British BMX brand Federal, based in the East Sussex town of St Leonards on Sea, was founded in 1999. Its range of frames, parts and apparel is now available in over 30 countries around the world, including the USA. All Federal products are designed in house and made in Taiwan, and the company carries out its own independent quality control checks to ensure all items meet its high standards.
Federal has one of the best street teams around, featuring pro riders Anthony Perrin, Bruno Hoffman, Dan Lacey, Jared Washington, Mark Love, Matty Long, Max Vincent and Stevie Churchill. There is also a flow team made up of Chris Mills, James Cunningham, Jordan Aleppo, Josh Dissinger, Oliver Evans and Roy Van Kempen.
It offers five models of frames, including four signature models – the ‘Churchill’, using straight gauge tubing and gussets for the top and down tubes, the ‘Bruno’, with double butted front triangle, embossed headtube gussets, butted seat tube and tapered seat stays, and the super-strong and lightweight ‘Lacey’, plus Washington’s pure brakeless street model with a built-in seat clamp inside the top tube. Completing the range is the ‘Chiller’, a collaboration with street clothing brand Dub.
There is also a complete line of Federal-branded parts, all of excellent quality, including forks, bars, stems, rims, freecoasters, sprockets, seats, posts, pegs, hubguards and grips. Lacey, Churchill and Hoffman all lend their names to bar models, and there is also a Lacey seat, featuring an inverted version of the Federal logo to match Lacey’s tattoo.