[Blaster1200]

This last October, I got interested in racing BMX again, so I cleaned up my old '99ish GT and hit the track. It had been over 20 years since I last race BMX and, as a result, I've lost a lot of my coordination. It's been coming back, slowly but surely. After breaking the seatpost on my beloved mid-school GT, I was a little worried about further damaging this prestine collector's item.

So instead of just replacing the seat post, I replaced the bike - piece by piece, starting with the frame. Initially, I picked up the frame and a few parts from Fullerton Bikes, and I swapped a lot of parts over from the GT. Wanting to get the GT back to its former glory, I eventually got all of the parts needed.

So what better choice than an Intense Podium to join my fleet of Intenses (5.5, UZZI SLX, UZZI VPX, 6.6, and M3)?

So with that, here's the new Podium:

Frame: Intense Podium Pro Cruiser
Fork: Bombshell F1 Carbon
Headset: FSA Internal, Campy Style
Headset Spacers: Chris King
Stem: Thomson BMX
Handlebars: S&M Cruiser 5.75 Race Bar
Grips: ODI Ruffian BMX Lock-on
Brake Lever: Shimano STR
Brake: Shimano XTR V-brake
Cranks: Shimano Saint, 175 mm
Chainring: Snap, 41 tooth
Chain: SRAM PC-68
Pedals: Shimano DX PD-M647
Hubs: Chris King BMX
Cog: Chris King SS, 18 tooth
Spokes: DT Competition 14/15
Nipples: DT Aluminum
Rims: Sun Rhyno Lite
Tires: Intense Micro Knobby 1.75F/1.85R
Tubes: Specialized
Seat Post Clamp: Salsa
Seat Post: Thomson
Seat: Serfas w/Ti rails

 

[Blaster1200]

A couple more.

 

[[email protected]]

lookin good Blaster-

 

[AzTracer]

What was the total build cost on that bad boy?

 

[FreerideMonkey7]

how much does it weigh??

 

[Blaster1200]

I never total the cost on my bikes - ever! I don't know how much I spend on bikes.

The weight is about 23ish pounds, but I forgot the specific weight.

 

[Downhilldoug]

Thats nice!

That reminds me of my Boss racing Bmx bike. I Had the works; sun rims ringle hubs, profile cranks avocet tires, probably one of the best bikes i have owned. I cant wait for Bmx in the Olympics this year...... anyway nice ride.

 

[dirtbiker]

That is one sweet looking bike.

 

[xxFRESHxx]

beautiful, just beautiful. by far the nices looking cuiser i have seen so far.

 

[PAmtbiker]

That looks sick Blaster... I like the blue highlights

 

[beagledadi]

I have no idea what I would do with that...........but I want one!! It looks awesome!!

 

[spamboy]

SPDs on a BMX! - Is that allowed! Cool bike though. Makes me wonder why Intense can't make a hardcore hardtail. I'd buy one tomorrow - Actually maybe it's a good thing they don't!

 

[Blaster1200]

SPDs are very popular in BMX racing these days. Because of the added benefit of using SPDs, some parents are rushing their kids to run SPDs, which I don't particularly think is a good idea. Sometimes, kids as young as 6 are using SPDs.

The company that handles the Intense BMX bikes is actually different than the Intense "Made in the USA" frame company. The Intense BMX frames are made overseas, whereas the mtb company wants to retain the made in the USA image. The quality of the made overseas frames is incredibly good, from what I've seen.

 

[bigmax098]

sickest BMXer i've seen!

 

[Sparkyrad]

Fun bolts?

Blaster - I am going to run pretty much the same set up as you. My question is, on the King hubs they make for mountain bikes they have fun bolts which look way cooler than the ones that come with the BMX hubs. Do you or anyone out there have any idea if they make something like the fun bolts versus the standard BMX ones for these hubs?

 

[Blaster1200]

Yes, the Fun Bolts for the mtb hubs are very different, and they use a completely different thread pitch, I don't remember the thread pitch of the BMX hubs, but it's a standard thread that you can get from Home Depot/Lowes. You could use button-head hex bolts, but that would only allow you to use a 5 or 6 mm hex wrench, which wouldn't allow you to torque the wheel down enough. You could also simply use stainless steel bolts (silver), but they're not as strong as these bolts. In the past, I have seen some aluminum "cups" for these standard bolts, but for the life of me, I can't remember where.

If you do find something trick, let me know!

 

[wcr]

What bottom bracket are you running? How does the chain line up? Sick build!!!

 

[Christ D]

Very beautyfull BMX !!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[Blaster1200]

What bottom bracket are you running? How does the chain line up? Sick build!!!

It sounds like you're aware of the challenges of installing Saint cranks on a BMX bike.

Typical of most BMX bikes, the bottom bracket is 68 mm wide. On a normal mountain bike with a 68 mm bb, you'd install the two 2.5 mm spacers on the drive side, and one 2.5 mm spacer on the non-drive side. On a BMX bike, this makes the chain alignment about 5-7 mm off.

Some people will run one 2.5 mm spacer on the drive side, and two 2.5 mm spacers on the non-drive side. Better, but still not good.

I've seen people run no spacers on the drive side, the three spacers on the non-drive side. Good for alignment, bad for the BB cup - there aren't enough threads on the non-drive side cup to get it threaded in very far.

Here are two options:
1. Use a BB cup with a longer threaded area, such as the Race Face Diabolus cups, then run all three spacers on the non-drive side. Unfortunately, these only come in gold, so you'll need to do something about that if you don't like gold. There may be other cups now available (I haven't looked in a while). With this, chain alignment is pretty good, but it'll depend on where the cog sits on the rear hub (this varies from brand to brand).

2. Shimano offers a 3 mm spindle spacer for it's line of Ultegra and 105 cranks. I've seen these in a grayish finish and in black. I haven't found this spacer on Shimano's parts listing, but I did find it in one of the instruction sheets http://bike.shimano.com/media/techd...001/SI_1G30E_001_En_v1_m56577569830616000.pdf or http://bike.shimano.com/media/techd...FC/EV-FC-5603-2440B_v1_m56577569830646645.pdf
I had a local dealer get me a couple of these.

With this spacer, you can install two 2.5 mm spacers (or ideally, one 2.5 mm and one 2 mm spacers) on the non-drive side (no spacers on the drive side), then install the Ultegra spindle spacer before installing the non-drive side crank arm.

No matter what you do, the cranks will be off center in the frame (less space between the end of the crank arm on the drive side to the frame than the other side), but it's not noticeable when riding.

 

[wcr]

thanks for the info!!