Hi,
Its been since 95 NBL Grands since Ive raced BMX, and I recently got the bug. I have been reading about the newer bikes and the changes in geometry etc. My current rider is a Kappa K-26 for around the block, but I think Id like a 24 for the track. Im 6' even so Im looking at an xl or xxl cruiser frame I guess. I have an old elf cruiser frame with a 21.250 TT and 16.5-17.7 chainstay. Now it looks like that is a little to short up front an a little longish in back, but when I measure the "rider area" on this old bike It seems about the same as the new bikes measurements. So Im wondering which I should be paying more attention to the rider area, or top tube and chainstay specs. Any taller cruiser riders out there have any favorite frames to recomend? Thanks.
Sorry for the long post but the new xl cruiser frames have alot of different specs to consider...Oh and one more thing, why is everyone on clips and slicks, are the tracks not made of dirt anymore? Sheesh I turn my back for a little over a decade and look what happens....heh heh.

I am 6' tall and returning to BMX this year also, thanks to Go211 for airing the ABA Grands, I now have the BMX bug again too. I had to take a look as well at the new geometry and compare to my Mid-School GT. Your rider area sounds good to me and if it feel just a tad short, get an XL stem. I would put the axles all the way forward into the 16.5" chainstays The biggest thing you will find is that the bike is not whats slower these days, its you. As long as you get back in shape and can race the length of the track, that frame geometry will do just fine for you in my opinion.

Thanks , I would really like to build that old cruiser up again, along with starting on a complete new one, but riding motocross and BMX both adds up, my $ tree needs to grow a little more first. So I guess for now Its a good idea to get that old cruiser built and worry about the new stuff later.

Welcome back guys!

I came back in May of '06. Rode my '90 Kastan cruiser for the first 6 months, including the NBL Grands. Did just fine on it. Have since upgraded to a Red Line Flight cruiser and like it even more.

You will notice a difference in rhythm sections with the long back end, but not enough to stop you from riding. Good luck!

Ken

I seems like there isnt really a set standard from the shopping Ive been doing, for pro and pro xl the ht range from 72 to 74 and the rear stays seem to be from as small as 14 something to 17. I really like the look of the supercross and Ghp frames, but I think they are 21.5 TT and that may be a little short for a 6' guy. I like a slightly lower BB. I had a kastan cr 24 and I think its BB was 12" and it seemed tough to get used to after getting off of a mid school elf, but man was it nice to have room to work up front..... Wondering if there is a xl cruiser frameset out there with a 22 TT or longer and a 11.5-11.75 BB height.?

I think Crupi XL Cruiser frame would suit you well.

Frame Specs

The Pro XL Cruiser frame features more conventional cruiser geometry and bigger diameter top and down tubes. This frame is great for taller riders (6’ and up) who need a steeper head angle, a little more working space in the front end and a stiffer frame.

Top tube- 22.50

rider area- 23.50

Rear chainstay- 14.75 - 16.0"

head tube- 74

BB height- 12

3lbs 14oz.

Thanks thats a good looking frameset, but I was kind of wanting to stay with a 11.5 - 11.75BB height though, I know Im being a bit picky, but that old kastan never felt quite right and I always thought it was that the 12" BB was just a tad high. Rider area has me confused is it ctr of BB to top center of head tube or ctr BB to dead ctr of head tube. My old school elf has a 23.5 rider area if we are measuring to the top ctr of the headtube and the top tube on that old bike is short its only 21.250...I wonder how could it have the same area as that crupi xl frame wihich has a 1.250" longer tt?

I will tell you my Kastan cruiser has a ridiculously high bb. Like 13 1/2 inches. People think I'm joking until I pull a tape measure out. My Redline has a 12 inch bb and a 21.8" top tube and I'm 6'1. Manuals like a dream and I have NO skills.

Ken

My old Kastan rode like total crap. So bad in fact I rode it down the street once and took it back apart to sell it. Look into Clayborn, Standard (22" tt), Supercross made a limited run of 22" Devos awhile back. Maybe you can get one of those. Redlines are popular especially if you are on a budget.
Direct links are nice but a little on the small side for a tall guy. You can get great deals on last years frames on the Bay.

I knew I couldnt be the only person that didnt get comfy on the kastan...I actually found an old copy of Snap Bmx mag from nov 99with 17 cruiser shootout. They have the geometry listed for every bike in the test. The Badd won followed by powerlite,& GT. Kastan second to last just in front of redline (made in China). But to give an idea of the differences in those bikes the Schwinn Pro stock 3 had a BB of 10.5" and the Kastan listed as 12 3/4.
So now after looking around I really like the supercross and the standards, time to flip a coin I guess..

haven't ridden the Supercross but i can vouch for the Standard 125R. as a rider that isn't into big jumping these things manual like a dream. Also, a friend has the new S&M 38 special 24" - I would own one of those in a flash too. very slightly lower BB on the S&M apart from that not much between them. neither frame likes big gearing so bank on a 16 or 17t on the rear maximum.

^ WHat do you mean by the term, neither frame likes big gearing? Does it rub the frame or something?

I bought the crupi based on the info in this thread i ran it outta the box it was pretty good .
I took it a step further to manuall rythms better i reground the dropouts to the max at 14.12 chainstays and i have to admit it works great almost as good as a 20' .Thanks for the info ,the rider area is ok on this frame but the seat tube is a lil misleading in reference to the top tube measurement its laid way back and adds to top tube measurement .
My diamondback had a 21.25 tt and this crupi is 3/4s longer in real world not really 22.75 -it even looks long til you look at the seat tube and realize its layed back so far.
I had hrp measure his clayborn and its cs are 14.75 NOT 14 like thier site states ,as far as i can tell crupi has the best frame out there for manualling imo.

Sorry to hi-jack this post, but how do you like your Kappa 26? I'm really thinking of buying one and building it up for riding around town and maybe on the mountain bike trails.

As for a 24-inch, I ride a 2001 Mosh 3-star royal, and I love it. It feels like a 20-inch did for me as a kid, and I'm maybe a quarter of an inch under 6'. It has a 22-inch top tube, but I think the other geometry (bottom bracket height, head and seat tube length and angle) contributes more to this particular bike's great ride. It rides a lot smaller than such a long top tube would have you think it rides. Unfortunately, I don't think Mosh makes race bikes (or any bikes) anymore. My advice would be to go try some different bikes out. Can't beat that.

The standard has a very high bottom bracket and short tail . Rode a Redline at one time felt like my pedals were on the ground''. Raced my old midschool Hawk this past season. Set up is almost identical to my new standard. One reason I bought the standard. In retrospect I don;t believe I will be any faster on the new bike, just nine years newer. P S . I rode very competively on the mid school antique riding against riders averaging about 20 years my junior. I believe training will make more difference than the bike.

I have been looking into a few options lately including a custom, we'll see if it pans out. As for the Kappa K26, I really love it. Its a great bike, I did have to use a spider and chainring though to get the correct chain alignment. A solid chainwheel wont go close enough to the bottom bracket to get things lined up, without removing all your spacers.

This was my 3rd race with the crupi ,i have to say it gets better every time i ride it !
Im getting stronger and rolling the doubles is a peice of cake with this frame -So much so its starting to manuall out of doubles and into the straight .
Its nice to have the option of jumping /manualling -my 89 free agent cruiser doesnt even compare to this ride .If i had one of these[crupis] bitd it woulda helped for sure ,there were many times it was just easier [not faster]to jump steps and dubs .On my 20' i could pass the best of them wether i manualled or jumped but manualling wasnt a big option on big /long doubles with a cruiser bitd cause they didnt build them with short chain stays .
Id say if it was 1986 manualling wouldnt be nessesary[weak tracks]- but on todays tracks its manditory at least on some level even if your toying around .

Good point, I remember rolling through the parking lots in the middle 90's on my elf cruiser trying to see how many parking spaces I could manual, a good day was about 4. Then I watched the kids at the track manualing forever, never really understood why I couldnt get it down. No skills.

Not the best pic [snowy outside ]ill post another when i can get it outside .Check out the micro gearing too.
The chainstays are set at 14.25 cause i downed the front gear 1 tooth.I have a 1/8 th inch i can move it forward [14.12] i can do it later with a 1/2 link chain if i desire.
Look at how close the tire is in relation to the bottom bracket ,and how close the seat tube/seat clamp is on top-[cause the goofy seat angle=66 degrees]to the brakes /tire.
Bottom bracket height really isnt that bad especially if you run 185 like i do,i hate the dk ish v style chain stay/down tube look on the low bottom bracket bikes anyway.
Id recommend this frame to anyone that wants to be in control on the track instead of along for the ride...Even at 5'8 it dont seem too long either..



steve smith

That Crupi is right there at the top of my wish list, I keep hearing they are made in USA but then others say they are actually rebranded Yess bikes, wonder if thats really the case? I really wanted the xl supercross cruiser to start off with because it seemed to have kind of neutral specs, nothing drastic, but they're out of stock. I also like the standard, but the 72 deg HT seems like it may be a slow turning bike? I have a good line on a custom build steel frame for a fair price, we'll see if it goes through ok. The clayborn is one I have always wanted, wish it came in an xl.

What about an S&M?

The box it came in says its made in canada .The clayborn has exagerated cs figures hrp measured his for me and it was 14 3/4s .My crupi is a 07 model that they had left on sale for 350. ,the 08s are euro bb and have the newer dropouts and i assumed i wouldnt have been able to further grind the dropout if i needed to.The crupi has a rider area of 23.50 as well compared to the clayborn.

Thanks for the info, btw, did you mean the clayborn has the same rider area or smaller than crupi, I figured with the laid back seat post on the crupi ,it would be a little misleading if the buyer thinks it will feel long because of the top tube length specs. It would feel long when sitting I guess. Still everyone seems to really like it, so if my custom build somehow wont pan out, I think thats the one Ill be ordering.

The rider area is accurate and the # to look for cause the seat tube wont effect it.I was saying the clayborn is listed with a 14 'chainstay and its accually 14.75 [at least the one hrp has]

Well, looks like the custom order is going to go through, cant wait to get it, hope I picked a good size. We'll see.

Hi all, new to the board--and also geting back into racing (36-40 cruiser--Seattle area) after a 20 yr+ layoff.

I just wanted to weigh in on the Direct Link as a choice for new/returning racers. Somebody mentioned that you could pick those up cheap on ebay, at least the older 03-06 versions. This is true, but beware--there are something like 100+ of these frames floating around that were samples of a production run. Many of them ended up on ebay (without any decals). They're *not* made in the U.S., as DLs are advertised to be. (Tim at DL knows this, and it's NOT in any way his fault; the frames entered the market without his approval).

I bought one of the 24s for 130ish, brand new, on ebay. It's a decent frame for the price, but I have to admit, a huge incentive to buy it was that I thought DLs were made in the US. (Though the seller--Planet BMX--*didn't* say that was the case in their ebay ad, it was just what I knew from reading about DLs elsewhere.)

More important than the frame's country of origin is its quality. The paint is pretty awful; there are lots of small bubbles and a few spots of light coverage. Also, the "built-in" seat clamp (part of the seat tube) barely clamps hard enough to hold the post. Since the threads are aluminum, I don't want to crank it down too hard. But here's the biggie: the rear dropouts are grossly mis-aligned. I had to put a lever on the drive side to cold-set it. This is a bad idea on a brittle aluminum frame. It's still not perfect, but it's close.

FWIW, I do like the way the bike rides. It's light and stiff, and the front end is easy to pick up. I would definitely recommend a 1st quality DL as a race bike.

So, yes--the price is OK, but they're not 1st quality DL frames if mine is a fair example. Sorry about the long post, but as a long-time shop mechanic I always try to explain tech issues as clearly as possible to my fellow riders.

Cheers,

S.

I had one of the DL cruisers that were being sold from Direct link and it was totally fine. It came raw and I had it coated myself. No problems with the dropouts and as far as the seat clamp goes I just greased up the bolt and cranked it down tight. No slipping.