I just got my new Bedford trials frame and I am pretty excited to try it out. I was mistified, however, as to what that yellow thing in my frame is.
Does anyone know why it is there? It is stuck in their pretty well. It looks to me like it is a shim. Did anyone else have one of these things in their frame when they purchased it? Does this mean my frame is not properly aligned?
I noticed that if i set my frame upright on a flat surface it is pretty wobley. All four points are not on the same plain. Is it just me or is this nothing to be concerned about?
I haven’t tried it out on my wheel yet. Hopefully I’ll get a chance tomorrow.
It was probably slightly off center when on the wheel. I recently had to shim my bearing holders out like that (but more) to fit my frame over a really tall tire and I found out it has to be very exact. One little piece of a cut up tube or something can make a huge difference in how the frame sits on the bearings.
To be honest. I have no clue. This is the first time hearing about the frames being shipped like this.
My only guess would that it would be a shim. Knowing Darren, he probably put the frame on a hubset and realized it was off and glued a shim in there to fix the slight off-set. That would be Darren for ya.
As for the 4 points not touch all equally. It will be fine. My friend Phil also has a Bedford frame, and it doesn’t sit straight on a flat surface. It didnt make anything wrong with the frame, cause his is still holding up great, and he likes to go BIG. =p
I wouldnt concern at all. Once you put your wheel in, check if its aligned straight, and if it is, then your good. If not, popcan shims will fix that, or you can just ride with a slightly off tire.
You should e-mail Darren though, and ask about the yellow part and anything else. If anyone knows about his frame, it will be him. =p
I figured it’s probably fine, I was just wondering. I’ll e-mail Darren and see what he says.
It seems like if they are making these things in a factory they would have some sort of jig set up so that everything would be true and square. I assume Darren isn’t welding these things together in his garage!
I think if it was made in a big factory then it would be less perfect than something handmade. Maybe not though. We are only talking about being off be maybe a millimeter.
Ok, I couldn’t wait. I decided to put my wheel on now. It seems to be ok. The alignment is just slightly off. Really, it is not off as much as my old frame.
Now I need to get a bigger tire. I have a regular 20" rim. The tire in the pic is an Odyssey Dirt Path 2.2. That was the biggest I could get on my old DX frame.
Any suggestions for a good 20" that would give me a little more bounce.
As for now, I don’t have the money to buy a 19" rim.
The TwentyG is cool.
I have one on my 20" with bedford frame. If you get it you will need to kind of improvise to make it all work because the tire is slightly taller than the frame. I fixed it by getting an old popped tube and putting little strips of rubber in there to shim the frame up (like I was talking about before). Then I had to use some longer bolts because the old ones were not long enough to screw the nuts on with the added height.
that’s a shim i used them with my KH prototype frame (for sale people) to use my 42MM bearings (profile) not exsactly the same so they needed a shim.
cheers
bry
i had some black shims liek that on my old learner uni… I dont really knwo why they were there, i dont have any on my koxx1 red devil, and actually i was worried i was gonna breake the bearings without them…
I’ve often wondered why people are so impressed with Bedford unis, namely the frames. I know he puts together quality components with personal care. But his frames are not paticularly impressive with crappy bearing holders.
I sold 2 trials unis that were identical except one had a Bedford frame and one had a Summit frame. The Bedford sold right away, the Summit took most of a year to sell. In my opinion the Summit frame is far superior except for maybe the weight issue.
This is not to knock Darren at all. He does give more personal attention to his uni sales than his competitors (the shim is an example of that). Just a curiosity that a name (and he does deserve a good name) can give the impression of unquestioned quality.
If I were to buy a Bedford Hardcore uni for instance, I’d get it with a KH or other quality frame with machined bearing holders. Of course a basic Bedford or Yuni frame is pretty rugged and will serve one well.
Again this is not meant to knock Darren in any way. He’s tops.
Just a quick hint. Strips of aliminum pop can are awesome for shims. They are easily cut with scissors, Can be folded, bent and custom fit by hand and they are light. I would stay clear of rubber innertube shims, as they probably have quite a bit of squishiness when and if you land on your seat.
