BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
BMX product website The Merged is to move into hard goods with a bang on trend tyre for the 20-inch world, dubbed the ‘Tractor Tyre’.
In response to the ever-expanding widths of BMX tyres, many of which are now measuring up to 2.4-inches wide, the site’s editor Dave Paterson told BikeBiz: "The Merged has always been THE product blog in BMX, we are extremely passionate about BMX products and write about them 24/7, so it was a natural progression for us to use our collective knowledge and start our own parts brand.
"I was discussing the idea with friends in the pub and we just decided, there and then, Tomorrow We Work. We went straight to the drawing board and the obvious first thing to look at was tyres. After talking with some of the best names in the street riding, and hearing the Voices of Gary Reynolds and Barry Main, we concluded that the current BMX Tyres just aren’t big enough. Tyres take more abuse than any other part on a bike. Whether you’re up to some Criminal Mischief doing a truckdriver off a roof to flat, or sticking your brand new pair of pristine white Nike Dunks in the back to slow down, tyres take a hell of a lot of abuse.
"After six months of vigorous testing in a NASA wind tunnel, we concluded that the sensible option was to make the tyre much wider than the current offering. Therefore we’ve been bold and in a sense, futureproofed. The Tractor Tyre will be 4.0" wide."
Acknowledging potential frame clearance issues, Paterson said: "I’ve got Mike Taylor on board, cus he’s pretty tough, so not only will he be riding our prototyes, but he’s also agreed to help widen the back end of our customer’s frames with his bare hands for a small fee."
You can’t hide from Mike Taylor…
The first production run will be black, but the label is working on both tan wall and a Tipex painted White line version for the park riders. A limited run of 4.1" was considered for trails riders, though Paterson decided to focus on the street model stating: "It wouldn’t really matter how much tread we put on the thing to get grip in the mud, the UK weather clearly just doesn’t like trails riders."
Paterson also hinted at future projects, including a multi tool that will "crop brake lugs clean off" and stunt pegs that are made of steel, yet bonded with butter at an atomic level for improved grinding.
On the soft goods front, Paterson said he’s working with Bruno Hoffman on the ‘Beanie Bra’ – "a tea cosy that’ll stay on your bonce no matter how many 540s you land in one day." BikeBiz got a sneak peek at the prototype, which you can see here.
