-Introduction-
Solid Bikes is an well known Bmx bike company these days. They are known for making some of the best frames and parts in the bmx industry.Based out of Sacramento, California.Solid has the ability to make their frames,cranks,bars,and other products in house. One of the only companies who still makes bike parts in the USA in house by bmx riders.Their infamous logo is the double headed bird which is very unique and stands out.
- The beginning and how it started-
Solid Bikes was the idea of 2 friends growing up. Aaron Huff and Ryan Pucket,Both Aaron and Ryan from the late 1980's wanted bikes that were tough and reliable.They got sick and tired of breaking parts over and over. They wanted to build something that would last,So they did.
They wanted to design their own frames and parts.They came up with the idea for
Solid In the early 90's. Solid was one of the first bmx companies that was built from the ground up.With the help of family,friends and lots of research Solid was born and established in 1995.
Their friend Brandon Casquillo and Craig Hoffman their welder among others joined soon after to help.Solid began to take shape.They started their product line with the Duke Frame,A no frills beefy design made to hold up to lots of abuse.
Solid also designed their first set of 3 piece Cranks,Which are still to this day known as the strongest cranks that were ever available.They also made Forks,A seat post, And Handlebars.Soft goods like T shirts,Stickers,and Sweatshirts all bering their infamous Double Headed bird logo was also part of their offering.
Owner of Solid Aaron Huff throwing down a cranked x-up at 9th street in Austin Tx in 1995
- At the start to present day-
Solid soon gained attention from their new products and were well received in
the bmx community.Products that held up well were a breath of fresh air at the time.
It wasn't just S&M and Hoffman making frames and parts anymore.Solid among other
companies were establishing a good reputation fast and making a name for themselves in the industry.
Solid soon after releasing their first products was able to get distribution though Tip Plus And Sandbox.Mail orders and bike shops around the world were now able to carry their product.
Solid eventually got very busy and had now established a full machine shop with several employee's.They had begun shipping out quite a lot of volume.
Being that they had the experience and the know how, Many companies used Solid to
manufacture their products.They have done work and helped build frames for Macneil, Primo, FBM, T1, Metal and Hoffman,Cult,Liquor,Hyper and others.They have also stepped out of boundary of bmx and have done work for other industries as well besides bmx.
Since the mid 2000's Solid had made the decision to downsize and do their own distribution.Friends Ryan and Brandon had left and Solid was now Aaron huff's company solely.Although they receive help from longtime friends Brent Everitt and Kevin "Cap" Malia,Jase Knack is their lead welder among a couple other rad dudes that help out when the going get's tough.
These days Solid still makes several products.They also are still building bikes for other companies such as Hyper,Cult,Liquor,And others.Solid is also known to make custom frames and bars for their customers, Ranging from slight changes in geometry and top tube lengths,Up to full blown new designs.Solid has been known to make over 150 custom frames a year.They also make custom handlebars.
Liquor Bikes Liteweight frame made by Solid.
Hyper Bikes MIA frame Also Manufactured by Solid Recently
Lead Welder and kick ass rider Jase Knack welding up a frame present day.
Bossman Aaron Huff enjoying a well deserved cold one at the warehouse.
Solid Has had one of the most bad ass teams in the industry.They have helped countless riders through the years,Their team or better know as the "Family" is Aaron Huff,Robert Jensen,Brent “Keyholder” Everitt,Shad Johnson,Joey Garcia,Kurtis Elwell,Eric Walter,Andy Merrall,Adam Sanchez,Mike Krnaich,Ryan Worcester,Sequoyah Faulk,Kevin "cap" Malia,Matt Martin,Nick Hammer,Charlie Bugenig,Zac Costa,Aussie Mike,Jason “Dorito” Perz,Dave Thom,Jake Honesto,Greg Nicholson,Ian Munro,Cameron Birdwell,Nick Black,Dustin Mata,John Ivers,Tanner Easterla,Tristan Adams and others receivehelp as well.Bmx Legends Nate Hanson and Kevin Porter were once on the team.
A large majority of the Solid Team can be seen on their latest road trip below.
Go to BNQT.com for more videos.
- Solid's Product time line from 1995 to present day-
1995 to 1999-
Solid made their introduction with the Duke Frame,An extremely beefy design with 0.49 straight gauge 4130 tubing throughout,Top and bottom head tube gussets,Huge 14mm dropouts,The frame was only available in a 20.25 top tube length.It weighed just over 8 pounds.At the time the design of the frame was mind blowing.Nobody had made such a cross between style and strength.
Many other companies followed suit soon after.Solid also debuted their 1" Crank set with massive rectangular crank arms and required a sprocket with a 1" bore.They made forks that were extremely overbuilt but were practically indestructible.
Solid also released 2 sets of bars, The Turn bars and Iron cross bars.Both used heavy gauge tubing and a large cross bar.The turn bars had an 8" rise and the Iron cross bars featured a 7" rise.A straight tube 4130 seat post was also made.
2000 to 2002-
Solid Duke frame was still in production,In 2000 Solid released the Wasp frame and the Solid Killing Machine frame.The wasp frame was geared more towards trail riding and light street and park.It came with 3/8th axle slots in the drop outs,a 20.75 top tube,bottom head tube gusset with a new head tube design.
The Killing machine was geared to be an all around bike.basically a lighter version of the Duke frame.It came with large 14mm dropouts,and slimmer tubing.0.49 was used in the wasp &killing machine where it was needed and 0.35 was used in areas of the frame that was not the main structure in order to save weight.
In 2001, They revised their 1" crankest changing the pedal boss and spindle design to give a stiffer feel and lighten them up.Solid then released their Stem which is an original,timeless design that lots of R&D went into.Fsa made them their first 2 sprockets the Solid Bird Sprocket,and the Solid OG sprocket.That was available in 45 to 36 tooth varieties.Solid also released their first set of steel pegs.
2000 Solid Wasp Frame via bmx meseum
2002 Era Solid Og Sprocket
2002 Era revised Solid cranks with the hollow 1" inch spindle and lighter crank arms
In early 2003, Solid came up with an revolutionary needle bearing headset with a special compression cap that was very durable and popular,With even big names like Ruben Alacantera riding it.
They also revised the Solid killing machine with stronger and slimmer 4130 tubing,Sword gussets,A new headtube,Revised back end design,It still retained its american bottom bracket.It was an improvement over the previous model mainly because it was much lighter then previous frames at 6.6 pounds.
Kevin porters signature frame the KP Ripper,Now known as the Killing Machine euro was also introduced.It was a very similar design to the killing machine v2, but had a European bottom bracket.
and a slightly different bottom bracket junction.It weighed 6 pounds even.
A downsized set of the original 1" cranks were made with a smaller 22mm spindle and a revised crank arm design to save weigh dubbed the "hella lite" cranks.They were able to be used on a European bottom bracket as well as mid and American bottom brackets.Solid Also made 2 new sets of bars.
The Hella Light Bars and The Hella Wide bars.The Hella light bars used thinner butted tubing with a 7.5 rise that were very strong but much lighter then older designs.Hella wides were similar with a larger rise then the hella lites and a wider stance.Solid also came out with their "death grips" around 2003.
2005-07
Solid Made their first integrated head tube, Wishbone back end frame dubbed the AA.With the classic geometry of the Killing Machine.This time around instead of giving frames 1 top tube length,The AA was given many different Top Tube lengths to suit all riders short and tall.Solid also revised their Popular stem and lightened it up, Dubbing it the Solid Lite stem.They Also Came up with a new sprocket design named the Reel, Made out of a stronger aluminum alloy then the previous models.It came in sizes 39-23 teeth.
2008-2009 Solid released the AAV2,A revised design of the AA frame. It featured supertherm tubing,New gussets,New head tube design and dropouts.It still retained the classic geometry of the AA as well.The revision was stronger and lighter then its previous AA counterpart.
They released another revised set of there original downsized cranks now called the Bitch cranks.With a slight change in design and a newer 22mm spindle that was available in either Heat treated chromoly or Titanium to save even more weight.These cranks are the best weight to strength ratio they have ever released.
Solid also released a couple sets of new Handlebars starting with the Rosanne bars that have a 9 inch rise and a 31.5 width.These are the largest production bars they have made.They also released the 8 1/4" bars and the LS race,
The 8.666 Multi butted bars are very similar just slightly smaller then the Rosanne bars.
2010 to present time.
In 2010- In late 2009 the last batch of AAv2's were made.But AAv2 frames were available until mid 2010 when the last one was sold.Solid made a batch of a frame called the All American in early 2010.Which was very similar to the AAv2 in design, But it used Plymouth brand Chromoly tubing bringing it to a more affordable price point.
Vince Kroff's 2010 All American, One of the short lived Solid frames.Still totally bad ass.Made with Straight gauge Plymouth 4130 tubing and 5mm thick heat treated drop outs.
2011-
The Solid crew set out to make a very tough but lightweight frame to replace the AAv2.After designing a new frame They came up with the Kurtis Elwell/Zac Costa Signature frame dubbed the "King Cobra". The King Cobra features Supertherm multi butted tubing.Newer
Gusset's,New head tube,Tapered rear end with 3/16th heat treated uncapped dropouts.
They also released the Thunderbird trails frame that's almost identical to the King Cobra except for some slight geometry differences and it has an integrated seat post clamp.
The Mockingbird Frame is another new addition. Which features slightly different geometry then the king cobra.It has a Spanish bottom bracket and guiri tabs.These were made in very small quanity but look almost identical to the King Cobra model.
And last but not least Solid has Debuted their first Cruiser frame called the Big Al. Designed for 24" wheels.It has similar geometry to a typical solid frame with a few changes for the increased wheel size.
Other new products would be the heat treated multi butted Rosanne bars that are lighter and
stronger,And also the 8.666 bars that are multi butted and heat treated as well.
-The future of Solid-
Solid is in the process of making another batch of the well received King Cobra and Thunderbird frames.They are also working on manufacturing their own Stems and Sprockets in house.Since the previous machine shop that did the work for them went out of business.They should also be
making another batch of their trusted bitch cranks soon.
Solid will always have a following because they stay relevant with the times and always
make kick ass products bmxer's can rely on.They have been doing kick ass work for other companies as well and things are going strong right now.The Solid Team have already completed 2 road trips this year and i'm sure there's more to come.The Solid homies always got something up their sleeves.
Remember to always support rider owned and buy a solid.Check them out on Solid's Facebook and check out their website Solid bmx Who you gonna tell?
