BMX vs. MX: an epic battle

22 10 2013

Back in 2012, Gundars Osis dropped one of the better race videos in recent memory. (See Gundars Osis takes a hot lap.)

Tightly edited and filmed at a fairly technical track by Kaspars Garda, it just made you want to grab the bike and take a few hot laps yourself.

Well, the two guys have teamed up again to put out another great video.

This time, Gundars Osis (riding his BMX cruiser) pits himself against Matiss Karro (riding a motocross bike) on a BMX track.

Will Gundars be able to hold his own vs. the MX rider?

Check out the video to find out.

http://vimeo.com/garda/bmxosisvsmxkarro


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Categories : New School, Racing, shenanigans, Tomfoolery, Trails/Jumping

The crazy backstory to Ray’s MTB

18 10 2013

The story behind Ray Petro and his wild idea to build an indoor bike park (so he’d have a place to ride in the winter) reads like a Hollywood movie.

To this day, I’m still surprised that someone hasn’t jumped at the chance to make a movie about it.

Thankfully, as Ray’s MTB celebrates its 10th anniversary this season, the story of how Ray took his dream and made it reality is getting shared by a number of mainstream media outlets.

One of them is Start UP , a new television series that looks into the experiences of American entrepreneurs. They caught up with Ray at the Milwaukee location and do a great job of capturing how Ray managed to pull it off.  A truly inspiring story.

(Nice to see some Taj Mihelich riding in the clip too.)

Watch for the segment to air sometime soon on your local PBS station.

Another good feature done on Ray’s MTB was published recently by the Akron Beacon Journal.  The article includes a good interview with Ray, pictures and a short video to round out the coverage.

If watching or reading these accounts doesn’t inspire you to follow your dreams, I don’t know what will.

So awesome.


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Categories : Freestyle, New School, Skatepark, Trails/Jumping

A little tan never hurt anyone

16 10 2013

Well, it looks like the old skinwall tire is back again.

Sort of.

These days it’s more likely to be called “tan wall.”

And I couldn’t be happier to see it make its long-awaited return.

I’ve joked in previous posts that I’m on a one-man crusade to save the skinwall.

Whether it’s references to tire manufacturers getting skin in the game, asking if it’s time to show some skin again or showing some skin in Utah…I got a thing for the old school-ly look of the skin or tan wall tire.

At Interbike this year you could see the tanwall making it’s presence known on some of the new completes.

From the We The People Atlas 24

To the Free Agent Ratio

To the Stolen Saint XLT

The smooth style of the tan wall was out there getting noticed.

Heck, Stolen is even offering a tan wall tire as an aftermarket option.

It looks like for 2014, sporting some tan might be the way to go.


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Categories : Freestyle, New products, New School, Old School

Friday video rewind

11 10 2013

The work week is almost over and it’s time to get in the right frame of mind for the weekend.

I think this Wayne Keller edit (from 2012) is just the ticket.

Chock full of rad riding and a super fun vibe.

What more could you ask for?

Have a good weekend everybody!


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Categories : Flatland, Freestyle, New School, shenanigans, Skatepark

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

9 10 2013

(Note: headline best read aloud with a monster truck rally announcer voice.)

The guys over at Sunday Bikes have been sharing a bunch of pictures over the past few days of their flagship 24″ bike, the Model-C, popping up in cool places and situations.

First off was a pic of Bunky Dunn’s Model-C chilling at the ACL festival in Austin, Texas.  Bunky helps set up music festivals but he always keeps his Model-C close at hand so he can get some shredding in. (Photo: Paulo Joaquim)

bunky dunn model c at ACL

Another picture that surfaced was pucksnotdead  shredding some trails on his Model C (Photo: triblaze /mikeyaskew13)

pucksnotdead trail shredding

Then an early morning ramp session at House Park in Austin yielded these shots.

Model -Cs all-around.

Model C morningBobby Parker getting some.

Bobby Parker ramp seshWord has it that a group of 24″ riders were also going to session the Walnut Creek trails later in the day so my fingers are crossed hoping that we’re going to see even more 24″ radness from the Sunday/Austin crew.


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Categories : Freestyle, New School, Skatepark, Trails, Trails/Jumping

A little midweek action

2 10 2013

I need a good old-fashioned action shot to get me through the week.

Thankfully, Wayne Keller is always good for bringing the goods.

Found this picture over on Wayne’s blog, carrot bag, taken back in August.

Wayne Keller Ormond SkateparkWayne getting flat in, what appears to be, a near-deserted Ormond Beach, Florida skatepark.

(And for those playing along at home, Wayne’s piloting the new Subrosa DTT TTwo Four cruiser frame in this shot).


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Categories : Freestyle, New School, Skatepark

Sin Series ride: finishing on a high note

27 09 2013

Just as I had suspected, the annual Friday night ride with the 4130 Sin Series crew was one of the highlights of Interbike week.

Catching up with old friends, making new ones and going for an exhilarating ride through the streets of Las Vegas is something that never fails to put a smile on my face.

4130 Sin Series selfieWith Mike Leonard on the whistle (that’s him in the extreme closeup above) we took off from the Fremont Street area, up to the Las Vegas Sign and then onto a final run through the neon lights of the Las Vegas Strip.

4130 Vegas SignGotta love the “We are the champions” pose of Patrick Thomas in this photo (in front, bike in the air)…it just shows the stoke factor of these events.

So much fun.

Thanks for having me along for the ride guys.

(Pics: Mike Leonard)


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Categories : New School, Old School, shenanigans, street, Tomfoolery

More from the Interbike photo album

27 09 2013

Here’s some more highlights of the different cruisers on display.

Volume brought out their new 26″ Hessian.

Volume Hessian front

Free Agent gave its Ratio 24 a new cool looking colorway.

Free Agent Ratio front

We The People debuted their new Atlas 24.

WTP Atlas

Subrosa showed off their new 24″ DTT frame & fork.

Subrosa DTT 24 stock

Sunday also had their Model-C complete on display.

However, my photo of it is a little blurry so if you haven’t seen it, check it out here.

Sunday Model C

In terms of race stuff, there was some race cruiser stuff on display (in addition to the DK stuff previously covered) but not nearly as much as the freestyle-oriented stuff.  For a look at the race side of things at Interbike, check out BMX News and Vintage BMX.


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Categories : Freestyle, New products, New School

Meanwhile over at the DK booth

26 09 2013

The guys at DK Bicycles have also been busy updating their cruiser offerings for 2014 and that hard work was on display in their Interbike booth.

The Cygnus got a bit of an update in the geo department…with a slightly higher bottom bracket and longer top tube (I think) to bring it more in line with today’s modern freestyle cruisers.

DK Cygnus

A new 24″ model, called The Sprinter, has also been added to the lineup as their more affordable race-ready option. (This replaces the Sentry 24.)

DK Sprinter

Finally, for 2014 the Elite Series cruiser has been made better than ever (if you recall,the 2013 DK Elite Series Cruiser did not disappoint).  The Elite Series now comes fully loaded with Box and Promax components, including special edition X2 Carbon forks with 20mm hubs.  I’m not usually a fan of carbon forks but the Elite Series they had on display (albeit the 20″ version) looked super mean.

And because only the 20″ version was on display, I’ve dug around and found a picture of said 24 for your viewing pleasure through the magic of television…I mean, the internet.

14_ELITE_CRUISER2Update: Jesse Klein (from DK) came through with the high-res image above to replace the blurry one I had here originally.

Check out their new catalog for the rest of the  details, specs, etc. on the 2014 DK lineup.


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Categories : Freestyle, New products, New School, Racing

Stolen Bikes steals the show

25 09 2013

The folks at Stolen Bikes had dropped a few teasers in the comments of the Countdown to Interbike post that they were going to have a lot of new cruiser stuff on display this year for Interbike. So, when I got to the show I was eager to check out their booth to see what the hype was about.

They weren’t kidding around.

But first, let’s take a look at their current lineup.

The mainstay in their lineup, the Saint,  is still holding strong for 2014 but now comes in a rad Matte Retro Red…

Stolen Saint Matte Retro Red

…and a Matte Gum color.

Stolen Saint Matte Gum front

Next up, the Saint XLT is also still in the lineup.  It’s available in a Basic Black with polished components….

Stolen Saint XLT Black

…and a super cool looking “Super Blue” version.

Stolen Saint XLT Super Blue

What’s new for this year?

Stolen has decided to get into the aftermarket end of the 24″ bike market.

In their booth, they had their new 24″ Gold frame & fork on display.

Available in Matte Black or Sandblasted Matte Raw, the frame features a 21.75″ top tube and the following specs:

  • 74.5 degree HT
  • 71 degree ST
  • 15″ CS
  • 13.8 ” BB height

Stolen24inch Gold Frame Fork

Stolen is also offering 24″ Rebellion wheels as an aftermarket option. Sealed hubs, female axles and available in a range of colors, these look like a great way to trick out your ride when it comes time to replace your wheels.

Stolen 24in Rebellion Wheels

But the 24″ parts goodness doesn’t stop there. Stolen is has also brought out some high-pressure (110 PSI) tires called Joint HP tires. They have a nice low profile design…and this is the part I love…they come in both a tan and white wall version!

Stolen Joint HP Tires tread

A new 26″ complete

Finally, Stolen’s new 26″ Freestyle cruiser called the Zeke made its debut at the show.  The frame has 100% chromoly tubes, a chromoly fork with a one-piece steerer, aftermarket MOB cranks, and a bunch of other good stuff.

Stolen Zeke front

It features a 22.5″ top tube and has the following specs:

  • 74.5 degree HT
  • 71 degree ST
  • 16.25″ CS
  • 12.5″ BB height

(Update: these specs are not final…they’re being tweaked before production. See the comments section for more details.)

Here’s a side profile:

26 Stolen Zeke

All in all, a great display of cruiser awesomeness from Stolen.  Super stoked to see them step up their commitment to the big wheels of BMX!


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Categories : Freestyle, New products, New School, Skatepark, street, Trails/Jumping

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