The recent CABDA show coverage held some important news that didn’t seem to get the play it deserved in our opinion.
That news?
The S&M BTM frame is getting upgraded and upsized for the tallest member of the S&M team, Mike Hoder.
The new version of the BTM frame now has a 5″ headtube along with a 9.5″ standover (from the previous 8.75“). All the other specs remain the same.
This gives the bike a taller profile overall and also let’s Hoder (and any other tall rider buying one) to run less headset spacers, and less seat post while still maintaining a tall, comfy profile.
Two colorways are available: OG S&M Yellow and Gloss Clear.
Also new: hand drawn graffiti-style graphics from Hoder himself.
Pretty sweet.
Looking forward to checking one of these out when they come available in a month or so.
For now though, let’s take a moment and bask in all things Hoder with his section from Hot Dogs:
If you spend any time at all on the 22″ threads on the various forums and pages, the topic of Sunday/Odyssey joining the 22″ movement will come up.
More specifically, why Sunday/Odyssey hasn’t joined the movement.
Some have claimed that Sunday/Odyssey (let’s just say Odyssey for this post) hasn’t dived into the pool –even though a large number of their competitors have — is because they overinvested in the 24″ BMX scene and were left hanging when their investment wasn’t met with the demand they were expecting. Because of this, they are more than a little gun-shy about getting their feet wet with 22″ BMX. (I’m not saying this is true…it’s just what people are saying)
Granted, these comments were from a 2011 thread when the 22″ scene was far less populated by companies having a go at this new wheel size.
To be fair, there was a similar view expressed in 2010 over on our brother site, Cruiser Revolution, in a 22″ themed post. At the time, only one company Faction was doing anything 22″ related in a meaningful way. The post suggested that without more industry support it would likely be an extremely small niche without much traction.
Of course, once S&M tiptoed into the scene, before full-on embracing it, other companies now had the “air cover” to try it for themselves. (Which kind of proved the thesis of the post.)
Odyssey tends to be higher end, with more proprietary items —Hazard Lite, etc. –so it’s a bit harder to do a cookie cutter entry into the 22″ scene. They have standards (which is also why they are so popular/respected).
So what’s a company to do? On the one hand you have customers begging you to produce something…but you’re worried about misjudging demand and being left holding the bag/overstocked.
I think, my modest proposal is to embrace a tried and true BMX industry practice….copy what works for someone else.
(Also, don’t forget to send a pair of the first batch this way…I can’t be doing all the market strategy here without a little something, something, dontcha know)
Many people have made do with the slimmer of the current offerings (if they wanted to race their 22s)…but I suspect many silently grumbled about the weight penalty of the more street/trail-designed rubber when they used them at the track.
Not a bad interim fix, but ORP themselves admitted they were a bear to mount. It also goes without saying that whenever it came time to swap out the tire (or tube) if a flat or blowout occurred….well, that’s probably not going to be the most pleasant experience either.
Anyway, back to the present day….
Moeller recently asked on his Instagram if S&M should make smaller size racing tires…and that he was considering opening up a new mold to do so (presumably if interest was there).
Well, that prompted this exchange between John Paul Rogers (S&M alum/BMX enthusiast) and Moeller:
jpr_fla Produce light weight 22” tires & wheel sets that aren’t monster truck size, my back hurts. Harry Leary came up with Turbo Lite tires & wheels in the 80s. There has to be at least 40-50 people worldwide that want this.
moeller_chris @jpr_fla basically a 22” race tire in our 1.95 size. It’s actually a good idea.
Of course, after a number of comments followed from a number of 22″ aficionados (myself included) asking for 22 X 1.95 option.
Will this be enough to convince Moeller to open a mold for a 22″ X 1.95 Trackmark tire?
I can’t be sure at this point but I’m hopeful.
Heck, S&M’s offering 26″ and 29″ tires these days…so I think there’s got a be some love for the 22″ crowd for a more race-friendly tire option.
(And..I have my fingers crossed that they get them out by summer so I can throw them on my own rig for racing.)
S&M rider Trevor Sigloch recently debuted his signature 20″ frame (the DTF) with features befitting his tall stature…most notably a 5″ headtube and a 9.25″ standover.
You can check that out in his “What I ride” clip that came out in early December.
Now that it’s 2019, Trevor has stepped things up a bit by dropping a brand new edit called, “I need my Dubs”.
The cool thing about this particular piece of footage is that Trevor is hitting the streets, parks and the dirt aboard a 22″ S&M ATF.
When you’re 6’5″, like S&M’s Mike Hoder, big bars are a necessity…
…especially when you’re rolling on a 20″.
So even though Hoder already has signature bars in 8.6 and 9″ rises…he’s bumped things up on the latest iteration of his bars to a height more fitting of his stature: 9.5″.
