Scott Towne is not missing out

19 05 2010

Scott Towne needs no introduction. Holding down a slew of editorial positions at a number of BMX mags over the years, he’s been part of the BMX community for what seems like forever.  A bit out of the mainstream BMX spotlight at the moment he continues to ride his BMX and share his musings on his blog, the Deliverance Project.

I haven’t visited his blog in a while but after checking it out again it seems that Scott is still having a  good time on his bike and providing entertaining (and inspiring) words on his blog.

Take this post for instance.

It starts off with him rambling on about his new helmet but quickly changes to a comment about riding and how most everyday folks will never quite understand how satisfying it feels after a good session.

…rode until it was dark. I can’t describe how much satisfaction I get out of riding those jumps. Standing in line at the store to buy a couple beers afterward, dirty (probably more from mowing the lawn earlier) and soaked with sweat, with a big grin on my face. Each person I saw, all I could think was how much they were missing.*If only they knew what I had just finished doing. Not that they would be impressed with my riding, just that what I experienced had to be better than anything anyone else did on their Saturday evening. I wouldn’t trade it for anything…                                                                                                                                   * (italics mine)

Soaked with sweat with a big grin…who hasn’t been there after a good session?

Something so simple yet something that makes the everyday hum-drum bearable.

Scott Towne’s not missing out on the fun of riding and I hope you’re not either.

Photo from an interview that inthegnar.com did with Scott Towne a while ago.

Great pic of Scott having fun on his bike.


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Categories : New School, Old School, Trails, Trails/Jumping

Cast a vote for the revolution

16 05 2010

I guess it’s time to get out there, shake hands and kiss babies.

No, I’m not running for office….but…

Crank – The World Cycling Blog Rankings are asking for nominations for the top cycling blog in a number of different categories. While there’s not really a category for BMX, I think a case could be made for cruiserrevolution.com fitting into the “Lifestyle” category.

Whatta ya say?

It only takes a few seconds.

Support the revolution.  Make your nomination here.


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Categories : goofiness, Tomfoolery

Like father, like son

13 05 2010

…or may be it’s the other way around?

Jon Faure’s been working on a video featuring him riding with his son and how getting a 24 (his Sunday Model-C) helped make it all possible.

Should be a great video. After all, you don’t see too many father-son trains flowing through Woodward West…unless the Faures are in the house that is.

Clearly Jon is raising his son right, just check out his table manners.

Like son, like father?

Jon shows the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.


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

The twin top tube makes a comeback

11 05 2010

Josh from Coyote Bicycles sent an email a while back about his new frame and I have to say it’s definitely one of the more interesting looking 24s coming on the scene.

Missing the era of twin-tube frames, like Torker, etc., Josh set about bringing it back…but this time with a more modern take on it . The result: a bike with a relatively quick head angle, short rear end, integrated headtube and mid bottom bracket.

Check out the specs:

  • 21.5″tt
  • 74 ht
  • 71 st
  • 12.5″ bb height
  • 14.25″-15.5″ chainstay
  • 14mm drop outs
  • 25.4 seat tube
  • 990 mounts

The only other twin top tube 24 offerings that I am aware of  are the Ambiente and the Brooklyn Machine Works Pooky. Ambiente may be out of business now so a twin top tube 24 is as a rare as it is cool.

If you want more info on Josh’s frame, drop him a line at info@coyotebicycles.com. You can also check out his site (which is still in development) at www.coyotebicycles.com or  his feature on bmxmuseum.com.

And for those of you thinking this frame would make an awesome Haro Master replica with the addition of some old school decals and paint, I was thinking the same thing. Just imagine if this guy with retro Nyquist 24 got a hold of this frame.


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

A backyard pumptrack revisited

7 05 2010

As you may remember, I was pretty stoked on Jason G’s backyard pumptrack when I first saw a video of it on vimeo. Well, it’s a new season and Jason has been putting in some time making it even better.

He’s got a regular Thursday night session going on (as you can see below) and he’s already planning on adding to it and changing things up. So far he’s the only cruiser rider in the group for the Thursday night session but I suspect that won’t be for long.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “back yard pumptrack early season sesh…“, posted with vodpod

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Categories : Trails, Trails/Jumping

Specialized debuts new P24 at Sea Otter

5 05 2010

Specialized is jumping back into the BMX scene with its new P-series of bikes. On display at the recent Sea Otter MTB event, the P24 model looks like it took its influence from some of the current crop of 24s that have entered the market in the last year or so.

It’s built with Reynolds tubing and has next-to-no graphics (although that might be due to it being in the prototype stages). And yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, that’s a Sunday fork that  was being used to build up the bike for testing.

Here’s a more close up look:

One of my first thoughts when I came across this was…why debut this at Sea Otter? A MTB event? It’s a BMX bike after all. Then after thinking about it for a while, it seemed to make more sense.

Whenever I’m riding somewhere that has a lot of riders with “urban/DJ” MTBs, there always seems to be a questions and interest regarding my 24. Many seem unaware of the 24″ BMX option.

Maybe MTBers are the great cross-over market for 24s…if reading the ads for  Urban DJ bikes are any indication, it just might be. Almost to the one, the ads will say something like, “BMX-inspired” or “BMX-style” in describing the bike and the components. Maybe the answer for the people reading these ads is to actually get a BMX bike.

Specialized might be on to something with this approach.

For more on the Specialized P24, check out Bikerumor and Sicklines.


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Categories : New products, New School, Trails, Trails/Jumping

Is Accelerate the new RAD?

4 05 2010

Long a cult classic, RAD is both loved and hated by the BMX community. No matter what your opinion of the movie, if you’re a BMX rider you’ve seen this movie…probably more than once (in my case…probably more times than you can count). BMX Bandits, featuring a young Nicole Kidman, is pretty cheesy in its own right, but RAD took things to a whole other level.

Now over two decades later, another BMX movie is in the works: Accelerate. Will it live up (or stoop) to the standard set by RAD?  Too early to tell.  But I did read on their  site that Bill Allen who played Cru Jones in RAD will be appearing in the Accelerate movie. For a BMX geek like myself, that’s already enough reason to see the movie (just kidding…sort of). In the mean time, check out the trailer to get a taste for what will hit the big screen in 2011.


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Categories : Freestyle, New School, Old School, Rad, street, Trails, Trails/Jumping

Rockabilly Jay’s S&M Dirt Bike cruiser

29 04 2010

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).


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Categories : New products, New School, Old School, Racing

BMX Plus runs hot and cold on 24s

26 04 2010

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?


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Categories : Freestyle, goofiness, Racing, shenanigans, Tomfoolery

At the trails, every day is earth day

23 04 2010

*Warning- Borderline hippy post*

I hit the trails after work today and had a good session with a couple of MTBers that were there. Between runs we were chatting and it struck me that despite all the media hype about caring for the planet, the green movement, etc. I  couldn’t have been more aware of and in tune with nature then I was right then.

We were talking about which trees were leaning more than usual,  which ones had fallen and how it felt good to be back out in the dirt after a long winter. We took a few more runs. Afterward we could hear someone aways off ripping through the trails on one of those obnoxiously loud motorized mini-bikes. One of the MTBers started yelling at him to get off the trails because he was wrecking them.

Looking around you could see why it bothered him so much…all around groomed jumps, pump lines…hours of collective sweat and effort…and this guy is chewing up trails that so many people rode and put in so much time to maintain.

In a roundabout way, what I’m trying to say is a day at the trails is perfect way to get in touch with what I think was the original intent of Earth Day. You can’t ride trails and not be aware of the environment.

Whether it’s keeping the place clear of garbage and debris, working together to fix a section, trimming  tree branches or just yelling at guy for not being respectful of the trails…it’s all about showing love for the dirt (earth) and all it gives to us.

My friend Glen has been riding and building trails for as long as I’ve known him (which is a very long time). Nice tuck at the Glenridge trails in St. Catharines, Ontario.


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Categories : goofiness, Trails, Trails/Jumping

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