Signal BMX

And you thought the all black version we unveiled last week was controversial. Introducing the electric blue/black Break Hi-Top. Once again there’s only 500 pairs of these. This may even be our first/last hi-top ever. Who knows, only time will tell. Happy hunting…

Micky Marshall sent over some pics of him boomin’ in Austin and brawlin’ at the Belmar. Looks like the new kicks are working out nicely. Riding shots are awesome, but I want to see more shots of that O.G. Little Devil tattoo.

For those of you over the pond, you’ll be happy to know that UK killer Niki Croft is riding for Orchid again. We lost him for a second but were glad he came to his senses, haha. Niki has an interview with a bunch of rad street photos on Streetphire. He’s also riding for Shadow now. Congrats and welcome back Niki.

Enough talk about old shoes on the blog…here’s something brand new coming out this fall. We wanted to try something different, a high top version of our price point model The Break. These should go for about $65.00 retail in the US, not too bad for a leather high top. Pictured here is the black version.

Once again these are limited edition. I know that’s not a sprfls approved phrase, but let me explain what limited edition means to us. We only made 500 pairs of these bad boys, that’s including every size (we have 13 sizes) and that’s including every country we ship to. Add that up and you get a shoe that’s not easy to find in your size. We get requests for shoes all the time that are sold out for good. That’s also why we decided to re-run some classic models for our anniversary. You are now informed, go ride.

Our friend Paul Horan is out of the joint and wasting no time. He’s throwing another infamous BoneDeth Challenge in West Chester, PA on Sunday August 31st. It’s at the Union Ramp Park at 540 East Union St. West Chester, PA 19382. Here’s what’s going down. See you there:

• Pro and Am Street Contest ($35 entry)
• Bunnyhop Contest
• Best trick on the handrail
• Prizes for winners (cash prizes for pro)
• Helmets required
• $3 entry for spectators

The shoe poll results are in. And there’s a tie for 5th place! The red Wiz and the Vandever L.D. colorway both had 109 votes at the end. We’re going to figure out what to do about that. There may be a tie breaker. We’ll let you know. Here’s the final results:

1. Vandever 2 Pool Colorway: 249 votes
2. Vandever 2 Fit Bikes Collab: 189 votes
3. Vandever 1 Black Suede: 180 votes
4. Vandever 1 Brown Suede: 141 votes
5. Vandever 1 Little Devil: 109 votes
tie
5. Wiz Red Leather: 109 votes

The last 2 posts are pretty depressing. I thought I’d cheer up the website with puppies! So here’s Lola the unofficial company mascot saying “Get well soon Brian and JJ.”

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Lola is internet saavy. She ’s now accepting friends on her dogster.com account. The link is real and this post is officially weird.

This is not a good news day for our riders. Minutes after I posted JJ’s news I got a text message from Brian Hunt saying he went down hard on a ramp, fracturing his jaw in 5 places and breaking a couple teeth out. He has to get his jaw wired shut for 3 weeks. Damn. Feel better Brian (and JJ).

“A little web update but not in a good way. I fell yesterday and broke a couple teeth and fractured my jaw in 5 spots. Also stitches in my chin, arm, and shoulder. I’m doing good though. Things are working out and I’m still finding ways to have fun. Holler!”

PS: I have no idea what’s going on in the above photo. Brian is a boobie magnet.

JJ Palmere’s knee is in bad shape. He tore 2 ligaments while doing a hangover toothpick for a Staff ad. He went to the doctor then checked in with some news. Feel better bud…

“so i went to the doctors and he told me from the mri results that my acl and pcl are both completely torn…he told me i could do with out the surgery but my knee would mostly likely pop out if i was riding so im thinking i def need the surgery and i’m going to see a better doctor like a sports doctor so he will understand my injury better. so i’m going to temple on the 14th i got an appointment so ill see what happens after that. but the main news is i definitely tore my acl pcl and need surgery, witch im pretty bummed about because its a 6 months recovery from that surgery and i hate being off my bike for long periods of time. but im just looking forward to getting this surgery and healing good and riding strong again. thats it for now ill keep you posted on what the other doctor says.”

Our shoe reissue poll is still going. It ends on Sunday night. If you haven’t voted yet, do it now. You don’t want Puff Daddy to get upset. It looks like the Vandever 2 pool colorway is untouchable (who would have guessed), but there are a few other shoes that still have a chance to make it. The Vandever Little Devil, Martinez Woodland Camo, Vandever 2×4, and Wiz Red Leather are all fighting it out for the final spot.

To celebrate the 5 Year Anniversary of Orchid Footwear we are going to reissue 5 classic shoe models. We are letting you the customer choose which ones. We’ve narrowed it down from almost 100 colorways to just 15, numbered and pictured here. Take our poll below and decide which ones we’ll make again!

Poll ends Sunday, August 17th at midnight. If the poll doesn’t work for any reason you can also take it here. View results here.

Larry Rhodes put together a sweet video from our last trail jam. Watch it, if only to laugh at Mandrew. It’s on the Orchid home page.

Here’s a good reminder to get off your butt and make some bmx happen. This gang of riders showed up today asking to ride the trails. They weren’t even locals, they rode 15 miles just to get here! Round trip that’s 30 miles on bmx bikes just to hit some trails. I couldn’t say no to that, so I gave them a trail pass. I was even surprised to see a couple of them get through right away, but some really wild bails went down too. One snapped off handlebar and some raked out forks later, the crew was on their way home (with duct tape and a stick holding the broken handlebars together). That’s bmx.

Click here for larger photo.

At 1:00 in the morning last night, Mike Finn and I were hanging out with some Yuengling quarts when I found some headlamps I had for hiking trips. We got the bright idea to go out to the trails and see if we could get through at night, with just the light from the headlamps (homage to the great Keith Gower). After a few bitch runs we gave it a go and it wasn’t as hard as it seems, but definitely scary. This is a time lapse photo of Mike running through the section. Looks like an electric roller coaster. Click here to see it bigger.

Brian Hunt sent over some news along with these amazing photos shot by Jeff Brockmeyer. Is that the dreaded X-Factor™ I see? Expect a call from Daddy.

“…i got a last minute invite to empire of dirt. sure by now you have seen the course and how wild everything was over there. probably the craziest thing i have ever ridden. i saw beringer out there for s&m trip and got to hang out and party with him. always a good time. ive been super busy lately traveling and riding a ton. i went to some trails in pa the other day and shot some photos with my friend jeff brockmeyer. i also managed to bust my lip thanks to a soft landing…”

No big news today so here’s a peek at the Black/Gum Kevin Porter shoe coming out this month. Like always the Porter model is animal friendly synthetic/canvas.

I normally try to avoid bumming people out with injury news, but it sounds like JJ Palmere did his knee in pretty good. He couldn’t even walk so you know that ain’t right. Feel better JJ, good luck at the doc.

In other JJ news, he’s riding for Demolition (where I snaked this photo from). They have a couple of questionnaires with him over in their blog.

Congrats to Van Homan for taking second place at the X-Games! It’s rad to see him finally get an X-Games medal after all these years. Party like a rock star.

EDIT: Here is the video from the street finals by Ride BMX.

Van Homan made the X-Games finals for street! In celebration here’s a sneak peek at another one of his shoes coming out for Fall 2008. This one is rust colored suede with a gum sole, gold eyelets, two-tone boot laces, and removable strap.