Friday, January 28, 2011

The Way Of The Future: Thermalite Resin

Who buys light blue pegs?
Thermalite is a resin that is made from 80% coal ash and other recycled materials.  You can make blocks out of it and use it in construction like concrete bricks, but they are lighter and easier to shape and cut and form an incredible insulation barrier.  The bike company Stolen used it in three bike part models so far:  the pegs pictured above, a pivitol 25.4mm seatpost in two lengths, and some pedals.  

I can't speak for the pedals but they look good.  I have been using the pegs and seat post for about 3/4 of a year and can give an honest review.  The pegs slide great on anything but steel.  They slide like butter on waxed concrete.  If you weigh a lot or slam down on your pegs a lot or aren't diligent in rotating them then they might break.  but mine have been holding up great.  If you grind on rough stuff that has nails or screws sticking out if it then it might gash your pegs.  They come in 10mm and 14mm but the plastic part is universal, so you can switch the front with the back when rotating if you have a one sided set.  The only real problem I have with them is that they require quite long axle for the thick base.  If you have already cut your axles or use alloy nuts that require a lot of thread to not strip or just have short axles these might not fit.  I have never tried it but you could probably take the anti-spin plate off for a little extra room if you need it. 
The bottom line: Being able to grind waxed ledges like metal is crazy, and worth every penny for a 10 dollar peg when some of the heat treated cromo pegs cost 20.  If you grind lots of metal, like at a park or you're just burly and ride lots of rails then metal pegs are the way to go but for your average rider they are awesome cheap ultralight pegs.  The seatpost is a seatpost, its not metal so you have to wrench your bolt down tight to get it to not slip, and its got kinda a bulky look to it but its still a very cheap seatpost and also incredibly light and the only way i see someone breaking it is if you are super burly and run kinda a high seatpost and throw your bike down strairsets a lot.



Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Independent Fabrication Concept Track Bike (fixie)

Independent only makes high end custom bikes
Bonus pick of the sickest carbon lugs you've ever seen.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

BSD TrailOrPark Bike Check, Super Dialed

This is the new BSD TrailOrPark frame.  This is what BMX bikes should look like.
BSD TrailOrPark
 Best part is you can get these frames at any shop with a qbp account which is any respectable one, and they aren't even that expensive.