BMX


               

Though originally denoting a bicycle intended for BMX Racing, the term "BMX bike" is now used to encompass race bikes, as well as those used for the dirt, vert, park, street, flatland and BMX freestyle disciplines of BMX. BMX frames are made of various types of steel, and (largely in the racing category) aluminum. Cheaper, low end bikes are usually made of steel. High range bikes are mostly chromoly or high tensile steel, although the latter is noticeably heavier with respect to strength. High-performance BMX bikes use lightweight 4130 chromoly, or generation 3 chromoly.^[1]

The introduction and widespread popularity of the cassette hub has ushered in the use of smaller gearing on BMX bikes. Instead of the old 44/16 gearing found on almost all older BMX bikes, new bikes use gearing such as 36/13, 33/12, 30/11, 28/10, 25/9, 23/8,and even 22/8, all of which have similar gear ratios of almost 2.8:1. Advantages of smaller gearing hubs include lighter weight, and more clearance when grinding. The freewheel hub is all but extinct due to several factors. The smallest freewheels that can be made is with 8 teeth,^[2] which is smaller than most riders prefer.^{[citation needed]} Also, they are less consistent than cassette hubs, and skip or jam up far more frequently.

Odyssey BMX is a bicycle parts company based in Cerritos California specialising in BMX. Founded in 1985,^[1] one of its first products was the Gyro detangler, which is still in productiontoday.^[2] The term “Gyro” is a registered trademark owned by Odyssey. The product line currently includes almost all parts necessary to build a BMX except frames and inner tubes.

In 2005 the company won a design distinction award from ID magazine for the Elementary stem^[3] which gained a US patent^[4] and challenged the prevalent stem design of the time which used 6 bolts and replaced them with a single bolt controlling an internal expander. The Elementary stem was a collaboration with George French of G-Sport and in the course of this project odyssey BMX absorbed G-Sport ^[5][6]