Kuwahara 2012 or so it seems

I had to really do a double take when I saw this on BMXMuseum.com. Incidentally, this picture was taken from their site and they hold all copyrights. Kuwahara coming out with a new model? Well, all I can say is that it is a refreshing change. Interesting looking frame. I do not get the rationale of the "holes" in the frames though. And another surprising thing is that this one is set up with Profile Racing cranks. I thought all these new-school racers were strong advocates of aluminium cranks? Not too much info on the frames are available but there are some more pics available on the BMXMuseum.com site. Check it out!

Broken Demolition cranks

In the course of our daily rides, we met other cyclists who are just as passionate about their rides as we are about ours. One day we happened to come across a group of fixed-gear riders. They were attracted to the 29er I was riding then and they asked what crank I was running on my 29er. I said that it was a Profile crank. He asked me if it was strong. I told him that I used to use the crank for BMX racing and you bet it was strong. He then told me that he had a picture of a fixed-gear bike with a broken BMX crank. I told him, "This I gotta see!" So when I reach home, I had a link waiting in my email box and the picture is up there.

There is a blog for fixed-gear riders, or fixies as they are more popularly known as. This blog named FixedGear Geneva had a picture of it and the rider was a guy named David Pili. Apparently, he cracked the cranks after a gnarly riding session. My respect for these riders just went up another notch. You guys rock man!

Profile Gun-Drilled Hollow BB Spindles

According to their website, Profile are making changes to the axle on their famous cranksets. The spindle will be hollowed out like the picture above, which is courtesy of Profile's website. Some one said that maybe this is Profile's way of getting back into the market of race cranks, as many dropped Profile in favour of the Shimano DXR cranks. Seems that the spindle is 18% lighter with the hollowed out or "gun-drilled" spindle. More information can be found in the links above. I will say one thing for certain... this looks good but will the strength of the axles be weakened? I am by no means a crank expert but I think that it will be weakened only marginally, not totally. Still a lot of strength left in these cranks!

New Profile Rasta hubs

Profile, I must admit, are taking the whole design thing very seriously. These are their hubs called the Rasta hub because of the paint scheme. Still the same old dependable mechanism you can expect from Profile. Thanks to DigBMX for the heads up.

Profile re-issuing their early cranks

Looks like Profile are making a limited number of these cranks to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Seems like they will be using the same old tooling from the very early 80s as well. They will be a limited number as I said, plus they will come with a free T-shirt. Cost of these? Well, about USD$400.

Profile Racing ups the ante with new products

Things like a paint-spattered stem may not be your cup of tea (it sure as hell ain't mine) but if you are Profile Racing, you gotta keep ahead of the pack. These are the Confetti 40 stems and I must say that they will colour up your bike a mite. And also check out their new purple cranks above! Profile Racing looks like they are giving their parts some new looks! You can check out the Profile Racing website for more details.

BMX till I die

That is the question everyone asks me everytime they see me riding my bike. Sometimes I ask myself that question too. Why BMX? I wish there could be an easy answer to that question but unfortunately there is not. How can I explain my love for this 20-inch bike when that is the only bike that I have been comfortable on all these years? How can I explain that when the film E.T. came out, it totally changed my view of cycling? How can I possibly explain how the BMX bug has still been with me since 1982? I can't find an easy answer to it. It is a passion I suppose, a passion that brings all the BMxers together. We live our biking lives our way. BMX is the root of extreme cycling. Oh sure, there may be the pundits who may not agree with me but seriously, how many of you readers really know your roots? I do not know about mountainbikes. I have ridden them and I used to own one till I gave it away. I do have an On-One 29-incher though but it is set up like a BMX with Profile cranks and a rigid fork. Some things cannot change and maybe that is why I am still rooted to the old-school of BMX. Others may say what they like but I will continue to be a BMXer till the day I die

Shimano DXR cranks

After running chromoly cranks for years, I will shudder if i ever have to put these on my bike. I am thankful though that Shimano has BMXers in mind when they made this DXR crankset and DXR gruppo. They are pretty pricey though but to the weight-weenie BMXer today, they will will suffice. Not me though. After having broken a pair of aluminium cranks in the past, chromoly is all I trust