News Author Archive

Sep 1, 2003 • News Wheel Truing

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#70) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

With 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 is an essential skill for anyone wanting to look after their own bike, yet there is no easy way to learn. Most people learn from their mates and from trial and error, but I am feeling cocky so fug-it lets have a pop at writing it down.

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Aug 1, 2003 • News Stretching

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#69) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

This 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.

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Dec 1, 2002 • News Dropouts

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#61) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

I seriously thought people would be sick of this technical column by now, but it seems not. I always aimed for it to have a little useful information in each, presented in a reasonably entertaining way. Unfortunately they were tedious beyond measure and I am genuinely surprised that no one has told me to shut up yet. Since nobody has, this months will break new ground with its tedium. If anyone has any requests for future ones (assuming this one doesn’t finish the whole idea off) then I would be interested to hear from you…

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Dec 1, 2002 • News Punctures

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#63) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

I guess we have all envied after skateboarders once or twice. Usually when your back wheel has just had a little brush with coping and is making that awful hissing noise. Just then the idea of rolling round on a plank with solid wheels that NEVER go pop is pretty attractive.

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Jan 1, 2002 • News Frame Design Details

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#64) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

Over the years there have been some pretty wacky frame designs. Hutch, for example, used to make a frame called the Trickstar. This was loved by a lot of riders of the day, especially flatlanders, for its super steep head angle and abundance of scuffing room. The scuffing room came at the expense of strength at the weird head tube junction. Hutch obviously decided that it was still way too strong and went on to produce the Trickstar II, which had a specially weakened rear triangle to match. The rear triangle also helped to make the Mk 2 look like a wheel barrow (not just any wheel barrow mind, an UGLY wheel barrow) and that was that for Hutch.

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