Transcript
STEADICAM SMOOTHEE
2HIP GROOVETECH SYSTEM DESCRIBING: After five long years of development, 2Hip has finally released the Groovetech fork/stem/bar combo. The concept was simple: develop a bar/stem/fork combo that would never slip, but the execution proved a little more difficult—hence the five-year development phase. The system is pretty straightforward at its core, beginning with the fullchromoly Endless forks that apply fluted, tapered and butted tubing to keep the weight down and a one-piece machined steer tube with a built-in bearing race and post-weld heat treatment to keep the strength up. The Fullon 3/4 loader stem is CNC-machined from aluminum, with plenty of voids worked in to trim the fat. Finally, the Future bars (available in 8-, 8.25or 8.5-inch rise) are 11-butted full chromoly, with 2-degree upsweep and 12-degree backsweep, and are post-weld heattreated for added strength. What sets this seemingly typical high-end system apart are the two teeth in the stem that align with slots in the fork and the pinned and indexed spacers that wrap the clamping surface of the bars and interface with the grooved clamping surface of the stem. The end result is a front end that should set up with ease and never move, slip or twist in any direction. A very intriguing idea, but is it right for BMX? That’s what we aim to find out. TESTING: When we got our first glimpse at the Groovetech system a few years back, all we could do was laugh. The four-piece bars were bulky and gross, the forks were overbuilt monsters from the ’90s, and the stem was the size of a Volkswagen bus. But today, the design has changed and been refined so much that we can hardly believe we are looking
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