James Brawn's "Wu Banga" custom frame

Disclaimer: I’m not an engineer and I’m not claiming that I have invented anything new. I had some ideas I wanted to try and I have put them into this frame. That’s what a custom frame is all about, right? RIGHT!

The name comes from “Wu Banga 101” which is the last song on Ghostface Killah's "Supreme Clientele" cd, which is widely recognized as one of the top cd's to come out of the 2000's. I'm a major Wu-Tang Clan fan and this name just fits too well.

Here’s the seat stay bridge with the laser cut W.

The “36 Chambers” head tube uses a 36* bearing angle which allows the use of a standard MTB headset bearing. 
These bearings are easily available from all bike shops and cost about R60 a bearing. If you've ever worked in a bike shop you'll know MTB guys change their bearings at every service, which is usually every 2 months, so the bike shops usually have a bucket of these bearings lying around in 90% working order. Get a connection in the store, and you'll never need to buy a bearing again, haha.

The longer 130mm head tube is there for 2 reasons.

1: Looks! I hate the look of a fork with 2 or 3 spacers under the stem and if you slam the stem you either have to cut your fork and put one of them silly “star nuts” in there or ride around with spacers on top or the stem. This looks dumb. With the 130mm head tube I can run my stem pretty low to the top tube and get the look I’m a fan of.

2: Strength! With everyone using higher bars the extra stress/torque/force/pressure going through the front end is getting pretty high. Think about it. 100mm head tube with 30mm of spacers, stem and then 9 or 10in of bars on there puts a lot of pressure on that short head tube. In theory a longer head tube, with the top tube and down tube spaced further apart, should take some of this stress away.

The longer head tube does not make the front end higher. Your stem can only be as high as the top of your forks.

The taller stand over height is for the same reasons. I can’t do whips or can cans etc so I don’t need some scooter style top tube. I do like to run my seat nice and high for barspins but I’m not a fan how it looks. This way I can keep my seat high and it looks like it’s slammed. It also makes the frame stronger/stiffer because of the bigger triangles.

 

Full Cromo straight gauge tubing.

Top tube: 20.5

Head tube angle: 75*

Seat tube angle: 71*

Chain stay: 13.2 slammed

Stand over height: 9.5

BB height: 11.5

Dropouts: Cromo 6mm Laser cut

Built in seat clamp 

Externally machined B.B. 
Colour: O.D.B. RAW

Thanks to G & S Tool and Die, Ian Whittaker and Werner Hendrich for making this happen.

Mid week street sesh with the Gents. Photos by Kobus Butler

 Mathee with a barspin on the bank- Edgmead park

 Blight and the boys  Chillin

 Werner H down whip

 Werner M with a barspin to manual 

 Matthee with a long nose manual

 Bazil - whip to fakie

 Bazil - feeble to whip . 

Werner - Tooth hangover 

Thanks to Kobus Butler for the photos 

News on frames and the DayLife jam soon. 

DayLife till we Die !

James Brawn Checking In at DL

James Brawn did some riding over the weekend and shot these photos with Scott Owen. 
They did some riding in and around Table view and the beach front at Big Bay , Cape Town.  What a rad way to start of the week.

                                                 D.L  O.G from CPT busting a gap to berm ride

James feeble to monster truck ride down the steps

                                                                Crooked - Cape Town!!



Quick feeble 180

James with a smith grind on a super ruff ledge.

Wayne Gorton coming at you with some fresh pics soon.



Thanks to Scott Owen for the photos.

Stay tuned for more photos and random news.



Alex and Lee calling the shots for DAYLIFE!!!

Just a lil messing around edit for them daylife steezy sprockets!!! shoutout to Hannes JvR for the filming and editing. so guess what????? get to your nearest stockest NOW and get some!!!!.... and then go ride!!!!!    http://vimeo.com/37751824

More DayLife Goodness!!

Here are some pics that were shot when Alex and Lee came down from Jozi.
Big thanks to Eric Palmer for taking these amazing photos.   Stay tuned for more updates !   

Alex - Lookback out of the bowl

Lee- Superman!

Wern- Whip

Lee and Matthee- Wall ride train

Wayne G - Chillin

Wayne G. - foot jam, night sesh

James Brawn photos soon, with Mulder and Gorton. Now go ride!

DayLife photos from Eric Palmer. What the??? ...old Langebaan sesh

Wayne - Flair

Mattheee - Footjam whip

Mulder - Style

Wayne- Table hip

Mattheee..eee - Beast lookback in the bowl.

Thanks to Erick Palmer for the these epic photo treats.

Jo'burg Boykes in the HOUSE !

Alex and Leeroy, welcome to the Daylife family !

The first time I met them was at Ghetto Jam, two years ago. They both seemed like poeple with a positive attitude and a creative riding style. It didn't take too long after that, that they found themselves on the team. With constant laughs and their rebel behaviour, you can be assured of having a good time while riding and chilling with them. Ever since I met them, I can't stop eating sand...?

Interviews by James Brawn 

Alex. Huge Bar Spin

Alex Shapiro

Why do you have so much energy?

Well I just get excited with all my friends and riding that I just can’t contain the inner intense infuel train. hahaha. I am just amped a lot and when my brothers Lee and Felix are around energy just appears.  It’s kinda like a banana except it always comes back.

Na na, I lied, haha! Energy comes from the village. Ya, you look tasty!

Why do you look like Bruno Hoffmann?

Well, he looks like me! Hahaha! Nah, I just like stunting the long hair (yeah yeah!) and I like having warm ears so I bet he just has the same ideas. . .

Alex. Super Clicked Look-Back

Tell us something about Leeroy that on-one knows.

Something about Lee… well, let’s see… he used to be a real gansta, rough and tough guy and bmx saved his life. Bmx did that and now look, it’s got him high like up to the moon (hahaha...)

What’s missing in the SA scene?

Organization in comps and a series of comps to promote. The presence of bmx needs to grow again and people need to start putting back in. Oh, and more black guys! Ya! There isn't enough. (hahaha)

Alex. Mega Gap

Alex. Beast Tuck No-Hander

Leeroy. Flip. TheRiot Jam

Leeroy Wildschutt

What’s with the Brad Simms impersonations?

I wish I was that big! hahaha

You were in CT for about 3 days. Did it live up to your expectations?

Cape Town is filled with awesome people. No hating, no fussing, they all just wanna ride and they all shred like monsters! Cape Town is awesome. I’d go live there because beauty is everywhere. I love Cape Town.      

Tell us something about Alex that no-one knows.

Well, one thing about Alex that no one knows is that he is black and he has a silent craving for village food, sand, sand and more sand! Hahaha, nah, Alex has awesome killer talent! I knew him years ago when he couldn’t even wheelie his bike and now he whips my ass when it comes to riding a bmx! He is my homie and my chronie! Haha! He’s a beast

Leeroy. Styling

Best thing about SA Freestyle BMXing and the worst thing about SA freestyle BMXing?

Best thing about SA bmx is, well… I’ve been around for ten years now and only about a year or two ago I could see the riding change. People are pushing harder than ever and I love it! It motivates me to do better as well and a lot of other riders are starting again. So amped!

The worst thing is conflict and haters. People pushing others down instead of encouraging each other. I mean, I’ve been a no one and it isn’t fun when others treat u badly. What’s weird is that some riders forget that they were that kid at a stage in their life. We should support one another. Awe.

Leeroy. Big No-Foot Can

Leeroy. Big Invert in Jacques Fourie's backyard

Leeroy and Alex will be down in Cape Town again for Ultimate X. Stay tuned for more action.