nimbus or bedford BC plates

[50 Percent]

I have been looking at bc plates and was wondering if i should get the nimbus or the bedfords are the bedfords stronger are they worth the extra money?

[mornish]

definantly.

get the bedford lowrider platforms($80 usd)

[blackbike]

$80 seems a lot for 2 pieces of metal. :o

[mornish]

1. they are powder coated

2. they are machined(not welded)

3. I think he makes them himself

[Spencer Hochberg]

$80 seems a lot for 2 pieces of metal. :o
Well $200 for a KH frame from udc seems a lot for a few pieces of metal also.

3. I think he makes them himself
He has a machinist that makes them.

I like them because they cover the whole bottom of your foot so it is more stable and they are now dropped down lower so it puts the bolt in a really nice place for hopping and tricks. $80 is worth it.
Some short plates can hurt/cramp your feet because all your weight is on one part of your foot, usually the front.

[bcwheelriderguyhehehehehe]

yeah 80 aint bad at all. If you were to make em the same way and buy the same materials and tools it would cost just as much or more.

[50 Percent]

what does bedford do about Q-factor? becouse it looks to me like the nimbus plates are tilted inward.:confused:

[maximus unius]

yeah 80 aint bad at all. If you were to make em the same way and buy the same materials and tools it would cost just as much or more.

Yeah, they will prolly cost around the same and they wont be as nice unless you are skilled at working with metal.

[gordito8me]

I know absolutely nothing about bc but when you turn with the lowrider plates, do they hit the ground because they're so low?

[mornish]

no. they really arent super low.

look at the plates Evan made Terry(muniaddict). they are dropped so low, and aparently terry doesnt have trouble with them on a 20".

[Spencer Hochberg]

what does bedford do about Q-factor? becouse it looks to me like the nimbus plates are tilted inward.:confused:
There is no Q factor on bc plates, if they are tilted inward that means that they are bent.

look at the plates Evan made Terry(muniaddict). they are dropped so low, and aparently terry doesnt have trouble with them on a 20".
Ha, Evan said when he rode Terry's plates he couldn't turn.

The lowrider plates are only dropped 1/2" more than the old bedfords so it doesn't change turning much, it just gets the bolt away from your foot. I haven't had any problems turning normally.
If I do a really sharp turn they hit but I can also hit the ground with the pedal on my uni with 110 cranks.

[50 Percent]

this may be off topic but are bedfords longer the nimbus plates and is it easier to ride with shorter plates.
because my current junkie plates are about 2 inches long.:D

[mornish]

bedford makes 3 plates.


short, long(pro), long dropped(lowrider). lowriders own all!


evan loves short plates though

[Spencer Hochberg]

this may be off topic but are bedfords longer the nimbus plates and is it easier to ride with shorter plates.
because my current junkie plates are about 2 inches long.:D
That is an opinion, I think long plates are easier to ride.

Bedfords are 9" long I think.

[rabbithunter018]

What about Evans plates? (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54376)

[Borgschulze]

My plates are 3 1/4" long. 5" wide.

Next time I make them I'm going to make them 4 1/4" long.

[Darren]

Just to clairify...

I make every Bedford BC Wheel Platform one at a time by hand myself.

I use the machine shop facilities at City Wide Welding owned by my great friend Louis Conforti.

Any platform out there these days is a copy of my original design.
No one has come close to making them as good or as strong.
Beware of what you get.


I have updated the platforms a few times since the original design.


You will want the lastest Bedford PRO LowRider platforms if you are thinking of getting into BCing.

You will be glad you got them !


Enjoy the ride,
Darren

[Evan Byrne]

Any platform out there these days is a copy of my original design.
No one has come close to making them as good or as strong.
Beware of what you get



For the sake of argument, I bent some of your short plates. Also, I would bet some of those solid steel plates some people have made are stronger than yours. Not to argue that your plates are very strong. But to go out saying yours are the strongest without any comparitive testing is ignorant.

[50 Percent]

What about Evans plates? (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54376)yeah i like those but I already have trouble enough bailing:rolleyes:

[Darren]

Evan


I'm just letting people know what I have been told by a lot of people who have bought other plates. They told me that they want to buy a set of mine now because they have bent the ones they got elsewhere really quickly.

They said they tried to save a few dollars and buy some cheaper ones but in the end reqreted it.

Some people have told me that they tried to make their own and ended up with something that looked really bad or was not very good. Some told me that they jumped on theirs and the weld broke, they fell and got hurt.

I have had people say that they have used mine after using other versions and instantly feel the difference and can ride better right away.


I haven't had many comments on yours (except from Spencer and a few others) so I can't pass on any news to you about your design.


I sent a message to Spencer letting him know that I would give you a great deal on a set of the new LowRider platforms if you want a set.
Try Spencers and let me know. He will have his in a few days.


Darren

[Spencer Hochberg]

For the sake of argument, I bent some of your short plates.
That wasn't from normal riding though. If you put a bc on the ground and jump on to it from a high place then it will probably bend.
You have bent some of your plates too doing stupid things.
I haven't heard of Bedfords ever getting bent from normal riding situations.

[Evan Byrne]

Evan


I'm just letting people know what I have been told by a lot of people who have bought other plates. They told me that they want to buy a set of mine now because they have bent the ones they got elsewhere really quickly.

They said they tried to save a few dollars and buy some cheaper ones but in the end reqreted it.

Some people have told me that they tried to make their own and ended up with something that looked really bad or was not very good. Some told me that they jumped on theirs and the weld broke, they fell and got hurt.

I have had people say that they have used mine after using other versions and instantly feel the difference and can ride better right away.


I haven't had many comments on yours (except from Spencer and a few others) so I can't pass on any news to you about your design.


I sent a message to Spencer letting him know that I would give you a great deal on a set of the new LowRider platforms if you want a set.
Try Spencers and let me know. He will have his in a few days.


Darren



Do the lowerd plates come in a short version?

[mornish]

you could probably alter them to make them short

[Evan Byrne]

you could probably alter them to make them short


Yes but darren wouldnt like that.

[Hazmat]

I just saw a pic of the bedford lowriders. They look cool if you get a 24" like Evan Byrne said. So maybe bedford is the way to go.

[rogeratunicycledotcom]

Any platform out there these days is a copy of my original design.
No one has come close to making them as good or as strong.
Beware of what you get.

Darren,

I would dispute this statement: The basic design for drop plates for impossible wheels is many years old, I remember seeing them in the 1980s. Although I will say that Darren has been very much at the forefront of their development in the last few years taking them from the crude plates to the sophisticated plates that he is sell now. I would expect the development to continue on from where it is now. Shoe protectors? hooked clips for shoes? "D-spindles"? clipless? external bearings (like unicycles)? All to come!

The new Nimbus Plates are also quite different to the plates that Darren is producing. It has a double formed vertical plate double welded at the bottom that offers considerable strength over the older single bent designs. This design is made from 6mm thick plate steel, which although heavy is proving to be very durable.

Roger

[mornish]

Darren,

I would dispute this statement: The basic design for drop plates for impossible wheels is many years old, I remember seeing them in the 1980s. Although I will say that Darren has been very much at the forefront of their development in the last few years taking them from the crude plates to the sophisticated plates that he is sell now. I would expect the development to continue on from where it is now. Shoe protectors? hooked clips for shoes? "D-spindles"? clipless? external bearings (like unicycles)? All to come!

The new Nimbus Plates are also quite different to the plates that Darren is producing. It has a double formed vertical plate double welded at the bottom that offers considerable strength over the older single bent designs. This design is made from 6mm thick plate steel, which although heavy is proving to be very durable.

Roger



Are there ever going to be long nimbus plates?

[Spencer Hochberg]

Shoe protectors? hooked clips for shoes? "D-spindles"? clipless? external bearings (like unicycles)? All to come!
You really do not want to strap your feet into the plates (like with clips or something) that would be really dangerous. If you attached the plates with external bearings wouldn't that put too much sideload on the bearings? I think you would have to have a fork like the bottom half a uni frame so they won't flex.
Oh and what is a D spindle?
Sounds like some cool ideas.

[Evan Byrne]

Hey darren, Start making these...
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j288/evanbyrne/IMG_4168.jpg

[Spencer Hochberg]

Hey darren, Start making these...
Those are really nice, they make hopping much easier and are nicer on shoes.

Darren, Jeff said the ones you made him dug into the side of his foot and hurt so you have to put the thing higher up on the plate (would work really nice on the lowriders because there is so much extra room on there.) I think the position you had it before was close to the same height as the bolt on the old platforms.

[rogeratunicycledotcom]

You really do not want to strap your feet into the plates (like with clips or something) that would be really dangerous. If you attached the plates with external bearings wouldn't that put too much sideload on the bearings? I think you would have to have a fork like the bottom half a uni frame so they won't flex.
Oh and what is a D spindle?
Sounds like some cool ideas.
Clipless can be dangerous... but lets see what happens.
The clips/straps could be something like Ewan has made, just offering vertical support.
External bearings... I have 2 designs that I will work on in the new year. One is basically double bearing each side. This means that the plates wont have any bolt at all, it will be a smooth side so your foot position can vary more. The other is to put a hoop over the top of the wheel linking the 2 plates together... this I think will extend the possibilities for BCing more, although it is also the hardest to get right I think it may take some playing? Has anyone else tried this yet?
"D" spindle is exactly what is says... it is a slot that is ground along the spindle so that it is D shaped. You then cut a "D" shaped hole in the plates. This would then stop the plates from coming loose or moving.

Roger

[Spencer Hochberg]

External bearings... I have 2 designs that I will work on in the new year. One is basically double bearing each side. This means that the plates wont have any bolt at all, it will be a smooth side so your foot position can vary more.
Maybe I don't fully understand but wouldn't that let each plate rotate independently of the other one?

The other is to put a hoop over the top of the wheel linking the 2 plates together... this I think will extend the possibilities for BCing more, although it is also the hardest to get right I think it may take some playing? Has anyone else tried this yet?
Yeah, Evan and I have talked about that and he made me a prototype thing to test out. We were able to ride one footed for a while. We were planning on making better versions once we saw how it went but we lost interest.
Here is a pic of what he put together...
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q5/Spencer_Hochberg/Picture2.png
Other possibilities we thought of for that were putting a curved cup shaped thing to lean your leg into. We thought about possibly making it move along with your leg but that would be kind of tricky because you don't want it completely independent of the plates or it could fall when riding.
The biggest problem with that I had was that when I ride I tend to move the plates back and forth and when the fork is attached directly to them then it moves back and fort too and it was hitting my in the legs and sometimes before I went to hop my leg would get stuck inbetween the edge of the mailbox looking thing and the tire.

"D" spindle is exactly what is says... it is a slot that is ground along the spindle so that it is D shaped. You then cut a "D" shaped hole in the plates. This would then stop the plates from coming loose or moving.

That is exactly what I am doing on my trials bc except I have an axle that is like that but it has 2 flat sides. They are sold from bmx websites and I am pretty sure they are meant to allow you to fit a 14mm axle in 3/8s dropouts on a bike fork. Darren is sending me platforms without any holes so I can drill holes that shape in the plates.

Spencer

[50 Percent]

Hey Spencer, would it be possible to put a handle on that hoop over the wheel and would this be good for hopping.

[Spencer Hochberg]

We were thinking about putting a handle on it for in air no footers and stuff. You don't want it for hopping though, it just wouldn't work. Just use the bolts on the plates for hopping, it is less awkward and you can get much higher.

[Evan Byrne]

Im with spencer on this one, hopping with that would 1, look retarted. 2, make hopping SO HARD, it would proly be a skill in itself to be able to hop one handed. This is what makes taps and double taps actally a tough trick. Though its simple, its hard to keep ballanced in the air while not using your arms for ballance.

[gordito8me]

are there any pictures of the lowrider plates yet?

[blackbike]

i think darren is making it his mission not to have photos of anything on his site.
but here (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55137) are the lowriders.