nightfly

I want one of these despite (or perhaps because of) how little sense it makes:

2018 NAHBS: Sketchy but Safe Squid Bikes Tracklocross | The Radavist

seau grateau

Squid bikes are sick. They make me wanna pick up some spray.bike and do a custom paint job on my Felt.

Big Pond

Interesting frame design. I like that they pay the paint premium directly to the painter. What I can’t figure out is how they are getting away with charging $1,200 for an off the rack, unpainted 6061 frame. That’s about $100 in materials.

thehammerdog

Paint and color scheme is cool

Fahrenheit531 

Very good-looking bike. Which I almost never say about sloped top-tube machines. But yeah, that's effing cool.

SquidPuppet

Brakeless + off road. Seems like that would be quite difficult.

Paint is koo-koo. I dig it.


These look like eccentrics, but I don't see how the axle moves. Anybody know?

SquidPuppet

The adult size BMX frame is $1,400.00. No fork or paint. WTF?

Darth Lefty 

That's a thru-axle. This says their frame has a PF30 bb. The example above is missing all the braze-ons but the drops look the same.
https://www.squidbikes.com/products/squidcross

Low production volume in the USA accounts for a lot of the price. It's not like Gunnars are cheap, for example.

SquidPuppet

Just seems high for the end user. Geometry and sizing is fixed, so it's really just a shelf item.

79pmooney

I'm assuming there is now or soon to be brakeless cyclocross racing. No gears, no brakes, it doesn't get much purer.

Best part is the off-camber U-turn at the bottom of a 25 foot drop. A real strategy test. Do you go faster up the proceeding hill and hit the top at 4 mph? Or do you ride smarter and hit the top at 3 mph so you might make that turn? We could have speed radars at the top so commentators could speculate on the chaos at the bottom. (They'd have plenty of time as each rider does his very best to shut down speed on the descent!) Post race: "Jackson pulled the winning move at the top of hill #3. He clocked 2.89 mph and was the only rider to make that final turn."

"'I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft...As for me, give me a fixed gear!'-- Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 - 16 August 1940)" I fully agree - but give me brakes! They make the bike faster and faster is more fun!

Ben

SquidPuppet

Exactly. Down hill + off camber + the inability to coast =

It seems like it would be frustrating too, because the natural urge to haul ass must be quelled.

Trakhak

My guess: loosen gold axle bolt; loosen silver bolt; rotate black plate counterclockwise along slot in frame; when chain has slackened enough, retighten silver and gold bolts. There's probably a similar setup at the left side, so adjust both sides at the same time.

79pmooney

This is a case of 'why?". This setup has a very limited range so changing cogs and gear ratios is only for those liking to work on their bikes (or spreadsheets). Fix gears need nothing special to secure the wheel. Track nuts on a slotted plate works just fine. (Go to any velodrome and look what they use.)

Yes, that axle might be easier to deal with than a track end where you have to derail the chain to pull the wheel but it is no harder to build a bike with an extra long road dropout to accomplish the same ease of cog swaps and chain adjustment and have really easy wheel pull and install. (And if you want to just use one cog and make setting chain tension dead simple, use a road dropout with adjusting screws. With them you can get the chain right at night in the rain after a few beers first try. And nothing comes off so there is nothing to drop and lose.

I can see this bike doing really well mounted over the mantle of a big, wide fireplace of light grey slate in a stylish early '60s ranch house. (My fireplace wouldn't be too far off but I would have to get it rebuilt. The current stone is too close in color. Impact would be lost. Livingroom is also too small by a factor of several.

Ben

TimothyH

LoL. You guys really like this crap?

taras0000

It's a gravel tarck bike. woohoo

seau grateau

If money was no object, I'd definitely have one. Because money is very much an object, I would never buy one.

nightfly

Eccentric bottom bracket for chain tension. From their instagram:

giovannixjimenezJust curious how you adjust chain tension? Looks like like tons of fun!
squidbikes@giovannixjimenez @beercomponents eccentric bottom bracket! Works great!

Would be fun to build something like this with a cheap(er) frame with horizontal drop outs. I hate gold components but still like this for some reason.

Wspsux

Eh, this does absolutely nothing for me.

wphamilton

I won't comment on whether I like or hate that bike, but I am curious: why do you like it?

79pmooney

I followed the link on the OP's opening post to get a better look at the crankset because it doesn't look like the chainring is removable. Seems this is one of those cheap, one-piece units like we used to curse back in the '70s. Ride it until the teeth are shot, then toss the whole crankset. Making this a very expensive Walmart bike.

(I have always considered brakeless fix gears ridden on the road, "throw-aways". Apparently the manufacturer does also.)

Ben

SquidPuppet

Actually, it's pretty high end stuff. I'm not a fan, because it's a proprietary system, but it is quality.

Drive Train Systems ? White Industries

50voltphantom

MR30 TSR ? White Industries

IAmSam

I don't much care for that bike nor am I a fan of WI cranks - but for someone who constantly and pedantically likes to inform us all here that he knows more about bikes than any of us...


This is a monumentally stupid comment


Edit...gawddammit - SquidPuppet & 50voltphantom beat me to it...

REDMASTA

Not really the type of bike I'd be interested in, but it's well done nonetheless and the entire package is so crazy I actually kind of like it.

50voltphantom

Agree with @REDMASTA. Fixed kinda demands higher gearing, which is no bueno for off-road unless you're an absolute beast. Also, steep or tech-y descents sound terrifying with no brakes/coasting. I can't imagine many places where this would be fun to ride if you plan on making use of those knobby tires. Maybe I'm wrong. Riding this in an urban setting with 32mm slick Gravelkings would be ok I guess. Cool looking bike though.