Profile Racing’s Legacy: Week 40, 2008.
2008 was a pivotal follow up to 2007. One component paved the way for a near future staple, the other stepped up to the podium beside the classic 19mm Profile Race Cranks and Profile Mini Hubs as being one of our most popular/iconic of all time.
Let’s start with Madera.
Initial, 2008 Madera product Poster.
2008 saw our first Madera Bmx Product Poster. In addition to the Meridian Sprocket, Pilot Front Hub, and Protocol cranks, the Madera V-1 hub became a burgeoning addition to our cassette hub line.
Available in either RHD or LHD, the V-1 came stock with a solid chromo 14mm axle and choices of 9/10/ or 11t one-piece drivers or choice of 12t through 18t cog.
For Profile, with a heavy request to offer a Mini Hub with a “smooth” shell finish, the Profile Totem Hub set was born.
Dave Fisher (our assistant head machinist at the time) flattened the “scallops” on the mini hub and made a “tear drop” shaped design.
The Totem hubs came with anodized cones to match the hub color, could be built with any of the driver and axle options of the existing Mini Hub, came in both RHD and LHD, but were only available in Black, Red and Gun Metal Silver.
Totem Rear Hub connected to the end of a piece of bar stock.
Most importantly: The inception of Mulville’s Push Stem in late 2008.
Mark Mulville and Corey Alley (our designer) put their heads together to modify the existing Profile “40 Load” stem (created the year before) to make it locate bars 23mm (.9 inches) higher than the Acoustic Stem.
Front load stems were still the staple for the time, so this endeavor was a gamble. Little did we know, this would become the MOST POPULAR stem ever produced in our machine shop.
The timelessness of the Push stem holds strong 10 years later: The only aspect that has changed is the Profile logo (From the graffiti logo, to our classic block logo).
OG CAD drawing of Mulville’s Push Stem.
Here’s what Mulville has to say:
“My original idea behind the Push stem was to eliminate at least one spacer from under the stem. I’ve always liked my bars kind of high and I don’t like the look of a bunch of spacers. At that time, most handlebars topped out at 8 inches and I just wanted a little more..
Profile Racing was awesome enough to take my idea and make it a reality!
The name came easily to me! I wanted it to be something simple, but something with meaning to me. When I was growing up, my top favorite riders to watch were all from one place: The Push Trails in Pittsburgh. Groundchuck, Punjab, and all the rest of the locals were such an inspiration to me and my riding. When I finally got to meet those guys, they were awesome!
I was never able to ride the original Push Trails, but at the time of the Push stems release, my friend Bobby Valentine and I were rebuilding and riding the second version of Push that the locals built after the original spot was plowed. Everything just lined up with the name and the Push stem was born.”
-Mark Mulville
The complete stock of the Iconic Profile Push Stem.