Stricker steps up to a 22″…no joshin’

2 12 2014

I had heard stories/rumours previously of Matt Beringer experimenting with a 22 but never could seem to find any evidence of it happening.

Well, it looks like another big name in the S&M alumni is taking the plunge…and this time S&M Bikes themselves is promoting the fact.

JOSH STRICKER

The man, the myth, the legend…Josh Stricker is building himself up a fresh 22″ ATF whip.

Stricker22

Could this be the start of more big-name riders making the switch to bigger wheels?

Who’s to say at this point?

All I can say is I can’t wait to see video of Stricker tearing shit up on this thing.





FBM checks in with custom cruiser rider

27 11 2014

FBM may not be a name synonymous with cruisers but every once in a while they’ll surprise us with a custom cruiser build.

Yesterday, they featured a custom build (on their site) that they did for Creson Dude and touted their custom frame capabilities.

creson bike

Included in the writeup are pictures of Creson shredding pools, trails…you name it.

creson whip

creson bowl

What might be even more interesting is…this might be the same custom frame & fork that we featured here on Cruiser Revolution back in 2009. (It does look kinda rusty in the more current pics…) If it is that same frame…well, then you know that these frames will stand up to years of abuse.

Nice going FBM.

(…and Creson, not too shabby in the style department!)

 

*all pics from fbmbmx.com





Huge indoor park opening in Vegas

12 11 2014

While there have been rumblings about an indoor park opening in Las Vegas before, it now looks likes it’s finally happening.

SK8XTC, what the new park is called, will cater to skateboarders, BMX riders and inline types. The features and amenities include dirt riding areas, concrete bowls, a BMX SX track and a whole lot more. There’s even a sushi restaurant planned!

Seems pretty over the top…but then again, where else but Vegas could something like this fly?

SK8XTC

 





Sisters are doing it for themselves

28 10 2014

In a bold move, the Elite Women racing the upcoming USABMX Grand Nationals are  crowdsourcing a pro purse payout equal to the men’s class.

The Elite Women are raising these funds by selling t-shirts representing all the big names that make up the class: Post, Walsh, Pajon…the list goes on.

If you have been following BMX racing for any length of time you know that the women’s class has historically seen smaller payouts than the men.

Many reasons have been given to explain this: a smaller pool of riders, women’s racing being “less exciting”, etc.

All explanations that reflect a bit of circular reasoning…Could the fact that the pro purses are so much smaller be the reason that less women pursue a pro BMX career? Would bigger payouts make the racing more exciting…garnering more participants and closer, more intense racing?

I think we’re about to find out.

The Elite Women are really onto something here. Their goal is to sell 600 shirts…and I think they may just do it.

Check out the shirts here: https://squareup.com/market/ride-like-a-girl

pajon





Flatland on the 24″ Quadangle Freestyle

8 10 2014

SE has been on a bit of tear recently, posting pics of the new 24″ Quadangle Freestyle.

You may recall that this old school-looking, new school-riding 24 caught our attention back in June when a sneak peek of the bike turned our heads.

Now a steady stream of photos in SE’s social media accounts have shown that this cruiser is no carpet queen.

Whether it’s Dan Hubbard busting out a classic cherrypicker (with a rider in a 2-Hip shirt making the perfect backdrop)

Dan Hubbard Cherrypicker SE Quadangle Freestyle 24

or @rrdblocks getting fresh with another flatland move

@rrdblocks SE Quadangle Freestyle 24

It looks like this bike has some chops.

Word on the street is that SE has also dropped off a Quadangle Freestyle off with the BMX Plus folks for a bike test.

SE Quadangle Freestyle 24Looking forward to seeing what they have to say about this new project from SE (not to mention it will also be some well-deserved coverage for the 24″ scene in a mainstream pub).





The deets on DK’s 2015 lineup

26 09 2014

DK Bicycles decided to mix things up this year and forgo the annual trip to Vegas/Interbike  and instead have a dealer open house at DK HQ to display their wares.

It was a pretty cool setup, as you can see from this shot of the event space .  A  fun little indoor park with a booth that had all the 2015 bikes right across from it.

DK parkIn terms of their new bikes, DK has a solid cruiser lineup for 2015.

First up, their top-of-the line race bike, the Elite Cruiser.

DK Elite Cruiser 2015For 2015, they’ve changed the grips to their own DK Tsuka lock-ons, updated the chain stays to be bigger and stiffer, and added a 20mm rear hub.

DK Elite Cruiser 2015 back endThe mid-level Sprinter Cruiser gets an update in the looks department with an eye-catching colorway.  No major changes component and handling-wise.

DK Sprinter 24 2015

The “ready-to-shred” Cygnus gets bigger tires with pin stripe sidewalls, a padded mid style seat/post combo, and chrome bars. It also gets a new look: colors include Polished Red (essentially a transparent red over silver) and a Electric Neon Blue.

DK Cygnus 24 2015Some pretty good-looking rides there. Check ’em out at your local DK dealer.

 

 





Redline Asset 24: are the specs for real?

25 09 2014

I got the heads up about the bike while attending Interbike earlier this month.

In most cases that would mean I stumbled across it while strolling the aisles of the show.

But, as you’ll recall, Redline wasn’t at the show this year.

Instead it was a picture posted by our good friend, Trent Brocker. Eagle-eyed Trent spotted it at a bike shop in Hayward, CA. He was surprised (like me when I saw it) that Redline made a freestyle cruiser.

Redline Asset 24 shopI needed to find out more. I headed over to the Accell booth (Redline’s parent company) and was immediately told that Redline wasn’t at the show this year. I was kinda hoping I had just missed their booth or they were set up in an odd spot.

I made a mental note to check up on it later.

More wandering around the show.

I then came upon the Hi-Torque Publishing booth.

Copies of the new issue of BMX Plus! were there for the taking. “Don’t mind if I do,” I thought to myself as I picked up a copy.

While flipping through the pages, I found a write up of the Asset 24.

Redline Asset 24 BMX Plus write upThe specs looked pretty good: 74.5 degree headtube, 71 degree seat tube, 13″ BB and 15.5 inch chainstays. Pretty similar to the 24″ S&M ATF. Nice!

Once I got back home from the show I thought I would do some followup research and check it out on Redline’s site.

Redline 2015 Asset 24I dug the look…and the picture seemed to indicate the geometry specs in BMX Plus were correct. But then I clicked on the “geometry tab” and saw this:

Top Tube    20.75″

Head Angle    75 degrees

Seat Angle    70 degrees

BB Height    11.8″

Chainstay    13.75″

What in blue blazes? Those specs did not make sense at all.

Attempts at reaching Redline through email and social media to clear up the confusion were not answered at press time.

If the specs that BMX Plus reported are complete, it looks like we have a very nice new complete on the market for 2015. If the specs on the Redline site are correct…well, then I’m still scratching my head.





Interbike odds & sods

20 09 2014

Here are all things that I came across in the show that didn’t fit nicely into a post with anything else.

Without further ado…

“Thin to win” race gear: It seems race gear is getting lighter and thinner than ever this year. One example, is these Troy Lee Designs Sprint shorts.  I have an earlier iteration of the Sprint shorts (which were already quite light) and these seem even lighter still. Fly and other manufacturers seem to have gone this route too. Curious to see if tear-resistance is compromised at all with gear getting thinner and lighter.

TLD sprint shorts

The SE Famous Stars & Straps Big Ripper Collab bike: this bike showed up in two booths: SE and a tire manufacturer’s. Looks pretty cool up close!

SE Big Ripper Stars & Straps Interbike

Tioga’s OS20 tire: (To be truthful, I missed this at the show but the eagle eyes over at BMXNews didn’t….) The BMX racing world’s attempt to produce an “almost 22” tire/wheel setup to get around the max wheel size rules of the sanctions. Tioga had a foldable 0S20 tire on display at the show with plans for a full unveil at the upcoming USBMX Grandnationals.

OS20-tioga

The Free Agent Ratio 24: It appears that Free Agent is still sticking with race geometry on this supposedly freestyle-oriented cruiser. Sure, it is full cro-mo and has those Kenda tanwall tires that look awesome…but this bike literally looks like they choose a new paint color every year and then call it a day. Would really like to see some updated geometry on this model.

2015 Free Agent Ratio 24

That’s it for this year’s Interbike coverage! Thanks for checking out this week’s posts.





Cool stuff spotted in the catalogs

18 09 2014

Sometimes vendors have to make the tough call when it comes to what bikes and parts to display at Interbike.

Whether it’s logistics, space issues or something else, sometimes bikes and components that you were kinda hoping to see aren’t on display.

Here are some of the bikes that I wished were on display at Interbike, based on the catalogs that I saved from the show.

The first is the 2015 Stolen Saint XLT 24 Complete in Chrome. This thing looks sweet! (And the Matte Electric Red colorway is not too shabby either.)

2015 SAINT XLT Chrome

The next bike is also from Stolen. It’s the 2015 Zeke Complete 26″ in Matte Electric Green…this colorway will definitely turn some heads! (It’s also available in Matte Raw Silver.)

2015-ZEKE Electric Green

The next is the SE Quadangle Freestyle 24.  If you recall, we checked out a sneak peek of this bike back in June. I had my fingers crossed that I would be able to check it out in Vegas.  No such luck. Still digging this bike though…old school looks with new school geo…would love to try one of these bad boys out!

2015 SE QUADANGLE FREESTYLE 24Definitely some cool looking rides!





Some new stuff from Sunday

17 09 2014

Sunday Bikes, no surprise, had the 2015 Model-C complete on display at Interbike.

But that was just the starting point of the 24″ goodness. The Sunday folks also had a couple of other things up their sleeves.

model c complete interbike

One of the new items is the Sunday Model C aftermarket frame.

model c frame interbike

This frame is a full cro-mo version of the frame on the complete, and will be offered at a more affordable pricepoint  than the Wave-C frame.  A blue frame was on display but I think black will also be available. (It looks like the top tube will be 22″.)

Another notable is the 24″ Sunday Octave fork.  The Sunday folks said this fork is a lighter and stronger (not to mention streamlined) version of their popular Sunday Morning 24.1 fork.  Looks pretty dialed.

sunday octave fork 2

Nice to see Sunday continuing to support the 24″ scene with new products.

 

Watch for more Interbike coverage in upcoming posts.