"You're NOT going to sell or trade this bike, right?" says my wife after I just finished putting my new 24" BMX Cruiser together.
"NO way... I'm never making that mistake again." I answer.
The mistake I was referring to, was the dumb decision of trading my Eastern Traildigger 26" BMX Cruiser for a broken (not to my knowledge) Gary Fisher MTB. It's a decision I've been regretting for awhile, and since 2010 I've wanted my BMX Cruiser back - just haven't had the extra funds to buy a new one.
Well, after some research, leveraging some cash, and taking advantage of a sweet $30 off Dan's Comp coupon code, I opted for the Stolen Saint 24".
The new-school 24" cruisers are definitely on the come up. Old guys a.k.a. former BMX'ers in their 30's and 40's are looking back at those fun times they had terrorizing the neighborhood on their 20" bikes. However, with older bodies with muscles and joints that don't move like they did in our teens, we're looking for a BMX bike that has a little more give, sits up a little taller and yet has that "freestyle" geometry found on 20" bikes. In other words, we want to shred without committing to a small wheel bike - and thus, the 24" BMX freestyle cruiser fits the need for Dad and his curb hops and endos. Although, a younger market is starting to catch on. And Dad isn't just sticking to endos.
Sunday!, Stolen, Free Agent, Haro and others have stepped into the 24" BMX freestyle cruiser market. Subrosa and a few others are on their way. In the past, 24" cruisers were restricted to lightweight racing bikes that, quite frankly, would explode under a Clydesdale racer like me. But now, we have beefier options available that perform great on the street, park and trail.
I am racing XC next week in the local series, and I just started to feel a little burned out on training. I've been riding 100mi. a week and averaging 10,000' of climbing... so the thought of hitting the trails in lycra today just didn't seem fun. Plus, the season hasn't even started yet and I'm feeling this way - so I had to shake things up a bit.
I decided to drive down to Santa Cruz, Ca. and hit my old spots on the new 24".
I'm not going to rehash the specs of the Stolen Saint 24"; they can be found HERE. I am, however, going to share my impressions coming from a 38 yr. old man who loves BMX down to my core.
Immediately, the Saint felt right. It just seemed to click perfectly. Bunny hopping felt good, nose wheelies felt good, my-sorry-excuses-for-manuals felt "good" and it just felt like a great riding bike. I could not feel the extra 4" of wheel on this bike - in fact, it really felt like I was riding a 20" bike. Stolen truly took the time to perfect the geometry, because at one point I forgot I was riding a cruiser altogether. In contrast to the Eastern Traildigger - I knew I was on a large cruiser atop the 26". Not this bike.
I haven't ridden BMX in awhile, so I just wanted to get my bunny hops back. I jumped some curbs, did some very small nose wheelie drops off curbs, and hopped up a ledge that was about 2ft. tall. Today's ride was 20 miles of ear-to-ear smiles. Santa Cruz was beautiful - 65� in the middle of January.
Some of the issues I had with this bike became apparent at around mile 10. I attempted a hang-5 and the bars slipped. They actually slipped 3 times today. I jumped a curb, and I heard a CLANK! which appeared to be the stem and headset. The front hub came loose, and I had to re-grease and dial it in. The Tektro rear brake needs to GO - it does not stop whatsoever which was a little nerve racking on West Cliff Dr. Forget about abubacas (I know you young guns can do them brakeless - but not this old fart).
The Stolen Saint 24" is a value at +/- $400, but not without its issues. I believe the geometry and 7.5" bars match perfectly, and the stock parts seemed to do the job. Some components felt low budget (like the front hub) so I will need to dial those things in - especially that slipping stem - which I thought didn't exist in today's BMX world. However, components I can deal with... the soul of the bike is that awesome freestyle geometry.
I recommend the Stolen Saint 24" to anybody looking at getting into the 24"BMX Freestyle revolution. For more information about this bike and the variety of other cruisers available on the market, check out the experts at Cruiser Revolution.
Source: http://www.dionridesbikes.com/2013/01/first-impressions-stolen-saint-24-bmx.html
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