BIKE CHECK: Martin Grainger | Ride UK BMX

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BIKE CHECK: Martin Grainger

Words and photos by Scott Connor


Martin is a cool dude. He’s well known and much loved for his signature mix of pegless style, unique lines and mastery of riding on one wheel.

He recently built up a spanking new whip based around a fine choice of Federal components from Seventies Distro.


 

Martin and I had been cruising through Hove in search of spots when we came upon this set-up. While shooting this photo, a crazy lady was screaming as loud as she could from a widow on that tower block to the left.

Frame: Federal Bruno V2 21.25″
Fork: Shadow inceptiv V2
Bar: Stranger haze 9.2″
Stem: Shadow ravenger topload
Cranks: Odyssey thunderbolt
Sprocket: Sunday Knox guard 28t
Chain: Cult 510
BB: Shadow stacked
Headset: Federal
Grips: Cult AK
Rims: Federal Stance XL
Front Hub: Federal Stance
Rear Hub: Vocal Hitchhiker
Spokes: Primo
Tyres: Federal response 2.35″
Pedals: Federal Contact
Seat: Odyssey Dugan
Seat post: Cult tripod


– How do you like your bike to feel and how do you personally set it up?

“I like my bike to be tall, narrow responsive. Simple. The new frame has built in chain tensioners which I’ve always been into the idea of, so it means I can keep my chain tighter without the hassle of making sure the wheel is straight.

I favour a twitchy front end so it feels responsive, so I run steeper offset forks with my bars a little forward.

Lately, I’ve noticed I’m actually quite picky about grips. In the past I tried a few different grips just picking randomly, and then you work out what you like and don’t like…but the AK grips nail it 100% for me. They’re long enough to look proportional to the bars and thick enough to feel like you’re not holding a bare bar.

Short is something that I’m not. So I like a longer frame with bigger bars, I like to run my seat a little higher to almost feel like it’s levelling out the height of the bars… Trust me it makes sense in my head, haha.”

– What else is there to tell?

“Recently I’ve just been riding and working. I’ve been out to Austin, just been to NASS and a few other jams like the Tall Order one, now just filming for this edit and seeing what else comes up to get involved with! Probably plan few trips for the rest of this year/next year.”


 

 

Fakie wallride in a tight alley.

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