Well known as a manufacturer of the “strongest stainless steel motocross, street, off-road and vintage spokes available”, in addition to model-specific, rims, hubs and complete wheels, Swedish MX wheel specialist Cross-Center International also makes one of the world’s widest available ranges of vintage MX wheels, with a claimed 99 percent coverage of all vintage models as well as comprehensive recent and late model MX brake discs.
“We are a true one-stop-shop for MX wheels and components for most models for nearly all years,” says owner Torbjoern Bergh. “We manufacture our discs in-house from genuine high-grade Swedish steel, and customers who have tried to source MX brake discs elsewhere, especially for the older bikes, tell us ours is the largest available range in the world”.
In fact, there are those who think that the high level of interest in vintage motocross at this time is doing much to sustain and fuel the late model market, and as a complete front wheel and component specialist, ‘Tobbe’ says he has seen the strong growth in the vintage market in recent years.
“Vintage MX is over 50 percent of the sales here in Sweden, and our export orders suggest the same is happening around the world. The enthusiasm for vintage is massive – I put a picture of my KX 500 vintage wheels on Facebook in April and over 30,000 people had seen it in less than three months.”
Tobbe is a bit of a purist when it comes to brake discs, believing that a lot of the current design tweaks on the market “sell well because they may look good, but are often a step backwards when it comes to braking power, reliability and disc and pad wear.
“There are many claims out there, especially when it comes to heat management, that just aren’t justifiable. Which is why we mostly make OEM style discs, and they sell and perform best in our experience. Sometimes we are able to add certain improvements and refinements, but we think that a round brake disc with a lot of material and large, straight arms, an inner ring and no floating rivets is by far the best performing, most reliable, durable and economic brake disc.
“Modern brake pad compounds and manufacturing techniques are so good now that many of the old issues and preconceptions about how to get the best out of a pad are no longer relevant – especially where the effects of gasses is concerned. The result is that some of the designs that are currently fashionable can actually reduce the life and performance of the pad, as well as the disc”.
The Cross-Center range is indeed comprehensive, with new discs being tooled each time the manufacturer design changes. This means that for Honda models, for example, the company offers four different designs with M6 bolts for fronts from 1997 and up (and two M8 bolt fitments) that all have the same measurements all the way up to 2018 (2008 being a one-off exception).
“The same applies to many other brands and models, though other manufacturers have been more consistent with their designs in the last 20 years, generally with one design for ‘97-‘01 and one for ‘02-‘19”.
CROSS-CENTER INTERNATIONAL
www.cross-center.com
