Genuine Bicycle Products BMX cruiser

[rev106]

Here's our 1st batch of bikes, we made 20 frames out of 4130 all hand made here in the USA. We raced them, and rode them, jumped them and even took them to a skate park for a severe beating. Please check out the site for more info and we'll be adding parts and other goodies in the coming months. Thanks.

more info at:

http://www.genuinebicycleproducts.com

 

[c.p.odom]

Good job guys, keep em coming!

 

[rev106]

Some pics of a complete build...

 

[Bicycle808]

Wow. I've been wondering why nobody does something like this, and here i find a post about somebody doing this!

My only question is: why 120mm rear spacing? Aren't most bmx hubs spaced at 110mm, or has that changed, too? Otherwise, it seems like a sensible design. I wish it had the old-school headtube, with the 32.7mm ID, but i think most ppl will find the 1 1/8" more convenient.

I love the concept: what Fireman's has done for the Kos/OM Flyer concept, y'all have done for the cook bros racing 26". Very nice.

-rob

 

[c.p.odom]

Sure old school BMX is 110mm but single speed spacing has been 120mm since before the first BMX'er was ever built. This seems a more versatile width, it is easier to add spacers to a 100mm hub than to reduce a 110mm hubs width. This bikes DNA is very clear but it is still built for the needs of the current market, not meant to be a replica.

 

[Bicycle808]

Sure old school BMX is 110mm but single speed spacing has been 120mm since before the first BMX'er was ever built. This seems a more versatile width, it is easier to add spacers to a 100mm hub than to reduce a 110mm hubs width. This bikes DNA is very clear but it is still built for the needs of the current market, not meant to be a replica.

Most of the ol' coaster-brake singlespeeds were 110mm spaced. Early track bikes, and modern keirin bikes, were spaced at 110mm. 120mm saw popularity with the advent of 5speed rear clusters, but many modern single speeds are, indeed, spaced at 120mm, often built up with flip/flop "track" hubs. Single speed mountain bikes tend to be 135mm, for whatever that's worth. But, up until the first BMX bike, the bulk of single speeds were 110mm at the rear.

I think the 120mm Article 1 bikes will be good b/c it will allow users to run track hubs (120), kick-backs and 3speeds(116mm), or bmx hubs with spacers. So, yeah it's versatile. But, i'd wager that most ppl who build one will just run some bmx hubs anyway, so I wonder if 110 might not have made more sense? That's how most modern bmx frames are built,as well as the firemans bikes. To each his own, I guess. The spacing certainly doesn't detract from the appeal of the bike.

-rob

 

[c.p.odom]

My apologies to 808,
He makes some very correct points. I was recently dealing with some old 5 speed issues (120mm) and got mixed up. My own track bikes and hubs are all 110mm. It is true that much of the modern fixie hubs are sold in 120mm, makes sense because this is market based on new riders converting old throwaway road frames, many of them in 5/6 speed widths.

 

[poverty with a view]

Sure old school BMX is 110mm but single speed spacing has been 120mm since before the first BMX'er was ever built. This seems a more versatile width, it is easier to add spacers to a 100mm hub than to reduce a 110mm hubs width. This bikes DNA is very clear but it is still built for the needs of the current market, not meant to be a replica.

Most of the ol' coaster-brake singlespeeds were 110mm spaced. Early track bikes, and modern keirin bikes, were spaced at 110mm. 120mm saw popularity with the advent of 5speed rear clusters, but many modern single speeds are, indeed, spaced at 120mm, often built up with flip/flop "track" hubs. Single speed mountain bikes tend to be 135mm, for whatever that's worth. But, up until the first BMX bike, the bulk of single speeds were 110mm at the rear.

I think the 120mm Article 1 bikes will be good b/c it will allow users to run track hubs (120), kick-backs and 3speeds(116mm), or bmx hubs with spacers. So, yeah it's versatile. But, i'd wager that most ppl who build one will just run some bmx hubs anyway, so I wonder if 110 might not have made more sense? That's how most modern bmx frames are built,as well as the firemans bikes. To each his own, I guess. The spacing certainly doesn't detract from the appeal of the bike.

-rob

Thanks for all the info.

 

[Bicycle808]

Thanks for all the info.

haha, sorry; i do that sometimes.

cp odom, it's all good. how old are your track bikes?

-ron

 

[c.p.odom]

Ron,
My track bikes, what I have left are from the mid/late seventies. They are my own bikes that I won many races on. My favorite is a Merlin made by Bob Jackson (no relation to the US company)that was finished in a powdered copper paint over chrome to give it a almost gold plated look. I still use it as a road single. It is due for a restoration soon. We have saved or repurchased a number of road bikes that are all family bikes, ones my wife and I raced or our parents rode.

Curtis

 

[Bicycle808]

Ron,
My track bikes, what I have left are from the mid/late seventies. They are my own bikes that I won many races on. My favorite is a Merlin made by Bob Jackson (no relation to the US company)that was finished in a powdered copper paint over chrome to give it a almost gold plated look. I still use it as a road single. It is due for a restoration soon. We have saved or repurchased a number of road bikes that are all family bikes, ones my wife and I raced or our parents rode.

Curtis

Curtis,

My bad; I typed "ron", but my name is actually Rob. Stupid typos.

I'm familiar with Bob Jackson. Beautiful bikes, even today.(Bob himself is no longer with us; RIP.) I think I might buy a BJ Audax End-to-End, unless I get a Mercian instead. Very nice stuff; must be cool to have track bikes from the 70s. Hold onto them, as the value will only appreciate in time. FWIW, the new BJ and other nice UK-made track bikes have all gone to 120mm spacing, which probably makes the most sense. These days, you can pretty much get 110mm track hubs only from Japanese companies, Phil, and Profile Racing. (Special order only; only the Keirin frames still come 110mm.) Oh-- I think you can get Campy Record track hubs in 110, as most all the Record Pista stuff is NJS-0cert/keirion legal.

Sorry for the dork-festival.

-rob

 

[rev106]

We're talking 5 mil here. The loop, the frame is strong and thus you can squeeze or widen it a little and it will be fine, this way it's more versatile and can be used for many different applications.

We went with 1 1/8 threadless because that's the industry standard. 26" 1" threaded forks that are worth a .... are just not around. With an adapter you can run the old school stuff.

Without, standard.

With adapter:

Glad you like the bikes, we've ridden them very hard and they will hold up and look good doing it.

 

[rev106]

As you can see, the loop, even unconnected from the seat tube is very strong.

 

[Bicycle808]

We're actually talkin' bout 10mm, here, but I agree: No biggie.

And, i totally understand re: the new staNdards and availability of 1.125" forks versus 1" ones. Plus, bearings in 1.125" systems stand up to drops and other "abuse" far better than the fewer/smaller bearings in a 1" system. I just have a soft spot for the old standards. I love my profile wedge stemAs for the pictures of dude standing on the loop rear-end: no sarcasm at all, when I first saw that on your sight, I thought that was about the most convincing thing I've ever seen done to promote a frame. If I wasn't siting on 2 other 26" straight bar frames, I'd definitely spring for one of these this year. As it stands, I'll probably end up springing for one eventually anyway.

Kepp up the good work!
-rob

 

[rev106]

yeah, 5 mil a side right? Anyway we figured we'd be trying to please two camps: retro collector types and people that want something retro that performed like a modern bike and took new bits. Some people love the canti bosses and others hate em' you simply can't please everyone.I'm not a big fan of threadless stems but that's what you get, at least bmx standards have not tried to go to 31.8 which is the lamest thing yet.

 

[c.p.odom]

Bicycle808 mentions 10mm or ten millimeters not 10 mil.
A "mil" is 1/1000 of an inch or 1/1000 of and angular degree.
True 5mm per side but only sort of as a true center plane does not exist to measure from, this could be simulated if fixtured to a surface plate.

 

[Bicycle808]

gentlemen,we're gettin' all hung up on minutiae here, I believe. While it's true that the terms "mil" and "mm" are not interchangeable (which is why i went back to mm in my earlier post), we can all agree that rev106 is absolutely right: no big deal.(The proper abbreviation for "no big deal" is NBD.) We're grimy bicycle folk; cold-setting a frame or re-spacing a hub is NBD for us. Just squeezing an off-size hub into a frame is even easier. In the case of some 110 bmx hubs and the Genuine Cruiser, I reckon I'd mock things up with the crank installed and the freewheel finger-tight on the hub, use 10mm of spacers on one or both sides to get the best line, cram those puppies behind the locknuts, and build the wheel around that. If any of that sounds complicated to anyone just reading thru this thread, I can assure you: NBD. (I'm sure CP and Rev106'd agree.)
=D
Rev106, I think that the canti-posts are the best bet for this build. Discs'd look out of place, u-brakes would be kinda weird in the front, and 890-type calipers? Well, I love 'em in a nostalgic kind of way, but I wouldn't wanna build a new bike with 'em. V-brakes are ugly, but they work PD good, and compliment the stated mission of that cruiser pretty well.

Well-done.
-rob

 

[c.p.odom]

But I love minutia almost as much as a pointless debate, lets get into some geometric tolerancing and drawing standards to fully geek out.
I will agree and disagree on the brakes, right that the cantilevers are good, 890 calipers represent the worst of BMX, but I think discs would be very cool.
Re-spacing the hub before lacing the wheel and dishing it as needed is a proper idea.

 

[rev106]

Oh man..geek fest!

We went with v brakes because dollars to doughnuts they work the best for the money, I run them on all my mountain bikes that can take them. We're toying with disc brake mounts but they look bulky and clutter the lines of the frame. Caliper brakes just suck. When I was a 78 pound kid they would be fine but this is a bog boy bike and while I can still fit into t-shirts I had in high school at 40, my weight now would make braking with antiquated systems more of a myth than reality. I remember one ride we did recently where my pal had the lever on his KOS cruiser down to the grip and he looked over at me with a surprised look on his face and uttered; "No brakes!". We can do the frame without bosses and have sold one as such. I'm going to break mine down and make a single speed mountain bike out of it for a coaster brake only race we do out here in July. Should be fun.

 

[Bicycle808]

Oh man..geek fest!

We went with v brakes because dollars to doughnuts they work the best for the money, I run them on all my mountain bikes that can take them. We're toying with disc brake mounts but they look bulky and clutter the lines of the frame. Caliper brakes just suck. When I was a 78 pound kid they would be fine but this is a bog boy bike and while I can still fit into t-shirts I had in high school at 40, my weight now would make braking with antiquated systems more of a myth than reality. I remember one ride we did recently where my pal had the lever on his KOS cruiser down to the grip and he looked over at me with a surprised look on his face and uttered; "No brakes!". We can do the frame without bosses and have sold one as such. I'm going to break mine down and make a single speed mountain bike out of it for a coaster brake only race we do out here in July. Should be fun.

I think it'd be a sin to ruin those track-ends with a disc caliper mount. Looks too nice, as it is. Being that y'all aren't doing your own forks, it probably wouldn't be any problem for someone to put a disc frnt fork on it. It's be weird to run it as a mullet-bike, with a disc up front and the v in the back, but the front is the stronger brake anyhow.

-rob