Whiting Session
August 27th, 2008
We got a killer session in at Whiting and I snapped a few quick pics. And yes, that is in fact Ross Hensley behind a set of handlebars.
Flickr
August 27th, 2008
The move is done, the work is slowing down and I managed to get some photos of both the new place and assorted minutia I found while moving.
Check it on my Flickr page: www.flickr.com/briantunney
Okay, regular updates will once again commence. Thank you for your patience to the two people that actually check this page out…
H Man on ?Up in smoke? tour
August 27th, 2008
I found this on James Willsher’s flickr page, H Man clocking Scotty D throwing down some more ridiculous maneuvers. You can also check daily updates on the Ride BMX site too, if the trip media circus is your thing.
DAY IN THE LIFE WITH DAK & ERIC
August 27th, 2008
The synchronized run into the ocean is classic.
Click below for vid.
Bob Haro Week at BMX Roots, Day 3
August 27th, 2008
“How to Save Yourself from Going Over a Berm” illustration by Bob Haro from BMX Action Magazine, September 1984. Click to enlarge 3x.
Alright, we’re half-way through the first ever Bob Haro week at BMX Roots, and here’s one that wasn’t a part of “Haro’s Corner”, his semi-monthly feature in BMX Action. Instead, this is a [...]
Best of, Olympic Photography
August 27th, 2008
I found a link to some incredible Olympic photographs on this weird site called Totally Crap. The sites weird but the photos are amazing. They broke them up into three different galleries, you can check them out here - Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Gallery 3.
Check out some of my favorite photos after the jump -
The Worst Idea Ever
August 27th, 2008
I want to like 2Hip, I really do. Ron Wilkerson obviously means well—he's been riding forever, and every year he continues to put his money where his heart is. But then he comes out with stuff like this, and I literally reel in amazement:
The "Groovetech" steering system hasn't been written up on the 2Hip site yet—no surprise, since said site seems to be updated semi-annually at best—but it did earn an article on RIDE (a glowingly positive one, no less). Sigh. Basically what we have here is a four-piece bar with an oversized, splined clamping area, a stem that is complementarily (!) splined, and a steerer tube with three notches that match up to splines on the stem. Greater engineering minds than I could probably write 50,000 words on why this is a terrible idea, but allow me to just present three or four reasons I thought of all on my own.
1. It's too obvious.
If this were truly a good idea, it would be on the market already. I have no doubt that other companies have prototyped (or at least sketched up) similar products and rejected them. No doubt whatsoever. Virtually anyone who runs three-piece cranks has wondered "hey, why don't they make splined steerer tubes?" Then someone explains why it's a bad idea, and they move on to wondering why that hot girl from Thursday never responded to their text message and whether her Myspace would be easy to find even though all they know is that her name is Heather and she lives in Brooklyn. Or was it Manhattan?
2. Some slippage is good.
Back in 1985, when Ron was airing five feet out of six-foot quarters on bikes built for 12-year-olds, slippage was bad. You had tinfoil bars held by beercan stems, and death (or at least unconsciousness) was always waiting right around the corner.
Things work better now. And even if your bars do slip, it's generally not catastrophic. You go to your bag (or someone else's) pull out the multi-tool, re-adjust, and keep trying those tailwhip flyouts. With the 2Hip setup, your bars and stem won't slip, but they WILL bend. Or crack. Or shear off. Which means instead of a simple re-adjustment, you get to go home and order new bars. Or a new stem. Or a new fork. Which brings is to the next point...
3. Compatibility.
Unless this system catches on (which it won't), you're buying a whole 2Hip front end. Good luck with that. And once this is patented, other companies would have to license the "technology" before making their own gargantuan stems and hideously ugly four-piece bars. (Can you even make two-piece bars to fit that stem? And if so what would they look like? Maybe éclat will make a converter for "regular" bars.)
4. They're ugly as sin.
Not sure whether anyone's noticed, but BMX is all about aesthetics these days. Damn kids painting their bikes to match their outfits and whatnot.
Hold on, I'm shaking my cane.
OK. Regardless, if you're gonna come out with some sort of revolutionary new product, it had better look as good as it performs. Otherwise it's just not going to catch on. And this setup, while it may have looked cool back in like '95, just isn't gonna cut it today. Like my man Jules Winnfield once said, "sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker." It's the same thing. Trust me.
I kind of hope this whole setup is just a hoax like the Lumberjack Slams. But I don't think it is.
This feels strangely appropriate:
The "Groovetech" steering system hasn't been written up on the 2Hip site yet—no surprise, since said site seems to be updated semi-annually at best—but it did earn an article on RIDE (a glowingly positive one, no less). Sigh. Basically what we have here is a four-piece bar with an oversized, splined clamping area, a stem that is complementarily (!) splined, and a steerer tube with three notches that match up to splines on the stem. Greater engineering minds than I could probably write 50,000 words on why this is a terrible idea, but allow me to just present three or four reasons I thought of all on my own.
1. It's too obvious.
If this were truly a good idea, it would be on the market already. I have no doubt that other companies have prototyped (or at least sketched up) similar products and rejected them. No doubt whatsoever. Virtually anyone who runs three-piece cranks has wondered "hey, why don't they make splined steerer tubes?" Then someone explains why it's a bad idea, and they move on to wondering why that hot girl from Thursday never responded to their text message and whether her Myspace would be easy to find even though all they know is that her name is Heather and she lives in Brooklyn. Or was it Manhattan?
2. Some slippage is good.
Back in 1985, when Ron was airing five feet out of six-foot quarters on bikes built for 12-year-olds, slippage was bad. You had tinfoil bars held by beercan stems, and death (or at least unconsciousness) was always waiting right around the corner.
Things work better now. And even if your bars do slip, it's generally not catastrophic. You go to your bag (or someone else's) pull out the multi-tool, re-adjust, and keep trying those tailwhip flyouts. With the 2Hip setup, your bars and stem won't slip, but they WILL bend. Or crack. Or shear off. Which means instead of a simple re-adjustment, you get to go home and order new bars. Or a new stem. Or a new fork. Which brings is to the next point...
3. Compatibility.
Unless this system catches on (which it won't), you're buying a whole 2Hip front end. Good luck with that. And once this is patented, other companies would have to license the "technology" before making their own gargantuan stems and hideously ugly four-piece bars. (Can you even make two-piece bars to fit that stem? And if so what would they look like? Maybe éclat will make a converter for "regular" bars.)
4. They're ugly as sin.
Not sure whether anyone's noticed, but BMX is all about aesthetics these days. Damn kids painting their bikes to match their outfits and whatnot.
Hold on, I'm shaking my cane.
OK. Regardless, if you're gonna come out with some sort of revolutionary new product, it had better look as good as it performs. Otherwise it's just not going to catch on. And this setup, while it may have looked cool back in like '95, just isn't gonna cut it today. Like my man Jules Winnfield once said, "sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker." It's the same thing. Trust me.
I kind of hope this whole setup is just a hoax like the Lumberjack Slams. But I don't think it is.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
This feels strangely appropriate:
Matt Wilhelm Interview
August 27th, 2008
Matt is a legend. He has produced one of the best flatland videos of all time and has an amazing amount of talent on a bike. This will be the first interview with a flatlander on this site, which is...
This is just a bit of the story, Read more by clicking the title of the story.
This is just a bit of the story, Read more by clicking the title of the story.
Down With The King
August 27th, 2008
My laptop is.
And I'm posting from it right now, which is surreal in a not-very-surreal kind of way.
Name every sticker on there and win absolutely nothing.
And I'm posting from it right now, which is surreal in a not-very-surreal kind of way.
Name every sticker on there and win absolutely nothing.
Q-TIP: GETTIN UP
August 26th, 2008
Q-Tip - Gettin’ Up from Q-Tip on Vimeo.
Any Tribe/Q-Tip fans out there might be into this.
The above (unofficial) video which was pieced together by what appears to be Rock The Bells footage, features a newish Q-Tip song called “Gettin Up”. I first heard this a few weeks ago during Q-Tip’s set at the Rock The [...]
Plasticman?
August 26th, 2008
I wanted to talk about the new éclat website today—although I meant to do it a hell of a lot earlier—so I'm going to. Worse comes to worse I'll just fudge the timestamp so it SAYS it posted on Tuesday even if writing this stretches into Wednesday. Deal with it. There were a couple things I saw on my initial runthrough that I thought deserved attention, so I'll just bulletpoint through them. Cool?
• Sean Burns is on éclat?
Seriously, Sean Burns is on éclat? This is nothing against Sean Burns—I thought his section in Dead Bang was one of the greatest video parts ever, and dude is everything that BMX should be. Still, something doesn't sit right, even if he is running a 33t sprocket these days (28t by 2012!). Burns being on éclat feels like Deicide signing with Tooth and Nail or McDonald's being an official sponsor of the Olympics.
Oh wait, that's true.
Still, Burns being on éclat just feels wrong. If he's gonna be sponsored by a company with an accent mark, it should damn well be an umlaut. Who's he gonna pick up as his next sponsor, PETA? And the little bio on the site doesn't help, either. I quote: "In an age where tech is the flavor of the month and XXL t-shirts are a standard proponent of the BMX uniform, Sean Burns pedals fast whenever possible and squeezes into used leather jackets." Um, not sure what decade that was written in, but XXL t-shirts are only a "standard proponent" of the BMX uniform for guys who weigh 300-plus pounds, and even those guys are probably trying to squeeze into mediums these days. Might wanna edit that.
• Two-piece cranks.
Everyone seems to be making two-piece cranks today. They're the new three-piece. And éclat's, cringingly named "Tibias," seem to be a cross between Flys and Demolitions. They even have that second drilling so you can run an 18t sprocket if you're into that sort of thing.
Both arms come drilled so you can run them either LHD or RHD. And given that, I can safely assume two things—you don't have to order them specifically for either side drive, and they're not a "2.5" piece crank like Flys. I can't tell from the photo which arm is the one that comes off, but either rightys or leftys will have to take their cranks entirely apart to change sprockets, which is is one of the major downsides of two-piece cranks. And since they use a Profile-style spline interface, that seems like a lousy tradeoff just to lose one bolt. (They're 22mm, which is an advantage over Profile "race" cranks, but if I'm going to stay with the splined setup, I'd prefer to be able to replace either arm independently of the spindle.)
(Two asides—one, why hasn't Profile made a 22mm version of their cranks yet, and two, if I'm wrong about half of this stuff, I promise to explain further. Or let someone from éclat explain.)
• Front hub.
Yeesh. MEDIC!
Once again, this seems to be all the rage these days—internally-laced hubs. They look all fancy and lightweight and stuff. And the design would seem to protect the spoke better than their conventionally flanged brethren. That said, when a spoke does break (and it will), enjoy taking your entire hub apart to replace it. Do that enough times, and you'll be ready to go back to something simpler.
• Plastic pedals.
Dude. Everyone has plastic pedals. What's wrong with you? And why not get the grippiest nylon pedal on the market? I'm sure it's been independently verified. Makes you wonder why they bother making aluminum pedals at all. Other than the fact that Burns would probably rather run clipless than plastic.
• Window sticker.
Can I really find fault in a window sticker (scroll to the bottom)? Of course I can! It's just a little thing, though—when your company has been around for 47 minutes, none of your logos are "iconic." Just saying.
Oh, and when you click on the bottom bracket, the main photo that comes up is of the pedals. Might wanna fix that.
But hey, hope it all works out.
•••••••••••••••••••••
After reading all that—or scrolling past it—you're gonna need this:
• Sean Burns is on éclat?
Seriously, Sean Burns is on éclat? This is nothing against Sean Burns—I thought his section in Dead Bang was one of the greatest video parts ever, and dude is everything that BMX should be. Still, something doesn't sit right, even if he is running a 33t sprocket these days (28t by 2012!). Burns being on éclat feels like Deicide signing with Tooth and Nail or McDonald's being an official sponsor of the Olympics.
Oh wait, that's true.
Still, Burns being on éclat just feels wrong. If he's gonna be sponsored by a company with an accent mark, it should damn well be an umlaut. Who's he gonna pick up as his next sponsor, PETA? And the little bio on the site doesn't help, either. I quote: "In an age where tech is the flavor of the month and XXL t-shirts are a standard proponent of the BMX uniform, Sean Burns pedals fast whenever possible and squeezes into used leather jackets." Um, not sure what decade that was written in, but XXL t-shirts are only a "standard proponent" of the BMX uniform for guys who weigh 300-plus pounds, and even those guys are probably trying to squeeze into mediums these days. Might wanna edit that.
• Two-piece cranks.
Everyone seems to be making two-piece cranks today. They're the new three-piece. And éclat's, cringingly named "Tibias," seem to be a cross between Flys and Demolitions. They even have that second drilling so you can run an 18t sprocket if you're into that sort of thing.
Both arms come drilled so you can run them either LHD or RHD. And given that, I can safely assume two things—you don't have to order them specifically for either side drive, and they're not a "2.5" piece crank like Flys. I can't tell from the photo which arm is the one that comes off, but either rightys or leftys will have to take their cranks entirely apart to change sprockets, which is is one of the major downsides of two-piece cranks. And since they use a Profile-style spline interface, that seems like a lousy tradeoff just to lose one bolt. (They're 22mm, which is an advantage over Profile "race" cranks, but if I'm going to stay with the splined setup, I'd prefer to be able to replace either arm independently of the spindle.)
(Two asides—one, why hasn't Profile made a 22mm version of their cranks yet, and two, if I'm wrong about half of this stuff, I promise to explain further. Or let someone from éclat explain.)
• Front hub.
Yeesh. MEDIC!Once again, this seems to be all the rage these days—internally-laced hubs. They look all fancy and lightweight and stuff. And the design would seem to protect the spoke better than their conventionally flanged brethren. That said, when a spoke does break (and it will), enjoy taking your entire hub apart to replace it. Do that enough times, and you'll be ready to go back to something simpler.
• Plastic pedals.
Dude. Everyone has plastic pedals. What's wrong with you? And why not get the grippiest nylon pedal on the market? I'm sure it's been independently verified. Makes you wonder why they bother making aluminum pedals at all. Other than the fact that Burns would probably rather run clipless than plastic.
• Window sticker.
Can I really find fault in a window sticker (scroll to the bottom)? Of course I can! It's just a little thing, though—when your company has been around for 47 minutes, none of your logos are "iconic." Just saying.
Oh, and when you click on the bottom bracket, the main photo that comes up is of the pedals. Might wanna fix that.
But hey, hope it all works out.
•••••••••••••••••••••
After reading all that—or scrolling past it—you're gonna need this:
Bob Haro Week at BMX Roots, Part 2
August 26th, 2008
“Factoryman and Yoshi” illustration by Bob Haro from BMX Action Magazine, April 1984. Click to enlarge 3x.
It is the second day of Bob Haro Week here at BMX Roots. Yesterday, I posted an introduction to this feature I’m running this week, and the illustration was of a rider popping out of a quarterpipe, doing some [...]
STEFAN LANTSCHNER AND BRUNO HOFFMANN VIDEO
August 26th, 2008
check this stefan lantschner & bruno hoffmann italy video. film+edit by dw.
(more…)
Coventry Conforonatation
August 26th, 2008
| What a day on Sunday and if you didnt turn up you missed out! At least 80+ riders showed their faces for Project 5’s preliminary jam of the year and for those who rode, they didn’t hold back.
We got taken to some sick spots and their was something for everyone, gentle banks to big stairs, gaps and rails, a lot was thrown down in the day. The weather cleared up just before 12 and to end the day perfectly parking was only 50p! No doubt H-man will be working on a write up with photos so expect that in the next couple of days. Many thanks to Project 5 for another successful Streetjam! Next stop Wolverhampton, lets try and get the best show out of all the Jams for that! |
Coventry Confrontation from ollie on Vimeo. |
JACKSON RATIMA: iPOD SHUFFLE 10
August 26th, 2008
Ballers - Gucci Mane / Shawna
Go There Wit Me - Messy Marv
Dope Shit (on 1) - Dubb 20
Weezy Baby - Lil Wayne
Welcome to the Concrete Jungle - Lil Wayne ft Juelz Santana
You’ll Never Understand - The Jacka
Uh Oh - Lil Wayne
Husalah Intro (from jail) - Husalah and B-Luv
Before the Dope - Husalah
South Muzik - Lil [...]
VANS BMX TOUR GERMANY
August 25th, 2008
SUMMER OF ROT
August 25th, 2008
I’m pretty sure that “D” in Give D now stands for dramatic after this promo.
MIKE ESCAMILLA DIRTY DEEDS VIDEO
August 25th, 2008
VIDEOFEATURE: CHECK OUT MIKE ESCAMILLA IN DIRTY DEEDS (more…)
