Big Wheels, Big Fun

17 03 2021

Dan’s Comp recently dropped a video profiling the 26″ Stolen Zeke. The backstory is that the rider/employee featured (Michael Barrow) wanted a bigger bike to assist with his rehab for a broken foot/ankle.

The bike he chose was the Stolen Zeke. His thinking was the bigger wheels, geometry and more comfortable ride would get him back in BMX shape in no time.

As his ankle got stronger, he began jumping curbs and then riding the 26″ Zeke more aggressively. He soon discovered that what he thought would be a “fun toy” to rehabilitate his ankle was much more. He didn’t realize just how much fun he would have riding a 26″ freestyle-oriented cruiser could be.

In the intro, he touches on the bikelife movement, how versatile a 26″ is for commuting and store runs (while dropping manuals in the middle of the video) but then soon starts putting the Zeke through its paces in the streets, skatepark…you name it.

He even adds pegs to get some grind action in and the Zeke does not miss a beat. You can do some “serious riding” on this bike but the result is still smiles and fun.

Just goes to show, don’t judge a bike by it’s wheel size.

When it comes to BMX, you can have a seriously good time whatever size wheel you ride on.

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Categories : Freestyle, New products, New School, Skatepark, street

Bentonville Wants Bikers

2 03 2021

With work and home life so topsy-turvy these days, some cities and states (in the U.S.) are offering incentives to encourage folks who are working remotely to pick up stakes and move to their neck of the woods.

While there’s more than a handful of places offering relocation incentives, Northwest Arkansas might have the best offer on record at the moment….especially if you are a bicycling enthusiast.

Northwest Arkansas will give you $10,000 to move, plus throw in a bike (MTB or “Street”) to sweeten the deal! Northwest Arkansas has 162 miles of paved trails, the 37-mile Razorback Regional Greenway and the 322 miles of world-class mountain biking trails.

The city of Bentonville also has the The Railyard bike park which looks amazing!

Barry Nobles posted a video of him shredding the park recently and if that video is any indication of the caliber of biking parks and infrastructure in Arkansas then this offer seems extremely compelling.

(Video link: https://www.facebook.com/BarryNobles95/videos/therailyard-did-not-disappoint-rogers-arkansas-/417877396050423/)

Another notable to shred the park is none other than Mike “Hucker” Clark (See below).

Northwest Arkansas has put together quite the offer…I’m getting the feeling this could become quite the hotspot in the near future!

 


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Looking back at 2020 highlights

31 12 2020

It seems a little off to title this with “highlights”… given how strange a year it has been. That being said, there were a few highlights looking back at the year.

First off, the re-release of RAD. After years of waiting, it seemed like it would never happen. But it did! Granted, it wasn’t the release it deserved, as many viewings were planned that got subsequently cancelled. But true to form, Radness will find a way and when drive-in viewings took on added importance as the year wore on, RAD was shown at the drive-in screens of many lucky cities.

Berm Peak (formerly Seth’s Bike Hacks) featured some 24″ shredding. Could there be more in 2021? Let’s hope so!

S&M Bikes designed one of the coolest looking retro-inspired cruisers this year, the Covid Cruiser. I kinda dug these when I saw the prototypes but now that I’ve seen them built up….I really dig them. If you managed to snag one of these bad boys you are justifiably stoked!

Biking saw a boom year unlike anything in recent memory. Young and old got hooked on biking, including this 80-year bad ass that took up racing to keep in shape for his primary sport of vintage motorcycle racing.

GT came through with a 24″ version of the Dyno Compe. As Dyno fan, I was pretty stoked on this. Of course, partly to do with the item above (the bike boom) these promptly sold out. Word on the street more are on the way for 2021.

And finally, there was a lot of rad riding this year!

j1cam invert

(*This isn’t actually a 2020 picture but we shared it in 2020 so can we let it go on a technicality? Thanks)

Hope you got out as much as possible to ride.

Cheers to the New Year!


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Tuni turned it up at the Grands

3 12 2020

Don’t call it a comeback, he’s been here for years!

Turnell “Tuni” Henry showed the world last weekend that keeping those skills sharp means keeping the BMX dream alive right into your 60s.

At the 2020 USA BMX Grands, Tuni brought out a 26″ Supercross RS7 Fastback cruiser to show the 61 and over Cruiser class what was up. (He’s been rolling on a 26″ for a couple years now as noted in a 2018 issue of Pull magazine.)

The result? Tuni manualing, jumping and plain just setting the bar for what the older cruiser classes are all about.

He was putting dudes decades younger to shame.

Peep this screen grab:

Or this one:

Pretty rad.

Stoked to see him still ripping it up.


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Categories : New School, Old School, Racing

A dozen years

30 11 2020

Well look at that, a look over at the calendar indicates this little blog has hit another milestone…a dozen years of operation!

Really, where does the time go?

With so many things on hold this year, it seems like my posting has been more sporadic than ever…but I’m planning on getting on that horse again and delivering more timely offerings for consumption.

What I mean to say is like a dozen donuts, not every individual one is going to be your thing but collectively it’s hard to knock a box of 12 donuts.

And since I can’t share a few dozen donuts with y’all, I’m glad we could share a dozen years together talking about big wheeled BMX bikes.

Thanks for all the support, words of encouragement, meet ups, borrowed bikes, high fives and so much more.

Let’s keep those big wheels turning.

Cheers everybody!


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Radness Reminder: 24s can fly

17 11 2020

It’s always good to get a gentle reminder.

Found this clip of @j1cam getting rad while I was going down an internet rabbit hole and was instantly stoked.

The height, the style….so good.

He’s bringing the heat on a 24″ Sunday Model C3 frame that he built up…why did Sunday drop them from the lineup?….they gotta bring those back!

And just for good measure, here’s a still photo of @j1cam getting inverted from the Sunday Bikes insta.

j1cam invert

That’s some radness right there….I wanna go ride now!


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Categories : Freestyle, Skatepark

Dyno delivers with the Pro Compe 24

29 09 2020

Selling out almost immediately when it hit shops this summer, the Dyno Pro Compe 24 is just what the doctor (and Dyno fans like myself) have ordered.

When Dyno made a comeback as a 29incher last year I was stoked but also a bit bummed that it wasn’t available as a 24.

Of course, as we reported then, there was rumors already afoot that if the 29″ version proved popular that a 24″ incarnation would follow. I was cautiously optimistic that it would happen…but like a scorned lover I had been burned by big promises from bike companies before and I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high.

Turns out, GT/Dyno were true to their word and the 24″ version of the Dyno did appear this year. And what a 24″ Dyno it is!

It harkens back to the year of our Lord, Lord Voelker. Inspired by the year 1987 when Voelker turned pro on Dyno and carved a path through the freestyle scene with big burly tricks and street moves that still inspire today.

It hits all the right style points too and it’s complemented by all the modern touches that make it a capable shredder for 24″ riders today.

Spec-wise, you can tell this 24″ is ready for more than cruising the beach:

  • Head tube angle:  74.5 degrees
  • Seat tube angle:    71 degrees
  • Top tube length:    22″
  • Chain stay length: 15.6″
  • Bottom Bracket:    13.92″

With that being said, I’m curious why GT wouldn’t have spec’ed it out with a slightly shorter chainstay. (To compare, the Stolen Saint 24 comes in at 15″ and the Sunday Model C shorter still).

Onto the looks department,  the classic 80s look is in full force: Pretzel bars, Power Series cranks, Dyno forks and Mallet stem. Heck, there’s even a Dyno pad set and pegs thrown in for good measure.

Of course, no bike worthy of the Lord would be nothing less than full 4130 Cro-mo, which this bike is.

All in all, I’m pretty stoked on this 24″ Dyno.

Now we just need to see more stock in the stores, maybe a new colorway or two and……maybe, just maybe, a full blown modern-day edit of Voelker shredding one of these in his classic Voelker fashion.  GT/Dyno….let’s make this happen!


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

80-year old racer is now a track regular

14 09 2020

The Covid era has influenced so many things this year.

Two big trends, the explosion of all things bike-related and the cancellation of major events, seems to have influenced an 80-year old  to take up BMX racing and become a staple at Electric City BMX in Montana.

Charlie Rossell took up the sport to stay in shape for his favored pastime, vintage motorcycle racing. With the cancellation of his vintage motorcycle races due to Covid uncertainty, he is still able to scratch that racing bug with BMX racing.

Pretty rad (and inspiring) if you ask me!

And don’t get me started on that classic GT jersey….this guy is doing it style!


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Covid Cruisers from S&M Bikes

27 05 2020

With this whole Covid situation putting a damper on things in general, there’s at least  been a few  silver linings during this last little while.

First, it seems to have reignited the public’s interest in bike riding. Bike shops are reporting record sales and selling out of bikes and gear. Hurrah for the bike industry!

Second, S&M Bikes, with no regular production going on in The Warehouse due to the Covid situation, have been catching up on different projects and prototypes. One especially cool one is a retro Cooks Brothers-inspired 29-inch frame featuring an integrated head tube, mid bottom bracket and a 25.4 seat tube so all current S&M products will be compatible with it.

However, while it has all those modern touches, it still maintains its retro swoopy lines and the throwback looptail dropouts.

This is pretty cool news considering that, in the past, a 29″ frame seemed like a bridge too far for S&M. Granted, they did do the infamous 29″ Pounding Beers fork…but that just seemed like they were jumping on a gap in the market (or a chance to have some fun with Todd Lyons) vs. some deep-seated desire to get into this wheel size. I guess times change.

Or maybe it was the interest in the Fit Big Tripper that influenced them to dive into big wheels a little more. (Also, based on the latest picture of the Covid Cruiser above…it looks like the it will be available in both 29 and 26″ sizes).

I like the vibe of these Covid Cruisers. What do you think of them?

 

All pics: Mad Dog’s Instagram


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Categories : New products, Old School

Seth’s Bike Hacks shreds on a 24″ Redline

26 02 2020

I spotted this a while back as a suggested video on YouTube.

Seth Alvo, of Seth’s Bike Hacks fame, shredding on a  Redline Asset 24 on his Workbench Skatepark in his new (at the time) garage.

You might recall from previous posts that the geo of the Asset 24 is very close (essentially the same) as the ever-popular S&M ATF 24.

I’ve always wanted to see one of these completes in action and Seth did a great job of showing what the Asset 24 was capable of.

At the tail end of the video (starting at 7:02) Seth has a session on the new workbench skatepark and he proceeds to bust out a good amount of moves and jibs on the Redline. Heck, there’s even a disaster…shoutout to the mid school! (Or is that old school?)

He even makes repeated attempts on a 360 before landing one smooth. The Redline looked like it was none the worse for wear after the repeated attempts and bails.

The bike  also looked pretty much stock (save for the pedals which looked like blue composite pedals)…so that’s even more of a plus. I would have liked to see a full-blown test/review but this is a reasonably good substitute.

Check out the video for yourself of Seth putting the bike to the test (and just try to avoid going down the rabbit hole of checking out Seth’s videos….I always end up 3 or 4 deep when I click on one).


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

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