Dan Atherton Unveils Prototype 22" Titanium BMX

 Yeah we def don’t need that shit

 Brakeless is my biggest disappointment in modern BMX.

 what next, helmets? Sobriety?

 @hamncheez: Don't be ridiculous

 @takeiteasyridehard: Brakeless isn't hard buddy. Y2K era sketch dirt jumps, 40lb bikes, finding skateparks to ride a bike at without being ticketed, and having to reverse pedal when coasting backwards is hard.... And having no one to replace riders like Mike Aitken and Taj Mihelich is hard. I digress

 @H3RESQ: it's quite fun. I agree

 @H3RESQ: brakes are making a comeback, remember bmx is also fashion

 20" ain't dead.

 I'm 43.
Recently I bought a BMX.
My first ever.
It was either Ducati or BMX.
I'm a father of 3 so I went with less dangerous thing.
However, to keep it interesting i ride without helmet and with a rear brake that makes me 98% brakeless

 Disc brakes are quite common in BMX racing these days so I see no problem using them for dirt. For riding park and doing grinds and stuff of course chances are you're going to break them but then again disc brakes are getting more common in unicycling too and you still see them do peg stalls and grinds so apparently it is doable. In turn I am surprised people get away riding mountainbikes without bashguard or taco. Considering what chainrings costs, I would like to protect them. There is always that stump, rock or ledge or something you just don't clear at once and bang your chainring into, don't you?

 @hamncheez: you sir win the comment section for the day

 @oldtech: Thank you. I'd also like to thank @WAKIdesigns , for without downvotes there can be no upvotes.

 @clarkeh clearly knows nothing about BMX youtu.be/mnlYRnV9Mj0

 BMX rim brake... Avid Juicy out of the box has 300% more power. I understand riding BMX brakeless because these brakes don’t brake. And even if you mount two brakes on it your braking distance goes from 100 yards to 60

 @WAKIdesigns: My experience with U-brakes indeed isn't that they don't stop you. Then again it is a rear brake, these won't stop you anyway. That said, I thought racers weren't using U-brakes. At least Shimano DXR was a V-brake. It probably stops you as well as any other V-brake, which is good enough for a rear brake on a BMX. What I now see mostly in racing is small disc brakes like these. Small isn't an issue as the wheel is small too. 120mm is more than powerful enough.

 @vinay: I need a vbrake on a race bmx in case I am about to loop out while manualing. Especially on the track or on pumptracke between rollers. Or when just practicing. It fails to do so. It is too weak to prevent a loop out. On Dirt jumps brake is necessary for beginners to simply not die. I know that riding brakeless has a motivating effect, like freesoloing for climbers, but I am too old for this sht. I would gladly mount a disc brake on my BMX

 @WAKIdesigns: I'm currently only practicing my manuals on the mountainbike (hardtail) and whereas my old mountainbike frame (DMR) was quite BMXy, my current one (BTR) is so much longer that for this practice I'm sticking to the same mountainbike. That said, I also used dislike the U-brake but since the last I time I set it up it has been performing much better. It is an old BMX (I bought it back late 2004) and soon enough I removed the gyro. I wouldn't use it anyway and I think it definitely affects brake performance. One thing I considered was mounting hydraulic rim brakes. Magura has a direct mount for their rim brakes. It is typically being used on trials bikes and mountain unicycles. Magura only supplies the mounts in steel (so the aluminium frame manufacturers make their own mounts) and as I was working in a shop which also happened to weld custom steel frames, it was something I could easily have done. Eventually I didn't because I was just riding the small skatepark a little and didn't need that brake that much. But yeah, it is a very powerful solution. When I apply the brake with one finger and push my unicycle, it feels just as powerful as my mountainbike disc brake with 180mm rotor. It is definitely more powerful than the HS33 mounted to the V-brake tabs (and obviously much cleaner). Then again the HS33 on your V-brake tabs when setup correctly should be more powerful than your V-brakes. So yeah you can get increasingly more powerful brakes with increasingly more complex modifications to your bike (the disc brake mount being the most complex modification). That said, if your race bike is out of aluminium welding anything to it is out of the question. There used to be aftermarket adaptors which would link between left V-brake mount and axle in order to mount a disc brake. I don't know of anyone who has used these though but it came across as a particularly shady solution.

 @vinay: well good choice, because manualing a BMX is hard as hell

 @vinay: Anyone who does pedal or crank grinds on a unicycle isn't using a disc brake. Even in trials riding nobody runs brakes, and it would benefit the most out of all the urban disciplines.

 @wstrials: anyone who does pedal or crank grinds on a unicycle...is a kook !

 I rode dirt, street, and ramps, at the turn of the century when everyone still used dia-compe 990s, and my brakes always stopped me. (Insert confused hands above head emoji here)

 @jstnrt: Odyssey pitbulls STOP this dia-comp nonsense

 I was going to accuse bmxers of being incapable of setting up a brake then I thought about it judging from the comments on pinkbike I’m not sure anyone knows how to set up brakes. All I hear are gripes on how shity this brake or that one.

 @jstnrt: Ditto, just took 2 fingers instead of 1 on the lever back then.

 @loganflores: My BMX is an old one that came with 44x16t gearing (ACS freewheel stuff). So the brake is on the chainstay, something that would not fit with modern day microdrive. I went down to 38x14t or so and the chain almost rubs the brake. The tire also constantly dumps this wet gravely surface material on my brake, so the pivots just have a hard time and chances are one pad is being contaminated with chain lube. As I mentioned, I eventually made it work. I installed a new U-brake, new barrel adjuster (the old one was bent in a crash) and because I removed the gyro I could take out two of those splitters. That's a lot of flex removed from the system. The BMX is from Stolen (the BMX brand from Revell, which is the mtb brand of Anthony Revell) and the components including brake were from 414 industries. Probably Tektro branded. Not sure if Stolen is still affiliated to Revell but the new brake I have now is from Stolen, probably Tektro too. Dia Compe and Oyssey sound like the proper stuff. Of course that stuff is supposed to work well. Especially if it is safe up there on the seatstay.

 sounds like a Decent setup I didn’t say brakes didn’t work just that most people set them up wrong and complain that they are crap. I grew up riding long before the micro craze and found the brakes on the seat stay to be a much better place then Crammed next to the cranks but I guess they came loose more often I just tightened my crap up often takes a second.

 @vinay: Also remember doing disasters with a 38t that was fun.

 @vinay: lots of frames still use cs mounted brakes. They can work fine

 hello, post covid person here

 @DGWW: Sorry, only just noticed your response. I have a chainstay mounted brake and it definitely works, but with a modern 25x9 drivetrain the chain would definitely rub. No big deal for me. I only ride the BMX at the pumptrack now so investing in a fancy new drivetrain would be daft .

 Agreed, technically the stumpy has been "in development" for 38 years and that particular fact is about the only dead horse specialized isn't beating these days.

 Sshhh! You'll blow the lid off the whole bike industry.

 X just needs to be defined. In this case X = 1/52.

 I was hoping it was a 3d printed robot bmx bike.

 Seeing that heat signature on the welds of a titanium bike makes me think of weld failure.

 @acali: Yeah, to be honest I was expecting that too. But I can imagine these carbon tubes won't hold up if he bangs them against the coping in the skate park.

 @ChasingJoel: Nop, 22 inches wheels

 They usually come in around 21.5 for the TT.

 Most race BMX's don't even have that haha

 Unless you're riding big jumps in the wet, a V brake offers tons of power on a 20" wheel. The issue then is traction.

 @DarrellW: V-brake gives the same power regardless of wheelsize, you know, cause it's a rim brake...

 @hirvi: Of course.

 @DarrellW: I have best compound from shimano on mine, XT vbrakes, Avid lever and it still sucks big time. An actual BMX brake is virtually worthless, unless it breaks and it ends up in the spokes.

Yea @hirvi, what were you doing on science leasons

 @WAKIdesigns: first sand your rims second ditch the shimano pads and get some kool stops. If that doesn’t work take some grape soda and poor it over your rim and let it dry that should have you screaching to a stop.

 That bike looks prime. I know quite a few people interested already...albeit over here in the states, some still LOVE titanium bikes. 22 in wheels and disc brake make it even more marketable imo...especially if you ride big jumps or any trails. I regularly take my bmx out on local trails to shred, although it's been a while, ate shit bunny hopping too big a log in front of some girls, lol

 @rcrdrvr: I cannot inagine coming to a DJ site on a Ti bike, without being an expert. It’s a kind of fun activity where your position in the pack is determined nearly solely based on your skill. There may be other factors but this is a dominating one, and difference between a good rider and woose is evident and right there on the display. Mountain bikers have this privileged position where they can tell fisherman tales. “Oh man, if you could only see it, I got out of the turn and...”. No stories in bmx, dj, street - everyone has seen what happened and what didn’t. Hence, if you comewith a bmx that costs more than all other ones on the site, you better show what you can

 @WAKIdesigns: HI waki...I think I'd baby that amazing looking thing and trash my other bikes instead...that thing looks sick ti or not.

 Laird is the man! Love thoose bikes

 Yep. Here was Pepper's INDUST 22" with Profile-hub disc brake. bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=4021077#p4021077

 The Number of the B's

 \M/ \M/

 Yeah, even if this frame would last as long as a steel frame it still means ponying up for a new one every 3 years. BMX frames are a wear item.

 Well they defiantly won't be doing any grinds

 @nojzilla: You have obviously not done any grinds.

 @theredbike:

Give it a day before it's bent to shit

 @theredbike:

Grind. Bent disc. Locked wheel. Faceplant.

 @jlawie: then comes the disappointment

 @theredbike: When I first saw the disc brake I assumed it was going to be racing bike, I remember back when I raced one company was running disc brakes on their high end bike.

 @Dominant88: It looks like its a pure trails bike but seems a little funny to me. Being Ti 22" and having a disc is going to mean it has a extremely narrow market. Seems cool for a one off but I don't know how many they actually expect to sell. I would take the 22" S&M ATF that would still shred in the trails, grind, LHD compatible and wouldn't make me cry if it was dented or cracked.

 @Dominant88: possibly the old Norco Speed Metal Madill versions?
The whole disc craze is taking off again in racing.

A ti 22" could be interesting though. Ive got a Lairdframe on its way, although its cromo (custom bridge as a bonus). 22inch with the right wheels is a cruiser and then run the os20 size for 20". Can take 1 bike onto an international stage and race 2 classes just changing out the wheelset.
Especially coming off a MTB the bigger wheels are just that little bit nicer than straight to 20.

 @nojzilla: scrub

 P. S its pretty obvious this isn't a street bike......

 @nojzilla: street ain’t about doing it proper

 @mkotowski1: WORD Bruv!!

 @nojzilla: Sounds like you haven't been trying very hard in those 20 years if you placed every grind perfectly. There is a reason everyone uses guards.

 @nojzilla: what do plastic pegs have to do with anything. Clearly you haven't tried hard enough because if you have then you would know learning takes some trial and error and different obstacles and grinds present different challenges. I find it funny that you feel you know better and ride better than a industry that makes and uses guards and LHD parts specifically for grinding. Go find me some pro riders that grind heavy that don't use guards. My guards have saved me enough to know a scrub on the internet

 @Drawn: Could be, I looked that bike up and the frame looks familiar but this was 15 years ago so there's no way I could be sure.

 @theredbike: well I have and nojzilla is right that’s how your supposed to do it.

 @loganflores: Have you ever done a over grind

 all these people complaining...I'd be happy just looking at it every day, and maybe riding to work in a business suit, and maybe sitting on my ride at a car show...that thing is dope looking!

 stickle bricks

 SE bikes makes a + bmx throwback. Pk fat ripper? Looks fun

 Scotty Cranmer rode with brakes. Opens up a whole new bag of trick man... or should I say and old bag of tricks haha

 Yup. Plus they are companies worth supporting If you want ti, get a Laird frame.