I’m always bouncing around ideas with different brands for different projects from interviews with the teams, product reviews, On the Horizon’s and in general, things that give you a better understanding of what makes a brand tick. I’m always tossing ideas back and forth with Dean Hearne from United and we were thinking taking a closer look at some of their products would be pretty cool. The other day when Corey Martinez won the street portion of the Rebel Jam, it was pretty much was enough of a reason for me to want to focus closer on Corey’s signature Beacon line. So let’s take a closer look at what makes his frame and bars his…
All right, so lets start out with the frame. Over the years, Corey has had the opportunity to do a number of signature parts with different brands. Some of you might recall that his original signature frame from United was the Trinity frame that was around for a few years. The frame was fairly popular, but after being around for a few years, Corey and United wanted to go back and revamp things with updated geometry, materials and features. The Beacon was born.
The Beacon features a 75-degree head tube angle, 69-degree seat tube angle, 11.6″ bottom bracket height (Note: United site lists it at 11.8 but I guess that’s wrong?) , 8.8″ stand over height and 13.65″ (slammed) to 13.8″ chain stay length. I know most kids out there really only care about top tube lengths, which has options of 20″, 20.85″ and 21″, the weight of 4.9 lbs. (2.2 KG) and the color options of flat black, flat Dark red, High Gloss blue. But some of you might have noticed a lot of frames out there are starting to get “taller” again for 2012.
The Trinity frame featured a seat tube height of 8″ even and this one is closer to the traditional 9″ height that I’ve noticed a number of frames are coming back towards. Those low slung designed frames are going away similar to the slammed seat post trend and that’s not a bad thing. Having that longer seat tube length will make it easier for you kids to pinch the seat or keep the bike balanced under you while doing barspins. It also makes it that much more comfortable when you actually take a second to sit down; unless you have one of those plastic seats which also are becoming a thing of the past.
Corey knows where he likes his bottom bracket height at, but there’s still a difference from his Trinity frame to the Beacon. You can find a .05″ difference going from 11.75″ to 11.60″. This small of a change won’t have much of an effect, but the lower the bottom bracket the more balance since you have a lower center of gravity.
The 69-degree seat tube angle is a bonus for you taller riders out there. Having the seat tube back a little more than the typical 71 or 70-degree seat tube angle will allow for a little more room between you and the bars.
All right, the next difference you might see in the Beacon frame (and a number of other new 2012 frames) is that the weight came up a bit. Over the course of the last few years, pretty much all of the frames on the market have come down in weight quite substantially. A few years ago a 6 pound frame was considered light (don’t even get me started on the old S&M Warpig frames…) and then last year we saw a few frames in the lower 4 pound range. Now, light is good, if it can be done right. Drilling holes, butting tubing, heat-treating, machining head tubes and bottom brackets to ensure they are perfectly round are all ways to shave a few ounces. In that time of doing all these things, weight was shed and strength was tested. For 2012 you will find a lot of brands talking about their frames having straight gauge tubing and internal or external gussets again. That’s a good thing…
The Beacon frame is made from 100% seamless Japanese 4130 chromoly tubing with top and down tube gussets and tapering on the downtube, seat stays, seat tube and chain stays. The Japanese 4130 chromoly tubing is a pretty common material used in BMX frames and it definitely works. Having gussets on the top and down tubes increase the strength at the head tube junction where typically there’s a lot of stress. How many frames have you seen crack in that place? The weight may have come up a few ounces, but having the extra strength in key places is well worth the ounces over snapping a frame, right?
Corey’s frame has a number of extra features as well. The top tube gusset is stamped with the Beacon logo, there’s engraved lines on the head tube and bottom bracket (no, these are NOT cut lines like you can find on bars. It’s an aesthetic touch over anything else!), a new shaped 117mm head tube and 74mm wide bottom bracket, single-bolt removable brake mounts, elevated chain stays for grind clearance and small drop outs that still work with pegs and hub guards when you slam the wheel, wider stays to fit those monster truck sized 2.35″ tires and a heat-treated head tube, bottom bracket and drop outs.
One feature I’m glad they decided to go with is having that built in seat post removable. They have made the seat tube wide enough so that you can use that helpful cut line and hack saw that built in post off and slide in your own post for those of you who like a slammed seat or 2 fists of post. I’ve ran a frame with a built in post and it’s a cool feature and everything, but it’s never quite right where you want your seat. It looks like Corey decided to run his own seat post in a recent bike check on Ride UK as well…
Next up, would be the Beacon Bars. One thing I’ve noticed this past year is that the little “joke” that started out as the Solid “Roseanne Bars” has caught on. There are a number of brands (pretty much all of them) that offer a 9″ rise version of their bars. I won’t knock it too hard because I haven’t run these bars, but the general consensus from the industry is that bars that big are physically too big for the majority of riders running them. I’d imagine this is one of those trends that will hopefully be short lived.
Back to my point though… In my opinion Corey and United hit the geometry right on the nuts. These 11-butted 100% seamless chromoly, post-weld heat-treated bars have a rise of 8.6″, width of 27″, 10-degrees of back sweep, 2-degrees of up sweep and a weight of 1.73 lbs. (784 g). This is the only size available since that’s what Corey runs… Signature indeed. These bars are available in flat black, flat Dark red and High Gloss blue to match the frame as well.
Overall, I’m real impressed with the updates that Corey and United decided on for his new signature Beacon frame and bars. It has all the latest features while doing things to improve strength without making over the top sacrifices to save a few ounces. The frame retails here in the U.S for around $319.99 on Dan’s Comp and the bars go for $72.99 on Dan’s Comp
Are you a brand that would like me to take a closer look at some of your products? hit me up!
