Frame Review: Kizer Element Frames - 07/10/21
Bauer sent me some Kizer Element frames to test. I saw them on the USD Kelso’s and had to get them. When I took them out of their box I immediately thought about the movie “Transformers”. They felt solid and a bit heavy. The first thing I did was to get my Allen wrench and to take everything apart.
The plastic parts of the frame are made of the same material Kizer uses for the Fluid frames. This material is known to be pretty durable which is good if you buy such an expensive frame. If you have ever been riding Fluid frames you know that this material slides very fast. The only thing I dislike about it is that it is a bit too hard for ledges. This means you don’t grind as smooth as with a Ground Control frame. The shape of the plastic walls is pretty ideal. Because of the angled walls the friction is minimal which makes the Elements slide even faster. I was really surprised how fast these frames are when I did my first soul trick on them.
The grind-block is reversible. If you take a look at one side you will see a huge, wide freestyle groove. On the other side you will find a smaller groove. So this frame allows you to skate with whatever setup you want to ride. It is perfect for a freestyle setup, an anti-rocker setup or a flat setup. What more could you ask for? The grind-block is made of a material which is pretty similar to the diamond material. This makes it fast as hell and extremely durable.
If you take a look at the bolts you will see that you only need one Allan wrench to unscrew them. This is because the bolts screw directly into the aluminium part of the frame. This makes it easier and faster to rotate your wheels. If you put the head of the bolts on the insides of your frames you will never ever be able to cover up your bolts with wax and shit that makes it hard to unscrew them. Because the bolts are sunk very deep into the plastic walls they will never touch anything you grind on. Unfortunately the smaller bolts which hold the plastic walls to the aluminium are a bit too soft. But Kizer promised to take care of this and to change the material.
At first I thought that the metal parts of the frame will make it extremely heavy. But I discovered that I was wrong and that you will not feel any difference in weight. I really enjoyed riding this frame and I think that it is the strongest frame on the market right now.
Text and photos by Lui Summer
Tags:
element frames
kizer
review
the conference
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9 comments so far
its not just the small bolts its the axels to, i just had one bend and crack yesterday and the threaded end is still stuck in the side of the frame since there is only one end. its was a nice idea but it doesnt work too well. im sending em back ill see what happens
if you don’t ride those frames flat your an idiot
The frames are 3mm too high. Sounds like silly nitpicking, but it makes a difference.
I ride these skates at the moment. They’re great! The screws loosening is solved by simply tightening them as hard as you can and if that doesn’t work for you adding a little loctite.
The groove for riding flat is most excellent. They’re fast as a bitch. The aluminium bolts have also been replaced (it was a production error according to Oli Bennet) and are now strong as ever.
So far…these are the best frames I’ve ridden….ever.
yeah my bolts got super loose super fast all the time on those. and i broke numerous axles on them. they were alright but having to constantly tighten the bolts got pretty damn annoying.
Unless Kizer does a recall on all the Element frames that havent sold, people are still going to get the shitty soft bolts when the fork over 90$. I was thinking about getting them, but not until this situation is resolved for real. I dont even think Sean is riding these frames, and now I see why. Until then, I’ll just continue riding the best frames ever made, GROUNDCONTROL DI!!!
Elements are shitty ass, poorly designed frames. Kizer has wasted another crap design down the drain.
if you read the review you would have noticed that kizer has made amendments to the bolt hardware.
oli (spaniard) has acknowledge this on the board and on theconference.org
so I have these frames and I just wanted to put this out there, the bolt system on the frame is screwed up, not only do they strip very easily since the metal of the bolt is super soft, but they unscrew very easily I know several people who have had them also crack since they are very easy over tighten and it causes the wheels to torque the bolts and they crack. I donno if kizer has acknowledged this problem yet but they sure should. I have to cary an allen wrench around when I skate and tighten em every 20minutes or so.
other then that the frames have skated awesome though.
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