News / Tech Corner

  Bottom Bracket CompendiumYou may remember that 2 years ago in issue 58 I wrote about the new Euro Bottom brackets that were starting to pop up on some frames. I also predicted that there would be some other new standards to look forward to. Well now they seem to be starting to come through so I thought […]
  Steering GeometrySomeone requested that I do a tech column on head angles and steering geometry. I wasn’t sure at first if this was a worthwhile subject, after all, there isn’t that much variation available is there? Most frames have a head angle of 74 and a half! Degrees and most forks have one and a quarter […]
  Three Piece Crank FittingOnce again I find myself sitting in front of the computer wondering how to start my tech column. Every few seconds I turn my head to look out the window for inspiration… or is it distraction. How the hell do you write a thousand words in such a way that people want to read them? […]
  They’re playing R-Tune… (groan)The progress of civilisation is based upon one thing above all others, Albert Einstein put it very well when he said that “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.” In other words one persons progression is based upon the work done by the people […]
  What the hell is a hidden headset?What the hell is a Hidden Headset? Good question. And surprisingly hard to answer.
  Avoid bicycle maintenance bloodlustA few months ago I did a tech column moaning about how the parts for your bike often don’t fit together very well, hopefully some people found it interesting but I later realised that it wasn’t a fat lot of use to most riders. So this month, rather than rattle on about some deep technical […]
  StretchingThis month I want to discuss something a little different. BMX has been around for about 30 years now and so have I. In that time riders have come and gone as you would expect but there are a surprising number who came and never went. Jamie Bestwick, Matt Hoffman, Dennis McCoy, Rob Ridge, Kevin […]
  Lard inspired quest for reliability and tranquilityThe last tech column had a stupid name. It’s not the name that I gave it so please don’t blame me. It was entitled “Truth” originally but for some reason it got changed to “Build Your Own Wheels”, which, although a good idea, was very little to do with the article which was just about […]
  Wheel TruingWith Tex taking a very ‘tech’ approach this month I thought I would go back to some basic stuff and do a good old fashioned tutorial. I always said I wouldn’t do this. I always said that it wasn’t really possible. What I meant was that I didn’t think I could face it. Truing wheels […]
  FitsSuppose you went out tomorrow and bought a brand new car, suppose for some crazy reason you bought a Ford. On the front and back it would say “Ford” and even the middle of the wheels would probably proclaim their Fordiness. If you looked under the bonnet you would probably see a big “Ford” cast […]
  Super Small GearingGearing (again). Well it’s been nearly a year since the first article I wrote on gearing and a lot has happened since then. Everything that the previous article covered still holds true and I wont be going over the same ground again. “Thank fuck.” I hear you cry, “That previous gearing article was dull as ditch […]
  HeadsetsA BMX, like any other bicycle, has two wheels. You sit in-between them and point the front one the way you want to go. All the time that you are sitting (or standing) on it you are pressing down between the two wheels trying to snap it in half. As BMX’ers we then try that […]