document updated 13 years ago, on Oct 13, 2010
I've decided I'm most likely getting a 24" BMX bike.
24" BMX bike (a "cruiser")
Most BMX bikes are have 20" wheels. This makes the whole bike smaller, which makes it much more nimble and easy to whip around. Unfortunately, 20" BMX bikes are unsuitable for commuting any sort of distance, both because the seat position is set up wrong (BMX seats aren't intended to be sat on much), and because the gearing is so low.
A BMX bike designed around 24" tires is somewhat of a comprimise between a 26" mountain bike and a 20" BMX bike. 24" BMX bikes are still small enough to do some tricks (maybe not as easy as you can on a 20", but easier than a 26" bike), but are a little more comfortable at travelling longer distances.
the lay of the land
- I don't fit well into the mountain bike market.
- Mountain bikes are hard to find without suspension these days. They're called "fully rigid", or just "rigid", but very few are produced. The bikes I feel kinship with — trials, BMX flatland, touring, commuter bike — none have suspension. Suspension adds weight and "squishiness".
- Mountain bikes are shifting towards 29" wheels. While this DOES bring MTBs closer to road-bike commuters (700C = 29"), it moves them further away from trials bikes (mainly 20", sometimes 26" or 24") and BMX bikes (mainly 20", sometimes 24", or 18-26" at most).
- Many bikes I feel kinship with are SS or fixie, unfortunately not many mountain bike frames come with horizontal dropouts. BMX = single-speed. Trials = single-speed. Winter commuter = fixie or single-speed.
- I DO fit well into the BMX cruiser market (cruiser = BMX bike with 24" wheels)
- things that fit well
- beefy as hell
- fully rigid
- horizontal dropouts / single-speed
- cheap (not required, but a nice bonus)
- things that don't fit so well
- heavy (but you know what engineers always say — you can make a bike 1) cheap, 2) strong, 3) lightweight, but you can only pick two)
- BMX bikes, trials bikes, dirt jumpers, they tend to all be steel frames for strength, while mountain bikes are moving towards aluminium
- extremely low geared (which makes them awesome for skateparks and flatland, but not so good for commuting)
- other bikes that lie in between BMX and MTB