brake. The rest, as they say, is negotiable.
It's worth noting that, although fads in bike setup come and go, most successful pros set their bikes up the same way without paying particular attention to what everyone else is doing. For instance, I recently had a chance to completely examine the bike of a very successful Pro during practice at a National. His bar/seat/pedals setup was nearly identical to what he was running eight or so years ago, though I am sure that the parts that make up his bike have changed completely since then. Of course, the bike setup of an average Novice rider is now nothing like what it was eight years ago.
Bike setup is extremely important and can minimize or eliminate the differences between, say, one's new frame and one's old frame, or between one's twenty-inch and one's cruiser. This leads to consistency, which will lead to victory sooner or later. A rider can do no better than to emulate Harry Leary's bikes of the past decade. Leary was, and is, a complete master of the technical details of the BMX bike and had tremendous success for many years running that most despised of bicycle parts, the front brake. By the same token, a rider can't do any worse than copy what the local "hot" rider at his track is doing to his bike. Chances are that your local top rider is a natural talent who can do very well with the sloppiest of setup and the worst components available. That doesn't mean that you can do the same. Some time ago, I witnessed a twelve-year-old rider hit a big step-down jump at a local set of trails over and over again, pulling tabletops, no-footers, and six-foot tucked airs... on a department store mountain bike. This bike probably didn't cost a hundred dollars but it was flying like Darrell Young's old JMC at the Grands. Did I run out and buy that same steel-framed clunker just because some crazy kid could look like a King of Dirt on it? No, and neither should you lean your bars back fifty degrees just because your track's fastest 16X does. Stick to a standard setup and you'll improve faster.
The standard setup I'm about to describe is for a rider who has graduated from the mini class. Minis are extremely personal things and I'm not about to get mixed up in them right now. Most racers go to a standard bike around the age of twelve or thirteen; this is where the standard setup begins to make sense. Starting literally from the ground up: Your tires should be inflated to about one-half of your weight in pounds, with forty-five psi as the lowest and eighty as the highest sane settings. Yeah, I know your tires say to inflate them to "35-45 psi". If you're not running mags, don't worry about it. By inflating to a higher pressure, you'll roll faster, get better tread bite on a dry track, and save your rims from damage when you land hard. Check your inflation once a week. When the temperature drops below forty degrees Fahrenheit, make sure your tires haven't lost pressure.
Riders who habitually compete on a spongy, wet, or dusty track can drop their pressure ten psi for better traction in the front wheel only. Go back and read that sentence again. You never, never, never want to make your rear wheel traction equal or greater than your front wheel's. When you do that, your front wheel slides before your rear one does and pitches you over the front end of your bike. The reasons for avoiding this are several, but suffice it to say that it both hurts and keeps you from winning races, which is what you signed up to do in the first place. I see roughly one wreck caused by rear wheel sliding for every fifty caused by front wheel slides. Those are poor odds, and for that reason you should never drop your rear tire pressure beneath that of your front tire.
About the size of those tires: Riders under 140 pounds should make every effort to use a 1.75 tire in front and a 1.5 in back. Those weighing 140 to 170 should try a 2.0 in front and a 1.75 in back, and elite riders such as myself who weigh more than 170 (the exact figure is a matter of national security and can't be disclosed) should upgrade their front tire to a 2.125. Your front tire is always bigger than your rear one, for the reasons discussed above. Professional riders learned years ago that the smaller the rear tire is, the faster the rider goes. But the smaller the front tire is, the more likelihood there is of a washout. A large front tire can also protect you from injury in certain endo situations by absorbing the shock instead of transferring it to the frame and sending you head over heels.
The matter of which tire to use is a personal one. If you are in doubt as to what to get, remember the excellent Comp III; however, to get a proper 2.0 tire you will probably have to buy a Megabite or similar brand. I've used Tioga, GT, and Mongoose tires and have never been disappointed in any of them. A little-known fact is that imitation department store "Comp III" tires often have soft compounds and work very well on the track, although they wear way too quickly for street use. I had a friend who swore by the old Michelin 1.5 BMX tire and bought up the whole store of them. They are hard to find but would do creditable service as a rear tire for a lighter rider. Also, buy any Competition Two tire you find and save it for the time when your track becomes severely muddy.
Unfortunately, a good set of tires is worthless unless the wheels on which they are mounted spin smoothly and are reasonably straight. One of the best investments you can make in this world is buying a spoke wrench and learning to use it. It's not hard and will pay off before you know it. Hardcore gearheads should buy The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt and read it until it makes sense. Mr. Brandt and I have communicated often on the Usenet and his style of writing is, to put it mildly, very technical; despite this, it's one of the few books on any subject that explains everything you need to know.
There exists little reason to use any rim size but 1.75 x 20. The 1.5 rim is generally too delicate for BMX and will completely change the shape of any tire you mount on it. The true 2.125 rim is heavy beyond reason and does not true as easily as the 1.75. If you have a set of Z-Rims, congratulations: You own a true piece of BMX history. I'd race on them only as a last resort. It would be difficult to go wrong with a Ukai, Araya, Sun, or similar rim, just so long as it is alloy and appears to be constructed solidly.
Stainless steel spokes in a "four-cross" pattern have been rightfully established as the proper way to go for a race bike. The radial lace is a road biking aberration and will keep you up at night dreading the next time you land wrong over a set of doubles. The hub to which they are connected should be designed for BMX. A lot of pros have used road bike hubs with success; Billy Griggs comes to mind. Mr. Bill, however, is famous for his meticulous bike maintenance schedule. If you're not willing to check, retrue, and possibly stress-relieve your wheels after each race, stick with BMX hubs. There is no shame in having a good set of unsealed hubs, provided the rider is careful to keep water out and grease in. Otherwise, sealed hubs are worth the extra money.
The freewheel situation in the sport is currently rather alarming, and it would appear that it will be more and more difficult in the future to obtain a satisfactory freewheel at a reasonable price. I can't do anything about that, but I can help you conserve the freewheel you already have so that you don't have to pay the big bucks for another one. Rule #1: Keep it clean, and keep oil out of it. Freewheels are internally greased and will break down if dirt, water, or oil contaminate that grease. Very few people can disassemble a freewheel and regrease, so consider the original grease sacred and do your best to preserve it. Rule #2: If you put the bike on a rack, tie the rear wheel so it doesn't spin while you drive. Doing so can put months of wear on a freewheel in an hour or two of spinning. Rule #3: Don't cross-thread the thing when you put it on. I know it sounds obvious, but it's easy to cross-thread it accidentally and then it's a "Freewheel-for-Life," instead of a replaceable item.
Most riders ruin their back wheel long before they put a scratch on their front one. Since most shops sell wheels in pairs, they then throw the old pair away and buy a new pair. It would be much cheaper to replace the rear rim, freewheel, and possibly the rear wheel bearings. I've been using the same front wheel for four years with no ill effects, but during that same space of time I've had three rear rims, and two freewheels. If I'd purchased a new set of wheels every time I needed a new rear rim I'd be standing on a corner holding a sign stating, "Will Work for Wheels."
Going forward in the powertrain, we come to the chain. There's only one guideline here: buy a 3/32 chain if your sprockets and freewheel will accept it. Otherwise, you're stuck with a 1/8, which is not as good. The bigger the chain, the more power you lose rolling it around. Chains should be oiled with the same brand of oil each time and wiped with a paper towel gently until all the excess is gone. It's also rarely a waste of money to buy a new chain, particularly if you've had your old one for more than a year.
Your chain should be adjusted with one half inch of total play at the tightest spot. Also, your rear wheel should be as forward in the dropouts as you can make it. No human being is strong enough to require an extremely tight chain, nor is anyone so powerful that their rear wheel has to be all the way back lest they wheelie themselves to death like my ZX600R Ninja is fond of doing. (Free Kawasaki plug-Let the Good Times Roll.)
Now we'll talk about cranks and gearing. Here's the standard rule: From 5'4" to 5'8", 175mm; from 5'9 to 6'1", 180mm; above that, 185mm. I've seen 190mm cranks used, but most bikes have bottom brackets low enough to scrape pedals all the time with cranks that long. You may adjust five millimeters up or down if your legs are long or short for your height. Also, if you have trouble "spinning," go up five millimeters and two front sprocket teeth.
There seems to be an unwritten rule in BMX that three-piece cranks are necessary. It's not so. A good one-piece crank set, matched up to a strong powerdisc and smooth bearing assembly, is all you need. If you have an "entry-level" BMX bike and are looking for something to spend money on, there are much better things, which we'll get to in a little while. One-piece crank users should be careful to check their cranks weekly for damage or bending. It's not hard to bend a one-piece crank and fail to notice it---don't make that mistake.
Gearing is worth a separate installment in this series and will be treated as such. It's not worth getting very worked up about, however. Remember you're only making a five percent change at most when you swap sprockets a couple of teeth up or down. I began with 44/16 gearing at the age of fourteen and have wandered upwards to my present 47/16 primarily because I have strong legs and can't spin at all. Other riders begin with a 44/16 and change down for a short track. In most cases, a 44/16 is the starting point, and with good reason. If you can't decide how to gear yourself and have no strong arguments against a 44/16, you should select that and wait for further instructions...
One of the areas in which few people are satisfied with the progress of BMX is in the area of pedals. Face it---you're going to slip pedals, but most of the time it's your own fault. NO amount of sharp teeth in the world can make up for poor foot positioning. Most pedals on the market can be upgraded with replacement cages, and it's worth it to buy a set just to gain an extra advantage. Users of the incomparable Shimano DX can't get new cages and don't need them. A Shimano DX copy is acceptable so long as it has true replaceable posts and not simply bumps on the flat sections. "Rattrap" pedals are a menace to cycling and should be pitched whenever you can afford new ones. The same goes for all plastic pedals, with the exception of the wonderful and no longer available MKS Grafight 2000. Why, oh why, did I sell mine?
It doesn't matter what kind of seat and post you have, so long as the combination weighs under twelve pounds and doesn't bend when you sit on it. We'll adjust your seat properly as soon as your handlebars are in the right spot, which is next.
If your bike has a standard pro-size bar and stem combo, here's how to adjust it. Drop the stem all the way down to the adjusting nut on the headset. Tighten the stem up. Now, align your handlebars so they're exactly straight up and down. Ride it this way for a week or two. If your bars continue to feel too far forward after a week, your frame or stem is too long. You have permission to adjust the bars an inch or two backward. The reverse is true if the bars feel too close. Put them forward a bit. I realize that this is not the current "cool" way to adjust your bars. Believe me, it's worth it to do it this way, and if you need confirmation, take a look at Pro riders at a National. Darned if most of them don't have their bars straight up!
Laid-back handlebars ruin the handling of a decent BMX frame. They also put your weight much too far back, making it easier to do difficult jumps but much harder to control your bike safely in a race. Most BMX racers have had the experience of laughing at a non-racer who tries to jump with their bars pointing nearly straight forward. It's dumb to set your bike up that way. It's equally dumb to set it up with the bars pointed way back.
Now that we've got your bars right, let's fix your seat. Turn the bar ninety degrees from its normal position. Adjust the seat so that the front of the seat is one inch lower than the handlebar. You're done. If you're too short for this to be comfortable, lower the seat until it is comfortable, but don't lower it just for the heck of it. Yes, I know that many riders who make their living jumping have lower seats. Some of them, like Jimmy Levan, are also fast on the track with a low seat. None of them have recently been #1 NBL Pro. I think that you will find that nearly every #1 Pro in history has had a pretty high seat by today's standards. Maybe it's because they can go for long rides without cramping up and therefore have more endurance. Whatever the reason, that's how they do it, and that's how you should do it too.
There are almost no bad handlebars currently on the market. I have a fondness for DK, GT, and Slam Bars, but my true wish is that the CW Pro bar would return to the market. I am the only person in the world who feels this way, so my opinion on bars isn't to be trusted. Get whatever you want and set it up properly. It can't really hurt your riding as long as it's NBL"legal. The width of the bars should increase with the width of your shoulders; skinny guys can cut their bars to a width that would restrict the breathing and chest expansion of a pro like Terry Tenette. Please avoid cutting your bars to the point where the bike won't track in a straight line. You need that built-in tracking ability for times when you're busy thinking about something else... like avoiding the wreck five feet ahead of you.
Ten years ago, there were very few decent stems on the market. I'm pleased to say that's no longer the case. Whichever stem you pick, use LocTite to keep the bolts down, because you will forget to tighten them every week like you should. The recent fad of inverted stems is a trifle disturbing to me, simply because they're inflicting cruiser bar positioning on twentyiinch bikes. If you're using one, you could save weight and trouble by going to a shorter bar and a standard stem. Use of an XXL stem on a standard-size bike indicates that you're riding the wrong frame. Putting the bars that far out in front can only get you in trouble. A pro-size or XL aluminum machined stem from a reputable manufacturer would be a good choice and keep you from going "bars-down." As a matter of historical interest, I used to jump an old Huffy in my youth with a single-bolt stem. The bars slipped every jump, and I just got used to it. When I think back on those times, I shudder. Buying a decent stem and set of pedals will cost you much less than three-piece cranks and prove to be much more useful. Trust me.
So now you're set up, except for your brakes. We'll cover those in the next installment of this series. Until then, keep riding and experimenting with the setup listed above. If you can't get comfortable with it, maybe it's time for a different frame... and that will be discussed, along with brake setup and basic street training for racing, in the near future.