REVIEW 

The Farr ST Supa-X V2 31.8 Stem

November 2024

Photos Fifteen BMX / Farr ST

Test bike from Fab Fioravolts 

The Farr ST Supa-X V2 31.8 Stem

November 2024

Photos Fifteen BMX / Farr ST

Test bike from Fab Fioravolts 

Australian based Farr ST have just recently released their Supa-X V2 31.8 Stem, making them one of only a few brands who are addressing the trend to get your bars lower, without having to turn your stem upside down.

The 31.8mm oversized design only raises your bars by about 12mm (to centre of clamp area of bars), from the underside of the stem, which effectively reduces your bar height by about 0.5”, when compared to the alternative. Why would you want lower bars? Well, other than if you are just small, you can potentially shift your bodyweight, gaining a lower centre of gravity, adding stability, responsiveness … and maybe, snappier gates. It does take time to adjust, and it may not be as comfortable, but when the goal is to go as fast and as low as possible …

The company have but a lot of R & D into the vast number of frames on the market, especially the carbon variety, and have settled on the final production design that they believe will clear most frames without the need a spacer below the stem. Although, we felt more comfortable adding a 1mm spacer on the Prophecy test bike, just for our peace of mind. As you can see from the 3D printed prototypes, Farr ST did initially want to go lower, much lower!

While most stems are machined from 6000 series alloy, Farr ST have opted for the higher-end 7075, which has a higher tensile strength, toughness, and fatigue resistance. It may also shave off a few grams. We weighed our 55mm test stem in at 296g, which knocks about 15 to 20 grams off similarly sized stems on the market … every little bit helps, right.

The stem is slightly wider than most too, Farr ST tell us this helps increase stiffness in the front end of your bike … your gates, and turns, might thank you.

Visually the Supa-X V2 is very slick, or maybe ‘smooth’ is a better description. It avoids all those ridges and groves found on most stem designs out there. Visually it may just be our favourite stem we’ve held in our hands.

Overall, we think this is an excellent option if you’re in the market for a new stem, especially if you want to lower your bars or have been running an upside-down stem … and it will definitely clean up the look of your front end.

The Supa-X V2 31.8 stem comes in 45mm, 50mm and 55mm options, for just a fraction under $90 US.

Find out more on the Farr ST site HERE 

If you have BMX product and you’re interested in a ‘Fifteen BMX’ fair and honest review please email us at info@15.ie … BMX since the 80’s with 25 years of real-world product design experience!

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 REVIEW 

Schwalbe SX-R | Reduce rotational weight, go faster …

November 2024

Photos Fifteen BMX

Schwalbe SX-R | Reduce rotational weight, go faster …

November 2024

Photos Fifteen BMX

German bicycle tyre giant Schwalbe have released BMX race tyres in the past without really gaining traction (pun intended) … but the release of the company’s latest creation really caught our eye.

It was all a little clandestine to begin with. Niek Kimmann was riding with an unknown tyre; people were asking us ‘do you know what tyres Michael Bias is using?’ His Inspyre teammate, Jeremy Rencurel was also testing them. It was clear that the mystery brand was developing something special, with some of the most talented riders in the sport.

Then, after four UCI World Cups wins during the ‘development phase’, Schwalbe unleased the SX-R. Then came Paris, where Saya Sakakibara snatched the Olympic Gold … on the Schwalbe SX-Rs.

We were lucky enough to get our hands on a rare set of 47-406 (approx. 20 x 1.85”) while in Paris. We’ve been riding with them, on and off, since then …

The first thing you’ll notice is how minimalist the tyres are. The slick centre band is the most prominent we’ve seen on a BMX race tyre to date and the directional thread pattern on the sides has minimal depth. After a discussion with Schwalbe, it’s obvious that they have designed the SX-Rs for racing at the highest level, on modern tracks. If you still race around loose dirt turns, there are probably better options out there for you.

The second thing you’ll notice, when you actually get your hands on the SX-Rs, is the weight, or the lack there of. They are light, very light. We weighed our sample in at a miniscule 278g, despite the official weight of 290g.  That’s about 15 grams lighter than the previous lightest tyre we’ve found, and we’ve looked … a lot. Reduce rotational weight, accelerate quicker, go faster …

Now that you can get up to top speed quickly, how’s the grip? The first time we used them on a pump track we were nervous in the tight banked turns. The tyres produce a sound, albeit very quiet, that we’ve not heard before, it was a little unnerving, but once you settle in, become more comfortable and get over the psychological issue of looking down at uber-slick tyre between your forks, and really push them into a turn, you’ll discover they stick like glue. And when worn in slightly, they only get better. The rubber feels almost soft to the touch, almost sticky.

In a straight line, on a hard packed surface, it’s a no brainer, they are fast. Zero resistance! Likewise on the gate, we found zero issues. The modern BMX gate provides a tonne of built in grip so the slick centres on they tyres combined with the feather weight let you push through, getting up to top speed quickly.

We were also curious to get the opinion of someone who has been using the tyres through the development phase of the project, so we asked Michael Bias. “I’ve been using them since May this year, after we did testing with them in Germany. I was quite reluctant to change as I was comfortable on my old set up but after the session with them finding the right tyre pressures & pushing the tyres I was fully converted and haven’t looked back since” he told us.

We are not sure why it hasn’t happened already but Schwalbe may actually force you to think about BMX racing slightly differently … do you have the right equipment for the current conditions? The best analogy that comes to mind is F1 tyres, Red indicates soft and slick, for the best conditions. Yellow means medium, and white is the hardest compound that will last the longest but is the slowest. In BMX terms, we feel like the Schwalbe SX-Rs would fall into the F1 Red category, fastest in the right conditions, which for the most part is were BMX racing lives.

We haven’t been using the tyres long enough to comment on longevity but we’re assuming you may replace these more often than other tyres. How much more? We’re not sure yet, but more. Think F1 Red!

Today, the SX-Rs are only available in 47-406 (approx. 20 x 1.85”). Our preferred rear option, the thinner 42-406 (approx. 20 x 1.60”) version hasn’t hit the streets yet but we’re told it will appear any day now. We’re very interested to try that in combination with the bigger front tyre. Out of interest, when we measured the width of the 47-406 compared to a 20 x1.75” of the most ubiquitous brand on the BMX market, the Schwalbe came in at 0.5mm thinner, on the same rim. Tyre sizes can be a bit of a minefield.

So are the Schwalbe SX-R tyres worth your €42.00 … given the right conditions, we think they may just be a steal … reduce rotational weight, go faster …

Find out more about the Schwalbe SX-R tyres HERE

If you have BMX product and you’re interested in a ‘Fifteen BMX’ fair and honest review please email us at info@15.ie … BMX since the 80’s with 25 years of real-world product design experience!

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 REVIEW 

Stance Components Five Bolt Chainring

September / October 2023

Photos Fifteen BMX

Stance Components Five Bolt Chainring

September / October 2023

Photos Fifteen BMX

​

To be honest, we’d not heard of Stance Components until they reached out and asked if we’d be interested in trying out some of their chainrings. After a little research and being initially impressed, or rather, intrigued, about the small rider owned UK brand. We opted for a five-bolt chainring rather than the four-bolt variety that we’ve looked at a lot recently. That meant we’d need a little shredder to test it for us … we opted for W3 in the 12-year-old class, Evan Bartley … pound for pound one of the most talented riders we know!

We except that it’s a little hard to get excited about a chainring, and people tent to glaze over when you try to explain the importance of the tooth geometry and how it can affect the smoothness of your ride … but we’re bike part nerds, and we love the raw beauty of CNC’ed alloy! Recently, we’ve been lucky enough to have had some beautiful chainrings to play with … and a couple that never made the cut. Not all chainrings are created equal. Just to briefly jump to the conclusion here, the Stance Components chainring we received is indeed a thing of beauty, as is the matching rear cog.

The Stance Components five-bolt chainring is machined from 7075-T6 aluminium and has a 3/32″ wide tooth profile which Stance says adds ‘extra strength and longevity’. It’s too early in our relationship with the component to disagree with that just yet. The five-bolt chainring comes in 36 to 41 tooth options, and fits a 110mm, five-bold PCD spider. It’s bigger brother, the four-bolt version, goes from 39 all the way up to a 47 tooth.

The first thing we noticed when the components when they arrived was the quality. Everything, down to the natural feel custom card envelope packaging, oozed quality. No stapled plastic bags here. The quality of the machining is second to none, and the finish in general, is immaculate! The images here don’t do justice to the finish!

The chainrings are coated in ‘Cerakote’, a ceramic based finish which apparently ‘enhances a number of physical performance properties including abrasion, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, chemical resistance, impact strength, and hardness’. While that claim is hard to us to verify, it does look, and feel, beautiful.

Thankfully the chainring features integrated threaded bosses, which we see as a massive improvement in chainring designs. They are easier to sit and install, and much easier to get off, no more spinning back nuts, no extra tools required. We’re not sure why everyone hasn’t adopted it. The design seems to be the exception rather than the rule right now.

When it came to testing on Evan’s bike, it was as predicted, easy to install, and it looked great. Ride wise, we’re not going to pretend that the chainring and cog upped Evan’s game, but it ran smoothly and without issue. Evan is going to keep running the Stance Component gear in the future and we’ll let you know if anything concerning develops but we’re predicting smooth sailing from here on out. If you’re looking for a new chainring, something a little special, you should definitely consider one of these. They are certainly not cheap … but they are definitely a unique and quality product!

Find out more about the Stance Component Chainrings HERE.

If you have BMX product and you’re interested in a ‘Fifteen BMX’ fair and honest review please email us at info@15.ie … BMX since the 80’s with 25 years of real-world product design experience!

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Subscribe to Fifteen BMX HERE

 REVIEW 

Speedline Elite Hollow Carbon Cranks

October 2023

Photos Fifteen BMX

Speedline Elite Hollow Carbon Cranks

October 2023

Photos Fifteen BMX

​

We’ve recently gotten our hands on a production set of the extremely slick Speedline Elite Hollow Carbon Cranks, and we’ve fallen in love … all over again! For the last year (see here) we have been using a pre-production sample of the cranks and have had zero issues … they’ve been flawless. The only differences we can see with the production set is a graphical change on the rear of the cranks and an upgrade in the product finish … not that the finish of our pre-production set was an issue.

​The cranks are designed and built for a fully formed human, no weight limits, just weight savings. Compared to the most popular alloy crank set you are saving more than 200 grams. That’s a significant saving, a saving you can feel! They also feel stiffer. Obviously, ‘feel’ is personal, but we’re confident in saying the ‘feel is real’.

The Speedline Elite Hollow Carbon Cranks come with everything needed to get rolling, the carbon cranks and four bolt spider, pedal washers, an oversized 30mm spindle, a Euro bottom bracket, a bottom bracket tool, a quality allen key, and a crank removal tool … now all you need to do is get your hands on a polished CXP Racing (review here) chainring to dial up the blink level to 15!

Given everything that comes in the kit, set up is straightforward. Everything went together with ease for both our pre, and production sets, make sure you have BB spacers on hand to diall in that chain line. The included EB30 bottom bracket is light and smooth, we guess you could upgrade to ceramic, to go with the carbon, but again we’ve no issues with the included one.

The cranks are hand laid with Torray Nano Alloy Carbon and to quote Speedline Parts, they are then ‘high compaction moulded to form the lightest and stiffest crank structure on the market. Add in the oversized 30mm Spindle, and you have the best power transfer possible! Its Carbon Fiber spider features special layers of carbon titanium composites along with its 7075 aluminium insert to maximize power transfer and minimize weight’.

The Speedline Elite Hollow Carbon Cranks are available in 165mm, 170mm, 175mm and 180mm sizes and come in any colour once it’s gloss or matt black. We wouldn’t be surprized if Speedline offer sporadic colour options in the future. We should also note that Speedline Parts have just released a Mini version, and while we’ve not laid our hands on them, we have no reason to suspect any quality or performance differences to their big brother.

As you’d expect, the Speedline Elite Hollow Carbon Cranks are not cheap. The come in at a whopping €699.95 … but if you are looking for the cutting edge of crank technology in BMX, then this is it. Stiffer, lighter, and cooler … with no rider weight limit, a gamechanger …

If you have BMX product and you’re interested in a ‘Fifteen BMX’ fair and honest review please email us at info@15.ie … BMX since the 80’s with 25 years of real-world product design experience!

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Subscribe to Fifteen BMX HERE

 REVIEW 

Bell Sanction 2 DLX Mips Helmet

June 2023

Photos ADW Photos / Fifteen BMX

​Bell Sanction 2 DLX Mips Helmet

June 2023

Photos ADW Photos / Fifteen BMX

The just released ‘Bell Sanction 2’ helmet comes in two variations, the basic ‘Sanction 2’ and the version we are focused on here, the ‘Sanction 2 DLX Mips’.

We’ve been testing the DLX Mips helmet for a couple of weeks now and right off the bat it’s clearly a big upgrade from the original Bell Sanction. It looks more premium, feels more premium and it of course it comes with ‘Mips’, the system developed to reduce rotational motion to the brain when the inevitable happens and you crash (read more about Mips HERE). Bell have designed the helmet with BMX racing specifically in mind, which of course increases our interested levels immensely.

The first thing to say is that the Bell Sanction 2 DLX Mips helmet is not the brands top of the line product, it sits firmly in the mid-range of full-face bike helmets, and the price reflects that. You can pick it up at release for the RSP of £159.99 / €179.95. And for what you get, that seems like a very reasonable price to us. You can save some money and get the non-Mips version for €119.95 but we just couldn’t recommend you do that when you can get the added protection of Mips for a little more. It is your head after all! You also get a couple other added benefits from the DLX offering … you’ll have the upgraded Ionic+ antimicrobial padding, which uses silver metalized yarn for helmet odour control, we could all use a little of that in our helmets, plus you’ll get a ‘Fidlock’ magnetic chin strap buckle, which we’ll get to in a bit.

The DLX Mips helmet comes in four sizes, XS/S, M, L and XL … with only the medium and large sharing the same ABS shell moulding. If you are looking for smaller helmet, then you would need to drop down to the basic version which also has a XXS offering. Both come in a whole host of different colourways, so you should find something to suit your personal tastes. And, as you would expect, all the pads are removable for washing, via Velcro and not the higher end magnets of the Bell Full 10 helmet.

Visually the helmet looks sleek and well put together, all the parts fit and line up well. The high-end look is clearly borrowing design ques from the top-of-the-line Bell Full 10, which is obviously welcome. We tried two different popular brands of goggles with the helmet, and both fit perfectly and looked good.

The 14 vents give it a light and airy feel which is very pleasing when you first put the helmet on. It feels lighter when on than the stated 1080g (size medium) would suggest, all that air circulation really helps! An added benefit of all those vents is you can hear pretty well with the helmet on, we didn’t realize how much noise cancellation there was with our current helmet.

We really like the fit of the helmet when we first put it on, usually helmets take time to bed in and conform to your head, but this fit perfectly out of the box. This will obviously be different for everyone, but we were pleasantly surprized with the fit and comfort.

The ‘Sanction 2 DLX Mips’ uses the aforementioned Fidlock buckle on the chin strap rather than the more common D-Ring or straight clip. The buckle slides forward and back rather than sideways to open and close which we did find a little counter intuitive at first, but you get used to it, and it does become easier to use after time. The embedded magnet helps to close it, just get the two parts close and it should snap together … but we are still slightly struggling to open it, especially one handed, as was the design goal. But as with everything, practice makes perfect.

Prior to use our only real concern was whether the visor would move while on the track as it only has two points of contact, the left and right screws. The under visor, centre connection point, from the vast majority of helmets, is missing here. We tightened the left and right screws up, but you can still grab the visor with your hand and reposition it. Thankfully our concerns were unwarranted as we have yet to notice any movement during riding. This seems to be a feature of Bell helmets, so we guess they have done all the testing.

We have only positives when it comes to actually riding with the helmet, the vents and subsequent air flow keeps you cool, there was no sweaty mess after a couple of hours on the bike during a hot and dusty evening. Your vision is completely unrestricted, with only the tip of the chin guard visible with the helmet on.  Ultimately, you almost forget you have a helmet on.

If you are looking for a new helmet and your budget doesn’t stretch to the high-end, or even if it does, you would be well served in taking a serious look at the Bell Sanction 2 DLX Mips offering. It meets all the relevant safety standard, includes Mips, looks and feels great on … you get a lot for your money here.

Find out more at www.bellbikehelmets.co.uk/

If you have BMX product and you’re interested in a ‘Fifteen BMX’ fair and honest review please email us at info@15.ie … BMX since the 80’s with 25 years of real-world product design experience!

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 REVIEW 

The Farr-ST Supa-X Stem and Bar Combo

October 2022

​The Farr-ST Supa-X Stem and Bar Combo

October 2022

Based out of the Leederville neighbourhood of Perth in western Australia, Farr ST, a brand that in the past has focused on the gravel bike sector for the most part, are now seriously looking at BMX Racing and what they can bring to the table.

Like most ‘new’ brands that come into the sport, one of the first offerings they had was the stem, everyone seems to start with the stem. Have CNN machine, make stem! But what caught our attention was that the Farr-ST Supa-X Stem is not what you’d expect from a brand dipping their toe in the BMX market. It’s not a lump of CNC’ed aluminium like 90% of the stems out there. Farr have deployed some grey matter here, they’ve torn up the prototypical BMX stem and designed something unique, dare we say visually innovative, it may be just innovative, full stop! So, when Farr got in touch and offered to send us product to test rather than just asking us to promote it, we immediately jumped on board.

A week later the Farr-ST Supa-X Stem and the Supa-X Jordan Callum Sig. Series 8” Bars arrived at our door, and we got to work.

Farr ST have taken a unique approach here, in that the bars and stem have been designed to work together, in fact, the stem will only work with the Farr Supa-X bars because of the width of the stem. You can pair the bars with any other 31.8mm stem on the market but not the other way round. We did initially wonder if Farr ST had made a mistake here as it’s the Supa-X Stem we see as the star here, but Farr ST point out that the phenomenal stiffness achieved comes from the combination of both working together. And to be fair, if we had to pick one word to describe the pair, it would be STIFF. So basically, if you want the stem, you need the bars.

​As the name suggests the Supa-X Jordan Callum Sig. Series Bars have been developed with input from the talented, Australian National Team rider, Jordan Callum, who most recently has been killing it stateside in the ‘Super X’ class at the USA BMX Nationals. The oversized, 31.8mm, triple butted chromoly bars have clearly been designed to take all the forces and impacts that BMX could possibly throw at them. Chunky, is the wrong word to describe them … we prefer the more apt term, ‘muscular’. Oversized bars on steroids! They are rock solid, stiff AF, and clearly designed to come out of the gate fast. With only a 4-degree back sweep, the bars are straight, the straightest we’ve tried, meaning they may take you a minute to get used to, but once you do they feel really nice to hold. If x-ups over the pro-set is your goal in life these may not be for you, but they will help you go from point A to point B as fast as you can.  All those visual muscles and the stiffness comes at a slight cost though, they are not the lightest oversized bars out there at 984g, but once mounted they certainly don’t feel it. The bars are due to ship mid-December, and you’ll have a choice of black or the ‘raw finish’, with clear-coating that we’ve been running. Shortly after that mid-December timeline, or rather ‘real soon’, Farr ST will be releasing a 5.75″ version of the Supa-X bars for all the cruiser riders out there.

The Farr-ST Supa-X Stem, is the unique part in the Bar/Stem union, in our opinion at least. At 70mm wide, and designed in a ‘moto style’, it’s unlike anything we’ve had on a BMX before. Some of you will point out that there are other BMX stems that are cut out ‘moto style’ … but they are not like this. It’s strange looking down on the stem when mounted to your bike at first, but it fits perfectly with the larger sections of modern frame and fork designs. You get used to it very quickly. The negative space (open areas) are very imports here, so despite the girth, the stem feels very light … and it is very light, weighing in at only 228g for the 50mm option. Farr have no doubt brought some of their knowledge and experience from other bike disciplines to the stem design and we predict it won’t be too long before others take inspiration from the Farr direction. The stem marries perfectly with he bars in a vice like grip that seems unwavering, we think you could drive a car over them, and the bars wouldn’t move. Ignoring the fact that the bars work with other stems we wonder if an even more unique union could be achieved by only knurling the bars in the area where the stem comes in contact with them … just a thought.

The stem comes in two visual varieties, the regular version, and the Supa-X Jordan Callum Sig. version, but it’s only a graphical variation, and three extension lengths, 45, 50 and 55mm. Like the bars, the stem is due to ship mid-December but you can pre-order them both now at riderfarr.com

Farr ST are also looking for potential distributors for their growing BMX product range so hopefully they will be available in your local BMX outlet soon too. If you’re a potential distributor get in touch with Farr via email, makeevery@ridefarr.com or, indeed via their site.

Overall, we are very impressed, and we have no real issues with the combo, maybe the bars could be a tad lighter, but then the stem is very light, so combined it’s almost a wash. It’s the stiffness of the combination that is the main story here, arguably upping your efficiency on your race bike … and it always comes down to efficiency. We’re sold!

If you have BMX product and you’re interested in a ‘Fifteen BMX’ fair and honest review please email us at info@15.ie … BMX since the 80’s with 25 years of real-world product design experience!

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