bennyt4130 Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Found this today. Love Slam Bars. Will never ride anything else. Cool article about the only bar that really mattered. From: http://www.clickedbmx.com/?p=15019 S&M Slam bars - simplicity that changed the industry S&M bikes started in 1987 for a simple reason, the bikes at the time sucked and the people that made them didn’t actually ride. Well, that’s the gist anyway. Obviously if you’re checking this site you probably have a good idea of why the industry was eventually taken over by riders. However, it seemed even after rider-owned companies became established everyone was scrambling to come up with the next big innovation, I suppose you could even say that today. More times than not less is more and that’s certainly true when it comes to handlebars. If you ride BMX, used to ride BMX, or have seen a BMX bike you’ve mostly like come across S&M Slam Bars. They are the handlebars that revolutionized BMX, and in my opinion helped classic tricks such as turndowns and tabletops become more aesthetically pleasing. How did the Slam Bar come to be and why are they so popular? Every company has their “own” version. Sure some say there’s less sweep, more rise, or vice versa, but there’s no denying that Chris Moeller and the guys at S&M changed the way BMX bikes ride and look with just two pieces of metal. I asked Chris about the original Slam Bars, check it out after the Hop —-> Q. How did you get the name? A. Before Slam Bars, handlebars used to bend when you’d slam. Plus slam had an “S” and an “M” in the name and we loved this section from the movie Another State of Mind with Social D Q. Was it named/designed for someone in particular? At the time it seemed like all S&M riders were hard on bars so they were for all of us. Riders with names like “Crazy” Red, “Wild” Bill, “Belt Buckle” Barry, and the “Space Commander” tend to bend some bars! This picture of Belt Buckle Barry is so rad. Q. How many do you think S&M makes a year, and how many companies make similar handlebars but call them something different? There are a few different models of Slams now so all in all we probably make about a million pairs a year. I think just about every BMX company has a Slam Bar with another name on it, and some of them even rhythm i.e. Slim Bar, Glam Bar, Green Eggs and Ham Bar, you name it! Q. How many do you think have been made to date? We’ve made Slams for about 23 years now so probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 million pairs to date. They sell really well in China! Q. Why are they the perfect bars? Slam Bars represent the perfect melding of form and function and they transcend BMX gimmicks and fads. Q. And, perfect 10′s were originally a joke, right? S&M Bikes did not become the leading manufacturer of BMX handlebars in the USA by joking around. We take everything about handlebars extremely serious and the Perfect 10′s are a great example of how superior we are. To this day, no other company can engineer a larger handlebar than the Perfect 10’s! Q. Any weird story or weird use of Slam Bars that might be interesting to add? So many companies have copied Slam Bars throughout the years that sometimes they just call here and have a pair sent to them so they can send them to Taiwan to have them duplicated. One time Lynn Kastan who used to own Redline and then Kastan called for a set of bars and I asked him to pay for them. We sent the bars COD Cash Only and when the UPS driver dropped them off he paid cash for them (and he was known for never paying with cash). When he eventually opened the box he found some bars we took off a girls three speed bike. Another time we drove the van over some Slam Bars we sent to Iron Horse to take out all the sweep. Nowadays companies just buy their Slams at shops like everyone else. One interesting point: Chris says they make 1,000,000 pairs of slam bars a YEAR!!! Fuckin' holy fuck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmxmountainbiker Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 They're so good, I'd ride 'em even if they were totally Gay! ;-) Not to mention they sell great in China! LMAO Richard Vogt bmxmountainbiker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin S.Brothers Posted February 3, 2012 Admin Share Posted February 3, 2012 Moeller is the master of the straight faced interview fact bomb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chromey Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Man, he is entertaining!!!! Great interview! Green Eggs and Ham bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlesrb Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Im 46, ride bmx since 1980 on & off. Ive run all different varieties of Slam Bars....heights, race, cruiser, all that shit...over the years. Recently started riding again and realizing they still make them after decades! Fuck the knockoffs, back to slambars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOY24 Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Anyone know what happened to the excellent thread about Slambars on Vintage can't get into it anymore https://www.vintagebmx.com/community/index.php?s=5846c38ab4e82400e4a622620f797fe5&showtopic=27005198&hl=slam+bars+in+order Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RL Paulie Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 (edited) On 1/4/2021 at 1:35 AM, TOY24 said: Anyone know what happened to the excellent thread about Slambars on Vintage can't get into it anymore https://www.vintagebmx.com/community/index.php?s=5846c38ab4e82400e4a622620f797fe5&showtopic=27005198&hl=slam+bars+in+order Mike Carruth was forced to upgrade the site to a newer platform a couple years ago. Unfortunately 99% of the content didn’t migrate. He says he still has the data but I have my doubts about whether he’ll ever get around to uploading it. Edited February 24, 2021 by RL Paulie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOY24 Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 On 2/24/2021 at 2:05 PM, RL Paulie said: Mike Carruth was forced to upgrade the site to a newer platform a couple years ago. Unfortunately 99% of the content didn’t migrate. He says he still has the data but I have my doubts about whether he’ll ever get around to uploading it. That was a cool thread Excellent info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
