A short review of the Brooklyn Machine Works Hitman:
The frame
The BMW Hitman is built with the same jack shaft drive system as the Race Link. However, BMW has used a 3,5 Avy rear shock resulting in 10,0 of travel. Due to the long stroke shock I now run a 425lbs spring compared to my former frame on which I had to use a 550 or 600lbs spring on a 3 stroke Avy shock mounted on a Karpiel frame set to a lever ratio at about 3. Keeping the lever ratio of the Hitman at 2,85 and adding the BMW link system result in a very controlled damping. Adding the Avy separate hi/lo comp adjuster makes it even easier to set up the ride.
The Hitman has a very steeply falling top tube resulting in a low stand over height. The HA seems steeper than the Race Link and the frame is beefed up in order to hold up to a significant amount of abuse. The drop outs on the rear swinger some in 3 different lengths so you can suit the length of the bike to the course. In this review I am running the short mode as our local course is very compact, low speed with tight turns and berms. In short, sharing many of the same characteristics the Hitman could be seen as a big hit/big drop machine compared to the more racer-like Race Link.
The build
I have built up the frame with heavy and burly equipment like an Avy MTN-8 fork, Arrow DHX rims and steel handle bar. The Hitman uses a 135mm rear hub spaced for 150mm due to the floating rear brake. I got a Chris King rear hub drilled to accept the 12mm thru axle used on the Hitman and it seems to work nicely. The heavy setup is nice for stunt riding while it can still go faster on any DH course than I will ever be able to manage.
The ride
So how does it ride? Well, the bike is quite heavy (I would guess around 53 lbs, but havent had a chance to put it on a scale yet) and burly indeed. The first two things I noticed coming from my old Karpiel frame was how silent the Hitman is and how well it pedals. This may be common knowledge to BMW riders, but it should be mentioned that the bike is almost totally silent even going through rock gardens and very bumpy terrain (it is really a pleasure to ride a bike when all you can hear is the rear hub and the tires). Due to the weight of the bike I expected it to be heavy to accelerate and maybe difficult to get up to speed on flat areas on the course. I was wrong. As the drive system of the BMW eliminates pedal enforced movement of the rear shock the bike is fast to get up to speed and feels much lighter than it actually is when pedaling.
The balance of the Hitman is simply awesome. With previous bikes it has always required quite an effort to keep up the front end over bigger drops, especially with slow approaches due to the weight of the MTN fork. However, the Hitman seems balanced with the heavy fork for several reasons. First of all the rear swinger is heavy too and of course balance out the fork to some extent. Second, the low top tube allows a lot of body movement and it is therefore very easy to balance out the weight distribution of the bike. Third, the rear shock does not compress much even though the body weight is moved back behind the seat. That means that the rear of the bike remains stable when rolling out over the edge of a drop. In reality, it means that very little effort is needed to keep up the front of the bike despite the heavy fork. This resulted in much confidence when doing drops with difficult and low speed approaches.
Pushing the bike high speed is nice as well. As the frame has a very low center of gravity the bike seems flickable compared to the weight of the bike. In combination with the steeper HA the bike is easy to control in tight berms and turns and still remains stable at high speed. It is not a problem to lift the bike when hitting rock gardens, but the feeling of endless travel and stableness make it tempting just to plow the bike thru the rock gardens.
In the air the bike is balanced and requires very little effort. Just holding on to the bars results in a straight line in the air without any nose dives or rear heaviness.
A few points of attention:
Make sure your pants are not caught in the chainsaw on the left side as you will either get stucked or get some speed holes in your pants. Also, this may be one of the few bikes where you can get your pants caught in the chain wheels on both sides at the same time (I still do not have the pleasure to experience that but several of my friends do now have some new speed holes in their pants).
For courses with no lift (as our local) you get very fit pushing your +50 lbs bike up the hill.
This bike was made to hold up. It contains a lot of steel tubing, steel bolts and nuts so if you are the type who is weight conscious and goes for the Ti and light weight alu hardware, this ride may not be what you are looking for.
Conclusion
I am not a racer but more like an old school freeride hack who happens to love the older generation of big bikes. The Hitman will not be raced much at actual races but will be used riding a good combination of downhill and freeride on a number of different trails and courses with the main objective of having fun. In this review it is not the purpose to criticize any particular brands and except for the Karpiel I rode recently I will try not to compare the Hitman to other brands. However, I can say that the Hitman, do to its suspension quality, its confidence inspiring burliness, ability to accelerate due to the jack shaft system and the good balance due to the low center of gravity in combination with a nice steep HA (accepting big forks and making it fast in tight turns) has made this bike the best performing ride I have ridden so far. I can only say that I am very pleased indeed.
Thanks for reading.
seismic
The frame
The BMW Hitman is built with the same jack shaft drive system as the Race Link. However, BMW has used a 3,5 Avy rear shock resulting in 10,0 of travel. Due to the long stroke shock I now run a 425lbs spring compared to my former frame on which I had to use a 550 or 600lbs spring on a 3 stroke Avy shock mounted on a Karpiel frame set to a lever ratio at about 3. Keeping the lever ratio of the Hitman at 2,85 and adding the BMW link system result in a very controlled damping. Adding the Avy separate hi/lo comp adjuster makes it even easier to set up the ride.
The Hitman has a very steeply falling top tube resulting in a low stand over height. The HA seems steeper than the Race Link and the frame is beefed up in order to hold up to a significant amount of abuse. The drop outs on the rear swinger some in 3 different lengths so you can suit the length of the bike to the course. In this review I am running the short mode as our local course is very compact, low speed with tight turns and berms. In short, sharing many of the same characteristics the Hitman could be seen as a big hit/big drop machine compared to the more racer-like Race Link.
The build
I have built up the frame with heavy and burly equipment like an Avy MTN-8 fork, Arrow DHX rims and steel handle bar. The Hitman uses a 135mm rear hub spaced for 150mm due to the floating rear brake. I got a Chris King rear hub drilled to accept the 12mm thru axle used on the Hitman and it seems to work nicely. The heavy setup is nice for stunt riding while it can still go faster on any DH course than I will ever be able to manage.
The ride
So how does it ride? Well, the bike is quite heavy (I would guess around 53 lbs, but havent had a chance to put it on a scale yet) and burly indeed. The first two things I noticed coming from my old Karpiel frame was how silent the Hitman is and how well it pedals. This may be common knowledge to BMW riders, but it should be mentioned that the bike is almost totally silent even going through rock gardens and very bumpy terrain (it is really a pleasure to ride a bike when all you can hear is the rear hub and the tires). Due to the weight of the bike I expected it to be heavy to accelerate and maybe difficult to get up to speed on flat areas on the course. I was wrong. As the drive system of the BMW eliminates pedal enforced movement of the rear shock the bike is fast to get up to speed and feels much lighter than it actually is when pedaling.
The balance of the Hitman is simply awesome. With previous bikes it has always required quite an effort to keep up the front end over bigger drops, especially with slow approaches due to the weight of the MTN fork. However, the Hitman seems balanced with the heavy fork for several reasons. First of all the rear swinger is heavy too and of course balance out the fork to some extent. Second, the low top tube allows a lot of body movement and it is therefore very easy to balance out the weight distribution of the bike. Third, the rear shock does not compress much even though the body weight is moved back behind the seat. That means that the rear of the bike remains stable when rolling out over the edge of a drop. In reality, it means that very little effort is needed to keep up the front of the bike despite the heavy fork. This resulted in much confidence when doing drops with difficult and low speed approaches.
Pushing the bike high speed is nice as well. As the frame has a very low center of gravity the bike seems flickable compared to the weight of the bike. In combination with the steeper HA the bike is easy to control in tight berms and turns and still remains stable at high speed. It is not a problem to lift the bike when hitting rock gardens, but the feeling of endless travel and stableness make it tempting just to plow the bike thru the rock gardens.
In the air the bike is balanced and requires very little effort. Just holding on to the bars results in a straight line in the air without any nose dives or rear heaviness.
A few points of attention:
Make sure your pants are not caught in the chainsaw on the left side as you will either get stucked or get some speed holes in your pants. Also, this may be one of the few bikes where you can get your pants caught in the chain wheels on both sides at the same time (I still do not have the pleasure to experience that but several of my friends do now have some new speed holes in their pants).
For courses with no lift (as our local) you get very fit pushing your +50 lbs bike up the hill.
This bike was made to hold up. It contains a lot of steel tubing, steel bolts and nuts so if you are the type who is weight conscious and goes for the Ti and light weight alu hardware, this ride may not be what you are looking for.
Conclusion
I am not a racer but more like an old school freeride hack who happens to love the older generation of big bikes. The Hitman will not be raced much at actual races but will be used riding a good combination of downhill and freeride on a number of different trails and courses with the main objective of having fun. In this review it is not the purpose to criticize any particular brands and except for the Karpiel I rode recently I will try not to compare the Hitman to other brands. However, I can say that the Hitman, do to its suspension quality, its confidence inspiring burliness, ability to accelerate due to the jack shaft system and the good balance due to the low center of gravity in combination with a nice steep HA (accepting big forks and making it fast in tight turns) has made this bike the best performing ride I have ridden so far. I can only say that I am very pleased indeed.
Thanks for reading.
seismic
oster_oops:
