Customising Your BMX Bike: Get to Know the Wheel Components
Though BMX reached its heights in the world of sports during the 1970s and 1980s, it’s still remained popular with bikers into getting the best of both the worlds of fun and physical activity. Especially if you’re into using your bike for various tricks, and jumps, instead of merely for transport or recreation.
In the past decades, BMX bikes were still rather flawed, and they were going through a great deal of transformations to get to where they are today. Thanks to the implementation of advanced technologies, many upgrades have been done in the realms of geometry and dynamics, so today we have a variety of outstanding models famous both for their speed and lightweight properties.
When shopping for the ideal bike, many fail to consider the parts a model consists of. Instead of only focusing on a brand, or the price, take the time to consider the quality of the components. For a start, you could do with a store bike as a beginner, but the more you get into the sport, the more you’d like to experiment with your own kind of bike.
As much of the riding comes down to the wheels and wheelsets, you have to make them your priorities whenever deciding to give your existing model a customized upgrade by choosing the bits and pieces yourself from various brands like Colony, Division, Cult, Odyssey, and BSD among others.
Consider the Separate Parts of the Wheels
As the versatile BMX wheels for sale you can find at the well-stocked shops all consist of different parts themselves, it’s only natural to start the quest for the ideal wheels taking these parts into account.
Start with the Rims
There are basically two materials you can find these parts in – metal and carbon fibre composites. The first is the more common type, with aluminium alloy being the more recent addition, whereas the latter is typically chosen for the road bikes that are on the more expensive end.
As the pieces that connect the tyres with the BMX wheels, they’re very important, so quality is something you should be after. Moreover, they also take most of the initial impact when landing, and they’re made to diffuse it, which is why it’s mandatory to choose a more top notch material for sturdiness and durability.
Besides this, have in mind rims differ also in their internal wall designs. This is why you can find the simpler single-wall rims, and those with multiple walls with internal chambers. What sets these two apart is the fact single-walled aren’t that good when it comes to offering structural support which might be considered a drawback for some, whereas the disadvantage the stronger alternative has is added weight from the multiple walls.
If you’re looking for that golden middle, that offers somewhat more support than the single-walled, yet isn’t as heavy as the multiple-walled, then you might just get what you need from the double-walled rims. Let’s not forget yet another weight-related difference that comes from the spokes which can be made from aluminium or titanium and are available in a variety of colours. It’s pretty simple, the more the spokes a rim has, the more the weight.
You can make your choice related to them based on the riding style you plan on using the BMX wheels for sale for, specifically the rims. For instance, if you want to try out different styles, that require rims with spokes in different weights, an all-purpose one with 36 spokes is your pick.
Those into racing could opt for something lighter, such as the regular rim designs with 32 or 28-holes. Whereas if you’ve already put your BMX through a great deal of pressure, wear and tear, perhaps it’s best to go for heavier options, like the 48-spoke models that can withstand those kinds of rides.
Follow Up with the Hubs
As the central parts that are crucial for the BMX bike wheels smooth-running, they’re the bases considering they form the attachment to the rims through the spokes, and the inner sets of bearings through which the axles are threaded. This is an essential role they have in the wheels, and as such require more shopping attention too.
Even though there are hubs on both the front and rear wheels, they differ in complexity since the front hub simply keeps the wheel spinning, whereas the rear hub is also connected to the transmission, i.e. the sprocket or the cassette. The great thing about big and small sprockets is you can choose your own to customize the hub – for instance you can get small sprockets fitted for preventing accidents with ramps when riding at the parks.
Based on the freewheel or driver of the rear wheel of the BMX, you’ve got three types of hubs: the freecoaster, the cassette and the freewheel. The first are typical for their internal clutch system that enables the bike to roll backwards without back pedaling, whereas the second are famous for the internal driver and the lightweight properties since they can have very small sprockets fit. The last are known for the external driver that requires bigger bearings and freewheel.