If you haven’t heard of Box by now, chances are you’re not into BMX racing. While the company has been working on some very intriguing mountain bike parts, like the shifters above and some hydraulic disc brakes that we saw at Interbike, Box has introduced a number of new parts for BMX race bikes that make up some of the stiffest and lightest bikes out of the gate. As the high-end arm of Promax, Toby Henderson (formerly of T.H.E.) took over the Promax brand about 3 years ago and with the help of senior designer/brand manager Michael Gamstetter, and Engineering product developer Colin Esquibel, new products have been designed in California and are being produced with all new tooling. After the early focus on BMX, Box is on a mission to enter the world of mountain biking with some refreshingly innovative components like the push-push shifter.
Open the box for more after the break.
With the same features as the setup we saw at Interbike, currently the shifter and derailleur are Shimano 2×10 compatible and will likely hit at the XT price point. The internals and shift platform were designed by John Calendrille Jr., the man behind the early Vivo derailleurs and the DIG derailleur that was circulating around 2009. Box says that there will be a newer version of the shifter and derailleur around Sea Otter as they have been busy testing the system and have gone through as many as 10 different lever versions.
Box also had a few images of the newest version of the hydraulic disc brake they were working on which has a very interesting lever reach adjustment. We’re told we may get a chance to see it at the Taipei Show – we’ll keep you posted.
The current version of the 10 speed derailleur weighs in at 235g. On the mountain bar and stem side of things, Box and Promax will both have offerings, though they will be split into 35mm bars and stems for Box and 31.8mm bars and stems for Promax. The Box carbon 35mm bars will be available in 8, 15, and 30mm rises and will be accompanied by a 45, 55, or 65mm stem. The 65mm long, 35mm clamp stem above isn’t quite production but the 138g weight should be close.
No, that’s not a crazy tall mountain bike bar, instead it’s one of Box’s new BMX prototypes – a 28.6mm carbon bar with a 4.5″ rise. Designed for juniors with a 120lb weight limit, typically bars in this category are 22.2 instead of 28.6. Box says that this bar is stiffer and lighter and will likely be able to produce a 6″ rise bar in the future. In addition to the larger clamp diameter, the bar has aggressive shaping on the rise to add stiffness.
The entire bar and stem weigh an impressive 315g.
Oversized parts have become sort of Box’s trademark as the pros have been running their 20mm thru axle hubs, and 35mm Vector crankset that utilizes Praxis Works’ 35mm external BB and oversized spindle. Box says that they are working on a mountain bike version of the crank for the future.
For anyone running mechanical disc brakes or rim brakes, Box and Promax have an interesting brake lever that replaces the locking grip collar like we saw on the hydraulic brake at Interbike. The Box version will replace the collar for an ODI style locking grip with a nicer CNC machined lever, and the Promax version uses a single locking grip with a less expensive lever.
The company is working on packaging these both as singles and doubles, and has a matching locking collar available for the left side if you’re only running one brake. Details count.
If what we’ve seen so far is any indication, you will be seeing and hearing a lot more about Box/Promax in the near future.
