Kink‘s connect Max Bergmann coming through with a fresh new edit from some of the skatepark sessions he has been catching lately. This one is packed full of grinds, freecoaster combos, nose balance and plenty of style. Highlight suggest hitting play on this one because there’s plenty to enjoy in this!
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Kink BMX – Casey Starling Video Bike Check
Kink sent through a new video Bike Check for you to take a look at! This time around we get a look at their connect, Casey Starling‘s current Solace setup that he’s running followed up with a bunch of riding footage from a few different skateparks! The bike looks dialed and the riding is real good. Take a look!
“Casey joined the Kink Flow Team earlier this year, and put together this in-depth bike check, going over his fresh Kink Solace Frame Build, with Kink and Merritt Parts. If you’re interested in more insight into the bike he put together, and why, with some heavy shredding to go with it…check it out and enjoy! Shot at Faber skate plaza and Colonia skate plaza.
Filmed and Edited by Mike Almodovar”
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The Kink House II
Kink coming through with a BMX video packed full of hammers from the time their team spent out in San Diego recently. Hit play to check out clips from Sean Sexton, Joe Niranonta, Tony Hamlin, Darryl Tocco, Dan Coller, Bob Randel, Kazique Ceballos, Matt Miller, Ben Basford, Travis Hughes, Jacob Cable, Ken Apache, Jake Petruchik and Connor Lodes who all spent some time stacking clips during their stay. This is just one video from a handful of other videos and bike check videos that popped up over the course of their stay. You can check those out in the Kink archives!
“The Kink Team spent a month residing in San Diego, California taking in the spots, the sun, good people, and the beach! Stacking a ton of content from livestreams, video uploads, and filming for web parts coming this summer…you can re-visit all the uploads here! Enjoy some unreleased, and some released, footage from The Kink House so far!
Filmed and edited by Darryl Tocco.”
Salute To The 4th Contest Flyer
As many of you know, every year we try and throw a big contest here in Minnesota at one of the skateparks. Last year we did two contests, one in the Winter and one on the 4th of July. After the contest on the 4th of July last year, myself and a few other locals and parents at the skatepark ended up forming a non-profit foundation to help repair and expand the local skatepark in Rochester, Minnesota. The Keep Pushing Forward Foundation was founded and we’ve been working toward our goal, which is a massive skatepark. Once again, we have teamed up with the Salute To The 4th event held by The Commission and the city of Rochester to throw another BMX and skate contest. Above is the flyer for the BMX contest that we’ll be throwing with proceeds from the event, plus donations all going toward the Keep Pushing Forward Foundation! We have a TON of great sponsors, so there will be a ton of prizes up for grabs!
The contest will be in a jam format with beginner, intermediate and expert classes. We will also be throwing a Subrosa Street Rail Jam as well! Practice and registration will kick off at 11 AM on July 4th at Silverlake Skatepark! We’ll be starting the Beginner classes (BMX followed by skate) at 1PM, Intermediate (BMX followed by skate) at 2PM, Expert at 4PM and the Street Rail Jam shortly after that wraps up!
You can PRE-REGISTER here to save yourself a few bucks — PRE-REGISTER HERE!
There will also be a silent auction and raffles to get in on as well!
Huge shout out to all the sponsors for this!
Standard Bykes
BSD
Monster Energy
Etnies
Colony
The Daily Grind
Verde
Kink Bike Co.
Madera
Flybikes
Stolen Bikes
Subrosa
The Shadow Conspiracy
DUO Brand
Profile Racing
Erik’s Bike Shop
You can keep up with the event and get more details here: Salute to the 4th BMX Contest
Location: 7th St NE, Rochester, Minnesota
Kink – 2017 Complete Bikes Available Now
A few weeks back, we got our first look at the 2017 Kink complete bikes range and we’ve been drooling over them ever since. Today, Kink hit us up to let us know that all the bikes from the high end SXTN, Solace and Redwood on down to their 12″ Coast and Roaster Bikes are hitting BMX Shops and mail-orders worldwide. You can take a closer look at each bike in the catalog above, by visiting the Kink website or hitting up your local shop that stocks Kink!
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Kink BMX – Dan Coller Goes To War with the X-Grind
Nobody said this was easy! Watch Dan Coller have a serious battle putting in work for an X-Grind on two rails during his stay in San Diego for the Kink house. Three days, a bit of blood, sweat and pain, and two rails later… Dan was bruised, sore, bloody and defeated. If you’re looking for a crash video, take a peek! We have a feeling we’ll be seeing a more successful clip in the near future…
“The struggle is real out there in the streets! Dan Coller spent the first few days of the Kink House project trying to get some X-up Grinds under his belt…and unfortunately things didn’t go as well as planned. Follow Dan around San Diego for a few days as he pushes himself until he can’t do it anymore….
Filmed and Edited by Darryl Tocco”
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Kink BMX – Ben Basford Bike Build
Kink just sent through their latest Kink House Builds video. This time around we get a good look at Ben Basford‘s current Titan Frame that he’s running with the new chrome colorway. We also get a close up look at a full-guard sprocket that Kink are currently working on, as well! There’s also a few riding clips in there for good measure, too! Hit play and enjoy!
“Ben Basford spent a full 4 weeks at the Kink House, and didn’t waste a day of his SoCal BMX vacation. Ben put together a Black Chrome Kink Titan Frame, decked out with Kink parts including our prototype Eastman Full Guard Sprocket we are working on, and shredded hard the whole time. Enjoy some Basford clips, and take a look through his current Kink build! Look for this colorway in the Titan frame coming to shops this summer, and stay tuned for more details on the Kink Eastman Full Guard Sprocket.
Filmed and Edited by Darryl Tocco”
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What Is Knurling
There’s a lot of features that BMX frames and parts have that make them stronger, better looking, function better and more. There’s a lot of little things like butted tubing or heat-treating that we talk about quite a bit, but today we figured it would be cool to focus in on another feature that is almost taken for granted. That feature would be knurling. You can find knurling on your handlebars, stems, pedals and tires most commonly, but there are instances where we find it on hubs, pegs and more.
What is knurling? Knurling is a manufacturing process that is typically done with a lathe, where a pattern of straight, angled or crossed lines are cut or rolled into the material. In the case of a tire, it would be applied to the mold like grooves would be.
What does knurling do? Essentially knurling is done to improve the grip. For example, when you clamp your handlebars down with a stem, you can find knurling on the bars because if they were smooth it would have a much better chance of slipping. The knurling on the bars helps grip the bars to the metal of the stem, making it much less likely to slip, especially when you properly tighten the bolts down evenly. When it comes to something like pedals, it gives the soles of your shoes more to grab on to than if they were on a smooth surface with only pins to hold them in place.
The most common form of knurling can be found on handlebars and in some cases stems. Above are the Aaron Ross signature Boss bars from Odyssey and below that is the Geoff Slattery signature stem from Eclat that also features knurling. Not all BMX stems feature knurling, but all bars do. You can also see that the bars feature a cross style of knurling and the stem features straight lines. Two of the three most common forms of knurling on BMX parts
With the plastic pedals being very common on BMX bikes, anything that can be done to increase the traction is key. We frequently find knurling on plastic BMX pedals, along with molded pins which help to increase grip. Above are the Fly Bikes Ruben Pedals and the Shadow Conspiracy Ravager pedals for examples. The Ravager pedals feature a more aggressive pattern in comparison to the Ruben pedals.
Another common place we find knurling is on BMX tires. Above is a close look at Kink‘s Lyra tire which features knurling all over the knobs and onto the side. This helps give you more traction on slick concrete, dusty trails and smooth ramps.
Another place we find knurling from time to time are on BMX grips. Above is a close up look at the Matt Roe signature Roey grips from Fly Bikes that are based off the classic Tri Ame grips. There’s knurling all over each triangle to help prevent your hands from slipping as much.
Although it’s more of an aesthetic touch, many of the Eclat hubs feature knurling on their lock nuts. Above is their Kolbri hub which features knurling that also helps the hub hold in place on the dropouts of the frame.
Speaking of hubs, did you ever notice the knurling on some axle nut washers? Here’s a look at BSD‘s 14mm axle nuts and washers that feature straight knurling to help keep your wheel from slipping in the dropouts.
Although most BMX pegs are smooth because you want less resistance while grinding, flatland riders tend to run pegs with knurling because they do a lot of tricks while standing on them. Above is a look at the Quest BMX Turbine pegs that feature knurling for example.
So, that’s a bunch of examples of places we find knurling on a BMX bike, and there’s definitely other spots you can find knurling on when it comes to a BMX bike.
How is knurling done? Well, that’s where this rad video from S&M Bikes‘ owner Chris Moeller comes in. Below you can find a video of one of the lathes adding knurling to a set of bars they were making out in California. This is how they add knurling to metal products, but plastic and rubber is just added to the mold they pour the plastic or rubber into, so it’s not added with a machine like this.
So, that’s a detailed look into the sometimes overlooked and under appreciated knurling that you can find on a BMX bike. It’s in a lot of places, probably kept you from getting hurt more times than you can count and it even looks pretty damn rad if we may say! Big shout out to whoever invented knurling and everyone who applies it to their BMX products.
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