Rockabilly Jay from West Coast Choppers recently sent in this great photo of his S&M Dirt Bike cruiser .
What a great combination of mid-school looks with modern parts and geometry! (That sticker on the forks is nice too.)
He says he’s been racing cruiser every week with a crew of five guys and having a blast doing it.
To see another one of Jay’s builds, check out this sweet custom SE Quadangle cruiser (featured last year on Cruiser Revolution).
Although he isn’t the editor anymore, I will probably always think of John Ker as the face of BMX Plus! magazine. And now because of his magazine’s seemingly hot and cold treatment of cruisers in recent months I feel compelled to write him this (admittedly tongue-in-cheek) “Dear John” letter.
John Ker: no love for the 24?
Dear John,
I thought we really had something. After not reading your magazine in what seemed like forever, I picked up your magazine at the local store and noticed you had changed over the years. No longer were you associating with Radical Rick or doing “who’s radder” features….you were actually showing some honest to goodness riding once in a while. More importantly, you showed some love for the cruiser with a couple of 24″ bike tests in 2009.
Your advertisers seemed to have noticed this too. One of them rewarded you with not one, but two 2-page ads for their cruisers.
But your self-destructive nature got the best of you, didn’t it? Out of nowhere in your April issue, you featured an article called Cruising into Oblivion: The Death of the 24.
How could you do this? Both to our fledgling relationship and to your advertisers? For the love of God, there’s a 2-page ad for Redline‘s top-of-the-line Flight 24 in the very same issue that you say 24s are cruising into oblivion!
It makes me so mad…and I imagine Redline isn’t any happier. I wrote a post about it, hoping to salvage things, to help you see the error of your ways and to let you know that 24s are not dead yet. After that I didn’t hear from you for a month.
Now all of sudden, in the June issue it seems that the ‘love’ is back with a 10-page race cruiser shootout. While it’s a grand gesture, after declaring our relationship essentially over, to try to win me back with a 10-page article, it seems just a little to late. I guess you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, right?
I know what you’re going to say, that you’ve changed.
But I’m not sure if I can bury the hatchet just yet. I think you’ll have to prove to me that you want this relationship to work.
How you ask?
A full-on 24″ freestyle cruiser shootout.
I think that’s what it will take to win me back.
So John, what do you say?
If being the boss of a BMX company isn’t cool enough, Mike Wong over at Dialled Bikes ups the coolness quotient just a bit more by designing a sweet looking custom cruiser for his own personal ride.
I spotted this on Fastlane BMX magazine’s website recently and was pretty stoked on it. Not only does it have a nice old school Mongoose-style zinc plated finish but there’s a bunch of other things going on with this bike that make it unique and customized to Mike’s tastes.
It’s made with 853 Reynolds Cro-Moly, extra thin tubing and a slacker than “normal” head angle.
Why did he go with a slacker head angle?
According to Mike (in his Fastlane interview) it’s because today’s geometry is getting too twitchy:
…with tracks getting faster, jumps getting steeper and berms getting slicker, I actually think they are taking geometry in the wrong direction.
Therefore, on my frame, I’ve made the head angle one degree slacker than the production cruisers (71 degrees instead of 72), which actually makes it feel more stable over jumps and in turns. I may even go another degree slacker for the next iteration. *
While there are no plans to incorporate this slacker head angle into Dialed Bikes production models, Mike is going to continue to ride/race it to see how it performs. This is pretty big departure from current geometry, so it’s interesting to see Mike stepping up and experimenting with something new.
For more on Dialed Bikes, check out their website. To learn more about Fastlane BMX magazine (which, if you’re into racing, is a must) click here.
*(italics mine)
Well, here’s an awesome incentive to race the Redline Cup series this year:
The chance to win one of 70 one-of-a-kind limited edition frames from Redline!
According to Redline:
While it is up to each track operator’s discretion on how they will be given away, the custom black & gold Flight frames will likely be raffled off to one lucky winner during the RL Cup race – with proceeds being used to fund improvements for each BMX track.
The colors are inspired by both the 1966 Shelby Hertz Mustang Fastback and the Gold Cup series of the ’80s. They come in two sizes: Expert XL and Pro Cruiser (pictured).
In addition to the custom black and gold colors, you also get the 2010 Redline Cup logo clear-coated on each side of the top tube.
These cool frames are going to be collectors items, so good luck to everyone following the Redline Cup series. If you’re lucky/fast enough to score one you’ll definitely have one of the coolest looking rides at the track.
Time to gas up the car, get a bus ticket or hop on a plane because it’s going to be non-stop BMX in Toronto this weekend. The Toronto International Bicycle Show is here and it includes a flatland contest, an old school indoor BMX race and the Toronto BMX Jam.
But is it really worth going?
Just check out this clip from last year’s Toronto BMX Jam to get an indication of what goes down at this annual event.
Or maybe check out this video of Drew Bezanson that’s being blowing up the internet for the last day or two. If this is what he does for a video clip…imagine what he’s going to throw down in the contest.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
“The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain
Despite showing love for the cruiser in recent issues, BMX Plus! seems to have now sounded the death knell for the cruiser in their April 2010 issue in an article called Cruising into Oblivion: The Death of the 24.
It’s actually kind of amusing however when you take a look at this sensationalist article in relation to the rest of the magazine. For instance, Redline has again seen fit to place a two-page ad for a cruiser in the magazine. And this time it is their top-of-the-line Flight Pro 24! I’m going to go out on a limb and say there must be some kind of market for 24s to justify that kind of advertising.
And in their mailbag section, a reader writes in about racing Cruiser for two years, “…One thing led to another, and now I race a 24-inch Haro…”.
Are big ads and actual reader feedback not clear enough signs for Plus! that cruisers are alive and well?
Guys like Danny Caluag, Barry Nobles and George Goodall (who is featured prominently in the Redline ad) are also keeping excitement alive in the National race scene.
And completely ignored by the article is the explosion in popularity of modern trails/park 24s…which I don’t have to convince you of, if you’re a regular visitor to this site.
The death of the 24?
Hardly.
We’re just getting started.
Let’s find out!
1) Ballerinas: wear ballet shoes for competition
BMX racers: wear “ballet shoes” (with clipless pedals) for competition
2) Ballerinas: wear tights
BMX racers: wear tights*
*Say what?
Yes, my friends it looks like the end is near. GT’s Joey Bradford rocked a pair of tights (!) to a Pro Cruiser win at the Gator Nationals on the weekend.
To some this might be called progression…to me, it’s another sign of the moto (or is it the mojo?) being sucked out of bicycle motocross.
If you were a BMX kid in the 80s you probably remember the old school style of indoor racing with concrete floors, wooden jumps and smooth stadium tires.
Nowadays if you’re lucky enough to have an indoor track to race at, you’re racing in dirt. Vintage BMX actually featured a thread on this topic recently and it seems that a lot of people remember the old school races and are hankering for them again. It certainly brought back memories for me…my first race was an old school indoor race like that.
But those days are long gone, right?
Maybe not!
Turns out Brent Smith, the guy behind the super fun Orangeville race series, does an annual race at the Toronto International Bicycle show. This year the organizers asked if he could do it again but this time without dirt. So Brent reached into his bag of tricks and decided to go way back and kick it old school! Flat turns, concrete floors and wooden jumps…this is going to be a total blast from the past. Clips aren’t going to help you here!
If you’re within driving distance of Toronto (March 5-7) you should make a point of making it out anyway ..not only is there wall-to-wall bicycle vendors but there’s a freestyle contest and flatland contest going on as well.
For more details on the race, check out the Facebook group, Toronto Bike Show MTB and BMX race and jump comps.
Legends Tinker Juarez and Jeff Kosmala tearing up an indoor track back in the day.
Spotted a great thread on VintageBMX.com yesterday called I rode a cruiser tonight at the track…and it was fun! written by a guy that usually rides only a 20″.
Sounds like he’s seen the light:
I rode my friend’s cruiser just to get some laps in. Well I ended up riding it all night. I absolutely loved every second of it. Jumps smooth, manuals soooo easy. I was just totally in love.
I had a similar experience…after riding a 20″ for most of my BMX “career”, I visited a BMX track while staying with my girlfriend’s family and was lent a Haro 24 to take a couple laps. It felt amazing and couldn’t believe what I had been missing…it’s been cruisers for me ever since.
If you’re reading this site you’re probably already a convert but it’s still nice to see people showing some love to cruisers on other sites too. The VintageBMX.com thread is currently up to 3 pages, so check it out and join the conversation. Spread the word…Cruisers rock!
One of the people participating in the thread, BS, also posted a picture of himself taking care of business as part of the discussion. Love it because it reminds of lazy summer afternoon trails sessions…nice!
Old school. New school.
Do those distinctions even matter for a guy like Stu Thomsen..still kicking ass after all these years?
Nope.
For Stompin’ Stu, school is always in session.
This shot says it all: catching air and going fast.
Some things never change.
cruiser revolution 
