which BMX would you get?

L33+

for going through my local woods (has jumps and stuff) so needs to be reasonably tough.
a big problem i have with bikes is i buckle every wheel i have so decent wheels would be nice.
I dont feel confident on bikes with rubbish brakes/
my budget is small
i have shortlisted :
GT fueler (favourite at the moment)
GT thumper
Diamondback Ignitor 2003

which woud you buy out of these three?

10timesbetter

i'd go with the fueler, as far as wheels, just make sure they're 48h instead of the 36's, and the strongest brakes are probably V-brakes, but u-brakes work great too, and chances are better of finding u brakes on a bike with 48h wheels

L33+

Thanks, im used to a mountain bike with brakes that stop you very quickly. If im going down dirt hills etc will U brakes be good enough?

10timesbetter

v-brakes, are pretty much pull the lever an inch, and lock up the tire, u-brakes still work great, they're made a little bit more for freestyle, in the sense that you have a little more control over the pressure, as long as they're properly adjusted you can still lock up the back tire, or pop the bike up onto just the front tire, but there's just a little more area between no brakes, and locked wheel, and also, any bmx bike that has a v-brake is probably only gonna have a back brake, a lot of bikes with ubrakes will have one on the front as well, so that provides for good stopping

L33+

thanks again for the reply, i have seen a bike that sounds good, it is a universal reaper. it has 48 spoke wheels, front and rear v brakes, it doesnt say if it has 10 or 14mm hubs so i have emailed the place that is selling it.
I understand what you mean about not locking the wheel, because i was going round the woods going over jumps on my hardtail mtb(lol) and i didnt put the front brake on because i was afraid of locking it and going over the handlebars.
if i got one with v brakes would i be able to adjust them so they wouldnt throw me over the front but will still slow me down quite quickly?

10timesbetter

yeah, i didn't mean to say that anytime you hit the brakes you're gonna flip over the bars, just that there's not as much space to work with, you would just need to pay attention to what you were doing, but it's up to know, i know mountain bikes come with front brakes, but most bmx bikes meant for trail riding don't usually have them, but even with the front v brakes, all you would have to do is loosen them up enough so they can't squeeze the rim as hard

L33+

thanks, thats very helpful.
am i correct in assuming 10mm axles are inferior to 14mm axles?

10timesbetter

yeah, depending on how big the jumps are you're gonig over, it might not be a big deal, but the 14 are a lot stronger, atleast the back wheel, the front wheel isn't as important

L33+

how come the front isnt as important, when you go over a jump the front wheel lands first and with quite a bump

roguedubb

Normally I'd be aiming to land on both wheels at the same time, or failing that the rear first. If your thumping down on the front wheel, you might want to check your technique as landing on the front can be... unpleasant.

Then again, if you like to land that way... keep on doing it.

L33+

Well i dont really know any different because i only went round about 3 times on a hardtail mountain bike, so i know now that i should be trying to land on both wheels.
I think im going to buy a ruption hacker.