Bike Check: Nitro Circus Live rider Brandon Loupos' Failure Maniac

Dec 09, 2013

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 18571 times

Name: Brandon Loupos
Age: 20
Hometown: Engadine Sydney, Australia!
Hookups: Fox Head, Ethika, Failure Bikes, Snafu Bmx and Drift Innovation.

Frame: Failure Maniac 20.4
Forks: Demolition Elites
Stem: Demoltion stealth
Headset: Failure

Gyro: Odyssey GTXS
Bars: Volume Bourbon Bars
Grips: ODI longnecks
Bar ends: ODI
Brake lever: Odyssey medium mono
Seat: éclat seat and seat post combo
Sprocket: Profile imperial 28t
Cranks: Profile 175m
BB set: Demoltion
Pedals: Demoltion Trooper Pedals
Chain: Shadow Interlock v2

Brake: Fly bikes Manual brake
Brake pads: Fly bikes brake pads
Brake cables: Snafu top and bottom
Front hub: Profile Mini
Front rim: Alienation Skylark
Front tire: KHE Mac 2 dirt tire 2.1
Rear hub: Profile Mini Cassette
Rear rim: Demoltion Zero
Rear tire: KHE Mac 2 street tire 1.5

Modifications: cut my bars down to 28.5, I have a bar-end in my forks and made my chain a link shorter so it's never loose and my cranks never move!

You're running a blue and a black grip. Any special reason for that?
Brandon: I started off having both blue grips and the longer blue one started ripping and it annoyed me and so I ripped it off and

made it the same length as a normal grip and I hated it so my friend Sebastian Smith gave me his spare longer grip cause I didn't stop complaining hahaha.

One grip is super long what's the purpose of it?
Brandon: I feel for me it's way more comfortable to ride Easier to do barspins and more control for me I love it I can't ride a normal sized grip anymore!

Is it normal for Australians to run the rear brake lever on the left hand side?
Brandon: It's really popular in Australia but we still have people from Australia riding levers on the right it's just what people prefer at the the end of the day.

Why is that cork in your fork?
Brandon: Ahahaha that sounds funny. I got a Bar end in my fork because it doesn't hurt my toes when I do foot jams anymore!

A 20.4" top tube seems short for someone jumping the giganta ramp. Is it stable enough in the air?
Brandon: It feels amazing! I feel it's better for my type of riding because I like to do tricks and go upside down so it feels good on the Nitro ramp and feels good in general!

Ti spokes. Worth the money?

Brandon: Yeah for sure I love them!

How much does the bike weigh?
Brandon: Like 8kg!

Are you glad the Nitro Circus Shows are indoors?
Brandon: Totally! It would be a problem if it was outside for the Europe tour this time of year!