Yes my friends….fenders.

Turns out GHP racer Todd Parry is running a carbon fiber (?!) fender on his race cruiser to avoid “being sucked in between the tire and the seat”.

And while the different sanctioning bodies tend to frown on these kind of things, it appears that track operators are letting the use of fenders slide.

Seems a little goofy to me.

What do you guys think?

If you weren’t, let me give you the scoop.

Back in 1982, Skyway came out with the  T/A frame. T/A stood for “Totally Aerodynamic” and featured teardrop-shaped tubing that made it an instant classic.

It was widely available as a 20″ and Skyway was said to have produced thousands over the years that it was available.

However, despite the 20′s popularity, Skyway decided to only produce a 24″ version in limited quantities. You pretty much had to be a factory rider like Richie “The Avalanche” Anderson to get a hold of one of these puppies.

This kind of exclusivity has made them a much sought-after item for collectors. You either had to be extremely lucky or have deep pockets to get a hold of one of the 24″ Skyway T/As.  (Being as hot as Eva Gabrielle didn’t hurt either.)

But now PlanetBMX and Skyway are working together to bring a 24″ Skyway to the masses.  It’s going to stay true to the original classic design but have a few modern elements thrown into the mix.

Check out the specs:

• 22″ top tube
• Euro BB
• 1-1/8″ threadless headtube
• V-brake mounts
• Headtube angle- 73.5 degrees
• Seat Tube angle- 73 degrees
• Chainstay length- 15.4″ to 16.75″
• BB Height- 12.3″

I just love the look of these frames…especially the chrome ones. Throw on some black Tuffs and some skinwall tires and you’ve got a serious looking machine on your hands.

So before we ring in the new year, let’s check out the top ten things that went down in 2011.

10. Sunday and S&M kicked off the year by introducing two of the most of the popular frames out there right now: the Sunday Wave-C and S&M 24″ Dirt Bike.

9. This was quickly followed by news that a lot of people had been waiting for: 24″ forks with front brake mounts. S&M was first to market with their 24 “Pitchforks with 990 mounts which was quickly followed by Sunday’s 24″ forks with 990 mounts (although they were testing prototypes much earlier).

8. Some great 24″ flatland vids surfaced almost immediately after from Joe Cicman and Danny Sirkin. (Could this be related somehow to #9?) Heck, even flatland legend Bobby Fisher surfaced a few months later riding flatland on a Sunday Model-C.

7. Low-rise traditional handlebars for cruisers dying off.  The tall handlebar trend is firmly established in the freestyle end of 24″ bmx but it looks like it starting to take hold in racing too. MattyJo Shelley (of BMXActionOnline) tried it out on his race bike in a special guest post and he found taller bars had advantages for racing too.

6. “Older” guys  continued to make their presence felt in BMX on their 24″ bikes.  From the older cruiser classes in racing to a skatepark rider proving that age is just a number it’s great to see that there is no age cut-off for having fun!

5. DK introduced a line of bikes in Wal-Mart, including a 24″ version of the General Lee. Is this good or bad for BMX? The jury is still out.

4.  Mongoose, Stolen and InDust introduced new 24s to the scene. Great to see companies responding to the demand for bigger wheeled BMXs.

3. Cruiser Revolution celebrated its 3-year anniversary this year. A great milestone and a testament to the great cruiser community that is continuing to grow.

2.  The 4130 rides. I was lucky enough to participate in the 4130 Sin Series ride in Las Vegas back in September and it was one of the best times I have ever had on my bike.  Bombing the streets with a couple hundred of your fellow BMXers is something everyone has to do at least once.

1. Having a good time on your bike. Sure, it’s fun to debate the pros and cons of how tall your handlebars are, talk about the latest parts and comment on the latest video edit but when it comes right down to it, when you’re out there riding none of that really matters. Whether its with your bros, your kids or just by yourself, you can leave your worries behind and let the good times roll as soon as you step on those pedals.

Happy New Year!

To kick things off they had:

• Pyro
• A light show
• Music to get the crowd hyped.

It got me wondering why things like that hadn’t been incorporated into some of the bigger Nationals. Surely the ABA Grand Nationals, billed as the “greatest race on earth”, warrants this kind of treatment.

But year after year, it sames like just a slight variation of what’s gone on before. To be sure, the Grands is still a big deal and exciting to watch–if you’re into racing–but it lacks a certain “wow” factor.

Now compare clips of the Grands (or any other major race lately) to this clip of a recent race in St. Etienne, France.

This race has:

• Pyro
• A light show
• Music to get the crowd hyped.

What else?

Stands packed with spectators.

This my friends, is what a National should look like.

(…and if we could add the Monster Energy girls into the mix…well, that couldn’t hurt either.)

Truth be told, I’ve never really been a fan of carbon forks and things like this are not making me any more comfortable.

Die-hard carbon fork fans claim that carbon is stronger than chromoly but you never seem to see this level of catastrophic failure with a steel fork.

And the lightness argument? The gap between a good-quality chromoly race fork and a carbon fork is so small these days it hardly seems worth it from a safety and price perspective (carbon forks are generally the more expensive than other types of forks).

Word on the street is that some how an insert/sleeve to strengthen the steer tube was  not installed. That’s all well and good but if this kind of thing gets overlooked on a top pro’s bike…how many average joes are riding similar setups (without the insert/sleeve)? Seriously, it’s not worth the risk.

Ironically up until this year, Denzel was often seen running chromoly S&M forks on his factory Redline whip.

Did he make the switch due to pressure from his sponsor? Or maybe to cash in on co-sponsorship money? I wonder if he’s rethinking his decision and whether it was worth it.

Knobby tires.

Padsets.

The Jofa mouth guard.

But you know what else BMX has lost?  The BMX moustache.

That’s right. There was a time when race bikes were chromoly and BMX racers rocked ‘staches.

Back in the day, the legend Perry “PK Ripper” Kramer, intimidated his competition and broke the hearts the hearts of trophy girls everywhere with his moustachioed swagger.

Later, Hollywood Mike Miranda would bring his All-American moustache to the silver screen with memorable scenes in the movie Rad (“Hollywood Mike Miranda makes his second dramatic exit of the day”)

Thankfully, the Movember fundraiser is in full swing and guys everywhere are growing  moustaches to raise awareness and funds for men’s health.  I’ve joined the cause and I’m donating my upper lip to the cause for the 30 days.

My moustache has already caused a few sideways glances at work, and some outright laughter when I’ve gone riding at the trails but it’s all for a good cause, to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer. Which as many of you know, affected one of the icons of our sport, Stu Thomsen, in recent years.

If you’d like to support me in raising funds for this great cause (and bring a little moustachioed swagger back to BMX) you can donate to my campaign via this link:  http://mobro.co/EdVandermolen.

Any support would be greatly appreciated.  (Be sure to check out the Ron Burgundy and Tom Selleck tomfoolery on my Movember page as well.)

Cruiser Revolution hit the three-year mark this month.

Three great years of talking 24″ BMX.

Whether it’s sharing stories of guys getting back into BMX on a 24inch bike, checking out the latest bikes and parts, finding out what other riders are doing or just the random goofiness that pops up here from time to time…it’s great to be on this ride with you.

They say that time flies when you’re having fun and I guess it’s true in this case.

Thanks to everyone for their support.

I really appreciate all the great comments, discussion and general awesomeness from all the great people I’ve gotten to know through this blog.

Cheers to you.

Can’t wait to see what’s in store for the year ahead.

That’s right, kids.

Wait.

Kids don’t ride brakes these days.

Anyway, back to what I was saying.

Odyssey has come out with a brake cable, called the Race Linear Slic Kable,  that’s 37% lighter than other brake cables.

How you ask? They’ve taken their popular Linear Slic Kable housing and replaced the steel linear wire with an aluminum one.

I’m extremely curious to see how durable these cables are.

Will they stand up? It’s hard to say right now…they’re still pretty new. But I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough, especially when weight-conscious racers get wind of these.

I do like the added trick factor of the color-coated inner wires and ball ends though (something not available on the regular Linear Kables).

For more on the Race Race Linear Slic Kable, check out the Odyssey Daily Word on it.

Granted, this isn’t the first time 2-speeds have been tried.

Back in the 80s, the Browning 2-speed enjoyed some short-lived popularity but was quickly abandoned due to reliability issues.

I’m not sure how I feel about this development. While it’s cool in a whiz-bang, “maybe it will work this time” kinda of way, it doesn’t feel like BMX to me.

Maybe I’m becoming a curmudgeon in my old age.

But isn’t part of the attraction of this sport the simplicity of the bikes? The race community has already adapted clips, if multi-speed bikes are next, are we just a few years from spandex skinsuits and paved tracks?

It talks about how the gap is starting to close price-wise between US-made frames and frames made overseas. With the growing costs of both international shipping and production in Taiwan (where most BMX frames are produced) the price advantage that Taiwan had over the US, for many years now, might be a thing of the past.

In the article, Tunney was surprised to learn that:

...between the rising costs of steel on top of stricter overseas regulations and increased shipping costs, the price gap between a US-made frame and an overseas frame is shrinking.

That’s pretty incredible, but check out this statement:

In some cases, a US-made frame such as an S&M might even be cheaper than a Taiwan-produced frame…

Who would have thunk it?

Could we see a return to something similar to the 80s when most premier BMX frames were made in the US?

Looks like it might very well happen.