Joseph Moody laying out some style aboard a Mongoose prototype (that I’m pretty sure would later become the Mongoose Thrive) in San Francisco.
I saw this picture a while back and filed it away in a mental file to use it in the future. When it popped up again in Moody’s Facebook feed, I knew I had to share.
Joe’s backstory makes this even more rad.
As you might remember from a previous post, it was through riding BMX that Joseph Moody discovered that he had cancer…and it was by riding BMX that he was able to beat it.
Moody is someone that not only kicks ass on a bike but he’s kicked cancer’s ass as well.
One of the BMX world’s most creative and influential riders, his unique perspective on things carried over into his work as a member of the bicycle industry…whether that was in promotion, product design or his efforts with the Sunday team.
In his farewell post, Jim mentions that “my main goal with Sunday was to do interesting things with every aspect of the company.”
Jim’s championing of the ground-breaking Sunday Model-C and progressive 24″ riding are certainly two examples of that. Tweaking conventional cruiser geometry to create the Model-C was a bold move, and not without its detractors, but Jim’s vision of what a 24″ BMX could be ended up making a big impact on an area of BMX that was ready for a change.
And Jim didn’t stop there.
Jim actively promoted what was possible on a 24…whether that was in video edits, riding shots or clips of him riding a 24 in full-length videos (Up, Up and Away). While other companies introduced 24s into their lineups…they were often left to languish with little or no promotion and would later be dropped. The Model-C has been going strong since its inception.
The introduction of the Sunday Wave-C was another major step in the 24″ world that Jim also helped make happen. A super high-end frame with wave tubing and long list of features, it quickly became one of the most popular 24″ frames on the market.
Jim says he’s “off to new creative adventures.” If you look back on his riding career and his work at Sunday, I think you’ll agree he’s going to make a success of whatever he puts his mind to.
Cheers Jim!
Looking forward to hearing about what you get up to next.
Chromoly main frame and chromoly fork w/ one-piece steerer
Semi-sealed cassette w/ double wall Revolver rims
STLN 26×2.2“ tires
Aftermarket MOB cranks
6.75” handlebars, TIG welded
Stratos top load stem
From what I understand, a lot of these are already spoken for…so if the Zeke is something you’re into, contact your Stolen dealer today to see if they have one in stock. (Dan’s seems to have some for the time being too.)
How did this mad scientist tinkering affect the ride?
Switching out the forks and wheels served to steepen the head tube and lower the bottom bracket.
According to the forum thread, 77rider really likes how it handles:
I am a 20″ guy at heart. I have a 24″ Wave C and love it,but it just feels a little odd for me. So that got me thinking, if I like a 20 and the 24; a 22″ would be the shit.
Boy, was I right. This is just what I was looking for. I rode it for a couple minutes tonight before ball practice and fell in love.
This is definitely an interesting hybrid of the 24/22″ worlds.
Could this be a sign that the sub-6″ cruiser bar is finally on its way out?
I have harped on the topic of traditional cruiser bars before…that they are just too small/short…but if you visit just about any race track, they are still being used by many folks (albeit usually with a topload stem and a whack of spacers).
But maybe that’s changing.
S&M just announced their new Bruiser Bar: 6.5″ tall and 29″ wide. Available in black, white and chrome.
Granted, if you’re rolling on a new school freestyle 24, you wouldn’t consider this a big bar (higher BBs and taller bars are the standard M.O. there) but for the race community this is a big step up…a lot of race completes still come with 5″ bars.
Hopefully, this will start a bit of a movement in the race community toward bigger bars.
Ride BMX and other media outlets are reporting that there’s going to be a Call of Duty video game event at the upcoming X Games in Austin.
It’s sad to think that flatland, downhill BMX racing (remember that?) and dirt has fallen by the wayside over the last number of years only to have something like this added in.
As mentioned back in the Monday minutes post, Pull Magazine put out a teaser saying that they were releasing a special Cruiser Issue this month.
Well, it finally came in the mail today and I have to say, I’m kinda impressed.
Pull magazine tends to be ho-hum but it looks like they stepped up their efforts a bit with this issue.
There’s an editorial encouraging people to race in the cruiser classes, a cruiser shootout, an ad featuring George Goodall on a Redline 24 and an in-depth interview with Cruiser champ, Shawn DiPrete.
I was a bit disappointed with the cruiser shootout…it was not comprehensive enough…missing out on some big-name race cruisers and failing to go into much detail about the different bikes.
The Shawn DiPrete article was great though.
It’s pretty rare for a magazine to give a serious interview to a cruiser guy…but it was a interesting read. Pretty cool to find out what drives a guy like DiPrete.
cruiser revolution 