Author Topic: BMX  (Read 10839 times)

marcusjb

  • Full of bon courage.
Re: BMX
« Reply #25 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:03:56 pm »
Just tuned in - I want one!

Question for those in the know - are they riding on clipless pedals for this sort of racing??  I have seen them twist their feet off the pedals at the end, but not been able to see the actual pedals.  I always thought BMX just used flats?
Right! What's next?

Ooooh. That sounds like a daft idea.  I am in!

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: BMX
« Reply #26 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:04:25 pm »
Not that kiwi, another one. Yes they do ride clipless.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: BMX
« Reply #27 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:10:00 pm »
They have just been discussing pedals and tyres on the BBC coverage, apparently at grass roots level they use flats, but at this level they are clipless.

The commentator (apparently an ex-BMX racer) said on tarmac courses, like this one, they use anywhere up to 200psi in the tyres!!! :o
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Re: BMX
« Reply #28 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:12:13 pm »
Can I commit heresy and suggest that BMX is a prime candidate for this thread?

Pah!  It's an excellent Olympic sport.  It fulfils the "higher, faster, stronger" criteria more than a lot of other Olympic sports.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: BMX
« Reply #29 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:14:51 pm »
One of the commentators has just speculated the following (I paraphrase):

"OK, you could probably get about 2000 people in the world up to the sort of bike handling skills required to ride this course. How many of them would then be competitive enough to risk their internal organs to take part in an event like this?"
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: BMX
« Reply #30 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:15:45 pm »
Can I commit heresy and suggest that BMX is a prime candidate for this thread?

Pah!  It's an excellent Olympic sport.  It fulfils the "higher, faster, stronger" criteria more than a lot of other Olympic sports.

Apparantly they hit over 40mph at the bottom of that start ramp!
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

marcusjb

  • Full of bon courage.
Re: BMX
« Reply #31 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:17:02 pm »
They have just been discussing pedals and tyres on the BBC coverage, apparently at grass roots level they use flats, but at this level they are clipless.

The commentator (apparently an ex-BMX racer) said on tarmac courses, like this one, they use anywhere up to 200psi in the tyres!!! :o

Blimey!  I just tuned in so missed the discussions sadly.  That pressure is incredible - I would have thought the need to have some shock absorption would mean they ran lower pressures, but obviously speed outweighs everything.

67 kph they are recording as top speeds - that's nuts!

My girlfriend was desperate for BMX tickets - I can now see why!
Right! What's next?

Ooooh. That sounds like a daft idea.  I am in!

Re: BMX
« Reply #32 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:17:14 pm »
One of the commentators has just speculated the following (I paraphrase):

"OK, you could probably get about 2000 people in the world up to the sort of bike handling skills required to ride this course. How many of them would then be competitive enough to risk their internal organs to take part in an event like this?"

That was in reference to Arielle Martin, the US rider who lacerated her liver just before the Olympics in a crash!
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: BMX
« Reply #33 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:17:37 pm »
Can I commit heresy and suggest that BMX is a prime candidate for this thread?

Pah!  It's an excellent Olympic sport.  It fulfils the "higher, faster, stronger" criteria more than a lot of other Olympic sports.

I agree, the racing is fantastic, and ideal for the MTV (and later) generations with the attention span of a gnat.  If they decide to add the street and vert though, that would be a true tragedy (I think the movement to get skateboarding included might win out over that one, and that would be just as big a tragedy).

Wow, did you here the earlier bit where they were talking about a rider busting his spleen, not once, but twice, and the second time they removed it?
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: BMX
« Reply #34 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:18:24 pm »
bobb beat me to it, spleen, liver, it's all soft squishy stuff inside you :)
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Re: BMX
« Reply #35 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:27:07 pm »
They have just been discussing pedals and tyres on the BBC coverage, apparently at grass roots level they use flats, but at this level they are clipless.

The commentator (apparently an ex-BMX racer) said on tarmac courses, like this one, they use anywhere up to 200psi in the tyres!!! :o

It's Jamie Staff.  He moved from BMX to track (Gold at Team Sprint in 2008).  They were saying that the tyre pressure in BMX was up to 100 psi (as opposed to the 65 psi on most BMX bikes), but that on the track the pressure was up to 220 psi.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
BMX
« Reply #36 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:29:01 pm »
The commentator (apparently an ex-BMX racer) said on tarmac courses, like this one, they use anywhere up to 200psi in the tyres!!! :o

I think the 200psi was mentioned in relation to the velodrome. It's about 100psi for the BMX - which is still pretty high on that surface.

The commentator is Jamie Staff - former BMX world champion who transferred to the track and was a member of the gold medal winning team sprint trio at Beijing.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: BMX
« Reply #37 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:29:27 pm »
bobb beat me to it, spleen, liver, it's all soft squishy stuff inside you :)

No - you're right, one of the men competing smashed his spleen up. (If that's what you do to a spleen. I don't know what a spleen looks like!)
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
BMX
« Reply #38 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:30:16 pm »
Snap!
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

mcshroom

  • Mushroom
Re: BMX
« Reply #39 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:31:41 pm »
Snap!

I don't think you snap a spleen
Climbs like a sprinter, sprints like a climber!

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: BMX
« Reply #40 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:33:33 pm »
OK, so, rethinking what was said, yes the 200psi applied to track tubs, I was trying to wreck a Solaris server whilst listening to the commentary....

smash/mush/snap/perforate, dunno which it is WRT the spleen, but I bet it bloody hurts!
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
BMX
« Reply #41 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:37:26 pm »
I wonder which hurts more - snapped spleen or lacerated liver. Or perforated pancreas.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: BMX
« Reply #42 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:39:37 pm »
surely spleens are vented.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: BMX
« Reply #43 on: 09 August, 2012, 05:07:38 pm »
That was the problem. This is one of the reasons why bar end plugs are mandatory for competition. Handlebar organectomies are not pleasant things.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Re: BMX
« Reply #44 on: 09 August, 2012, 05:18:53 pm »
That was fun to watch. :thumbsup:
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: BMX
« Reply #45 on: 09 August, 2012, 06:11:14 pm »


No - you're right, one of the men competing smashed his spleen up. (If that's what you do to a spleen. I don't know what a spleen looks like!)
They're offally pretty.
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Re: BMX
« Reply #46 on: 09 August, 2012, 06:57:14 pm »
Can I commit heresy and suggest that BMX is a prime candidate for this thread?

Gotta say, Greg, that thanks to my involvement with the OC of the Limp Icks, and having witnessed what they are capable of, I confess to having developed a healthy respect for BMXrs - they're more than just a bunch of miscreants in hoodies - not that you were saying anything of the sort  ;)

ian

Re: BMX
« Reply #47 on: 09 August, 2012, 07:23:34 pm »
As a former BMXer, I can only credit their skills and vestigial commonsense. In one of our less lucid BMX moments we got a big ramp and pointed it at a bigger vertical wall. The aim wasn't the jump the wall, oh no, that would have been too easy, the aim was jump at the wall and hit it at such an angle and speed that we could continue to pedal up the wall, sticking up two youthful fingers at the miserable clutches of gravity. That worked about as well as expected. Well, had we expected one of two outcomes (neither of which involved any kind of victory over gravity) – either bouncing off the wall if the tyres hit first or splatting against the wall otherwise. We spent an entire afternoon attempting to defy gravity. I think we only stopped through the effects of cumulative blood loss.

I snapped that Mongoose's frame riding off the garage roof.

welshwheels

  • stop eating cheeseburgers big boy!!!!
Re: BMX
« Reply #48 on: 09 August, 2012, 10:07:32 pm »
That was fun to watch. :thumbsup:
it was  :thumbsup:   CHAPEAU to all of today's competitors :thumbsup:
struggling up hills since 1981 !!!

Re: BMX
« Reply #49 on: 09 August, 2012, 11:44:13 pm »
When I look at the BMX nutters, see what they do and how fast they do it, I can't help wondering if there are a lot of bands missing their drummers.
Allow me to explain through the medium of interpretive dance