That’s right, we’ve been talking about it for a bit, but here is the official info for our Eastern Canada tour starting next Friday! We are heading out there for the Ten Pack Re-Session Tour and like you can see above, Alistair Whitton, Jaumell Campbell, Chris Martindale, Travis Sexsmith, and myself will all be on the trip and we are David Lang along to document the whole thing! Casey Stein, who won our “You’re A Man Now” contest will be meeting up with us, we are going to do some jams, hit a few bike shops, and no matter what, we are going to have an amazing trip! Here’s an outline of where we will be and what we’ll be doing. If you are in any of the cities we’ll be in, make sure to come out and say what’s up! We’ll also be doing web updates the whole way, so if you can’t make it out to one of the stops, make sure to check the site and see what kind of mess we get into!
June 6- Toronto- Riding at the Animal Street Jam. Location to be announced at tenpackbmx.com. June 7- Toronto- Filming street. June 10- Montreal- We’re going to be at Element 51 shop in the afternoon and then the Taz Mahal park Jam. The park will stay open late for a bike only session. June 11- Street Jam in Montreal- Time and location to be announced on macneilbmx.com and tenpackbmx.com. June 12- Pick up Casey from the Airport and pre birthday party. June 13- Chilling at Joe Mammas in the morning. Ottawa Park Jam in the afternoon. Casey’s birthday party that night. June 14- Ottawa- Filming street.
I get a lot of e-mails from people asking questions about MacNeil products. I’ve been seeing this question a lot lately and I think it’s a good one.
The question is, “When most other brands frames are using the mid BB why is MacNeil still sticking with Spanish BBs?”
Here is my answer. This is just my common sense look at the bottom brackets and why I think that the Spanish BB is the best choice for our frames.
The Mid is an American BB without the aluminum cups. As I see it, this is a minimal change and has no great advantage over the old school American BB which was developed in the 70′s BMX for 1 pcs cranks.
The advantage of the Spanish over the Mid is a lot clearer. The Spanish shell is smaller than the Mid which reduces the weight of the shell itself, more weight saving comes from the bearings as you can see by the photos. The bearings are narrower, the inside race is much thinner, add these things to the smaller diameter of the shell and the weight savings really start to add up. Even the bearing cover/spacers are a little lighter due to the reduced OD. In total the weight savings is about 100 grams or nearly a quarter of a pound. And before anyone says it, no I didn’t take into account the less than 2mm longer that would need to be added to the frame tubes to reach the smaller shell but that’s really minimal.
Besides the substantial weight savings, I think it looks way better. With all of the frame tubing diameters getting smaller in the last couple of years the Mid BB looks a little big and bulky. When the Mid and Spanish first battled it out for BB supremacy the frame tubes were a lot bigger in diameter. At that point in time almost every frame used a 22.2mm (7/8”) chain and seat stays, down tubes were all in the neighborhood of 42mm, so the Mid didn’t look out of place back then, but as the tubes have gotten smaller (seat and chain stays are 19mm or less) on the current frames the Spanish B.B. fits in better.
About 100gr saving that doesn’t sacrifice performance or cost any more money, while being more consistent with the reduced tube sizes used on current frame ….. makes sense to me. I’m not trying to tell you what to run…just laying out facts and letting you known why I’ve made the choice that I have on the MacNeil frames. Just something to think about if you’re looking at a getting a new frame.
-Darcy Saccucci
Spanish Bearing and Shell – 191g Mid Bearing and Shell – 289g Difference = 98g
Spanish bearings on the left, Mid on the right.
Bearings, top view.
Mid set up.
Spanish set up.
Mid bearings – 123g if you have trouble with digital scales.
Chris Martindale just got back from a trip to Utah with Steve Machuga and Brian Chace. They just went down to ride and cilmb some mountains. The trip sounded like it went really well and Chris got a bunch of clips for Brian’s new video.
Kurt from BMX Union interviewed Jay for his site as well as the Dig site. The interviews turned out good and you can check them out here – Jay on BMX Union and Jay on Dig BMX.
Ali just sent over some more photos from his France trip. Check out what he had to say and see the photos after the jump.
“Just finished a demo in Nates, France. It was the best one yet coz they had the bands playing while we rode so it was epic. We rode around town and found this spot. The town is really old and it has a castle with a mote. Long drive tonight.”
Since the weather has been getting nicer in England, Lewis Knowles, our boy we’ve been hooking up over there, has been working on his ramps and sent over a few photos. He said they got pretty destroyed over the winter and they have been doing a lot of work on them. He said they aren’t finished yet, but he’s been able to ride em a bit! The setup looks rad and hopefully we’ll get a video soon!
Ali’s in France on the Van’s Wheels Of Rock Tour and this is what he has to say!
“wheels of rock tour is sick…mackay and myself are all dialed in with our bikes and bags and having mad fun..but tnez got his bike robbed so he is pissed.we rode wind buggies the other day which was a change of pace,ive sailed boats before so i picked it up fast..the bus is sweet,we have taken over the back of the bus like a bunch of school kids,so i used my stuntman skills and surfed the bus at 50mph.we have more demos this weekend and they have stuff planned for us to do till then.have fun”
Congratulations Casey Stein. You’re a man now son!
We sent Casey an email on Friday letting him know that he won the contest. So he gets a to Celebrate his 18th birthday with us and the guys from Joe Mama’s in Ottawa in June. Casey actually won this thing hands down because none of the other riders who qualified had a passport. So there was no big decision to make.
In about a week Casey will receive a plane ticket and food check from us, and a golf bag from Ogio to take his bike in. He’ll stay in the same hotel room as the riders and will be treated as one of the team. Here’s a small interview with Casey asking him about the upcoming trip. We’ll also interview him after the trip to see how he liked it.
A few of weeks ago I went over to Japan to see Shoe-G and to meet up with Yossy from Zen Distribution who takes care of MacNeil over there. I had never been to Japan before which is surprising considering all of the time I’ve spent in Asia over the last decade. It was worth the wait! What an amazing place. All of the things you have heard about Japan are true. Dialed. Advanced. Clean. Friendly. I loved everything. One of the greatest things was riding my cruiser around and seeing how bike friendly Japan is. Bike lanes, official bike parking areas with huge rack systems and just a general acceptance by the drivers. Progressive city. I went to a well know commuter/fixie/BMX shop called W-Base. The owner Moto and his brother Rip have been involved with BMX in Japan since the the early days which explains why the store is as much a BMX museum as it is a shop. We ended up at a great party that brought together people from all types of cycling and a their love of cheap Japanese malt liquor. I also hooked up with Shoe-G at his place so that I could meet his lady and his super cute daughter who was dressed as a cow at dinner. Thanks to Yossy and the boys at W-Base for showing me around and introducing me to Kirin Green Label (good value and quality!) Check the photos and if you ever get a chance, go to Japan. It’s a truly amazing place.
