Snakebite coming through with another classic for you to start your weekend off right! Here’s the full Fox Racing “Expendable 3” video that has an absolutely legendary lineup of riders! The video was released back in 2002 and features riding from Ruben Alcantara, Fuzzy Hall, The Shadow, Dave Mirra, TJ Lavin, Colin Winkelmann, Alan Cooke, Chris Doyle, Taj Mihelich, Brian Foster, Bruce Crisman, Luc-E, Mike Laird, Josh Harrington, Chad Kagy, Colin Mackay, Nate Wessel, Ronny Chalk, Punjab and more! This ha a little bit of everything from street to park, trails and flatland. Needless to say it’s a damn good watch, and I personally can’t even count the number of times I watched this one when it came out 19 years ago.
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Sneak Peek: Titanium Fork From Mike Laird
Mike Laird is starting to prototype test some new Titanium forks…
Here’s some interesting news for the riders out there that are looking to lighten things up on the front end and don’t mind paying a little extra for it. Mike Laird has been doing Titanium frames since 2016 that will set you back about $2,000, and based off his Instagram he’s done a few of them for customers. Now, it looks like he’s playing around with doing a Titanium fork that you can see in his Instagram post above. It looks like they will be available in regular and another version with front brake mounts, they weigh in at just a little over 1 pound and will cost $450 – $500. These will only come with a 30mm offset and he won’t be doing custom dimensions, so you’ll have to settle if you wanted something a little steeper or mellower.
There isn’t an option to buy these just yet on the Laird Frame website, but we would imagine it won’t be long before he starts making them available.
What do you think about a Titanium fork? Would you run it if you had the cash to spend on it? Anyone thinking about buying one? Let us know what you’re thinking in the comments below!
A $2,000 Titanium Frame By Laird Frame
It’s not every day that you see the word “Titanium” in BMX, especially when it comes to BMX frames. Years ago, Eastern Bikes offered a Titanium Grim Reaper frame that retailed for over $1,000 and Terrible One dabbled with a Titanium Barcode frame before that. There was also a brand called RNC that made Titanium cranks, pegs, bars and more that eventually went out of business as the price of this type of metal skyrocketed. You can find Titanium spokes and bolts these days, but that’s about it for what is available. The price of Titanium has come down a little bit in recent years, but it’s still spendy! Even though it’s pricey, it turns out there has been some demand for another BMX frame made from the material because it looks like there are two options available. The crew at Eastern were showing off a Titanium frame that they are doing one off custom builds of at Interbike and it looks like Mike Laird over at Laird Frame has decided to give it a go, too. If you follow Mike on Instagram you probably have been checking out the photos he has been posting giving you the look at the progress of his first go at playing around with welding on Titanium. It looks like he has it dialed in and has decided to add Titanium frames to his custom frame options.
Like we mentioned above, the cost of Titanium has come down in recent years and pricing varies quite a bit. In short, it’s still a spendy material that is tricky to work with. But, some times people have a little more money to work with and this is why this frame exists.
As you might have noticed by the title, it looks like you can have a custom Titanium frame made by Laird frame starting at $1,965.00 with your choice of geometry, brakeless or welded on brakes and color. It sounds like Mike will be offering free powder coating if you for some reason want to cover up that clean Titanium look. Add in shipping and you’ll be over that $2,000 mark.
Like we mentioned above, each frame can be customized and it looks like he’s also doing 16″, 18″, 22″, 24″ and 26″ frames for those of you looking for something other than your standard 20″ version. Above and below you can find photos of the first two frames Mike has made from Titanium and it looks like the first one weighed in at 2lb. 14oz., which is quite a bit lighter than 4130 chromoly frames that are hovering around the 5 lb. mark these days.
If you are into this, you can take a look at ordering a frame on the Laird Frame website
A look at one of the first Laird Frame Titanium frames.
You can get welded gyro tabs. Unfortunately you cannot do removable brake mounts and guides on these frames.
This is the jig setup Mike’s using to weld these frames together.
Unlike the other Laird Frames, you can’t do a custom seat stay bridge since these bridges have to be cut using water and laser jets that another company is doing prior to receiving the tubing.
Some of the tubing laid out before it gets put together.
Laird Frame Promo
REEL Visuals dropped this promo video for Laird Frame, where we get a look at some classic and current riding from Mike Laird along with some in-depth explanation on how he got into welding and ultimately starting his own brand. We get a little look into the production of one of his frames as well which is always pretty cool to see. Hit play and take it all in!
“Mike is a BMX professional, a welder, a machinist, a father, and a heavy metal music enthusiast. Regardless of what roll he’s playing he is the man behind building one of the best custom frames in BMX. Built from a simple idea, his frames are one of the most sought after products in BMX. Mike walks us through his beginnings in BMX, to turning Professional and how that has transitioned him into crafting his custom frames.
Directed By: Terrell Gordy
Produced By: REEL Visuals
Second Camera: Mark Losey
Music: The Music Bed”
The Merged – Custom Frames with Mike Laird and Laird Frames
The guys over at The Merged just dropped an interview with Mike Laird talking about custom frame building and what sets his operation apart from the other options available. Hit this LINK to give it a read!
Mike Laird Introduces Lairdframe
Mike Laird has been in BMX for as long as I can remember, and now he’s set out to start his own custom frame company. Head this way to learn all about it.
