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Wethepeople Envy, Battleship & Pathfinder are street BMX bikes guaranteed for life

WTP Battleship BMX bike, Wethepeople Battleship Envy Pathfinder street BMX bike complete, a BMX bikes guaranteed for life
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A few shiny street BMX bikes found their way into my inbox over the holidays, promising solid builds and Wethepeople’s Lifetime Guarantee. The 2020 complete versions of the Envy & Battleship take two different approaches as premium, bombproof BMX bikes ready to hit the street. Then, WTP Pro rider Felix Prangenberg offers up a chill look at putting his upcoming signature Pathfinder frame to the test in a day-in-the-life shredit from his hometown back into Cologne, aboard a creatively engineered BMX frame…

2020 Wethepeople Battleship is a BMX bike guaranteed for life

OK, so the trick here is probably that Wethepeople have been guaranteeing their frames for a long time now. They build (overbuild?) BMX frames to survive harsh treatment out in the real world, so every aftermarket frame set since 2011 has gotten the lifetime guarantee against structural failures in regular riding. These are street bike though, so it does have some reasonable limitations like abusing or not taking care of the bike, or wearing through the steel (although they have some solution to that too below…)

WTP Battleship BMX bike, Wethepeople Battleship street BMX bike complete, a BMX bike guaranteed for life

But now they are starting to offer lifetime frame & fork warranties on some of their complete 2020 bikes too, like this raw 4130 chromoly Battleship. It’s been one of WTP’s most popular “technical street” frames since debuted last year, so now it gets a suitably pro complete build option.

WTP Battleship BMX bike, Wethepeople Battleship street BMX bike complete, a BMX bike guaranteed for life

Starting around 1275€ (depending on your market) the 12.57kg/27.81lb Battleship Complete gets a bunch of premium street-worthy WTP & Éclat components to round out its build. Pick from either the glossy raw finish or coral red powdercoat and your choice of right (RSD) or left side drive (LSD) setups.

2020 Wethepeople Envy XLT is the “Best BMX bike money can buy”

Another of WTP’s new 2020 BMX completes with a lifetime frame & fork guarantee is their new, lighter Envy XLT. Sure, lightweight in a street BMX bike is a relative statement, but Wethepeople say this is the ultimate when it comes to balancing weight & strength, calling it “The Best BMX Bike money can buy”.

WTP Envy XLT BMX bike, Best BMX bike money can buy, Wethepeople Envy complete street BMX bike Lifetime Guarantee

For around 1400€ complete, the Envy will save you just over a kilo from the Battleship, down here to 11.5kg/25.11lb. Much of the weight savings come from the relatively extra-light CNC-machined & hydroformed full 4130 chromoly steel WTP Envy XLT frame, Éclat Storm XLT fork, & WTP Envy XLT bar. A premium mix of Éclat components is said to make it the “the highest spec’d BMX bike of all time”.

WTP Envy XLT BMX bike, Best BMX bike money can buy, Wethepeople Envy complete street BMX bike Lifetime Guarantee

Still “designed for even the most brutal street and park riders” and to “handle the raw brutality of BMX riding”, the new Envy gets Wethepeople’s Lifetime Guarantee on frame & fork. The WTP Envy Complete is available in two sizes (20.5″ & 21″ top tubes), in RSD & LSD, only in this matte translucent gold that shows a bit of the raw steel underneath.

Hanging With Felix Prangenberg…

The Felix Prangenberg Signature Pathfinder frame isn’t available for another couple of weeks (unless you are in Japan apparently), but it has some proper tricks up its sleeves.

…on his unique signature 2020 Wethepeople Pathfinder BMX frame

WTP Pathfinder BMX bike, Wethepeople Felix Prangenberg Signature Pathfinder steel street BMX frame

I’m not going to claim to have any real concept of BMX frame geometry.

WTP Pathfinder BMX bike, Wethepeople Felix Prangenberg Signature Pathfinder steel street BMX frame

So WTP telling me the new bike is better with its 1/4″ shorter 12.75″ chainstays in two 20.75″ or 21″ toptube lengths sounds fine to me.

WTP Pathfinder BMX bike, Wethepeople Felix Prangenberg Signature Pathfinder steel street BMX frame

But what is more interesting is that they created an all new CNC-machined, then heat-treated 4130 bottom bracket for the bike with increased thickness on its underside to increase resistance to grinding without adding a ton of extra weight.

WTP Pathfinder BMX bike, Wethepeople Felix Prangenberg Signature Pathfinder steel street BMX frame

The chainstays get a similar tick, but their seamless 4130 steel tubing is extruded to add the extra material along their lower half for extra grind resistance.

WTP Pathfinder BMX bike, Wethepeople Felix Prangenberg Signature Pathfinder steel street BMX frame
all photos c. Wethepeople

Like their other frames, the new Wethepeople Pathfinder also gets a lifetime warranty, so it is built to last. The 2360g/5.2lb Felix Prangenberg Signature Pathfinder frame comes in three finishes: gloss over raw unpainted steel, matte taxi cab yellow, or the patterned semi-gloss ghost grey that Felix is riding now. We don’t have pricing on the new frame, but expect it to retail for around 400-450€.

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Jon
Jon
4 years ago

Wonder why tapered headsets never trickled to BMX

JBikes
JBikes
4 years ago
Reply to  Jon

They still run full steel forks which can only be made so thin. Likely little to no benefit.
The frames are small and also steel (read stiff). I think some of the benefit of tapered HT is the ability to mate large diameter stiff downtubes for Al and CF construction.
The wheels are only 20″, so leverage is lower (although probably abused more than any other market). HT lengths are fairly long compared to the fork length unlike something like a small framed 29er.

I’d wager all of that adds up to no need/benefit of a taper steerer/HT.

Zeerak
4 years ago
Reply to  Jon

Stranger actually makes a tapered Frame/Fork combo

Dave @ Wethepeople
4 years ago
Reply to  Jon

We actually sampled one about three years ago (search online). It worked great but never went into production.

mud
mud
4 years ago

Why a bmx with left side drive? Im ignorant

Fred Gravelly
Fred Gravelly
4 years ago
Reply to  mud

Typically when you ride right foot forward, you pegs grind on the right side and sometimes your sprocket/chain will hit the ledge/rail/coping

Dave @ Wethepeople
4 years ago
Reply to  mud

Some riders grind mostly on the right side, and by switching the drivetrain to the left, you reduce the chance of damaging your sprocket/chain/driver.

Ol' Shel'
Ol' Shel'
4 years ago

With the hydroforming and the offset-butted stays, I’m betting that these are made in China or Taiwan. The weld beads look like the typical Chinese style. I wonder if the kids are going to balk at high-end production going imported. Probably not, but I hope so. BMX was about the only US-made frame production left.

JBikes
JBikes
4 years ago
Reply to  Ol' Shel'

WTP is German, although I don’t know where their frames were/are made.

Ol' Shel'
Ol' Shel'
4 years ago
Reply to  JBikes

I did not know that, thank you.

Travis
Travis
4 years ago
Reply to  Ol' Shel'

BMX went to China/Taiwan years ago, before most IIRC. Sure, you can still get frames by T1, FBM, S&M etc. that are US made, but any complete BMX you see will be made overseas along with 99% of components and most frames. BMX kids don’t care about how the weld looks, rather if it holds.

Dave @ Wethepeople
4 years ago
Reply to  Ol' Shel'

All of our complete bike and aftermarket frames are manufactured in Taiwan at one of the best facilities in the industry. We’ve been doing it that way for almost 25 years and fully stand behind the quality and craftsmanship. All of our aftermarket frames are fully backed by a Lifetime Guarantee, not something that many other brands can offer to their customers.

Peter griffin
Peter griffin
4 years ago

Lifetime guarantee doesn’t work if you almost die from an injury from defected products but if you are sure that your product is at a high quality and you are also sure it wont brake that’s why you give lifetime guarantee then its ok I guess.

leg
leg
4 years ago

Bmx are the only bike “bombproof” .
For the city, short trips, it s good alternative.
And wich bike is so fun than a BMX ? 🙂

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