Bike Pegs: What are they?
I remember my first BMX bike. It was a touch too large for me and was red. At that point I was a fanatic of In-N-Out and put an In-N-Out sticker on the bike that was nearly impossible to get off years later. The bike was cool, I was the man of the town until I went to go see my cousins in Florida. I remember when my older cousins and his friends pulled up around the corner with their bikes. On the wheels, they had these pieces of iron jutting out, and typically there was someone standing on the pieces riding along with them. I asked what they were and was laughed at briefly: “Bike pegs.” And afterwards, I finally asked, What are bike pegs?
This post is for all of those that do not want to go through the embarrassment that I faced while asking that question to my pre-teen cousin and friends. They immediately repeated the question back, though they did it in a way that felt antagonizing. Don’t want to feel antagonized? Well props to you for going online and reading up on information that you do not know about.
In this post, we will discuss what are bike pegs. We will discuss what they are used for and the types of bikes they are great to be used on. We will also discuss the specific types of tricks that you can do with a peg on a BMX bicycle.
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What are Bike Pegs?
Bike Pegs are the extension of typically chromoly steel or aluminum allow from the sides of the wheel pegs. They are typically found on BMX bikes, though it is not abnormal to hear of people putting them on Mountain bikes. They absolutely do not work on road bikes as most road bike wheels are not meant to support that amount of weight. Over the last decade, the amount of spokes on road bikes have become fewer in favor of a lighter back rather than a stronger bicycle.
Bicycle pegs are use for tricks, transport, grinding, helping with bunny hops, balance and more. They make a bmx bike extremely versatile to be able to do, land and improve tricks and make a bike with no pegs into a machine that can do bar spins, feeble grinds, wheelies, manuals and more.
How much weight can bike pegs hold?
Bike Pegs typically will hold about 300 pounds depending on the type of material that they are made of. For those looking to ride on pegs, it is recommended to find a bicycle peg that is stronger (and of course a wheel with a large amount of spokes, or a BMX bike). If you would like to ride on a bike peg, then you should make it a point to use chromoly steel pegs. When they are attached into the nut of the bicycle then they are known to be very strong: supporting another’s’ weight, the riders’ grinding or the lifting of the bicycle to perform manuals.
Is it safe to ride on bike pegs?
No companies recommend riding on bicycle pegs because the bicycle nut may fail from placing all of another person’s weight on it. Anecdotally, many people still choose to stand directly on bike pegs although it is not exactly safe to. They are more specifically made for tricks, or supporting the weight of one rider looking to stretch out for some time while they are riding.
It is not recommended to ride on bike pegs on a mountain bike or a road bike. Although the frame might be able to work with the additional weight of a second person, the wheel and the axle is not built to support that amount of weight. Riding with another person on a mountain bike or a road bike will eventually make the bike axle bend, or it will make the bicycle spokes of the back wheel begin to break and your wheel will go out of true. Repairing a wheel that is out of true is not very difficult, though it is not a repair that you would like to do very often. Further, once a wheel breaks one or two spokes, the other spokes are weakened, and this may cause a chain reaction of broken spokes over time.
Are pegs good on a BMX?
Yes, pegs are good on a BMX (bicycle motocross). In fact, they’re a game changer on a BMX. Here is a list of the different tricks that you can do with a BMX with pegs:
- Grinds: Feeble, Tail side, icepick, crooked, toothpick (Front side), double peg,
- Wheelies/Manuals
- Bunny Hops
- Fakie
- Tail whip
- Indian Air
Depending on the rider and your style, you can ride with 2 pegs, 3 pegs or all four. It is best to begin with all four and then taking off what pegs you don’t feel you need depending on your needs.
Conclusion
What are bike pegs? Bike pegs are steel or aluminum pieces of metal that are on the outside of a bike wheel. They are used for tricks like manuals, wheelies, bunny hops, tailwhips and more. They make riding a BMX bike more versatile and you can do more intricate tricks with them. They also allow you to grind, and to use them as an alternative foot rest for other more complex tricks. They are great and I loved my BMX bike with pegs as well.
