It looks like Wethepeople have a new concept cooking that they decided to give people a sneak peek look at that should get some discussion going. A few years ago Wethepeople and Eclat started playing with their 25.4mm size bars and stems that definitely stirred the pot a little bit with people for and against changing up the standardized size that every BMX brand used. It’s an interesting concept and it does have its benefits, but it has been slow to catch on with only a few brands giving it a go. It looks like Wethepeople have decided to look into other areas to mix things up a bit even further. Below is a sneak peek look at a very EARLY STAGE PROTOTYPE SAMPLE of their Battleship frame with a interesting integrated head tube that features a 1.125″ (standard) bearing cup up top that tapers to a larger 1.5″ bearing cup on the bottom. If you’re thinking “well, doesn’t that mean you would need a whole new headset with two different sized bearings, a larger crown race and ultimately a larger steerer tube on the fork”… You would be correct. Wethepeople would be revamping your whole front end with this one and blowing up the standardized sizes that every BMX brand has been working with since the introduction of the Integrated Head Tube. There’s pros and cons to this one, so we’re sure you guys have an opinion on this idea. Get more details below and let us know what you’re thinking in the comments below! Please remember this is a PROTOTYPE CONCEPT IDEA, not a finalized product. This may never end up going into production… But it’s worth a discussion and time to test it out, right?
“Here’s a sneak peek at our tapered headtube BATTLESHIP concept frame. After introducing 25.4mm Oversize clamping into freestyle BMX 3 years ago and seeing it slowly become accepted by other brands and recognised by riders as a logical evolution of handlebar design, we at
Wethepeople started to look at other ways in which we could drastically improve upon the conventional design of a BMX bike. Already used on bikes and proven outside of the BMX industry for over a decade now, the use of a tapered headtube allows for vastly
increased strength and stiffness in one of the most critical areas of the bike with relatively little weight gain.
BMX riding (especially street riding) is evolving at such a high rate. Riders are doing bigger tricks down even bigger and more dangerous setups year after year. This kind of riding puts a huge amount of force and stress through this specific area of a frame and fork, so moving
towards a tapered headtube system was something where we could instantly see the benefits design wise.
By keeping a standard 1.125″ bearing at the top of the headtube, and a larger 1.5” bearing at the bottom, we are able to not only increase the diameter of the fork crown at an area of high stress, but also combine it with the hydroformed tubing of our BATTLESHIP street frame to allow far more
welding surface area and resulting in the strongest frame and fork combination ever made. The taper it’s self also acts like a natural conduit for the energy during an impact and channels it into the enlarged and strongest part of the frame and fork.
This tapered BATTLESHIP frame and fork concept is currently in the early development stages, and as with all Wethepeople products will
go through an intense testing phase in both the laboratory and with our PRO team before it progresses any further. We’ll be posting more about this new concept as the project develops including photos and info on the matching tapered BATTLESHIP fork, as well
as bike checks from the team riders who will be receiving their first samples very shortly and will be putting them to work on the streets around the world.” – Wethepeople
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