Joe Cicman and Danny Sirkin threw down some serious flatland moves on a 24″ last year in two installments of TwoFourFlat.
Well, they’re back at it again.
This time taking a 26″ Volume Sledgehammer through its paces and teaching the big bike some new tricks.
Check it out.
If you caught the footage from the ABA Grandnationals this past weekend, you no doubt caught AA Pro Denzel Stein‘s scary crash caused by his carbon forks snapping.
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.
I feel like I’m a little late to the party but I finally made it out to Cleveland, Ohio last weekend to ride the world-famous Ray’s MTB bike park.
I have to tell you it lived up to the hype.
The park truly has something for everyone: jumps, skatepark-style stuff, cross-country…you name it.
Scott Steinbrick, a Ray’s local, was cool enough to meet up with me on Saturday for a session at the park. After a quick tour of what the park all had to offer, it was time for some riding.
Hitting the Red Bull turn...one of the first things you see when you enter Ray's
I think I ended up riding for close to 4 hours and there’s still plenty of stuff I wish I could have spent more time on. There is so much to see and ride. On top of that, the staff was awesome…very helpful and while seemingly always busy, never reluctant to answer a question or provide assistance.
Exiting the Red Bull turn at warp speed
I want to give a shout out to Scott for showing me around and locals Joe, Brad and Jeff* for being so cool to chat and ride with (and being so spot on with suggestions for places to check out on Saturday night!)
A wall in one of the lounge areas is covered with magazine spreads featuring Ray's
Ray’s MTB is a bike park you definitely want to check out. (I’m already trying to figure out a time when I can go back!) And while I didn’t have the foresight to pack a video camera, the good folks at Vital MTB recently posted a video of the Ray’s season opener that provides a real good feel for what’s like to ride at Ray’s. Check it out.
*I hope I got everyone’s names right…
Back in February, you might remember the post we did about Moody riding the new Mongoose 24″ prototype.
Now that Mongoose is getting closer to production I can give you more of the scoop on the new 24.
Not-so-great spy photo of new 24" Mongoose
As far as “spy photos” go, this isn’t the best (it was shot with a wide angle lens and it’s a bit distorted) but it should give you a relatively good idea of what this whip is going to look like.
Specs/Geometry:
Did I mention that it’s going to be offered as a complete bike with a full chromoly frame and fork? No? Well it is. (Hallelujah!)
Other highlights:
To make up for the less-than-stellar spy shot, I’ll leave you with this, friend of Cruiser Revolution, Trent Brocker riding the Mongoose prototype at the recent Woodward Old School Reunion. Radness!
Picture disclaimers:
With the days getting shorter, time at the trails can be at premium.
What’s a BMXer to do?
Buddy and his friends in Texas seem to have found the answer.
The Lantern Ride.
Once a week, they ride till ten at night. Everyone brings a lantern (hence the name, Lantern Ride) and hangs it in a tree.
The owner of Liquor bikes was there recently and shot this pic of Buddy airing out over the double. Sweet!
Super-cool idea and great way to extend your time at the trails. I know it’s already got me thinking about buying a lantern or two (and maybe some night vision goggles).
For more pics from the Lantern Ride, check out the Liquor Bikes site.
Thanks to everyone that took the time to vote in the recent Crank – The World Cycling Blog Rankings. I’m stoked that you took the time to nominate this little blog in the competition.
Unfortunately, Cruiser Revolution didn’t move on to the next round of voting for “top blog” etc. but we are in the directory and that’s still pretty cool.
As you may have noticed more and more people are checking out the blog and joining in on the conversation about 24″ bikes. This may be a small niche in the cycling world but it’s a great one and I’m stoked everyday when I see that people are stopping by and getting in on the fun.
Click here for the directory.
Fastlane BMX racing magazine recently interviewed British racer TJ “Bomber” Baldwin (Issue #3) and introduced him by saying:
…no one dares miss a race when the Bomber hits the gate….TJ is famous for nosediving within an inch of his life and generally making the crowd react in ways that only Evel Knievel could ever do….
So what effect does all that nosediving have on the front end of his bike? Check out TJ racing the 30-39 cruiser class at the British BMX Championships and see for yourself.
He certainly lives up to his billing though…talk about a crowd reaction!
If you’re ever in Vegas, make a point of stopping in to City of Bicycles, which is right around the corner from the Rio Hotel. When you get there, chances are you’ll find yourself talking with ABA Hall of Famer and former No. 1 Cruiser rider, Turnell Henry. Turnell’s shop caters to the local BMX scene, with a big focus on racing.
Turnell Henry with his 1981 #1 cruiser award
When I visited the shop recently he told me how he had been working in other fields (outside of BMX) but then realized if he was going to be working so hard it was going to be for what he loved…and that was BMX.
But he’s not just back into BMX from a business perspective, he’s taken some of the local racers under his wing and started training them….and he has also got back into the mix himself in the King of Las Vegas race series. He’s racing guys 20 years his junior and more than holding his own.
Definitely take the time to visit Turnell and City of Bicycles next time you’re in Vegas…if you’re like me, you’ll come away just as stoked (scratch that…more stoked) on your conversation with one of the legends of the sport as you are on the great selection of BMX parts and bikes in the shop.
With all the hype recently about custom bikes/frames/parts, it’s easy to forget the simple, DIY ways to customize your bike. Paint, some new parts and stickers can go a long way to personalize your bike or make an old bike look like new. In some cases, it can even make a new school bike look old school. Take this Haro Nyquist Backtrail 24; some carefully chosen parts, paint and stickers make it feel like we’ve stepped back into the mid-80s. You can almost imagine Rich Sigur dropping into the Pipeline on this.
Moto 1, Lane 1
