Looks like Steev Inge is flirting with Dizzaster here.
Granted, it’s hard not to conjure up the spirit of Dizz Hicks when busting out a wedge ramp move.
It’s almost like a spiritual thing.
“Where one or more of thee are gathered by yon holy wedge ramp, Dizz will be among you also”
Bonus info: Steev posted this 43 weeks ago…43!
I don’t know how much Bob Seger Roma Abramov listens to…
…but in this clip, just like a young Bob Seger, he’s working on his night moves.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQAbxoBBvNC/?tagged=cruiserrevolution
Radness.
Cult Bikes and Vans just dropped a video of street phenomenon, Dakota Roche, trying out the 26″ Cult x Vans collab tire.
The tires we checked out last year at Interbike and come stock on the 26″ Cult Devotion.
You would think that Dak would just grab the 26″ Devotion to test out the tires…but Dak had other plans.
Dak went in a bit of a different direction…mounting them on something a bit more “beach-inspired”.
I won’t say that hilarity ensued…but it is kinda amusing.
Check it.
Roma Abramov (@romaonbmx) found a good way to cope with the rain.
A sweet indoor ramp set up…perfect for lip tricks, pocket airs and other goodness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPYotbxjycU/?tagged=cruiserrevolution
I’m digging it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPjFm0fh5aj/?tagged=cruiserrevolution
Check out romanonbmx rips for more on this guy.
I was checking out the #cruiserrevolution hashtag on Instagram earlier this week and was stoked to find some awesome clips from a Russian rider (living in Spain) named Roma Abramov (@romaonbmx).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOzuGMvDPGn/?taken-by=romaonbmx
He’s rocking one of those rare Vapor Blue Sunday Wave-Cs…and he knows his way around a skatepark.
Actually, he rips!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BO0TPy_ho9M/?taken-by=romaonbmx
…and whips! (Sorry, couldn’t help myself)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BO0VPyyBtaP/?taken-by=romaonbmx
Hope to see more from this guy in the future….
Here we are…at the end of 2016.
A bunch of stuff happened this year in the cruiser world and while I was planning on doing a standard “Top Ten”…it seemed like four key items stood out to me the most out of all the possible ones that I could highlight.
So, without further ado, the top four cruiser news stories of 2016:
4. The 22″/OS20 wheel size gained some serious momentum this year.
More complete bike, frame/fork, wheel and tire choices made this a more viable choice for many riders to try. Yes, 22s are more sized-up 20s than small cruisers…but there’s often quite a bit of crossover in riders that are interested in 22s and 24s.
With that being said, I’ve been posting about the 22″ phenomenon as far back as 2010 but given that Cruiser Revolution is a cruiser-focused site, I launched Big & Tall BMX in June to do a better job covering both the growing 22″ scene and 20s that are set up for tall riders. Expect to see more stuff there (on B&T) on this topic in 2017.
3. Collabs, Retros and 26″ Cruisers…this year these trends collided.
These trends were already starting to show legs…but this year, we saw two to three of these trends showing up on the same bike! This was clearly in evidence at this year’s Interbike, as well as throughout the year. The Shadow Subrosa collab was one, GT’s 26″ Pro Performer, the SE/Public Enemy Big Ripper…the list goes on.
2. The mellow head angle/disc brake-equipped 24.
Combining the mellow handling of a 26″ dirt jumper with the “flickability” (is that a word?) of a 24, we saw versions of this throughout 2016. Graham Stanley’s custom Curtis was the first one we saw in 2016, followed by Roy Sutton’s custom Invictus. Later we found out that an industry icon, Harold “McGoo” McGruther, had bought into the concept via Commonground Bikes. Then we learned even S&M Bikes had developed a version…which they debuted at Interbike.
1. Yess introduces a belt drive cruiser…and wins a cruiser title with it!
Yess debuted a belt drive cruiser in April and it definitely caught our attention. Belt drives had been attempted in the past…but were quickly discarded (due to middling success) for more conventional drive trains. This time, it seemed a more robust version had been developed. But like most “innovations”, the best way to judge it’s success is out in the field.
Well, Yess did it in the most convincing way possible. Yess-sponsored rider Drew Motley rode a belt drive-equipped cruiser all the way to the USA BMX #1 Cruiser title at The Grands! This was the first time a non-chain bike had taken the title. Hot damn.
The Dyno Compe was my first freestyle bike so I’ve also had sentimental feelings for Dynos.
To me, they were there the slightly cooler cousin to the more “mainstream” GT Pro Performer…which, as you know, has been re-imagined for the modern age as the GT Performer Pro 26″.
The kid in me wished that GT would’ve brought back a souped up (and scaled up) version of my old fav but to this point…I’ve been out of luck.
But now it appears my luck is changing.
While GT snoozed, Gary Turner (the OG G.T.) cruised….right into my heart with a 26″ Dyno-inspired 26er called the 26D Legend Cruiser!
Sporting the iconic (in my mind anyway) frame platform, this is the cruiser to rep if you got the soft spot for Dynos like I do.
It’s American made and full cro-mo, just like nature intended.
As far as specs go, there’s some customization available but the standard issue is as follows:
Custom bits:
You can go OG with an American BB or modern with mid BB. You also have the choice of 990-style or V-brake mounts.
I think the only bummer in this situation is that Gary didn’t go with the classic Dyno fork with the bend in it. The 26D Legend fork is cool in an old-school Bottema fork way, but it’s not the Dyno fork I remember.
Still, I think the frame/fork combo is pretty cool.
Word on the street is that a 24″ version is also on the way…I’m really looking forward to that!
The Cult Devotion 26 caught our eye at Interbike last month.
It was a bit of a departure from the 24″ cruisers Cult had put out in the past.
At the time, we didn’t have too many details …besides learning that it was full cro-mo (frame, fork and handlebars) and that it was kitted out with the new 26″ Vans tires.
Since then we’ve found out more about the Cult Devotion 26.
Geometry-wise, the 26″ Devotion’s numbers stacks up as follows:
Wheel-wise, you’re looking at a single-wall front rim and a double-wall rear rim, both paired up with sealed hubs (female axle on the front).
And as mentioned above, the wheels are sporting the fab new 26″ Vans tires (which are 2.30 width).
All in all, a pretty cool 26er from the folks at Cult.
(If you’re in the market for the Vans tires though, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer…ETA is January 2017.)
Beyond all the fancy bikes, accessories and industry news at Interbike, one of the best parts of the whole shindig is who you run into over the course of the show.
This year had some noteworthy interactions for sure.
Upon entering the conference floor, I paused at the Park Tool booth and heard a distinctive voice that had been ingrained in my subconscious from repeated viewings of BMX Plus! magazine’s video, Rad TV. It was none other than BMX photographer extraordinaire, John Ker.
I turned around and spotted him immediately…and the 14-year old version of myself suddenly popped into my head and started going crazy…I had to go talk to him.
I’m pretty sure I nerded out the whole conversation but he was extremely gracious and I was glad I got to meet the man behind so many iconic bmx images.
This boded well for the rest of the show.
Making my way through the show I came upon the SE booth.
And again, the 14-version of myself had returned to take over my brain. In the booth alongside SE’s Todd Lyons, were 80s mega-stars: Mike Buff and Stu Thomsen.
Holy Cow.
They were signing baseball card-style cards of themselves for anybody that would stop by.
I have to say I’m pretty stoked with this autographed card.
Then a little while later, with the Interbike floorplan map in my face, struggling to find out which way to go next, I ran into Joseph Gallacher.
Joseph is the impresario behind Mill Town Cycle (and heavily involved with the Milton BMX track back home) so it was cool to run into him and get a few minutes to chat…especially since both of us were unaware that we would both be in town for the event.
The next person I ran into was Adam Hendershot.
Adam’s a good friend that has recently moved out west, got himself married and started to race cruiser (he’s been busy).
He mentioned that he would be in town but I wasn’t expecting to see him until the next day.
Turns out he got in early and hit the show right away. Of course, we end up bumping into each other…again while I was trying to figure out the Interbike floorplan.
We had good chat and then he was off to the SE booth.
(That’s him in the middle…note the super-stylish Chicken & Waffles Vans shoes.)
If you’ve been following Todd Lyon’s social media feeds, you’re probably already familiar with Adam’s back.
He reps SE and BMX hard!
Then toward the end of the show, I was checking my phone when I someone that I was hoping to run into, walking up to me…Travis Engel of Commonground Bikes.
I had seen that he was at the Outdoor Demo, but I wasn’t sure if he would be at the show.
He was (obviously).
If you saw the Something new, something dusty post, you can see the type of bike that Travis was already promoting well before S&M created their prototype.
We had a good chat and I’m stoked that we got a chance to meet up.
All in all, a good show in term of random meetups and pleasant surprises.
Fist bumps & high fives to y’all.
*As you may have noticed, not all of these photos were taken at Interbike…I think I got too caught up in the conversations to remember to snap pictures of everyone.
We’ve talked about collabs, Retros and 26″ Cruisers before…but at this year’s Interbike they really came to the fore.
In some cases, certain bikes had a more than one of these things going on at the same time.
Subrosa got on the “collab cab” earlier this year with their collaboration with Slayer.
They had a range of sizes on display in their booth, including a 26″ cruiser. Cool color way, graphics…the whole bit.
Apparently the Slayer-emblazoned seat is also going to be available as an aftermarket item too…kinda stoked on that.
They also had their own 26″ Subrosa Malum on display.
Haro continued their push into the retro market with with a number of updated classics (all 20s) from the 80s “golden era” of freestyle. Unfortunately, no cruisers…with the exception of the 24″ Downtown we featured in yesterday’s post.
SE, of course, is no stranger to the retro or collaboration game.
The STR-29 brings back the old school era Stu Thomsen STR frame, re-imagined as comfortable riding 29er.
Likewise, SE ups the collaboration game with another 29er in the form of the Public Enemy Big Ripper.
And the 26″ We The People Avenger…it’s so retro it has a threaded headset!
GT is also dipping their toes into these trends.
GT, with the help of industry icon Ben Ward, brought back the classic Pro Performer…this time as a 26″.
As we discussed in the previous post on the 26″ Pro Performer, this bad boy is tricked out with the iconic Power Series cranks, Mohawk hubs and other goodies.
The rep that I talked to was — as he should be — pretty stoked on it.
In our conversation, he also dropped a line that seems to perfectly encapsulate what seems to be pushing this drive back to the classics:
We’re pulling on the heartstrings to open the purse strings
No doubt about it.
It looks like all these trends have staying power.
We’ve been talking about 26″ cruisers moment in the sun for years now.
More and more companies are also seeing the market respond to the retro-oriented bikes and accessories.
And the collaboration game…that’s just adding a whole other layer to things.
With all these trends starting to intersect at this year’s show, it will be interesting to see how things continue to evolve in the year ahead.
cruiser revolution 
