Avoid these bad BMX bike brands and what to look for in a good BMX brands.
As a BMXer, you want the best bike for your money. You will notice some bike brands offering low-priced BMX bikes with the promise of high quality.
They may look fancy with eyecatching features, but these cheap bikes are not made for serious riding. You may be tempted to buy one of these cheap bikes to save yourself some cash. Still, you will soon realize that they have some shortcomings, and that the brand’s promise of high quality is grossly exaggerated.
Most BMX brands have a range of bikes to suit a range of budgets, but there are some brands you should steer clear of. The brands we are talking about have many product recalls, safety issues, poor component packages, and problems with reliability.
With so many BMX brands available online, it can be challenging to differentiate the good ones from the bad ones, especially if you are just getting into riding BMXs.
Here is an article on my website that you must read, its about the 14 Best American Made Mountain Bike Brands (2023).
What Bad BMX Bike Brands Should I Avoid?
There are a few characteristics of a good BMX manufacturer. But generally, the more expensive the bike, the better. This is because the bikes have quality frames, great components, and excellent after-service.
The good BMX brands are often at the core of the sport too. They will often sponsor events, have team riders and do a lot to encourage people to take up the sport.
You may not have the budget for an expensive bike. Also, if you are new to BMX, you may not benefit from buying the most expensive bike available. So how do you know who to buy your BMX from?
Don’t worry; we are here to highlight the characteristics of poor BMX bike brands you need to be aware of.
An Unknown Brand
There are many unknown BMX bike brands, usually from China. This is not to say that all Chinese brands are poor, but these unknown brands are often mass-produced bikes labeled with different brand names.
You also need to be sure that the bike you buy is not a cheap knockoff from one of the unethical Chinese factories. It is best to buy from a known brand’s website or an official dealer.
BMX bikes from unknown brands are inexpensive, but this is reflected in their quality. You will be disappointed with your purchase, especially if you have had to wait for six weeks for it to arrive.
Superstore Brands
Large superstores and toy shops are not specialist bike shops. The BMX bikes they sell will seem like good deals, but they are not quality bikes and will cause you problems in the future.
The brands associated with these large stores often have cheap frames and terrible components. Also, you won’t get the best advice from the people who work in the store regarding if the bike is the best one for you.
If you go to a proper bike shop, you will get the right bike for you, a good warranty, and advice from a knowledgeable expert.
Brands With Poor Customer Satisfaction
If you are new to BMX bikes, you may be struggling to know what the good brands are. One of the ways to determine how good the brand is is by looking at how its customers perceive them.
You can easily do this with a quick online search. There are many comments and reviews all over the internet that will give you a good idea of how good the brand is. Brands with poor customer satisfaction won’t produce quality bikes; you need to avoid these BMX brands.
Brands That Don’t Have A Local Presence
If the brand doesn’t have much of a presence in your country, you will struggle to get good after-sales care. If something goes wrong with your bike, you may need to ship it back to the country of origin. This is a lot of hassle, and you may have to pay for the shipping yourself.
Therefore, if you have your eye on a particular BMX, make sure there is a local network of authorized dealers or service centers before you buy.
Brands With A Bad Reputation
The internet is a fickle place, filled with people that will bad-mouth anything. The other thing you need to remember is that people generally complain about bad experiences. This can lead to an unfair representation of a brand. But you can usually pick out the genuine comments relating to the reputation of a BMX brand, especially if there is a recurring theme from the majority of customers.
Brands That Offer A Poor Warranty
Part of the price you pay for a BMX bike is peace of mind from its warranty. Hopefully, you will never have to use it, but you know it’s there if you need to.
Good BMX brands will offer a good warranty on their bikes, demonstrating that they are confident that they have sold you a quality product. If there is an issue, they want to keep you happy by sorting it out for you.
BMX brands that don’t offer a good warranty should raise a red flag. They probably expect something to go wrong with the bike or don’t really care about your experience.
Brands With Poor After Sales Service
We have already touched on this, but it is worth emphasizing. If your bike breaks within the first few weeks or months, you will expect the manufacturer to rectify it. This relates to the warranty, but you want to know that the company will honor their commitment to building you a decent bike.
Therefore, it is worth researching the brand’s after-sales service. Look for customer reviews to see how the brand has dealt with any complaints.
Avoid Bikes With Gimmicks
You will notice that there are a few bike brands with attention-grabbing colors and unnecessary features. This is more the case for kids’ bikes, as they try to create a wow factor, so the child is immediately drawn in.
The brands that build these bikes put their money into grabbing your attention rather than the bike’s quality. Therefore, you can expect some sort of issue with it pretty quickly.
Examples Of The Best BMX Brands
So now you know what kinds of BMX brands you should avoid. But what about the ones you should check out? Here are five of the best BMX brands that you should consider buying from:
1. Eastern
Eastern is a household name in the BMX world. The American brand is based in North Carolina and has produced innovative BMX bikes since 1996. Eastern BMX bikes are considered to be some of the finest around.
2. Haro
Haro has been in the BMX game since 1978. They have continued to produce a range of BMX bikes that have shaped the face of BMX riding and are regarded as one of the synonymous BMX bike brands.
Since the company’s launch, Haro has innovated and pursued perfection. This triggered a long line of professional riders to make it their mission to ride Haro BMXs in competitions. Many BMX riders dream of representing Haro on the world stage.
3. Kink
Kink may not have had the prestige of being around since the early days of BMX, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t know how to produce quality bikes.
Kink is a relatively small company when you compare the brand to its competitors. They manage to produce high-quality bikes at lower prices than equivalent bikes from other brands.
Owners of Kink BMX bikes love the lightweight nature of the frames and their strength. These bikes are also super nice to look at, too, making you the envy of the skate park.
4. Mongoose
Mongoose has been producing bikes since 1974. Even though the company has changed hands a few times in its history, the brand is still well known for producing excellent BMX bikes for beginners.
Their BMXs are great all-rounders, incredibly durable, and well priced. They are a little heavy, but you can’t have everything.
5. Sunday
Sunday is not as old as some of the other brands, but you don’t have to be a pioneer to create something great. Sunday BMX bikes are regarded as some of the best bikes you can buy. This is pretty impressive since they have only been around since 2005.
Sunday bikes are not known for being cheap, though. They are high-end bikes that come with a price tag to match. So they are not the best choice if you are a beginner BMX rider.
Final Thoughts
After some research, you will soon realize what a good BMX bike brand looks like. But if you keep these things in mind while trawling the internet or browsing bike shops, you should find an excellent BMX bike from a reputable brand.
The things to take away from this are the brand’s reputation, the quality of its components, and its service network. All of these details can be quickly found with a quick online search.
But you would also benefit from heading down to your local skate park and looking at what everyone else is riding. Strike up a conversation with people who look like they know what they are doing. You will be able to learn a lot about the BMX brands to avoid along with the better ones.
Here is an article that I have written about Avoid These Mountain Bike Brands
