Boyd Hilder: Odyssey Big BOYD Rim

Boyd is almost impossible to put into one category, and that is exactly why people rate him. Street, ramps, contests, technical lines and properly huge moves all sit comfortably in the same session. He rides at an elite level without making BMX feel overly serious. Transition riding looks simple until you watch someone use the whole ramp properly. Speed has to be carried instead of manufactured at the last second, the bike needs to stay composed and the rider has to know exactly where the landing is before leaving the coping. Going high is one thing. Going high with shape, control and enough speed for the next wall is another. That is why a clean transition clip can be more memorable than something packed with extra tricks. The rider is working with the ramp rather than fighting it. When that timing is right, even a familiar line looks bigger, faster and far better than it has any right to. Boyd Hilder also makes a good case for watching full sections instead of judging riders from one short clip. A proper part shows the pace, the choices and the way the riding fits together. That is where style becomes obvious. It is not one pose or one trick. It is the decisions that keep turning up from the first clip to the last.

Odyssey Big BOYD Rim. Odyssey built it with Boyd for pro-level street and park riding, with thicker outer walls, reinforced spoke seats and cross-over lacing to help handle ugly sideways loads. More of the setup: Odyssey BOYD Stem and Odyssey BOYD Sprocket. Wheels take a hiding in BMX. Landings, sideways loads, grinds and ordinary missed attempts all end up travelling through the rim, spokes, hub and axle. A wheel product tied to a hard rider needs to be more than light on a spec sheet. It has to stay useful when the riding gets rough. Rim shape, spoke layout and hub construction all play a part, but maintenance still matters too. Spokes need attention, tyres need sensible pressure and a loose wheel should not be ignored until it becomes a completely cooked wheel. The signature part tells you what sort of riding informed the design; your own riding tells you whether it suits. The smart way to look at this range is as a group of options, not a costume. Pick the piece that makes sense for your bike and ignore the rest if it does not. Boyd Hilder arrived at this setup through years of riding. You are allowed to arrive somewhere different. Watch: Boyd Hilder - JETLAG

Hero image: Monster Energy / JETLAG.