It’s the holiday season.
For many of us this means having a beer or two with some good friends.
But what happens when you reach for a cold one and realize that you can’t find the bottle opener? (And you’re drinking the good stuff without the twist-off caps..)
What are you going to do?
Paul Hoerdt shows us the way.
(Warning: audio NSFW)
Vodpod videos no longer available.It’s Christmas Eve…time to get the egg nog flowing and put some presents under the tree.
Happy holidays everyone!
This year, with the RAD movie celebrating its 25th anniversary, complete with a big event in Cochrane, Alberta and word of a behind-the-scenes documentary in the works, it looks like the affection BMXers have for this movie is as strong as ever.
Now to add another log to the Helltrack fire, NYC dance group Holy Ghost is featuring a new interpretation of the infamous “bicycle boogie” scene in their video, “I wanted to tell her” (a remake of the Ministry song of the same name).
Check it out.
BMX has lost a lot of things over the years.
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.)
Can you believe it?
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.
Pictures have surfaced recently (on BMXmania and Vintage BMX) of Barry Nobles running a 2-speed at the recent Chula Vista SX race.
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?
Less than a decade ago, if you were looking for serious, non-race 24″ cruiser your choices were few and far between.
If you wanted a 24″ bike that would take some abuse, it usually meant you were riding either a Haro Backtrail 24 or the DK General Lee.
Today, you may have noticed (especially if you’re a regular reader of this site) that the choices for non-race 24″ cruisers are a little deeper. And perhaps fittingly, those two old workhorses, the Backtrail and the General Lee were dropped from their respective company’s lineups.
But just like those ol’ Duke Boys in a car chase with Roscoe P. Coltrane, the General Lee was a bike that couldn’t be kept down. It’s resurfaced, albeit in a slightly different incarnation and to some sometimes heated BMX forum discussion in, of all places, Walmart!
Do Bo and Luke Duke know what happened to the General Lee?
Word on the street is that Huffy bought out DK and, in addition to their higher-end bikes and parts, they are offering a small lineup of race and freestyle bikes in Walmart.
This version of the General Lee is hi-ten steel with Chro-mo 3-piece cranks…a far cry of it’s original completely Chro-mo version…but priced accordingly, at $179 (US).
Some people are burning up the forums saying this is a travesty.
I dunno. Remember the Subrosa Salvador 24 from last year? That was a hi-ten bike with chro-mo cranks priced at $404! That to me, was more of an outrage. At least this bike is priced appropriately and sold in a place that makes sense.
Would Uncle Jesse approve?
I can see a Dad picking one of these up, at the same time he’s picking out a first bike for his son or daughter. Who knows, after jumping curb cuts, popping a few wheelies and just having fun on his $179 bike, he’ll decide to upgrade to something a little better at his local bike shop. And there he’ll see a brand he recognizes but be something much better suited to heavy-duty riding.
What do you think about DK bikes showing up at Walmart?
Something good?
Or something bad?
For complete specs, check out Walmart’s page.
For more info on all the Dukes of Hazzard references in this post, click here.
Every so often a video appears on the scene that’s so mind blowing, so ground breaking, so epic…it changes everything.
This is one of those times.
“Hell yeah, put that on your list of cool shit you saw today” – Jesse Miller
BMX legend Taj Mihelich, put together a cool article (that’s making the rounds today) for Complex magazine called The 50 greatest BMX Logos.
It’s a great read. A funny thing you’ll notice, and one that Taj notes in the writeups for each logo, is how prevalent the lightning bolt is in BMX logos. It shows up time and time again. In the Zap Pad writeup, he says:
There is definitely some connection between lightning and BMX. You can find lightning bolts on all kinds of BMX imagery. I think that maybe the very bones of BMX, chromoly steel, can only be created by a direct lightning strike.
For me, the Elina lightning bolt seat is the most iconic of the BMX lightning bolts. Those old school Elina seats are pure BMX.
Like I said earlier, it’s a great read.
For old schoolers, it’s like a trip down memory lane.
For new schoolers, it’s an opportunity to see (and maybe laugh at) what passed for cool back in the day.
In a key plot point in the movie Rad, Cru Jones makes the life-changing decision to postpone taking his SATs to take part in the big race at Helltrack. He does it because he thinks he’s got a chance at winning against all the “factory hot shots”.
Did he make the right choice?
It seemed like the right idea at the time. Factory BMX racers seemed to have it all back in the 80s. Driving Porsches, international travel, BMX Action magazine covers…you name it. They were living the high life.
Winning the big race would be Cru’s ticket to living the dream.
But today? I’m not so sure skipping the SATs would’ve been the right choice.
Check out the check that Denzel Stein, Redline factory hotshot, is holding for a recent win…$1400.
Compare this with the check that Team Kachinsky (Brian Kachinsky, Corey Martinez, Sean Sexton and Will Stroud) is holding after a win at the recent Nike 6.0 contest…$14,000. (Sure it’s split 4 ways…but c’mon that’s a much sweeter payday.)
Today, he probably would’ve been wise to skip the race altogether and focus on perfecting his bicycle boogie skills.
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